Jaws poster
Review

Jaws 1975

Directed by Steven Spielberg · 124 mins · 2,437 views

4.4 Letterboxd 3.91(1,807,769)
Ratings J S M M L P D K J K

Synopsis

When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled shark hunter embark on a desperate quest to kill the beast before it strikes again.

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Reviews (21)

  1. J
    Josh Lewis 8 月 23, 2026

    A perfect engine, “an eating machine” that seamlessly aligns its fantastically anxious and frightening giant man-eating shark premise (by a writer who clearly grew up around islanders and fisherman) with a young hot-shot director eager to realize it as a merging of things he loves: Old Hollywood monster/disaster movies, Hitchcock suspense thrillers, camaraderie-driven men-on-a-mission character pieces, etc. Everything you’ll ever need to know about what works about this and how much of a nightmare it was to make has been documented ad nauseum already, but every time I rewatch I’m still astonished by it like I’m watching for the first time. First and foremost how perfect the casting of the central trio is (and their very real, combatively charismatic chemistry):…

    4,476 15
  2. S
    san 8 月 23, 2026

    Fuck them kids. — The great white shark, probably

    7,935 7
  3. M
    MovieBoy 8 月 23, 2026

    Remember how every educated person in this movie warns the mayor about the imminent threat of mass death, but the mayor doesn’t want to hurt the economy by closing the beaches like he logically should? So he opens the beaches and more people die??? Haha that was crazy, good thing it’s just a movie and something like that would never happen in real life!

    4,488 2
  4. M
    mia lee vicino 8 月 23, 2026

    FINALLY i can understand that spongebob episode CLAMS on a deeper level!! and also the lifeguard episode. and also the alaskan bull worm episode. and also every episode

    4,504 13
  5. L
    Lucy 8 月 23, 2026

    you know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation

    7,001 15
  6. P
    porksweats 8 月 23, 2026

    you think brody and hooper ever explored each others bodies

    4,091 31
  7. D
    demi adejuyigbe 8 月 23, 2026

    the great white nope

    4,058 30
  8. K
    ksenija 8 月 23, 2026

    if we’re being honest? that shark did nothing wrong. okay so she ate a few people. and what about it? she’s just a bit rowdy

    5,612 18
  9. J
    James (Schaffrillas) 8 月 23, 2026

    Reminds me of Shark Tale (2004)

    9,676 54
  10. K
    Karsten 8 月 23, 2026

    glad sharks aren’t real

    19,812
  11. 𝑀

    A tragic tale of a lost and distressed fish hunted down by an aquaphobic police chief, a disgraced oceanographer trying to regain some of his tarnished reputation and a nasty drunk with a fetish for bowlegged women. All of them egged on by a corrupt mayor trying to find someone or something to blame for his small islands dwindling tourist industry and his poor taste in fashion. I wish it had a happy ending, but they even go so far as to insult the fishes mother before finally commiting the coup de grace. Shameful stuff. Five stars.

    6,756 27
  12. M
    Matt Singer 8 月 23, 2026

    The tragic story of a bunch of alcoholics who hunt down and murder a fish for the crime of being really hungry.

    16,083 1
  13. F
    FilmeRioD 7 月 8, 2025

    Jaws is more than just a shark movie, it’s a masterclass in suspense and storytelling. Steven Spielberg turns a simple premise into an unforgettable cinematic experience, using tension and suggestion rather than relying on constant visuals of the shark.
    **My favorite movie of all!**

  14. M
    MTV 3 月 27, 2025

    Neat. It scared me a little bit but I held on tight. And the thing is it’s a shark! Not a robot! **_735/1000._**

  15. T
    tmdb93836550 10 月 3, 2024

    This is one of my favourite films ever and I’ve loved it since I was a child, everything from John Williams iconic shark theme to the chilling opening scene. Jaws is nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece.

  16. C
    CinemaSerf 3 月 27, 2022

    I saw this recently on the big screen for the first time since I originally went as a child in 1975 and if anything, it has got better. John Williams’ score and Robert Shaw’s “Quint” combine to far outweigh the “rubber” shark scenes. Unlike “The Meg” this film conveys a real sense of tension; coupled with some good old-fashioned scariness. It also dips it’s toe into the science and behaviour of an apex predator, which we may consider ourselves to be. Take away our technical accoutrement and we are clearly the minnows…

  17. R
    r96sk 2 月 18, 2022

    A very good, and evidently a very influential, film from 1975.

    That release year doesn’t even sound correct, the film holds up extremely well in that regard – I knew already, but if I didn’t and I had guessed the year I wouldn’t have said anything earlier than 1990. This alone raises the film up ½* for me – it’s impressively made.

    I don’t, personally, think the story is as perfect as the aforementioned. Don’t get me wrong it’s all entertaining, but I feel it peaks with the shark terrorising the town as a whole – when it’s down to just the trio, I didn’t enjoy it quite as much. Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss do give notable performances, though.

