Film review for JAWS 1975 - Coursework Example

Jaws 1975: a Film Review of the English Name of the Concerned Professor November 9, 2011 Jaws 1975: a Film Review Jaws was a horror-thriller movie released in 1975. Jaws was directed by the ace director Steven Spielberg, and was based on a novel of the same name written by Peter Benchley. The star cast of Jaws comprised of Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Murray Hamilton and Lorraine Garry.

The movie was about the endeavour of the police chief (Roy Scheider) of Amity Island, a fictional town, to protect beachgoers from a man-eating shark. Sadly, the police chief’s cause comes in conflict with the town council’s intentions to promote tourism by keeping the beach open. However, eventually the things go out of hand, leading to many killings and mayhem, until the man-eating shark is killed by the police chief Brody. The movie is actually a gripping sequence of exciting and nerve wrecking scenes.

One of the scenes in the movie that evokes intense excitement is the one in which the police chief Brody, a shark hunter Quint and the marine biologist Hooper try to hook the man-eater shark, when suddenly an enormous great white shark emerges from behind the boat, imbuing the audience with much anticipation and fear. The other memorable scene in the movie is the climax when the trio Quint, Brody and Hooper are shown struggling helplessly against the big shark. This scene keeps the viewers hooked with an unsettling anticipation and a risky aura of expectation, when eventually Brody saves the day by his presence of mind.

There are many characters in the story that sustain and maintain the tension inherent in the storyline with their specific peculiarities and character traits. Not to mention, the most important character in the story is that of the police chief Brody (Roy Scheider), who with his inherent premonition of the impending doom, keeps the audience stuck to the edge of their seats. The other interesting character is that of the marine biologist Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), who throughout the movie, tries to balance the surrounding atmosphere of anxiety and suspense by bringing in some scientific explanation pertaining to the dark force targeting the town.

It goes without saying that the immense box office success of the Jaws could be attributed to its extraordinary ability to keep the plot tout and the action enervating by its mind boggling tension, above normal levels of horrid anticipation, deep and creepy suspense, a disturbing aura of anxiety, and an intimidating sense of anticipation (Nowell-Smith, 1997, p. 515). However, the one ethical weakness of the movie is that it projects the sharks as an animal in a very wrong and faulty way (Carroll, 1990, p. 37). The movie definitely vitiated the people’s views regarding sharks.

To put it simply, Jaws definitely qualifies to solicit the top place in anybody’s list of ‘must to see’ contemporary movies. It is indeed a masterpiece of modern cinematography. I will conclusively recommend this movie to all my cinema loving friends. ReferencesCarroll, Noel. (1990). The Philosophy of Horror. New York: Routledge. Nowell, Smith. (1997). The Oxford History of World Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press.