1983 Jaws 3-D

How I have longed for a decent sequel to Jaws.

The original movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, ushered in the era of the summer blockbuster and I was only 3 when it was released. My only viewing of Jaws has been on the subsequent television showings. I really wanted to see a Jaws movie at the theatre which scared me, made me jump, made me laugh and thrilled me.

I'm still waiting.

For a very short time in the 80's there was an idea to resurrect 3-D. As was the case in the Noughties, it didn't work. My only memory of this movie from watching at the cinema is seeing a severed fish head getting larger on screen and looking just like someone in front of me was dangling it on a piece of wire.

This, sadly, is a terrible movie; yet, give it something, not as terrible as Jaws: The Revenge.

It stars Dennis Quaid, who had a career that nearly got him to the top. It also stars Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr, and another 80's stalwart, Lea Thompson. Gossett Jr is wasted; the rest are just second fiddle to a slim plot of a enormous shark trapped in some sort of Sea World enclosure.

The stars who survived the previous two movies wisely chose to steer clear. Critics hated it, and this is a lesson in why some movies do not need sequels because the story is told. Yet, on a budget of $18m it managed to snap $88m.

Yep, you know where this is going, where profit sits, sequels lie.

Now re-branded as Jaws 3, originally because there was no such thing as 3-D blu-ray players or televisions. It has not been transferred, wisely, as 3-D televisions don't seem to have taken off either. I guess, with the world in more than 3-D, we don't need our stories in that format as well.