Anyone else get the urge to watch Jaws every summer around this time? Seems like the ultimate summertime movie to me. Got that and Jaws 2–which I’ve really liked ever since I saw it in the theatre as a kid–sitting by the DVD player for this weekend.
“Smile you son of a bitch!”
“That’s a bad hat, Harry.”
-Tom“I’m not going to let you cut open that shark and have that Kintner boy spill out all over this dock.”
“Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve minutes. Didn’t see the first shark for about a half hour. Tiger. Thirteen footer”
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
That was such a great speech. And it was a great story how it evolved to what we finally see in the film.
I often say to excess “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
>That was such a great speech. And it was a great story how it evolved to what we finally see in the film.
It was entirely done by Robert Shaw (after blowing it the night before, because he was too drunk). Spielberg couldn’t have anything to do with anything that subtle.
“You go in the cage? Cage goes in the water? You go in the water. Shark’s in the water. Our shark!”
Good call Brett. I don’t think Jaws 2 compares, but better than most summer movies.
Another favorite:
“The thing about a shark, it’s got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes. When it comes at you it doesn’t seem to be livin’… Until he bites you, and those black eyes roll over white.”
My parents got the big idea to let me see Jaws 2 in the theater when I was a kid. For several years after (and from time to time today), I havea fear of sharks being in the water. Of course the water I am talking about is Greers Ferry Lake in Heber Springs, Arkansas. A man-made, freshwater lake not accessible to the ocean :D
-DavidCPA
When leaving the jetty here in Milwaukee, I usually sing:
“Farewell and adieu all ye fair Spanish ladies…”
But I do it under my breath. One time this guy I know heard me and it sparked a wonderful Jaws related conversation. There’s nothing like imagining 30’ Great White sharks cruising Lake Michigan, it’s so easy to picture despite the lack of salt… and possibility.
Oh, There’s also one about bow-legged women… but when I referenced it at the old board I botched it pretty bad. I think Desslock knows how it goes.
Just now, you also just botched the “you go inside the cage” bit, but only slightly. Nice job cutting and pasting the “thing about a shark” quote from IMDB, where it’s also botched. :)
Stefan, are you saying Robert Shaw wrote the Indianapolis speech? If so, cool. I had no idea. What are some other good Robert Shaw movies? Besides The Sting, of course. A friend recently recommend The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3.
DavidCPA, those are almost the same waters I was afraid of as a post-Jaws kid. But for me it was Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs. I used to make my younger sister get in the water before me!
-Tom
EDIT: Weird formatting.
>Stefan, are you saying Robert Shaw wrote the Indianapolis speech? If so, cool. I had no idea. What are some other good Robert Shaw movies? Besides The Sting, of course. A friend recently recommend The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3.
Robert Shaw wrote the Indianapolis speech, in its entirety. Robert Shaw is the king.
Sting and Taking of Pelham 1/2/3 are two of his lesser efforts (Tarantino took some elements of Pelham for Resevoir Dogs, when he wasn’t taking them from Hong Kong Movies).
I’d recommend these three Shaw performances (in addition to Jaws):
He also has “fun” performances in:
Weirdest Shaw performance, The Luck of Ginger Coffey.
Stefan
Just now, you also just botched the “you go inside the cage” bit, but only slightly. Nice job cutting and pasting the “thing about a shark” quote from IMDB, where it’s also botched. :)
So you’re saying my cutting and pasting from the IMDB just swam up and bit me in the ass?
DavidCPA, those are almost the same waters I was afraid of as a post-Jaws kid. But for me it was Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs. I used to make my younger sister get in the water before me!
My older sister always thought it was real funny to yell, “Shark! Shark!” as I was behind the boat getting ready to ski. That’s part of the reason I give her a hard time about having a teenager now (my nephew is 16). I tell her often she could be a Grandma any day now :twisted:
Lake Hamilton is ok, but you had to have a lakehouse to be right on the lake. Greers Ferry was always more accessible to us common folk.
-DavidCPA
P.S. My company owns the dams that created Lake Hamilton (and Lake Catherine).
I thought his performance was the best thing about Robin and Marion. The Sheriff of Nottingham as a sympathetic character, not exactly the norm for the Robin Hood legend.
Well its July again, and time for more jawing about Jaws.
Richard Dreyfuss’ son, Ben, just posted a theory about Jaws - the shark (called Jaws) didn’t kill Ben Gardner - Quint killed him!
https://twitter.com/bendreyfuss/status/1415053841863569410
"Quint demands $10,000, a number he is refused. In his monologue, he says “There are too many captains on this island,” demonstrating his disdain for his rival fisherman.
What if after the meeting Quint is confronted by one of those rivals, Ben Gardner? Perhaps Gardner teases him for demanding such an extravagant sum. Perhaps he mentions the war, a subject we will come to learn is very sensitive to Quint, a survivor of the USS Indianapolis. Enraged, Quint follows Gardner out to sea. Once nightfalls, Quint pulls his boat up to Gardner’s and kills him. He uses a baseball bat to bang up Gardner’s boat a bit. Remember that Gardner’s boat is not so damaged as to actually sink. It is floating ghostlike when dad and Brody find it. Quint knows that the boat will be found and that people will think it is another shark attack—if he can plant some physical evidence.
The tooth. Quint has in his shop a massive Great White jaw. He has ample amounts of Great White teeth. He places one of the teeth in the wreckage and heads back to town.
His plan goes perfectly. Not only has he rid himself of a business rival, but he has increased the shark’s body count, making it more likely that the town will hand him $10,000. He didn’t realize that the mayor would still be so bullheaded that it would take yet another death. A death which nevertheless comes.
What about Gardner’s body? The head remained in the boat, but if Quint killed him he probably didn’t eat his body. Well, reader, Quint has an answer for that as well. He took Gardner’s body back with him to his fishing shop and mixed it with the chum—fish blood and guts—that he uses for bait to attract other sharks. He uses that chum to eventually lure the shark after the Orca."
Something always bothered me about Ben Gardner’s death and that “it’s a perfect killing machine” scene at the beach. When the Mayor asks to see the tooth, Hooper confesses he dropped it, so the Mayor shrugs it off and re-opens the beaches. Why didn’t the authorities bring Gardner and his damaged boat back to shore and let the experts determine what happened? Why was there no investigation?
I always wondered how a huge shark managed to gouge out one of Ben Gardner’s eyes while leaving the rest of his head relatively untouched.
Oh man… I swear I’ve seen this theory before…
Waiting for the Netflix series where Jaws is a washed up drunk in his 50s pining over the glory days of his youth. Spots a kid getting bullied at the beach and eats the bullies, starting his redemption arc.
So much can be done with the Jaws Cinematic Universe. How many more years must we wait for a Quint origin story?
