EyeofSauron
Master Member
its like saying the dinosaurs in jurassic park were not well made...
I know that the movie Jaws is a classic, but!!!
- Thread starter propnoob74
- Start date
Good god you must be kidding!
Jedi-72
Sr Member
Have you recently suffered massive head trauma? It's the only logical explanation.
The only thing in that film that shows its age is the shark. Everything, and I mean everything else about it is pitch perfect. It's a textbook case of how films should be made, ranking right up there with The Godfather, The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca. It comes from a time when every aspect of making a flim was damn near an art form in itself.
I do agree that movies have changed, though. Today, they're largely shiite. There are rare exceptions. But sadly, fewer and fewer each year.
The only thing in that film that shows its age is the shark. Everything, and I mean everything else about it is pitch perfect. It's a textbook case of how films should be made, ranking right up there with The Godfather, The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca. It comes from a time when every aspect of making a flim was damn near an art form in itself.
I do agree that movies have changed, though. Today, they're largely shiite. There are rare exceptions. But sadly, fewer and fewer each year.
Deathstalker II
Well-Known Member
I'd imagine that propnoob's a bit young - but I can definitely understand walking away from Jaws unimpressed. If you're looking for a straight-up horror film, you'd be sorely disappointed in the picture, as the "eating machine" Dreyfuss's Hooper talks up is nowhere to be seen (The Beard himself fully cops to there being not enough shark in Jaws - and he says it probably would have be a great deal more of an exploitative "B" grade film had anyone connected to the production thought the rubber shark wasn't going to get laughed off the screen - they had to make things mysterious and keep the shark hidden because it hardly ever worked and looked like a poo when it did), and there's very little gore or horror. The film functions best when viewed with the idea that it is an intense man-against-nature/man-against-self drama.
And while the central performances are quite good (this is, and will always be, Richard Dreyfuss's Finest Hour), tertiary perfomances are sort of rangy. Lorraine Gary is a histrionic annoyance as Brody's wife, and a lot of the roles are filled with people who just showed up and said lines.
Additionally, this is a film that suffers from people talking it up as if it was/is one of the Single Greatest Films in the History of Cinema. It's not. It's a low budget (accidental) character piece made from a goofy beach-read bestseller. The aspirations here were not High Art. This whole, "every aspect of making a film was damn near an art form in itself" thing is not quite reality. The Seventies were a time when the most cheap and exploitative schlock imaginable made money on the Drive-In circuit - which was the actual impetus for Jaws as a film in the first place. No one expected the pic to be the juggernaut it was.
I am forty years old. I saw Jaws in 1981. The same year I saw ALIEN. One of those films has stayed with me my entire life. One of them is not as amazing as you remember it to be. I'll give you a hint - JAWS is not as amazing as you remember it to be.
That said - the Indianapolis scene is one of the best things ever.
We can all acknowledge the debt modern cinema owes to Jaws (for good and ill), and its place in history is assured - but it's a film that can't help but suffer under the weight of reputation and its advancing age.
And while the central performances are quite good (this is, and will always be, Richard Dreyfuss's Finest Hour), tertiary perfomances are sort of rangy. Lorraine Gary is a histrionic annoyance as Brody's wife, and a lot of the roles are filled with people who just showed up and said lines.
Additionally, this is a film that suffers from people talking it up as if it was/is one of the Single Greatest Films in the History of Cinema. It's not. It's a low budget (accidental) character piece made from a goofy beach-read bestseller. The aspirations here were not High Art. This whole, "every aspect of making a film was damn near an art form in itself" thing is not quite reality. The Seventies were a time when the most cheap and exploitative schlock imaginable made money on the Drive-In circuit - which was the actual impetus for Jaws as a film in the first place. No one expected the pic to be the juggernaut it was.
I am forty years old. I saw Jaws in 1981. The same year I saw ALIEN. One of those films has stayed with me my entire life. One of them is not as amazing as you remember it to be. I'll give you a hint - JAWS is not as amazing as you remember it to be.
That said - the Indianapolis scene is one of the best things ever.
We can all acknowledge the debt modern cinema owes to Jaws (for good and ill), and its place in history is assured - but it's a film that can't help but suffer under the weight of reputation and its advancing age.
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propnoob74
Well-Known Member
Not really I'm 37, everybody has their own opinion. I respect yours, I just watched it today and didn't feel like I did before. Don't get me wrong, still and always be a classic...just didn't do anything to me this time around...sorry if I hurt any of you feelings here...I apologize....
