Jaws - 1975 - 5 Stars

Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Roy Schieder, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss

I am not quite sure how this happened, maybe I have a deep-seated fear of sharks, but I lived on planet earth for 24 without seeing Jaws. Sure, I knew about Jaws. I knew more about Jaws than some movies I had seen. I knew Roy Schieder said "You're gonna need a bigger boat", I've heard the John Williams score hundreds of times in montages, at sports games, during awards show. I knew some details of Jaws's infamous troubled production and  I knew it was the first summer blockbuster and an undeniable classic.

Despite the above knowledge, I didn't know what to expect when I actually watched Jaws. It's odd to experience art once you have seen its progeny. Many times when watching classics I find myself thinking "I understand why this is important, but it's been improved upon so much." Throughout the first half of Jaws I felt that way. The first act oscillates between first-rate shark attack set pieces and generic exposition that features clunky dialogue and overly familiar character types. Some of the latter works,  like the iconic Robert Shaw nails on the chalkboard scene and some doesn't like the intimate look at Roy Schieder's domestic life.

However once the film gets into the open water, stranding our three heroes on a boat as they hunt for a man-eater the film eliminates its clunkier elements for a propulsive action sequence that is impeccably staged, shot and acted. It's one of the longest sustained pieces of action in any film I can remember, yet it feels familar because it regularly morphs into different sub set-pieces as our characters try and out power and out smart a shark using all the tricks they have available. It's a bravura sequence that is still as thrilling as anything I have seen from dozens of films and filmmakers that have been directly influenced by Jaws. I have no idea why it took me so long to see this film, but I am glad I did and its status as a classic film is well deserved.