One of my favorite moments in "Jaws" lasts only about two seconds. Literally, if you blink, you miss it. Brody (Roy Schieder), the police chief in a small island resort town, has found a dead girl on the beach. With a strong suspicion that it was a shark attack, he heads to the hardware store to pick up materials he can use to make up some "Beaches Closed" signs. He picks up some posterboard and paint, then goes to a bucket of paintbrushes. He pulls one brush out too quickly, and the entire bucket falls over, spilling all of the brushes. It happens too fast for Brody to do anything about it, and he has a rather familiar look of surprise and disgust on his face.

This is one of director Steven Spielberg's great filmmaking secrets, one of the things that distinguishes him from many of the "automatic pilot" type of directors that currently infest Hollywood . His greatest and biggest movies -- "Close Encounters", "E.T.", "Poltergeist", even "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" -- are populated by central characters who are uniquely regular people. They spill things, they bump into walls, they type with two fingers, they talk in the background about things that relate only to routine matters. They are endowed with such a degree of ordinariness that when they are faced with the fantasy aspect of the movie (aliens, ghosts, snakes, etc.), it seems all that much scarier, wondrous and/or funny. It seems more real.

Chief Brody is probably my favorite character from a Spielberg movie, a man who -- after the shark claims its second victim -- is torn between his duty to the public's safety and pressure from the Mayor, a creature of pure politics who is ready and willing to sacrifice a few citizens for the economic well-being of his town. The July 4th weekend is just around the corner, and the town depends on the tourist dollars usually spent on that weekend to sustain it throughout the rest of the year. The lovely beaches appear to be the biggest source of revenue -- hence the mayor's reluctance to close them.

After the shark strikes a third time, the mayor sees the light, and Brody sets off into the ocean with Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), a wealthy shark hunter, and Quint (Robert Shaw), a crusty, eccentric old fisherman who wants to kill the beast and hang its choppers on the wall. Their boat trip takes up the last third of the movie, and it's the best part. These three completely different personalities constantly clash in funny and penetrating ways as they drive ever closer to their prey.

My favorite part of the movie is a priceless male-bonding scene in which Quint and Hooper, who are usually at each other's throats, sit in the galley and compare various battle scars over a bottle of wine ("Look here - Thresher Shark - bit right through my wetsuit"). Brody simply looks on during most of this exchange, but at one point pulls his shirt up slightly and looks at his waist where -- something must have happened, but he doesn't say what. This scene would be golden enough, but Spielberg goes one better: the dinner conversation leads to a great moment in which Quint recalls a tragic incident from his WWII days. Shaw emotes volumes, without seeming to try, as he tells of the sinking of his naval vessel, the U.S.S. Indianapolis, and the subsequent death of half the crew by a school of sharks (an event that actually happened in 1945). Watch for the part when Quint says, " The thing about a shark -- it's got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When it comes at you it doesn't seem to be livin'... Until he bites you, and those black eyes roll over white." This line undoubtedly provokes more chills than anything in your average slasher flick.

Quint knows of where he speaks. As they pursue the shark, the hunters eventually become the prey, with the shark seemingly able to predict their every move and foil it. Quint himself seems to be slowly driven insane by the chase (an obvious bow to Captain Ahab from "Moby Dick"). After Quint and Hooper lose their perspective battles with the beast, it's up to Brody to face off against the twin demons of the shark and his own paralyzing fear of water.

"Jaws" is one of those few "perfect" movies for me, a picture about which I would change virtually nothing, and a movie that was a an exciting forerunner of things to come from a young director of truly incendiary talent.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older