Jaws (1975) Movie Review

                   Jaws (1975) is directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss, and it's based off a novel written by Peter Benchley the year before (who also stars as a reporter in the movie). Essentially, the story revolves around a few victims being killed out in the open water by a great white shark, which results in a local police chief arguing over the mayor on closing the beach which would result in losing money for the tourist business due to concerns about the shark, and then it finally leads to three men (the police chief, a professional shark hunter, and a marine biologist) going on a boat to try to trace the shark and kill it.
                  Now, I didn't realize this while watching it, but apparently, some of the footage for the shark is actually real and not special effects. The way the movie blends the footage of mechanical and real life sharks is just seamless. What could've been a fake-looking monster convincingly looks like one creepy bastard of a sea creature. John Williams' brilliant score also helps bring a lot of tension to this menacing shark as it creepily indicates approaching danger.
                  Spielberg also does a great job at making the main three characters as individuals. Roy Scheider as the police chief is the one I identified with the most, as he is clearly afraid of the water and doesn't like swim, and when he says that infamous line, "We're gonna need a bigger boat.", we believe him. Robert Shaw as the shark hunter brings a cheerful exaggeration and amusement to his role, and at one point during the movie, he delivers an interesting monologue about the time the Indianapolis sank, and he was part of one-third of the crew who survived as the other two-thirds have been killed by sharks. Richard Dreyfuss is also brilliant in his role as the marine biologist as he looks young, engaging, and scholarly. It's really inspired casting, as all three of these actors are believable in their roles.
                  Some of the story elements were predictable for me even though this was my first time viewing it. I can't really hold it against this movie though, since this movie was released during a time when certain monster movie cliches weren't as common, but sadly, it slightly took some of the thrill out for me, but thankfully, only slightly.
                  It's really amazing how 40 years ago, this movie held the record for highest-grossing movie of all time, which was then beaten by Stars Wars two years later. It definitely influenced the modern Hollywood summer blockbuster. This spawned off three sequels, but none of them had the same success as the original, which still holds up well today. If you want to watch a good monster movie, have fun! It's a really enjoyable summer classic!
                  I give Jaws (1975) directed by Steven Spielberg a 9 out of 10.