Jaws [1975 film]
by Steven Spielberg (Director), Peter Benchley (Screenwriter, original novel), Carl Gottlieb (Screenwriter)
Jaws Films (1)
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Description
A man-eating shark causes havoc off the Long Island coast and three men join together to hunt and destroy it.Tags
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Member Reviews
Giant man-eating shark.
Suspenseful, and pretty scary as far as monster movies go. But what's surprising about it is that it's also got strong characters, good dialog, and good acting, expertly filmed. They managed to do without the usually-obligatory waiting around to get to the action part(s) that this sort of story typically has. Everything in the movie is engaging, regardless of whether the shark is around. And when it is around, it's pretty crazy fun what they do with it.
Concept: D
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: A
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: A
Enjoyment: A
GPA: 3.1/4
Suspenseful, and pretty scary as far as monster movies go. But what's surprising about it is that it's also got strong characters, good dialog, and good acting, expertly filmed. They managed to do without the usually-obligatory waiting around to get to the action part(s) that this sort of story typically has. Everything in the movie is engaging, regardless of whether the shark is around. And when it is around, it's pretty crazy fun what they do with it.
Concept: D
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: A
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: A
Enjoyment: A
GPA: 3.1/4
Did not enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. I know that the book is always supposed to be better, but in this case I actually enjoyed the movie way more. I liked the man vs. shark scenes on the boat, but they didn’t even get on the boat until over halfway through the book and there was not as much content as I would have liked. The plot with Brody’s wife seemed entirely unnecessary and I felt like I was reading two different books.
I barely feel like I need to summarize the plot of this book: a monster great white shark terrorizes the small beach town of Amity on Long Island. Sheriff Martin Brody tries in vain to close the beaches after the head and shoulders of a young woman (victim #1) washes ashore. The town leaders fear that shark fears will drive away the necessary tourist business, especially with the big 4th of July weekend coming nearer. But when more people are quickly killed by the man-eater, the sheriff has no choice. In the end, he has to go after the shark himself.
I think everyone knows that much from the movie version of the book, the one that kept so many out of the water back in the 70s and still keeps a few away. The book includes the additional show more element of the sheriff's ailing marriage, complete with his wife's infidelity - no big loss in the movie version. And while the book is great with its suspense and attacks, the actual story-telling is sometimes over-the-top cheesy. I'm sure the author was trying to be clever with some of his 'insights' and phrases and language which reflect what I feel was the embarassing hedonism of the 1970s, but I couldn't help rolling my eyes and sometimes even laughing aloud. No, the strength of this story really is the suspense.
But I think they did a better job in the movie. show less
I think everyone knows that much from the movie version of the book, the one that kept so many out of the water back in the 70s and still keeps a few away. The book includes the additional show more element of the sheriff's ailing marriage, complete with his wife's infidelity - no big loss in the movie version. And while the book is great with its suspense and attacks, the actual story-telling is sometimes over-the-top cheesy. I'm sure the author was trying to be clever with some of his 'insights' and phrases and language which reflect what I feel was the embarassing hedonism of the 1970s, but I couldn't help rolling my eyes and sometimes even laughing aloud. No, the strength of this story really is the suspense.
But I think they did a better job in the movie. show less
A favorite of mine I first saw when I was in the 5th grade back in 1980. Its a familiar story of man versus beast, Ahab versus Moby Dick, Police Chief Martin Brody versus great white shark.
Extremely different from the movie but still a good read.
Book 114
Jaws.
Peter Benchley.
Peter bought this just after we started going out in 1974.
It sound daft now but it scared us both! And obviously we all... Everybody.. went to see the film.
Linz Foody
Jaws.
Peter Benchley.
Peter bought this just after we started going out in 1974.
It sound daft now but it scared us both! And obviously we all... Everybody.. went to see the film.
Linz Foody
When an insatiable great white shark terrorizes the townspeople of Amity Island, the police chief, an oceanographer and a grizzled shark hunter seek to destroy the blood-thirsty beast.
(source: TMDB)
(source: TMDB)
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In the ocean surrounding Amity, a small tourist resort off the coast of New England, a 25-foot man-eating predator stalks any human foolish enough to get in the water. At first, the only believer in the shark's existence is the town's chief of police, Martin Brody. Brody enlists the help of scientist Matt Hooper and Quint, a crusty old seaman whose life is devoted to hunting sharks. The show more threesome sets off in Quint's boat to kill the leviathan. The film that originated the 'summer blockbuster' in Hollywood. show less
added by Lemeritus
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Author Information
Peter Benchley was born on May 8, 1940, in New York into one of America's most celebrated literary families. His grandfather was the humorist Robert Benchley and his father the novelist Nathaniel Benchley. A 1961 Harvard graduate, Peter Benchley started out as a reporter for the Washington Post before going on to work as an associate editor for show more Newsweek. From 1967 to 1969 he was a speechwriter for President Lyndon Johnson. Benchley's interest in the sea, stemming from childhood summers spent on the coast of Nantucket, led to his meticulously researching the subject of sharks and writing such bestselling and critically acclaimed novels as The Deep, Whiteshark, and Jaws. Jaws was later adapted into a blockbuster movie (1975). Two of his other books were turned into the made-for-TV movies, The Beast and The Creature. He has also written numerous reviews and articles for magazines and newspapers, and has appeared in more than a dozen television documentaries about marine life and oceans. Benchley died from pulmonary fibrosis on February 12, 2006 at the age of 65. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Jaws [1975 film]
- Original title
- Jaws
- Alternate titles*
- Der Weiße Hai
- Original publication date
- 1975-06-20
- People/Characters
- Jaws; Martin Brody; Quint; Matt Hooper; Ellen Brody; Larry Vaughn (show all 10); Meadows; Leonard Hendricks; Chrissie Watkins; Mrs. Kintner
- Important places
- Amity Island, USA
- Important events
- Fourth of July
- Related movies
- Jaws (1975 | IMDb)
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 791.4372
- Canonical LCC
- PN1997
- Disambiguation notice
- Based on the novel by Peter Benchley.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- DDC/MDS
- 791.4372 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Movies, TV, Video Motion pictures, radio, television, podcasting Motion pictures Films; screenplays Single films
- LCC
- PN1997 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Drama Motion pictures Plays, scenarios, etc.
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- 891
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- 30,165
- Reviews
- 11
- Rating
- (4.05)
- Languages
- 7 — English, Finnish, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Swedish
- ISBNs
- 14
- UPCs
- 16
- ASINs
- 55