    Going back to my initial point, the effects for the shark are incredible. I kinda wanted to simply see more of just the shark, even if we do get more of the great white towards the conclusion. Heck, the film from the shark’s prospective would’ve been 5*. Lastly, that John Williams score is sensational – I think every film fan, whether they’ve seen it or not, knows that famous theme.

    Almost 47 years after its release, I’ve finally seen ‘Jaws’. I don’t honestly think the story/the characters itself are anything out of this world, but there’s so much to admire and praise from a technical aspect. A marvel, really.

  18. J
    JPV852 7 月 19, 2020

    Solid shark-thriller that still holds up well with each subsequent viewings. Love the cast especially Robert Shaw and was entertained even during some of the slower moments. Not a favorite of mine or amongst Spielberg’s resume, but a lot of fun. **4.25/5**

  19. P
    P Rip 3 月 22, 2017

    Much like the shark itself, the movie starts slowly, deep down in the depths before coming to the surface to explode in pure sensationalism.

    Jaws is one of those rare exceptions where high-brow art meets fun entertainment. At the time of its making, however, simply keeping its head above water was the most the cast and crew were hoping for.

    But Spielberg had created something special. During production, no one saw it–I’m not sure Spielberg himself saw it, but it was there. I think it was really editor Verna Fields who saw it and put it together.

    Jaws begins the way most primal fears begin: someone is alone, in the dark, in an alien environment, and is being attacked from some unknown entity. People remark today how Jaws worked so well, that it’s kept them afraid of the ocean for years. I disagree. I think it’s because we are scared of the ocean is why Jaws works so well. The opening scene of the young girl being savaged in the black nothingness that is the night ocean is terrifying because it preys on primal fears; it doesn’t create them.

    Next we’re introduced to our cast of characters: There’s Police Chief Martin Brody–an everyman with a fear of the water–and his wife, Ellen. There’s Brody’s loyal deputy Len Hendricks (mysteriously named “Jeff” in the sequel). Then, of course, there’s the other side. There is the crooked mayor Larry Vaughan, and his two toadies newspaper editor Harry Meadows and coroner Carl Santos. After Brody and Hendricks find evidence of a hungry shark off the coast of the resort town of Amity, they do the sensible thing and start closing up the beaches. The mayor, seeing dwindling dollar signs, convinces Meadows and Santos to back him, and together they confront Brody and put the kibosh on his beach closing plan.

    In an era where the primitive special effects technology gave us a shark that looked like a pool toy, it became essential that the shark not be the focal point of the film. And while a fin here and a barrel there do work wonders, it’s only because the shark is far from the only villain in the movie. To have credibility, we have to have a human villain. And that is where Vaughan comes in.

    After Vaughan’s cavalier “it-can’t-happen-again” attitude blows up in his face, Brody brings in the book smart, but decidedly out-of-his-element marine biologist Matt Hooper. Hooper tells Brody everything he and we, the audience, already know: The shark is out there; it’s hungry; it’s eating people; and it will continue to do so unless it is killed.

    After a disastrous Fourth of July celebration that should have gotten Vaughan impeached, Brody and Hooper join forces with Quint, a grizzled fisherman with a personal vendetta against sharks. The movie then switches from its horror and drama elements and becomes something of an adventure, foreshadowing Spielberg’s work on films like Raiders of the Lost Ark. Even John Williams’ score begins to conjure up images of Errol Flynn-style swashbuckling. The adventure almost seems fun.

    And that is when the shark, previously only a shadow, fin, or plot point referenced by dialogue, takes center stage. The movie shifts gears further near the end, going from adventure to a full on monster movie.

    The build up is slow, relying on showing us the results of the shark’s presence rather than the shark itself. This creates enough fear and credibility so that by the time the big, rubbery toy shark is commanding the screen, we’re afraid of it. It’s already been established as a monster.

    The movie’s pacing, dialogue and acting are all perfect, creating a strong enough foundation on which a silly, albeit terrifying, plot rests. By the time the shark is sinking boats and eating shark cages, Spielberg has made us by into it that he could have had the shark blasting off for the moon and we would have accepted it. And that is how and why Jaws works.

  20. C
    Cat Ellington 2 月 10, 2017

    Is it safe to go back in the water? …

    Steven Spielberg got ahold of the incredible Peter Benchley-penned novel about a giant, carnivorous Great White (dubbed “Jaws”) who swims the ocean waters off a fictional resort town, preying on both the Island’s locals and its visitors alike, and adaptated, for the silver screen, what would become one of the most terrifying American made thrillers to ever be released in the worldwide cinema. Exceptional filmmaking! And members of Spielberg’s crew had the nerve to maliciously “mock” Jaws, by referring to it as “Flaws”, during the filming process? All because of a few “glitches” in the mechanical shark? Ha! Who’s laughing now?

    Great screenwriting by Benchley and Gottlieb. Great composition by the legendary John Williams. Great direction by Spielberg. Phenomenal performances by Scheider, Shaw, and Dreyfuss. Great supporting cast. Just…magnificent. Jaws is a magnificent film. A true classic.

  21. J
    John Chard 8 月 28, 2014

    Jaws.