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Deathstalker II
Well-Known Member
I was wondering if the "74" in your name was an allusion to your age...just wasn't certain. But I get what you're saying nevertheless. I just assumed you were younger because most people our age see the film as some absolutely untouchable flawless perfect amazing classic - and it's not that. I don't even think it's The Beard's best film.
That would be Raiders of the Lost Ark.
That would be Raiders of the Lost Ark.
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Colin Droidmilk
Sr Member
The acting in Jaws is not awful, it's absolutely excellent. Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfus are Great Actors and they deliver the goods here - and Roy Scheider ain't half bad, either. Jaws is one of those films that in repeat viewings provides its thrills through the way the actors deliver their fabulously well-written lines - sod the shark, the way Shaw enunciates 'a doll's eyes', or even the way he just nonchalantly throws the life-saver to Brodie as the boat goes down are just ELECTRIC. You can take all your hypothetical 'oh- wow' cg shark effects and shove them, they're worthless compared to that type of acting presence.
And the fact that there's not much shark in Jaws makes it better, in my view, than all the monster-filled cg fests we have today. Despite its wobbly shark effects, one of the great things about the film is nevertheless its effects. i.e at least they contain no irritatingly bad cg and no irritatingly bad virtual camera motion, one of the banes of modern Hollywood. The other banes of modern Hollywood are lousy acting, phoney dialogue and fluffed tone. Directors should be made to watch movies like Jaws every day with their Cheerios before they start work so they might get a clue again as to how to get this stuff right.
But this is not to say Jaws is High Art - as Deathstalker has been keen to point out. It's not Vertigo, and I don't think anyone here is saying it is. It's a pulp-paperback-about-a-shark movie adaptation, whose terrific ensemble acting, fantastic dialogue, utterly brilliant directing and perfect tone just happen to make the viewer easily mistake it for a Great Classic.
Me, I much prefer Jaws to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Because the characters are far more interesting, and all the situations are far more engaging. And because it has Shaw's self-written Indianapolis speech in it and Raiders doesn't.
And the fact that there's not much shark in Jaws makes it better, in my view, than all the monster-filled cg fests we have today. Despite its wobbly shark effects, one of the great things about the film is nevertheless its effects. i.e at least they contain no irritatingly bad cg and no irritatingly bad virtual camera motion, one of the banes of modern Hollywood. The other banes of modern Hollywood are lousy acting, phoney dialogue and fluffed tone. Directors should be made to watch movies like Jaws every day with their Cheerios before they start work so they might get a clue again as to how to get this stuff right.
But this is not to say Jaws is High Art - as Deathstalker has been keen to point out. It's not Vertigo, and I don't think anyone here is saying it is. It's a pulp-paperback-about-a-shark movie adaptation, whose terrific ensemble acting, fantastic dialogue, utterly brilliant directing and perfect tone just happen to make the viewer easily mistake it for a Great Classic.
Me, I much prefer Jaws to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Because the characters are far more interesting, and all the situations are far more engaging. And because it has Shaw's self-written Indianapolis speech in it and Raiders doesn't.
blipper
Sr Member
Having seen Jaws two and a half times and read a very good article on sharks in Readers Digest (plus having seen a documentary on 'acting' once), I feel I may be more qualified than most to weigh in on this.
The OP is correct in drawing attention to very evident problems in a movie usually considered too holy to criticise.
A big no-no in my book is the lack of motivation for the shark - it's paper thin characterisation that would normally be savaged by critics if it were released today. Why is the shark a killer? What happened in it's life to make it so brutal? Some well placed flashback scenes could have cleared this up similar to First Blood and Rambo's interrogation memories.
I also think the supposed 'comedy' moments were anything but funny. The girl who goes swimming at the beginning and gets eaten? Wasn't laughing at all - I actually thought it horrific and had nightmares for a week.
And as for the end of Jaws? - a confusing mess with no relation to the rest of the movie. How the movie goes from shark hunt to Richard Dreyfuss going aboard a giant UFO parked by a mountain I'll never know, and I suspect the script writers didn't either.
The OP is correct in drawing attention to very evident problems in a movie usually considered too holy to criticise.
A big no-no in my book is the lack of motivation for the shark - it's paper thin characterisation that would normally be savaged by critics if it were released today. Why is the shark a killer? What happened in it's life to make it so brutal? Some well placed flashback scenes could have cleared this up similar to First Blood and Rambo's interrogation memories.
I also think the supposed 'comedy' moments were anything but funny. The girl who goes swimming at the beginning and gets eaten? Wasn't laughing at all - I actually thought it horrific and had nightmares for a week.
