Film

The Making of 'Jaws'

Name: The Making of 'Jaws'
Genre: Documentary
Released: 1995
Cast: Steven Spielberg, Peter Benchley, David Brown, Richard D. Zanuck, Carl Gottlieb

Light-hearted

A documentary chronicle of how Spielberg, Benchley, and the filmmakers conquered a malfunctioning mechanical shark, a sinking boat, and chaos to create cinema's most influential thriller. Filled with behind-the-scenes footage and candid interviews, it captures how disaster became legend—essential viewing for anyone who loves how films actually get made.

TMDb rating

3.4

If you liked this

Jaws1975

See the finished masterpiece that changed Hollywood forever. Spielberg's directorial breakthrough remains a model of suspense, economy, and how to make audiences terrified of water. Pure cinema.

But If you've seen it recently, the documentary repeats beats you already know. Some shark effects haven't aged as gracefully as the filmmaking that hides them.

Citizen Kane1941

Welles's debut remains the gold standard for innovative filmmaking under impossible constraints. Like Jaws, it's a story of a visionary making something revolutionary with limited resources and a sceptical studio.

But Its formal brilliance can feel remote. If you're not primed to notice editing and composition, it plays as a well-made old film rather than a revolution.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse1991

A documentary masterpiece about Coppola's Apocalypse Now—the parallel you need. Another auteur battling impossible odds, ego, and physics. Gripping, revelatory, darkly funny about filmmaking's chaos.

But It assumes you've either seen Apocalypse Now or don't mind spoilers. The tone is bleaker than Making of Jaws; it's less celebration, more autopsy.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Making of 'Jaws'

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Z: The Beginning of Everything2015

Both explore the alchemy of turning struggle into immortal art—how flawed people under impossible pressure create something that outlasts them and changes culture.

A series about F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda during the Jazz Age, examining how art gets made from chaos, ambition, and sacrifice. It mirrors Making of Jaws's fascination with creation under pressure, but with intimate human stakes instead of mechanical sharks.

But It's melancholic and uneven; some episodes drag. The connection to filmmaking is thematic rather than direct, so it requires patience and emotional openness.

Singin' in the Rain1952

A glorious musical that's also secretly a film about filmmaking—sets, cameras, the artifice behind the magic. It reminds you that Jaws inherited a long tradition of directors obsessing over craft.

But If you're not in the mood for pure entertainment and charm, it'll feel lightweight. Also: it's a musical, and that's a commitment some viewers won't make.

The Godfather1972

Coppola's masterpiece made the same year as Jaws proves two titans were working simultaneously. It's the companion piece to understanding 1970s filmmaking ambition: control versus chaos, each director's opposite problem.

But Nearly three and a half hours. If you need to know about filmmaking specifically rather than just watching greatness, this doesn't scratch that itch the way the documentary does.

Argo2012

Affleck's thriller about a fake film production created to rescue hostages. It's a heist movie that loves cinema, with Jaws-like precision editing and a protagonist obsessed with getting every detail right under pressure.

But It's slicker and less messy than the real chaos of Jaws's production. If you want authenticity over craft, the documentary is more honest.

Sunset Boulevard1950

Wilder's noir about Hollywood's machinery and ego. A different kind of film-world story, but essential—it shows what happens when the system breaks you, which gives Spielberg's triumph darker context.

But It's cynical and bleak. After enjoying Making of Jaws's triumph, this might feel like a hangover rather than a celebration.

The Ten Commandments1956

DeMille's epic is a ancestor of Jaws-level production chaos and ambition. Three and a half hours of a visionary wrestling logistics, scale, and doubt. A fascinating historical mirror to 1970s filmmaking.

But Glacially paced by modern standards. The acting is theatrical; if you're impatient, it'll feel like a museum piece rather than a living film.

Notting Hill1999

A fun romantic comedy with a script by Richard Curtis. Not essential, but it's warm, funny, and a palate-cleanser if you want entertainment without the weight of auteur documentaries or masterpieces.

But It's slight and entirely forgettable. Watching it after Making of Jaws might feel like eating candy after a feast—you'll wonder why you bothered.

RoboCop1987

Both films prove that constraints and genuine creative conflict produce better results than money and smooth sailing. Each is a case study in how limitation breeds innovation.

Verhoeven's sci-fi masterpiece disguised as an action film: a brilliant work made at the margins of the studio system. Like Jaws, it's a film that shouldn't have worked but did because of smart choices and hunger, not budget.

But It's violent and satirical in ways that can feel excessive. If you want the wholesome triumph of Making of Jaws, this is meaner and darker.

Venom1981

A mirror-image document: where Jaws shows brilliant people rescuing disaster through talent and determination, Venom shows talented people creating disaster through ego and misalignment. Both are parables about what can happen when art meets reality.

A deeply weird, utterly fascinating Pinter adaptation—a snake-in-the-house thriller with Klaus Kinski, Sterling Hayden, and Sterling Hayden visibly fighting each other and the script. It's a catastrophe, but a fascinating one: filmmaking as pure chaos.

But It's genuinely bad, slow, and baffling. Watching it requires a certain ironic pleasure in filmmaking gone wrong—the inverse of Jaws. Not for everyone; some will find it unbearably tedious.