I'm watching "Jaws" on DVD now--it hasn't withstood the march of time...

[joeybee12]

...main because not being scared now you see through typical Spielberg hokum.

I remember being scared out of my wits in the movie theater, though!

[crimson333]

1. first movie that ever gave me nightmares

I was like 8 when it came out and I saw it at the base theatre on Fort Richardson AK....I woke up screaming atleast 3 times sliding down the boat and having my legs eaten

[DerekG]

2. That's horseshit...

Jaws is probably the second greatest American film of the modern era--behind Coppola's The Godfather.

"Typical Spielberg hokum"--yeah, kind of like typical Hitchcockian hokum, right?

[mitchum]

6. "typical Speilberg hokum" is nothing like "typical Hitchcockian hokum"...

Hitchcock is muuuuuuuuuuuch better. Maybe, since Hitch didn't see many movies as a child, he wasn't always trying to replicate the "childlike wonder of movie magic" in his own work

[Raenelle]

3. It may not be scary to see now, but I haven't been in the ocean

since I first saw it . . . in what, 1973?

Someone told me once that there was a better chance of being hit by lightning than of being attacked by a shark. Well, I don't walk outside in rain storms either. The chances of ME (with my habits) of being hit by lightning or attacked by a shark are nil.

BTW, best line I read today, speaking of what's scary. Paraphrasing--I just imagine every morning when I wake up that's there been a military coup. Then everything makes sense.
Paul Krugman quoting someone else in an article in the Guardian.

[mitchum]

4. You're right. His TV movie "Duel" stands up much better than "Jaws"

[Blue_Chill]

5. That damn movie screwed sharks

people all started hating the animal because that dumbass movie told them they cruise around with nothing better to do then eat stupid humans.

[George_Bonanza]

7. Jaws is a damn important film

Not only did it launch the career of one of the most important, influential, and talented filmmakers in movie history, it also broke the hundred million dollar mark and laid the first blueprints for the essential summer blockbusters that keep those movie studios afloat these days. Its concept of "less is more" is absolutely brilliant and its effect may be lessened due to the large number of imitators and students of that technique.

[VOX]

8. The flip side is that American movies began to go down the tubes...

With every studio looking to make the summer blockbuster (and releasing the over-budget, overblown, overhyped productions in nearly every theater at once), and then the inevitable holiday-season blockbuster, etc. -- the whole game became so completely dollar-oriented that studios began to take fewer risks with material, the result being predictable, formulaic story lines, and an emphasis on jolts and effects in lieu of innovative stories.

Over time, the audience has been reduced to a bunch of lab animals, wired to respond to the basest stimuli.

On edit: bloody typos