And as for the end of Jaws? - a confusing mess with no relation to the rest of the movie. How the movie goes from shark hunt to Richard Dreyfuss going aboard a giant UFO parked by a mountain I'll never know, and I suspect the script writers didn't either.
I sat in theaters 223 times in 1975 and 1976 watching Jaws, and have gotten it on Laserdisc, Beta, VHS, and DVD since then, and it's still one of my favorite movies. I snuck a tape recorder into the theater at the Monroeville Mall and recorded the movie and listened to it thousands of times, know pretty much every line by heart, and drive my kids crazy by saying lines ahead of the actors when we watch the movie. So I can say I love that movie as much as anyone.
My only "but..." with the movie was the score. The only movie I've seen nearly as many times as Jaws was Creature From The Black Lagoon, and anyone who's seen that movie a lot, and listened to the score, knows exactly where John Williams came up with his dum-dum-dum-dum main theme for Jaws. Williams has said in interviews he gets inspired by other film scores, and I'm sure making a movie about a sea monster he would have certainly given Hans Salter's works on Creature a listen to. I've always thought Williams should have given Salter a co-credit given his famous two-beat signature piece was created by Salter.
My only "but..." with the movie was the score. The only movie I've seen nearly as many times as Jaws was Creature From The Black Lagoon, and anyone who's seen that movie a lot, and listened to the score, knows exactly where John Williams came up with his dum-dum-dum-dum main theme for Jaws. Williams has said in interviews he gets inspired by other film scores, and I'm sure making a movie about a sea monster he would have certainly given Hans Salter's works on Creature a listen to. I've always thought Williams should have given Salter a co-credit given his famous two-beat signature piece was created by Salter.
JoMamma_Smurf
Master Member
Transformers is probably his favorite movie of all time.
Satxer
Sr Member
I can't help but think he was watching one of those Shark movies on Syfy, and confusing it with Jaws, haha!
I have to disagree on all parts, the acting in no way was cheesy or horrible. Bruce the shark, still is convincing to this day. Everything else nowadays is too much CG, and takes away from the look. If anything, I would agree with you if you were referring to Jaws 3. Especially the last scene where it made it's run at the control room through the huge thing of glass, now that was bad. However, I do enjoy that movie on occasion still.
I have to disagree on all parts, the acting in no way was cheesy or horrible. Bruce the shark, still is convincing to this day. Everything else nowadays is too much CG, and takes away from the look. If anything, I would agree with you if you were referring to Jaws 3. Especially the last scene where it made it's run at the control room through the huge thing of glass, now that was bad. However, I do enjoy that movie on occasion still.
Too Much Garlic
Master Member
Let's all jump on the guy we don't agree with and call him stupid. Nice.
I like Jaws. Mostly because of the less is more approach they were forced to utilize with the shark. Even when it's not on screen you feel its presence as it is circling you, waiting to strike. It's a slow movie... it creeps under your skin... and I've never liked to go swimming after that. Been about a year since I've seen it, but don't remember anything bad about the acting... will have to see it again, I guess.
It felt believable to me.
I like Jaws. Mostly because of the less is more approach they were forced to utilize with the shark. Even when it's not on screen you feel its presence as it is circling you, waiting to strike. It's a slow movie... it creeps under your skin... and I've never liked to go swimming after that. Been about a year since I've seen it, but don't remember anything bad about the acting... will have to see it again, I guess.
It felt believable to me.
propnoob74
Well-Known Member
propnoob74
Well-Known Member
A lesson learned in the RPF; Do not express your own opinion, people are quick to put you on the 'Dumb, Immature" category in a second....even thou others pointed some of the bad stuff I'm talking movie....funny!
Dont be daft :lol This is an interesting topic, I dont see any torches lit or pitchforks...well not yet anyway :lol
I've been a huge Jaws fan ever since I can remember, I love the film :love
One thing that caught my attention, someone mentioned about the character of the shark etc, I think at the time alot less was known about great whites than is known now. We now know that a great white just wouldn't behave like that but it still makes a good entertaining film & a great form of escapism.
I personally think the acting is first class & think that in most of the film the shark is pretty convincing, only really let down with the scene where he plants himself in the back of the boat & where he's chewing the tank.
I also enjoyed the book even though its quite different to the film. Having seen the film first set the atmosphere up nicely
Dave Ward
Sr Member
Well, it is a discussion forum. I don't think anyone meant to insult you by disagreeing with your statements, they were just somewhat...surprised. Saying that Jaws has bad acting is like saying the dialogue in Casablanca is flat or that "Alien" has bad design. It is a little bit odd.
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