    A man eating shark is terrorising the holiday island of Amity. Police chief Martin Brody, shark hunter Quint and marine biologist Matt Hooper set sail in the hope of killing the great white monster.

    Jaws is responsible for many things, it’s responsible for propelling director Steven Spielberg’s career into the stratosphere, it was responsible for a downturn in the package holiday trade, and it was responsible for shaping the summer blockbuster release practice’s. There are many other things which one doesn’t need to bore you with, it’s just true to say that Jaws is firmly ensconced in movie history, if one hasn’t seen it then one surely knows about it, it is, even today, part of popular culture.

    But is it any good? Is it worthy of a long standing reputation as one of the greatest monster movies of all time? Hell yes it is, one or two easily overlooked flaws aside, it busted the box office (world wide) and tapped into a primal fear that resides in the majority of mankind, the unseen that resides in the sea.

    Jaws sets out its marker right from the start with a truly shocking and attention grabbing opening sequence, from then on in Spielberg (learning from Hitchcock for sure) tweaks the tension to have the audience living on their nerves, even as character building (by way of Brody’s family arc) sedates the pace, we just know that it’s all relative to an extension of fear and terror that is around the next corner. After the first victims’ remains are found, Brody glances out at the ocean, Spielberg perfectly framing the shot to say so much about what we are about to be witness’ to. Jolts and shocks pop up from time to time to help build the unease, whilst Spielberg makes the audience wait before we even see what it is that so coldly and efficiently destroys man. Then it’s the claustrophobic switch as our brave protagonists are out at sea on Quint’s boat, unaware that the giant menace is now hunting them, eyes as black as death itself.

    So many great scenes linger for all time in the memory, the entrance of Quint is a hum dinger, a mournful widow reducing Brody to a stunned realism, the Indianappolis monologue, the bigger boat! Just some of the reasons why I personally love cinema so much. The score from John Williams is as effective as any for the genre and Robert Hoyt’s sound team’s work furthers the unfolding dread. The cast are superb and uniformly excellent, managing to cast aside technical problems (and genuine resentments at times) to portray this story with verve and a genuine depth of feeling. Yet Roy Scheider (Brody), Robert Shaw (Quint) and Richard Dreyfuss (Hooper) were far from from original choices, Charlton Heston was wanted for the role of Brody, Sterling Hayden and Lee Marvin were both mooted for Quint, and John Voight was Spielberg’s preferred choice for Hooper. Whilst Jaws author (and co screen writer here) Peter Benchley was heading for the top by asking for Newman, Redford and McQueen!! Imagine that!

    Still it all turned out well in the end because Jaws stands the test of time as one of the best films of its type. No amount of complaining about continuity and a rough looking mechanical shark will ever dim its appeal, even as I revisited it recently for the hundredth time I still got tingles all over my body. So file it alongside King Kong in the pantheon of Monster Movie Masterpieces. 10/10 always, now go enjoy your dip in the ocean.

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R Roy Scheider Brody
R Robert Shaw Quint
R Richard Dreyfuss Hooper
L Lorraine Gary Ellen Brody
M Murray Hamilton Vaughn
C Carl Gottlieb Meadows
J Jeffrey Kramer Hendricks
S Susan Backlinie Chrissie
J Jonathan Filley Cassidy
T Ted Grossman Estuary Victim
C Chris Rebello Michael Brody
J Jay Mello Sean Brody
L Lee Fierro Mrs. Kintner
J Jeffrey Voorhees Alex Kintner
C Craig Kingsbury Ben Gardner
P Phil Murray Mr. Taft
R Robert Nevin Medical Examiner
P Peter Benchley Interviewer
F Fritzi Jane Courtney Mrs. Taft (uncredited)
D David Engelbach Research Assistant (uncredited)
Director Steven Spielberg
Writer Carl Gottlieb, Peter Benchley
Producer David Brown, Richard D. Zanuck
Editor Verna Fields
Original Music John Williams
Sound Robert L. Hoyt, John R. Carter, Thomas E. Allen, Sr., George Fredrick, William Griffith, Roger Heman Jr., Franklin Jones Jr., Earl Madery, Colin C. Mouat, Dennis C. Salcedo, John Stacy, Roger Sword, James Troutman
Special Effects Robert A. Mattey, Roy Arbogast, Tim Baar, Johnny Borgese, Jack DeBron, Gerald Endler, Richard O. Helmer, Ted Koerner, Hal Millar, Charles Spurgeon, Richard Stutsman, Eddie Surkin, Michael Wood, Paul Wurtzel
Stunts Hubie Kerns Jr., Frank James Sparks, Dick Warlock, Ted Grossman, Denise Cheshire, Richard E. Butler
Synopsis
When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled shark hunter embark on a desperate quest to kill the beast before it strikes again.
Director
Steven Spielberg
Writer
Carl Gottlieb, Peter Benchley
Studio
The Zanuck/Brown Company, Universal Pictures
Country
USA
Language
English
Year
1975
Runtime
124 mins

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