Jaws

 2/4

Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton

Rated PG (probably for Terror/Violence and Gore)

In many ways, Steven Spielberg's 1975 film changed movies forever.  It gave birth to the summer blockbuster.  It was the first film to cross the $100 million box office threshold.  It launched the career of Steven Spielberg.  It slandered sharks as a species (Peter Benchley, whose book served as the loose inspiration for the film, regretted writing the book).  And it has influenced film ever since.  The impact that "Jaws" had on the film industry cannot be underestimated.

Looking back at "Jaws" nearly a half century after it was unleashed to the public, it's hard to imagine this film having such an impact.  It has not aged well.  Everything that "Jaws" does has not only been done numerous times in the years since then, but often much better too.  Compared to other adventure thrillers like Spielberg's own "Jurassic Park," it feels tame and a bit boring.

The story is simple, which is the correct choice.  Action films rarely rely on plot; too much of it and the film's pace will be weighed down.  Martin Brody (Scheider) is the new sheriff of the seaside resort town of Amity.  The body of a girl, or what's left of it, has just washed up on the sandy shore.  The consensus is that it was a shark attack, so Brody elects to close the beaches.  That doesn't sit will with the Mayor (Hamilton) or the townsfolk, who are relying on the influx of visitors to keep their economy afloat.  But as the bodies keep piling up, no one can ignore the carnage any longer.  Now it's up to Brody, a shark expert named Matt Hooper (Dreyfuss) and an old sea dog named Quint (Shaw) to find and kill the shark.

If there is one positive quality to the film, it's that "Jaws" ironed out the action movie template.  An unstoppable villain, unshakable heroes, colorful supporting characters and increasing odds.  Other films have tweaked or refined the formula, but most stick to the bare bones skeleton.  An astute viewer can see its influence in a wide array of movies from "Vertical Limit" to even "Brotherhood of the Wolf."  The best filmmakers bury the influences in their vision, but the architecture is still there.

It can be said that the acting is solid, but the problem is that none of the three main actors has much of a personality to inhabit.  Brody, Matt and Quint are hollow shells, not fully written people, and that is a huge impediment to the audience identifying with them.  Roy Scheider is a solid everyman, lacking the movie star presence or matinee good looks needed to dominate a film.  Richard Dreyfuss digs into his bag of tricks to give us an energetic nerd.  I'd like to be able to say that Robert Shaw does more than give birth to an action movie stock character, but it's virtually impossible to understand anything he says.  I never felt one way or another about him.

Although "Jaws" jumpstarted his career, this is not Steven Spielberg's best work.  It has his "personality," so to speak, and gift for showmanship, but that's it.  It's the work of a budding artist finding his voice and style, and with all the rough edges that come with it.  The editing lacks urgency and his directing choices lack immediacy.  It's hard to identify with anyone in this film, visually or otherwise, and so we watch it at a distance.  The film also has a wavering tone and lapses in intelligence.  One minute they're tracking the shark, the next they're getting drunk and singing songs.

I hate to sound spoiled or close-minded by criticizing a nearly 50 year old movie for its special effects, but "Jaws" places a huge reliance on them (it certainly can't count on the writing), and there's no denying that they just don't hold up.  Spielberg made the brilliant decision to hold off showing the shark to make it seem more scary, but the action scenes lack the tension and energy needed to generate much in the way of excitement or dread.  They're not nearly as violent or frantic as they need to be.  After watching movies like "Alien" or "Anaconda," they look cheesy and a little silly.  I'll concede that "Alien" had the luxury of using a human actor and "Anaconda" had nearly 30 years of special effects to rely on, but even taking that into consideration, "Jaws" isn't particularly exciting or scary.

"Jaws" is infamous for the difficulties it faced during production.  The mechanical sharks frequently shorted out and rarely worked (the salt in the water wrecked havoc with the controls).  Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss couldn't stand each other, and Shaw's alcoholism made him a liability on set.  Quint's boat started sinking and it was feared that footage was ruined (it wasn't).  Author and co-writer Peter Benchley was thrown off set for objecting to the climax and weighing it down with subplots like use of the mafia.  Like "Apocalypse Now," it was so troubled that the fact it was completed is something of a miracle.

Although I am in the minority in panning "Jaws," I will concede to some of its strengths.  The film isn't devoid of tension and has one good shock.  John Williams's legendary, Oscar-winning score deserves the accolades that it gets.  And the opening sequence is genuinely unsettling.

But "Jaws" isn't the complete package its reputation suggests.  It's not scary enough, it's not all that interesting, and the special effects have become an impediment to immersion.