Jaws (1975) (thanks oscargamblesfro)

I remember toy stores being flooded with rubber sharks when it came out.

I'm not sure which came first, Jaws or America's obsession with being afraid of shark attacks, despite their rarity, but I'm willing to give at least some credit to Jaws for the existence of Shark Week.

Was impressed when this came out, but having seen it a few times since, it hasn't aged well, although Robert Shaw is well worth every scene. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying this is a bad film, it simply doesn't live up to my memories of seeing it for the first time. Had a terrific impact on popular culture, which still continues. There are a number of popular idioms in common use today which are derived from the movie, and I suspect many who use them are unaware of the origins. As Oscar points out, it also gave rise to an endless series of killer animal films, all of which ran the gamut from wretched to putrid. Most of them had one word titles, trying to be as similar to "Jaws" as possible. So the gullible movie-goer was faced with films like "Paws" (Killer tigers) "Maws" (killer piranhas) "Caws" (killer crows) "Dows" (killer stock-brokers, "Laws" (killer lawyers) "Rahs" (killer cheerleaders) Ok, I'm kidding, mostly. But pretty much every animal that could ... Read more

I didn't see this movie till I was thirteen and it made me glad I live no where near an ocean.

Thanks to this film, I never swim in open water. The idea that a shark could attack me, still scares me after all of these years.

Very good movie, very effective thriller, and probably the only movie Spielberg ever did that I genuinely enjoy to this day (although even here, he can't seem to dispense with his ubiquitous annoying kids and/or cloying "cuteness"...Richard Dreyfuss is ordinarily a good actor, but he's excruciating here). I could be out of line here, or misinformed, but I've always blamed this movie, despite my enjoyment of it, for the decline of the movie industry. Before this, you had your blockbuster extravaganzas, your "arty" films, your dependable genre pictures, your low-budget travesties and interesting oddities, your drive-in features, etc. etc. In other words, there was at least SOME diversity in movies. After "Jaws", every movie that came out had to have a multi-million(s) dollar budget and absolutely had to succeed in a very demonstrable way at the box-office, or it was deemed a failure. It got to a point where the failure of just one movie like "Heaven's Gate" could destroy a studio; not su... Read more

This is absolutely a cult film that embedded itself into popular culture. The theme music is instantly recognizable and you hear it all the time. Remember the "Land Shark" routine on SNL? We constantly hear allusions to "afraid to go into the water."

Briefly the best selling American film (between "The Godfather" and "Star Wars" it held that title.) Inspired a host of awful ripoffs with killer animals of all sorts, as well as progressively awful sequels. Funny and witty dialogue in my view, and one of the best things Spielberg has ever done. Robert Shaw was absolutely terrific, and Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Murray Hamilton were also superb- Hamilton's mayor is one of the great supporting actor slimeballs of film. What's notable about it is that, as a book, it simply wasn't very good, a not very well written book with an obvious debt to "Moby Dick." However, it is one of those rare fine films that are based off mediocre or bad books- it's usually the other way around. I saw this in a long gone drive- in theatre when I was still just 4, not the best idea my folks ever had! And all of the cliches about people on the coasts being afraid to go in the water may be trite nowadays, but they were true then, believe me.