--- title: Jaws at 40: Read What TIME Thought of the Movie in 1975 description: The movie was released on June 20, 1975 canonical: https://time.com/3894762/jaws-1975-review/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-19T13:30:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:09.768Z article:section: History og:title: Read TIME's Original Review of 'Jaws' og:description: The movie was released on June 20, 1975 og:url: https://time.com/3894762/jaws-1975-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03cb39fa44c59cf7/69885175e20a877c7aa8b7f5/1101750623_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The June 23, 1975, cover of TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read TIME's Original Review of 'Jaws' twitter:description: The movie was released on June 20, 1975 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03cb39fa44c59cf7/69885175e20a877c7aa8b7f5/1101750623_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read What TIME Thought of _Jaws_ in 1975 ## Video: 100 Years of Blockbusters in 5 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): 100 Years of Blockbusters in 5 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tfrXo5zL.m3u8) (5:21)  _Published 2014-02-12. Time has taken the highest grossing film each year for the past century and crammed them into 5 and a half minutes. No Intermission._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 19, 2015 1:30 PM UTC  The June 23, 1975, cover of TIME The June 23, 1975, cover of TIMETIME  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 19, 2015 1:30 PM UTC Shortly after the movie _Jaws_ was released 40 years ago this weekend, TIME declared in a cover story that it was “a case study in the recklessness, stubbornness, blindness and bravado that go into a Hollywood superproduction.” The making of the Steven Spielberg classic involved five separate scripts, the final one of which continued to be written even as filming got underway, skeptical residents of Martha’s Vineyard wary of the film crew shooting there, and the stink of rotting shark carcasses permeating the set. And yet, as the story made clear, the whole thing worked: --- > “” --- **_Read the full story here in the TIME Vault:_** [Summer of the Shark](http://time.com/vault/issue/1975-06-23/page/50/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3894762/jaws-1975-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3894762/jaws-1975-review/"},"headline":"Read What TIME Thought of Jaws in 1975","datePublished":"2015-06-19T13:30:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:09.768Z","description":"'Jaws is an efficient entertainment machine'","url":"https://time.com/3894762/jaws-1975-review/","keywords":["movies","Sharks"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03cb39fa44c59cf7/69885175e20a877c7aa8b7f5/1101750623_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03cb39fa44c59cf7/69885175e20a877c7aa8b7f5/1101750623_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The June 23, 1975, cover of TIME","caption":"The June 23, 1975, cover of TIME","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3894762/jaws-1975-review/","name":"Read What TIME Thought of Jaws in 1975"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"100 Years of Blockbusters in 5 Minutes","description":"Time has taken the highest grossing film each year for the past century and crammed them into 5 and a half minutes. 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