10 reasons Jaws might be the best film ever made

Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is one of the most financially successful films ever made. It is also loved by critics as exampled by its 100% Fresh rating on Rottentomatoes.com. Not only that, it is one of the most widely decorated films ever made, collecting three Oscars as well as ranking highly on hundreds of top films lists including being named as one of the top 100 films ever made by Total Film, the 5th best film ever made by Empire, and the 48th best film ever made by the American Film Institute.

Here’s ten reasons why it deserves all the praise it gets.

Controversy surrounds the horror film Poltergeist

Who directed Poltergeist is a question that has been raised many times between fans of the film ever since an article appeared in the L.A. Times in 1982. The article, about a set visit during principle photography, queried whether credited director Tobe Hooper was actually at the helm. On the day of the newspaper’s visit Steven Spielberg was directing some on-location shots and Hooper was nowhere to be seen. [Click here for the full story]

It wasn’t all a bed of roses between David Lean and his most famous fan Steven Spielberg

It wasn’t all a bed of roses between David Lean and his most famous fan. Chris Evans of The Independent wrote an article in 2008 entitled: “How Sir David Lean had an epic falling out with Steven Spielberg over the filming of a Conrad novel”. [More]

Lawrence of Arabia: The film that inspired Spielberg

Steven Spielberg’s favourite film is David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. When the film was first released in 1962 Spielberg went to see it at a small theatre in Phoenix, Arizona where he immediately fell in love with the epic tale of T.E. Lawrence. However, as the director explains, he wasn’t aware of the enormity of the film’s influence on him until much later. [More]

Spielberg's 1941 - load of crap or underappreciated gem?

In the late Seventies, Steven Spielberg was the working definition of the term boy-wonder. He already had two films under his belt that could be argued as the most important films ever: one made you never want to go into the ocean again and the other made you keep your eyes on the night skies.

So there he was pondering his next step as a film-maker; what would his next film be about?

Interesting story: while making Close Encounters of the Third Kind, fellow director Francois Truffaut spoke with him about how well Spielberg worked with kids, commenting that his next film should feature kids as a focal point. Spielberg’s response was that he was planning on doing a comedy about World War II with lots of pratfalls and explosions. Truffaut’s response: “You are the child.” I’m sure he meant it as a compliment.

But that brings us to 1941, the last Spielberg movie of the Seventies and also the most notorious film Spielberg would ever make – not only because of its huge budget and small returns, but also because of its main star.

And no, I don’t mean Treat Williams. [read more]

What if Spielberg returned to the Jaws franchise..?

...Jaws 5 - the story revealed right here!

Celebrating 35 years of Jaws...

Click the image or click here to check out Top10Films' celebration of Steven Spielberg's work over the past 35+ years...