Unjumped shark: Why Jaws still has bite

TIFF’s current presentation of Jaws got us wondering where it ranks among iconic Hollywood movies. Turns out, Spielberg’s killer shark flick has just about everything.

BY: Adam Nayman

Forget the sequels, the rip-offs, and the claims that it inaugurated the dumbing-down of American movies: Jaws rules. Steven Spielberg’s career-making adventure picture filtered the nervous comic sensibility of Woody Allen through Moby Dick to create something as massive and unstoppable as its voracious star attraction. TIFF Bell Lightbox’s presentation of the new digital restoration of Jaws got us wondering where it ranks among iconic Hollywood movies. We crunched the numbers and came to the startling conclusion that it’s not only the best film about a killer shark but also—deep breath—The Best Movie Ever Made.

Click here for the Hollywood all-time awesomeness chart.

Jaws opens at TIFF Bell Lightbox on June 29.