Since we're right in the middle of this long hot summer, our Movie of the Day series is back this week to celebrate the best summer vacation movies. We'll start with this one, the movie most responsible (along with the original Star Wars) for creating the term "blockbuster" in the first place. And it was for exactly that reason- in the summer of 1975 people were lining up around the block to see this thrilling adventure-horror flick about a killer shark feeding on the tourists of the vacation spot known as Amity Island. Sadly, I really believe that short attention spans would leave people cold to this film if it came out today, because it's mostly character driven and you don't even get to see the shark until late in the movie. That was the result of how difficult it was to film at the time (the hassles of the shooting on the water with the robot and all), but it led to greatness and the movie remains one of Steven Spielberg's very best (maybe even his best). Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss make an unforgettable shark hunting trio, whom you care about just as much as seeing the great white itself. Watch Jaws again and remember just how fresh and original blockbuster movies used to feel, before everything followed a formula.
Original 1975 Trailer:
