Jaws (1975) — The Terror

Jaws created the modern summer blockbuster and made Steven Spielberg the most important young director in Hollywood. But the film nearly collapsed during production as mechanical shark failures, weather problems, and ballooning costs threatened to destroy the movie. In this episode of Spielberg Reloaded, we explore how those disasters accidentally made Jaws more terrifying by forcing Spielberg to hide the shark and build suspense through editing, music, and audience imagination. Featuring Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, and John Williams’ iconic two-note theme, Jaws changed Hollywood forever and permanently altered how audiences thought about the ocean. A.I. was used to help with narration and creative elements of our scripts.