My Name Is Henry Krinkle: The 10 Best Films Of The Seventies

3. Jaws (1975) (Dir. Steven Spielberg)

What should have been highly laughable remains cinema’s most accomplished blockbuster – it just so happens to have been the first one of its kind, too. Jaws is a masterclass in filmmaking from almost every avenue. Steven Spielberg, taking his cues from the novel of the same name by Peter Benchley (who also co-wrote the script), transformed a relatively average throwaway thriller into one of cinema’s great adventure movies – a feat he could not have pulled off without composer John Williams at his side, who racked up the tension with his brilliantly subtle score. What audiences got, then, was firstly a slasher flick built like a Hitchcock movie, followed by a high sea-bound second half that treats its wonderful characters like the crew on a pirate ship: the three leads still seem – after all these years – completely irreplaceable. Yes, Jaws is the pulp Moby Dick – and is arguably a better slice of fiction than that very famous Melville novel.