We all love a big budget blockbuster movie - and we are treated to them on a very regular basis. However, it was back in 1975 and the movie Jaws that really kicked off the genre that we all love.
Jaws
For me, Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and has produced a whole host of terrific movies - whether it is epic blockbusters, sweeping war movies, or heartbreaking kid's films. Jaws remains one of his greatest movie moments and was a film that terrified a generation.
No matter how many times you watch this movie or know what is going to happen, when that iconic music starts and the fin appears it sends a shiver down your spine.
Jaws is based on Peter Benchley's best-selling novel and it remains one of the greatest horror movies of all time and really does make you think twice before taking a little dip in the sea.
I love the fast pace of this movie, Spielberg keeps the story, the action, and the terror zipping along - never giving the audience a moment to breath or relax. This only heightens the anxiety and keeps you well and truly on the edge of your seat. In that respect, Spielberg has delivered one of the most perfectly planned and constructed horror movies of all time.
Spielberg manipulates the mood in every shot of the film and that is a mark of a truly great filmmaker - he whipped the audience up into a frenzy and delivered the jumps and the scares that he wanted to perfection.
However, it is not all about the terror of the film, Jaws also boasts some terrific central performances from Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss as Chief Martin Brody and Matt Hooper - two men have very different ideas on how to catch and kill the shark that is terrorising the beachgoers of Amity Island.
Even though Scheider and Dreyfuss went on to star in a wide range of other film projects during their careers, it is Jaws for which they will always be synonymous. They really did make a great movie team!!!
Jaws went on to be a critical and commercial smash and became the highest grossing movie of all time - that is until Star Wars came along. It also played a pivotal role when it came to establishing the blockbuster movie making business in Hollywood.
Jaws went on to be nominated for four Oscars; winning Best Sound, Best Editing and Best Original Score. However, it missed out on Best Picture to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
2015 marks the fortieth anniversary of Jaws - hard to believe it was back in 1975 when this movie hit the big screen. And although sequels and other movies inspired by Jaws followed, they never lived up to the terror of the original.
Many people would have a hard time pinning down Spielberg's best movie - there really have been so many over the years - but Jaws really has to be up there. It is one of the most enduring blockbuster and horror movies of all time and is as terrifying today as it was back in 1975.
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