A film that changed the trajectory of cinema worldwide has been added to one more streaming platform.
Before 1975, films centred on violent, feral creatures versus humans were not yet a recipe for success, summers weren’t special seasons for blockbuster releases and wide national theatrical debuts weren’t yet an established formula (instead, films were released in new markets progressively).
All of that was changed by Jaws, Steven Spielberg’s iconic thriller that defined a new generation of the film industry.
Jaws is based on a novel by Peter Benchley and follows Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), a police chief who, alongside marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw), is tasked with the mission of hunting down a man-eating great white shark.
The film, which also starred Murray Hamilton and Lorraine Gary, reportedly made history for being the first motion picture filmed on the ocean – consequently facing multiple production hurdles.
Mechanical sharks malfunctioned, processes went over the proposed timeline and blew initial budgets.
But despite the challenges, Jaws was released on over 450 screens backed by an extensive marketing campaign. The result was a massive box office success, an unforgettable theme song and the title of the highest-grossing film in history for two years – until the screen debut of Star Wars.
A masterpiece of 20th century cinema, the film kickstarted the concept of highly-marketed action/adventure releases during summer – a model that has been vastly used to this day.
On reviewing platform Rotten Tomatoes, where the movie has a score of 97%, fans praise the production: “Without doubt, this is the best film ever made. Every frame has a touch of inspiration, every piece of background information and every human gesture drives the narrative in ways never done before or since. It remains the cinematic definition of modernity, in all its terror and humanity.”
Another wrote: “An absolute beast of a film. Still holds up on repeated viewings. An all time classic.”
“One of my favorite movies of all time. I never get tired of seeing Jaws and I have seen it maybe 100 times,” a third added. “Just everything about it, the suspense, the shots, the actors and characters and of course the music. Also, the background actors and small roles were so authentic.”
Jaws won three Academy Awards (Best Original Score, Best Film Editing and Best Sound), one BAFTA (Best Original Music), one Golden Globe (Best Original Score) and one Grammy (Best Score Written for Visual Media).
Jaws (1975) is now available for streaming on ITVX, Prime Video, Netflix, Sky, Disney+ and Apple TV.