Rebuilding Rob

Today is Labor Day here in the states. Traditionally, it is considered the unofficial end of the summer season. In an interesting turn of events, I decided to watch a nearly 50-year-old movie that ushered in the modern era of summer theatrical blockbusters: the original Jaws – at the end of the summer.

Growing up as a kid in the 80s, Jaws was probably one of the most imitated, most parodied movies in all popular culture at the time. It spawned three sequels, but in an hour before four, five, six, even severance sequels or common place, you would’ve thought that there were 90s jaws movies. In a lot of ways, jaws entered that almost folk hero place of popular culture, like Elvis Presley. Jaws became a parity of itself. Martine ridiculed.

But there wasn’t legitimate sense of terror to jaws when it was released in 1975. The movie cried the tagline “you’ll never go in the water again “and there were people who were terrified to go into lakes, oceans, or even public swimming pools!

It’s always interesting to go back and watch an older movie and look at how acting styles, cinematography, and even special effects have changed over the years. Jaws, of course, as always been a movie where even upon its release people would say “the shark looks fake“. But the look of the shark was never the point. Just as people aren’t afraid of the dark, but rather afraid of what might be in the dark, Jaws has always been more about the impending fear of a shark attack, rather than the actual sight of the great white shark.

Roy Scheider stars is Brody, Chief of the Amity Police Department. He is new in town, for his first summer, having come from New York City. When a young girl is mysteriously killed by a shark, Brody immediately makes the decision to close the beaches. From the get-go, he’s immediately burn into conflict with the mayor who, of course doesn’t want to do anything to discourage her from spending money in his beach town.

Oceanologist, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) offers his assistance to help solve the mystery of the girls untimely death. A shark enthusiast, he comes to the conclusion that this was a shark attack.

As the attacks, local shark hunter, Quint (Robert Shaw) makes an offer to capture or kill the shark. Together, he, Hooper and Brody set out on Quint‘s boat to find and kill the great white shark.

Three men make an odd triumvirate: Brody, the police officer of a seaside town who hates going into water; Cooper, the wealthy shark researcher from academia and Quint the salty seaside shark Hunter ultimately find common ground before their confrontation with the great white shark. 

As I mentioned earlier, the shark looks as fake as ever. But then, Jaws never was about a realistic portrayal of a great white shark. On the contrary, the greatest fear in this movie comes from the unknown. Those moments just before the shark makes his attack.

FINAL TAKE: recommended.

I was surprised at how well Jaws still held up. I remember seeing countless reruns of the movie on both cable and network TV over the years, but it has been probably 40 years since I have watched any of it. More than that, this is the first time I’ve ever seen the movie from beginning to end in one sitting. I don’t know that I would recommend it to younger audiences, unless they’re able to play some movie and it’s proper historical contacts. Otherwise, the rubber shark will immediately take them out of it.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

• The Temptation of the Out: Utility vs. Visibility
• Rob Reviews: Tron Ares (2025)
• Sunday is borrowed time
• Teacher Armor and the Saturday Clearing
• The Extra Day: A Ten-Year Memory

The article “Rob‘s retro review: jaws 1975“ first appeared on Rebuilding Rob