Shark Week: Jaws

Welcome to motherfucking Shark Week

It's Shark Week and we're kicking it off with a classic but not just any old classic, the classic. Jaws. The film that started it all. Anyone would recognize that famous John Williams "dun-dun... dun-dun" score without a moments hesitation and the movie poster is no less recognizable. Despite that, with all of the knock-offs, sequels and spoofs, it can be pretty easy to forget the simple ingenuity that made the original so thrilling. If you strip it down to it's core, all Jaws really is is a big-budget monster movie, kind of like Alien. A killer shark goes around picking off innocent swimmers and soon there's only three men and a boat that stand in the way of Jaws and the beaches.

I would say that Jaws is a pretty all-around perfect film and actually consider it to be one of my favorite movies of all time. I admit, I was too young to see it in theatres during it's original release but I still saw it at a fairly young age so there's a bit of nostalgia clinging to it for me. Of course, this film doesn't need to bank on nostalgia in order for anyone to realize it's a fantastic milestone of cinema history.

Like I said, the concept is pretty simple. The first act of the film is all just the set up, the shark goes around killing. Contrary to what popular belief may hold, Jaws actually has a fairly low body count (I think it's four), so the film relies mostly on suspense to 'reel' the audience in (pun-intended). Once all that is out of the way, the real movie kicks in when all three of the main protagonists set sail to capture the bastard, dead or alive. The three acting greats are Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfus and I certainly don't need this Jaws movie poster situated on the ceiling above me to remember that. All three are defined and stand-out from each other. One of the best scenes in the movie depicts the three talking about how they got their sea-scars which then shifts into Robert Shaw talking about a horrifying experience he had with a shark back in the navy and then shifts again into all of them singing. It's all in just one scene and it's great acting to say the least.

It's one of those movies where you keep waiting for the monster and then it comes when you least expect it. The tension just builds and builds right up until the very end. I remember that when I first saw the film, I stood up and cheered at the climax. If you haven't seen Jaws yet, I ask you: what are you doing with your life?