There have been many shark movies in the past 35 years, but there is only one true shark movie and that's the one that started it all - Jaws.
I'm watching it right now, and as always when I watch it I'm amazed at its brilliance.
No shark movie after it came near its brilliance. For me, there will only ever be one Jaws. The sequals, entertaining though they may be, especially number 3, don't travel in the same league. Not even close! Jaws is a piece of movie history. Steven Spielberg created something truly amazing. There has never been anything like it since. Other directors may try to assimilate Spielberg but they don't even come close
For me, this movie is like a part of my childhood. I didn't have very stereotypical parents. My dad was absent a lot because he was in the military and my mom let me watch horror movies from the time I was 7 years old. Jaws was our favourite. We almost constantly rented the Jaws movies. We had one of those old Beta video players. We were the first ones on the block to have a VCR and you could almost always find either Jaws 1 or Jaws 2 at our place. I loved Jaws, and I could never get enough of it. I could watch it over and over again, still can.
I could never bare to watch to the part where Quint gets eating inch by inch by the shark. First it's his feet that are in the shark's mouth, then his legs, then his waist and then his torso, until we only see his head with blood sipping out through the corners of his mouth while he screams in agony. I still can't watch that part and I never will. I also can't bare the part where Alex Kintner gets eaten. When I was a kid I wouldn't bare to hear his screams underwater because it made me feel like it was me being eaten. I still can't watch it. I don't like the actual attacks and the blood and dying, I just like the building up to the attacks and the way Spielberg created it. By hiding the shark from the audience and just allowing the audience to see things from the point of view of the shark he made all the more scarier.
It's not just the building up to the attacks though, it's everything about the movie, the music, the dialogue, the characters, everything is just perfect.
I just wish I had been able to watch it in the theaters when it first came out. I can imagine that watching it in a theatre would be amazing.
3 comments:
I've lost count of the number of times I've watched Jaws over the years.
It's a film that's got everything and I think it benefits by not having the special effects that are so prevelant in films today.
The build up of tension and the quality of the acting is superb and Roberts Shaw's USS Indianapolis monologue is one of my favourite scenes of all time.
You should do more movie related posts Linda because I really enjoyed this one.
Same here! Jaws is one of the best films there is. It's a work of genious. I absolutely agree that today's movies have too many special effects and I think also that they push it too far when it comes to action and plot. The more simple and realistic is much more effective. It's amazing that filmmakers haven't learnt anything over the years. There are exceptions to this of course. There are some brilliant contemporary movies but when it comes to this genre, suspense, animal horror etc the past directors really knew their stuff and seemed to understand that sometimes understated is better. I love that Robert Shaw scene too, I heard that he actually improvised a lot of that.
You will definitely see some more movie posts from me since that is a passion.
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