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''Jaws'' is a 1975 American film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's 1974 novel ''Jaws''. The prototypical summer blockbuster, its release is regarded as a watershed moment in motion picture history. In the story, a giant man-eating great white shark attacks beachgoers on Amity Island, a fictional New England summer resort town, prompting the local police chief to hunt it with the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter. The film stars Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as oceanographer Matt Hooper, Robert Shaw as shark hunter Quint, Murray Hamilton as Larry Vaughn, the mayor of Amity Island, and Lorraine Gary as Brody's wife, Ellen. The screenplay is credited to both Benchley, who wrote the first drafts, and actor-writer Carl Gottlieb, who rewrote the script during principal photography. Shot mostly on location on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, the film had a troubled production, going over budget and past schedule. As the art department's mechanical sharks suffered many malfunctions, Spielberg decided to mostly suggest the animal's presence, employing an ominous, minimalistic theme created by composer John Williams to indicate the shark's impending appearances. Spielberg and others have compared this suggestive approach to that of classic thriller director Alfred Hitchcock. Universal Pictures gave the film what was then an exceptionally wide release for a major studio picture, over 450 screens, accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign with a heavy emphasis on television spots and tie-in merchandise. Generally well received by critics, ''Jaws'' became the highest-grossing film of all time until ''Star Wars''. It won several awards for its soundtrack and editing. Along with ''Star Wars'', ''Jaws'' was pivotal in establishing the modern Hollywood business model, which revolves around high box-office returns from action and adventure pictures with simple "high-concept" premises that are released during the summer in thousands of theaters and supported by heavy advertising. It was followed by three sequels, none with the participation of Spielberg or Benchley, and many imitative thrillers. In 2001, ''Jaws'' was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". ==Plot== A group of teenagers are having an evening beach party on Amity Island and Chrissie Watkins (Susan Backlinie) decides to swim in the ocean. While treading, she is pulled underwater. The next morning, Deputy Hendricks (Jeffrey Kramer) finds her remains on the beach. Upon hearing from the medical examiner that the cause of death was a possible shark attack, Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) proceeds to close the beaches, but Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) overrules him, fearing news of a shark attack will ruin the summer tourist season, the town's primary revenue source. He rationalizes that there have been no prior shark problems in the area, and theorizes the girl was killed in a boating accident. The coroner concurs and Brody reluctantly accepts their conclusion. When another fatal shark attack occurs shortly afterwards, several actions are taken to handle the situation. Amid an amateur shark-hunting frenzy, local professional shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) offers his services for $10,000. Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), a consulting oceanographer, arrives and examines Chrissie's remains. He concludes the cause of death was definitely a shark attack. The local fishermen catch a large tiger shark, but Hooper isn't so sure it is the same predator, confirming this after finding no human remains inside its stomach. While Hooper and Brody search the local waters at night, they discover local fisherman Ben Gardner's half-sunken boat. Hooper examines the vessel underwater and retrieves a sizable great white shark's tooth embedded in the hull. Startled by finding Gardner's partial remains, Hooper drops the tooth. Brody and Hooper tell Vaughn that a humongous great white shark is responsible, but he discounts their warnings and refuses to close the beaches, allowing only added safety precautions. On the Fourth of July weekend, the beaches are packed with tourists. Following a practical joke, the shark enters a nearby estuary, hitting Brody's kids and killing a boater. Brody pushes a devastated Vaughn, whose kids were also there, to hire Quint. Quint, Brody, and Hooper set out on Quint's boat, the ''Orca'', to hunt the shark. While Brody lays down a chum line, Quint waits for an opportunity to hook the shark. Without warning, it appears behind the boat. Quint, estimating its length at 25', harpoons it with a line attached to a flotation barrel, but the shark pulls the barrel underwater and disappears. By nightfall, the men retire to the boat's cabin where Quint and Hooper compare scars and share how they received them. Quint recounts how he survived the shark attacks that followed the sinking of the warship during the War in the Pacific in 1945. The great white returns, ramming the boat's hull and killing the power. The men work through the night repairing the engine. In the morning, Brody attempts to call the Coast Guard, but Quint smashes the radio, enraging Brody. After a long chase, Quint harpoons another barrel into the shark. The men tie the line to the stern, but the shark drags the boat backwards, swamping the deck and flooding the engine compartment with seawater and forcing Quint to cut the line to prevent the transom from being pulled out. He then heads toward shore to draw his quarry into shallow waters and suffocate it, but overtaxes and stalls the damaged engine. With the boat immobilized, the trio attempt a riskier approach: Hooper dons scuba gear and enters the water in a shark-proof cage, intending to lethally inject the shark with strychnine using a hypodermic spear. The shark demolishes the cage, causing Hooper to drop the spear before escaping to the seabed. Seconds later, the shark attacks the boat directly, killing Quint. Brody, trapped on the sinking vessel, shoves a pressurized scuba tank into the shark's mouth, and, climbing the mast, shoots the tank with Quint's rifle. The resulting explosion obliterates the shark. Hooper surfaces, and he and Brody paddle to Amity Island on boat wreckage. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jaws (film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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