Jaws in detail
JAWS was the box-office sensation of 1975 and the number-one hit movie of the decade until 1977's STAR WARS, at a time when the success or failure of a few blockbusters began to determine the course of the entire motion picture industry. Similar to several of the other huge hit movies of the 1970's, JAWS began as a novel, which was then sold to a film company prior to its publication. Yet JAWS remains solidly a director's film from the first ominous chords of John Williams' moody score. In this, his second directed film, Steven Spielberg demonstrates remarkable ability to develop a standard scary story into a sweeping adventure with the power to capture audiences and hold them in breathless suspense. The plot of JAWS is deceptively simple. A marauding Great White Shark of tremendous size begins attacking bathers in the waters off Amity Township, a New England seaside resort. Local Sheriff Brody (Roy Scheider) believes the warning of young icthyologist Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) that the killings will continue, but yields to the pres
Examples from them abound: the underwater stalking of victims is reminiscent of scenes in THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954); the shot in which Brody sets up his defense communications on the holiday beach is a direct copy of a scene in FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956); and the subjective smash-zoom shot of Brody's shocked face as he witnesses a shark attack comes from Hitchcock's VERTIGO(1958). Crusty shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) is retained by the Township to pursue and destroy the menace and sets out in his boat Orca, accompanied by Hooper and Brody. These adaptations of past scenes and devices become creatively new under the direction of Steven Spielberg, and JAWS stands independently as a superior adventure-thriller. Richard Dreyfuss carries most of the comedy yet portrays a character whose professional knowledge as an ichthyologist helps the viewer to participate better in the strategies between man and beast being battled out on the high seas. Compounding the peril, Quint turns the hunt into a personal vendetta, restraining Hooper from using "scientific" means to kill the creature and finally wrecking the boat's radio when Brody tries to summon aid. When the monster shark strikes again, the beaches are finally closed. Brody love affair was dropped for the film version. Just when the punch line of Brody's humor disarms the audience, the shark attacks, and the jolt is twice as strong. No matter when or where one anticipates the shark's next appearance, it always bursts at the actors from an unexpected direction and at an unexpected moment; yet Spielberg and Academy Award-winning film editor Verna Fields avoid lame devices such as shock cuts or sound track stingers. Also audience-accepted are extremes of character actions (for example, only after the fact does Quint's radio-smashing episode seem the result of plot necessity rather than genuine character motivation). The high state of tension created throughout the film overrides a breach or two of logic (such as the fact that Hooper's shark-killer kit contains sure-fire devices whose uses are never considered). Although its plot borrows heavily from MOBY DICK, JAWS is not exploitive. The shark cripples the Orca -- Hooper diappears, apparently gobbled up like bait in a shark cage, and Quint is eaten alive as the terrified Brody looks on. JAWS is humane in that the audience is encouraged to care for every victim, and Spielberg's sympathetic direction ensures the viewer's direct involvement in each attack.
Common topics in this essay:
Brody Guilt-ridden,
Verna Fields,
Robert Shaw's,
STAR WARS,
Richard Dreyfuss,
Steven Spielberg,
Fourth July,
FRENCH CONNECTION,
DICK JAWS,
Ne York,
monster shark,
shark attack,
steven spielberg,
richard dreyfuss,
roy scheider,
sound track,
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Acceptance Essays
