Jaws (30th Anniversary Edition)
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Jaws
(30th Anniversary Edition)
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In
the vastly overrated 1998 book Easy
Riders, Raging Bulls, author
Peter Biskind puts the blame for Hollywood's
blockbuster mentality at least partially on Steven Spielberg's
box-office
success with this adaptation of Peter Benchley's bestselling novel. But
you
can't blame Spielberg for making a terrific movie, which Jaws
definitely
is.
The story of a Long Island town whose summer tourist business is
suddenly
threatened by great-white-shark attacks on humans bypasses the
potboiler
trappings of Benchley's book and goes straight for the jugular with
beautifully
crafted, crowd-pleasing sequences of action and suspense supported by a
trio of
terrific performances by Roy Scheider (as the local sheriff), Richard
Dreyfuss
(as a shark specialist), and particularly Robert Shaw (as the old
fisherman who
offers to hunt the shark down). The sequences on Shaw's boat--as the
three of
them realize that in fact the shark is hunting them--are
what
entertaining moviemaking is all about. --Marshall
Fine
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