July Review: Jaws (1975) (Patreon)

We're gonna need a bigger review! This month in the most appropriate of moves, I watched Jaws (1975) in all of its ill-advised beach going glory. While not my first time jumping into the metaphorical waters, as a long-time shark movie and Spielberg creature feature fan, I was pleasantly surprised by how well this genre-definer holds up.

Jaws (1975) is ostensibly about a shark terrorizing the coastal Amity island, but while the fishy foe is the driver of the film, the real star is its character work. Primarily in the hands of our trio of shark hunters, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), Martin Brody (Roy Schneider), and Quint (Robert Shaw). All three present different motivations, backgrounds, and personalities, and you find yourself rooting for the shark to survive just long enough to smash these three into a small cabin and force them to provide delightful interactions. While Schneider's Brody is the anchor of the film, carrying us through the story with the most complete arc, it is Dreyfuss' Quint who steals scenes. An old seafarer hardened by salt air but with a laugh that makes you want to sit in a boat and fish with him, he carries the second half of the film, and not just because he's the one with the boat!

While the second half of the film is built on the chemistry between the three fishermen, the first half relies instead on a feeling of what I like to call, "Frustrating Irony." The feeling you get when you decide to simply not make carnivores in Jurassic Park, to simply not put those snakes on that plane, to simply closing the beaches so a bunch of swimmers do not get eaten by a great white shark. Creature horror loves this feeling, of making the audience feel brilliant for seeing the obvious way to circumvent the threat while filling them with dreadful awareness that the characters in the film will not be making that choice. In Jaws (1975) this feeling is personified by the Mayor, who just simply will not let people stay out of the water. While frustrating, I find this phenomenon to be essential to a successful animal thriller. The boost the audience gets from feeling smarter than the characters lets the often borderline gratuitous deaths slip away from abject horror, and into a justified massacre. This is the feeling that lets you a little bit, deep down, root for the shark, and by extension makes the shark a worthy adversary for our heroes who we can be excited and thrilled to see defeated.

On the technical side, Jaws (1975) is a a masterclass in listening to your editor. The shark, while it looks great for its time and as a practical effect is by default quite cool, does look a little goofy when seen in its entirety for too long. A common story regales how the first cut of the film featured the shark much more prominently, until Spielberg's editor, Verna Fields, suggested they not show quite so much of our fishy foe, and the result is the much more restrained cut we have now. While I may be biased as an editor myself, I for one agree with Verna. Part of what makes Jaws (1975) so thrilling, is that you don't know exactly the shape of your destroyer until it is too late. The cinematography backs this up, with "shark POV" shots peppered throughout, forcing a growing dread as viewers try to guess which legs are gonna get bit next.

Jaws (1975) is not a perfect film, but it is very very close. The first half perhaps overstays its welcome, but this feeling is only so strong as the back half is where the film really sings. A bit dated in the effects department, but visually brilliant from a camera perspective. For every con, a positive. It makes it easy to see how Jaws (1975) could become synonymous with "shark movie," and spawn a number of homages and sequels. So this summer, maybe after you get off the beach, settle in with two of your most interesting friends, rent a boat, and sing a little song while watching this classic flick.

8 out of 10 Barrels (But with a shark this size, you might need a few more!)