watch Spielberg inventing the capitalism critical horror satire here.

definitely a two half split - first this nervous hustling and bustling wimmelpicture, that gives you a lot of impro vibes, creating the storyline and having the social backstory to offer. then the three-man-and-the-sea-and-the-great-white-one scenario, that leaves you with a proper horror film aswell as an homage to the drunken world of good literature on that subject. add some existentialism if you like.

all in all Spielberg at that point was still a free mind and bold filmmaker, you can see that in all those imperfections and the laissez-faire driving, while the glances of perfectionism are shining through in between. I mean after all, those shark scenes are great stuff. then again, this is just his second cinema experience, and became immediately the first summer blockbuster (says imdb). shame he couldn't build on this fresh and unconsumed hollywood renovation here.