Jaws (1975) reviews

The Fuzzy Mushroom take on Jaws

By Fuzzy Mushroom · Updated 10 November 2026 · The Pros 93 · The Punters 94 · Spore Score 93 · How we write our takes

Why The Pros and The Punters agree

Jaws is as close to a unanimous verdict as film gets. The Pros give it 93, The Punters 94, and the Spore Score is 93. Critics love the craft, audiences love the fun, and both sides recognise that it changed the business of cinema. When a film this popular is also this well made, there is not much left to argue about.

What it does well

The set-up is simple. A great white shark starts killing swimmers off Amity Island, a New England resort town, just as the summer season begins. Police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), a New Yorker who is afraid of the water, wants to close the beaches. The mayor will not hear of it. Brody ends up at sea with Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), a young oceanographer, and Quint (Robert Shaw), a salty shark hunter, in a boat that looks far too small.

The famous story is that the mechanical shark kept breaking down in the salt water off Martha's Vineyard, so Steven Spielberg, a director still in his twenties, had to suggest it instead of showing it. A yellow barrel bobbing on the surface, a dorsal fin, John Williams's two-note theme growing louder: that is where the fear comes from. The opening night swim, the attack on the crowded beach seen through Brody's eyes and the sudden appearance that prompts the line about needing a bigger boat are all perfectly built.

The second half, three men on the Orca, is just as good in a different way. It is a character piece about class, nerve and male pride, and its centrepiece is Shaw's quiet monologue about surviving the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945. No shark on screen, just a man talking, and it is one of the scariest scenes in the film.

Anything wrong with it?

Not much. The shark, when you do see it clearly, looks a bit rubbery to modern eyes. The town council subplot is broad. Some viewers find the jump from beach panic to sea hunt abrupt. That is about it.

Who it is for

Almost everyone. It is a great family film for brave older children and a great first date film for adults. It is also the reason a lot of people still hesitate before going in the sea.

Context

Jaws was based on Peter Benchley's 1974 bestseller and opened in the US on 20 June 1975 with a then unusual wide release backed by television advertising. It became the highest-grossing film ever made until Star Wars two years later, and it is often called the first summer blockbuster. It won three Oscars, for John Williams's score, Verna Fields's editing and its sound.

The Fuzzy Mushroom verdict

Must-see, with a Spore Score of 93. A perfect thriller, a great character drama and the film that invented the modern blockbuster. The Pros and The Punters agree, and so do we: watch it, then think twice about that swim.