Cannot believe it took me this long to get around to Jaws. Like Psycho, it exists so centrally over the cultural conscience that I can't imagine what it would be like to see this totally fresh. But whereas Psycho is one scene, I found it happened often here, taking me out of the tension at some of the really big moments or being outright distracting (the score especially. The shark theme is very awesome but most of Williams' score is more traditional jaunty adventure music which seems so odd).

Not to say I didn't enjoy this. Steven Spielberg can direct the hell out of a film and there are three stellar performances. Roy Schieder (always a kind of Fosse avatar for me cos I've really only seen him in All That Jazz) as an everyman, but a vaguely mysterious one. Richard Dreyfuss as the lovable, serious and silly marine biologist, he's so goddamn hot in this film. And especially Robert Shaw. That famous speech he gives where the film stops dead and relies on his monologue is more chilling than any of the shark attacks.

Love how this barely shows the shark and when we do he becomes much less threatening. More effective when it's an underwater threat, doom lurking, those four notes scarier than the actuality. Gotta see this on a big screen one day. Basically created the blockbuster film and it's aching to be seen on a big screen with a crowd (your move Astor Theater).