Jaws

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

Rating: 9 out of 10, I finally added this superb movie to my collection and was reminded again of Spielberg’s early genius. The tension he builds for the first half of the movie when you don’t even see the shark is palatable and makes the first true sighting that much more terrifying. The musical score is probably the most evocative in the history of cinema gets a big assist with the terror. The relationship he establishes between Scheider, Dreyfuss, and Shaw on the boat defines a “guys’ night out” comradery which then turns on a dime with the recounting of the Indianapolis disaster. The mechanical shark is kind of quaint by today’s CGI standards, its even missing its whole tail in one scene but this movie still works on so many levels. I was afraid to swim in even a pool after I saw this the first time and now it will take weeks to get Quint’s ditty-  “Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies, Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain” out of my mind.

MVP:  Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody balancing small town politics, a fear of water, and a humongous shark