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Starring: | Roy Schneider, Robert Shaw & Richard Dreyfuss |
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| Directed By: | Steven Spielberg | |
| Written By: | Peter Benchley & Carl Gottlieb |
If you were to ask anyone to hum the theme tune from any well-known American film, chances are they'll hum Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back or the chilling music from Jaws. Well done John Williams. But it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Mr. Williams' music would send an entire generation of film-loving swimmers screaming to the shore. Rarely does the combination of visual effects and background music create such a dramatic effect in both the conscious and sub-conscious minds of the audience. They say that if you notice the background score, then the composer failed in his job. Jaws proved them wrong.
But on to the film. Based on Peter Benchley's best selling book, Jaws is a drama, a thriller, an action movie. It's a suspenseful, dramatic, thrilling, action film. With great characters. Simply put, Jaws is a fantastic movie, one of Spielberg's finest. It has stood the test of time and become a timeless classic.
The premise of the film is incredibly simple: Shark attacks swimmer, shark attacks boy on inflatable water bed thing, shark attacks man, people get pissed off and go after shark, shark gets pissed off and so on... This alone doesn't make the film, a rubber fish and a boat aren't that interesting. Instead, the suspense and tension, together with the characterisation make for the original summer blockbuster. Where have things gone wrong since?
I try not to give too much away in these reviews (cue criticism), so that kind of limits my options on what to tell you.
Not yet complete...