UNITED STATES—I couldn’t believe this past week marked the 50th anniversary of one of the scariest movies when it comes to going into the water. I’m referring to the 1975 blockbuster, “Jaws” helmed by iconic director, Steven Spielberg. I must admit, Spielberg is one of my favorite directors.

He doesn’t always crank out a movie, at least not in today’s current time, but in the mid 70s, 80s, even 90s, the director was churning them out. The icing on the cake is the fact that they were all iconic in one way or another. However, if there is one movie everyone constantly references from his library, it’s “Jaws.” What is it about this movie about a Great White Shark that terrified the American public upon its release and for decades to come? I wish I could tell you.

Well, it is simple, you don’t know what is in the water, and Spielberg explored that in a way that was nerve-wrecking, terrifying and downright genius. I mean the score to “Jaws” has to be one of the best musical scores of all time. You hear that music and you immediately know it’s from that movie. Not to mention it takes a while before the audience actually gets a glimpse of that iconic shark that terrorizes the citizens of Amity.

I know at least from my perspective if someone told me there was a shark attack or someone had been killed as a result of a shark attack, I would not be going into the water. Not to mention, people just didn’t seem too attentive to their kids in the 70s. “Yeah, Bobby, go right ahead into the ocean, despite a potential shark devouring you, oh, there’s nothing to worry about, nothing at all,” yeah, it makes you wonder.

I actually watched the movie this past week, and it felt like I was watching it for the very first time. I still felt the same level of terror, suspense, anxiety as I felt watching the movie the very first time. It is indeed a movie that still ages well with time. The tension is palpable, and I still keep asking myself nearly 50 years later, how did the MPAA rate this movie PG?

I mean we saw a severed head, a severed foot, lots of blood. The level of violence for “Jaws” in 1975 was up there and I don’t think many kids expected that when they saw this flick the first time around. It makes you question the viciousness of a Great White Shark.

Yeah, “Jaws” is a movie, and it was a blockbuster that inevitably coined the term, the summer blockbuster because of how big it was at the box-office at the time starting a tradition that slightly waned as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The thing to understand is there has been aplenty movies that have attempted to recapture the magic of “Jaws,” but the problem is you can’t capture perfection more than once.

I can only imagine in my wildest dreams what a “Jaws” remake would look like today. Would I like to see it? Yes, but you’re totally playing with a classic film there, and nothing could be done to live up to the mayhem that the 1975 classic delivered then and continues to deliver today.