Leonardo DiCaprio has worked with many of cinema’s great directors, from Christopher Nolan to Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. So, it only makes sense to question him on his favourite works of the film industry giants. In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, DiCaprio named his favourite film of Steven Spielberg, and it is a classic.
The film has been hailed as “infinitely watchable” and has achieved a near-perfect score of 97% on movie reviewing platform Rotten Tomatoes. DiCaprio chose Jaws, stating: “He’s done so many masterpieces. It’s hard to pick, right? God, yeah, I’d say Jaws.”
Jaws, an American thriller film released in 1975. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley. The film follows a series of shark attacks that take place in New England, United States. Jaws stars Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary and Murray Hamilton.
The film’s synopsis reads: “When a young woman is killed by a shark while skinny-dipping near the New England tourist town of Amity Island, police chief Martin Brody (Scheider) wants to close the beaches, but mayor Larry Vaughn (Hamilton) overrules him, fearing that the loss of tourist revenue will cripple the town. Ichthyologist Matt Hooper (Dreyfuss) and grizzled ship captain Quint (Shaw) offer to help Brody capture the killer beast, and the trio engage in an epic battle of man vs. nature.”
Jaws is widely known as one of the classics of cinematic history, achieving widespread success and overtaking The Godfather as the highest-grossing film at a North American box-office.
Rotten Tomatoes critics have echoed this in their reviews, awarding the film an impressive 97% score. Their critics consensus states: “Compelling, well-crafted storytelling and a judicious sense of terror ensure Steven Spielberg’s Jaws has remained a benchmark in the art of delivering modern blockbuster thrills.”
One critic described Jaws as “infinitely watchable”, with another highlighted that it is widely considered as the “first blockbuster film”.
Another critics review said: “The first summer blockbuster elevates its so-so source material into a thrilling horror adventure that still manages to instill a sense of genuine terror to this very day.”
“It may seem like a somewhat simple concept to have a shark terrorising a community and then having a group of men go hunt it down, but that simple concept is used to great effect, resulting in one of the greatest thriller-horror-dramas of all time,” added another critic.
Jaws is available to watch on Netflix, Amazon Prime and ITVX.