John Williams has composed the scores for all but five of Steven Spielberg’s films, and while themes from the Indian Jones films, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977), and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) are immediately identifiable; it is perhaps the ominous, two-note theme from Jaws that has most seeped into popular culture. The small community of Amity Island, which relies on tourism, comes under threat when a great white shark makes its home offshore, causing a number of fatalities. Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) teams up with oceanographer Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) to find, and kill the deadly predator. The film is filled with classic dialogue (“You’re gonna need a bigger boat”, Quint’s USS Indianapolis speech) and terrifying moments, accompanied by Williams’s superlative score, for which he won the second of his five Oscars.

The screening will be introduced by Dr Conor Power.

Notes by Kevin Coyne