Jaws

Jaws (1975)
Director: Steven Speilberg
Cast: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
Memorable Line: "You're going to need a bigger boat."

Jaws that started the summer blockbuster was initially, for me, a film I avoided because I thought it was a “sheep” film. Sheep films are ones that everyone has to see. So, I didn’t see it until four years after its release when it was re-released.

It has become one of favorite movies. This is Speilberg before he learned his bag of tricks and was a more raw and authentic storyteller than the rut he evolved into for nearly a decade. Now, it was a comfortable rut and not an entirely unenjoyable rut, but still a rut in which his considerable skills languished.

Jaws takes landlubber, Chief Brody, (Roy Scheider) and has him face-off with a man-eating sharking preying on the islanders the chief is sworn to protect. At his side is a shark obsessed oceanographer (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter (Robert Shaw). The trio make an unlikely team, fighting among themselves and eventually bonding, as they stalk the shark only to have the almost supernatural creature turn the tables on them.

The performances by the three lead men stand out and the film almost seems like the most collaborative effort of Speilberg’s early films. Unlike many of Speilberg's subsequent movies, the actors seem to break through the Speilberg's style and bring their character's to life, making them real and that's what set's Jaws apart.