Jaws is one of the greatest movies ever made IMHO. It was also the first time I was properly scared in the cinema.

Although it was released with an “A” certificate in the UK (meaning all ages could go), there are a number of gruesome shock moments (notably the half-eaten corpse that pops out of a hole in a sunken boat) which had even older audience members jumping out of their seats.

But more than that, the whole movie is thrillingly executed and wonderfully acted. It was Steven Spielberg’s breakthrough movie and was a notoriously tough shoot, largely because the mechanical shark repeatedly refused to function. 

The shark attack sequences are all superbly put together, helped not a little by the famous dum-dum-dum score. Robert Shaw’s USS Indianapolis monologue plus the ad-libbed line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” are a few of many stand-out moments.

The poster design is iconic, and much parodied.  All original posters for Jaws are highly collectible, but personally I find the Japanese version the most interesting. It regularly sells for $500+, so I was astonished to be able to pick it up for next to nothing recently in an online auction. I have long ago run out of wall space to display posters, but I just had to make room for this one!