Jaws premiered in theaters on June 20, 1975, and the film industry was never the same. Essentially a slasher movie set on the high seas, many filmmakers wouldn’t dare to shoot such a movie, knowing the challenges that came with it. However, a young, up-and-coming director named Steven Spielberg boldly helmed this adaptation of Peter Benchley’s novel, presenting a suspenseful but heartfelt motion picture unlike anything seen before.
Although Jaws faced numerous challenges from script to screen, Spielberg and his team overcame the odds and delivered the world’s first summer blockbuster. After fifty years, three sequels, and several imitators, no one has come close to replicating the extraordinary magic and success of Spielberg’s oceanic horror adventure. Although stories like Alien and Stranger Things have thrived from drawing influence from Jaws, audiences may never experience another blockbuster quite like Spielberg’s breakout hit.
Jaws could’ve sunk in theaters
Jaws has become infamous for its troubled production. The mechanical sharks designed to portray the movie’s poster beast broke down in the water while the crew filmed at sea. These technical difficulties caused Jaws to go way over budget. Filming lasted 159 days, much longer than initially planned. In fact, Spielberg told EW that the production was so stressful that it left him with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), forcing him to repeatedly revisit Quint’s boat on the Universal Studios lot to process his trauma.
Though the broken shark nearly sank Jaws, Spielberg decided to change tactics and present the shark attacks from the beast’s point of view. This is a shining example of a filmmaker accomplishing so much more with a whole lot less, as it turned Jaws from a hokey monster movie to a Hitchcockian thriller. With John Williams’ score playing in the background of the scenes, this approach ultimately made for some of the most heart-pounding moments in all of cinema.
It became a massive success
Jaws broke new ground with its widespread release and heavy marketing campaign, with the film reportedly debuting in over 400 theaters simultaneously. After the film generated so much hype, Jaws made around $477.9 million in theaters worldwide against its $7 million budget, usurping The Exorcist as the highest-grossing horror movie at the time. The success of Jaws inspired other studios to release more big-budget, high-concept summer blockbusters like it.
Jaws also received considerable praise during awards season. The film won the Academy Awards for Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound. The film received a Best Picture nomination, a rarity among horror films. Though Spielberg had released his first critically acclaimed feature, The Sugarland Express, a year before Jaws, the latter’s success jump-started the young filmmaker’s career. This paved the way for Spielberg to direct many other cinema classics, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, and Schindler’s List.
Jaws transcended and reinvented horror
Jaws doesn’t rely on cheap scares to terrify its audience. By keeping the shark off-screen for most of the film and using props to signify its presence, Spielberg creatively evoked the terror in the unseen, ratcheting up the suspense until the beast finally reared its head. With such gruesome depictions of the shark feeding on its prey, Jaws made an entire generation of people too scared to swim in the water.
While there are plenty of terrifying, visceral moments in this film, Jaws also makes room for lighthearted humor and tender drama, which have become a mainstay of Spielberg’s films. Scenes such as Brody’s son copying him at their house and the Show Me the Way to Go Home sing-along are prime examples of the film’s heart and humanity. There’s also plenty of thrilling action out on the water, with Brody facing the shark one-on-one in an explosive and unforgettable battle of humanity against nature.
The boat was filled with iconic acting
Jaws established many talented actors as household names today. Roy Scheider sold the terror to audiences as Chief Brody, particularly with his delivery of his now-iconic improvised phrase, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Richard Dreyfuss stole the show as the snarky, charming shark expert, Matt Hooper.
However, Robert Shaw made every one of his scenes as Quint just as memorable. His drunken, five-minute monologue about surviving the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis made for the most chilling part of the entire film.
Jaws is a once-in-a-lifetime film
Overall, there are few filmmakers who would want to face the elements that caused so many delays and difficulties on the set of Jaws. Even if one succeeds in making a shark-centric horror film, Jaws set a very high bar to reach in terms of horror and heart with its storytelling. Though the film’s groundbreaking release model may be replicated by countless blockbusters today, that’s precisely why no other film will achieve the kind of innovative success as Jaws.
Jaws is available to stream on Peacock.
