Whoa, not just IMAX but adding 3D to Jaws? Not sure how I feel about that!
And just because this is I guess the Jaws discussion thread, for some reason my brain started wondering about something Quint said when he offered up his services to Amity:
Y’all know me. Know how I earn a livin’. I’ll catch this bird for you, but it ain’t gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down the pond chasin’ bluegills and tommycods. This shark, swallow you whole. Little shakin’, little tenderizin’, an’ down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that’ll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin’ basis. But it’s not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I’ll find him for three, but I’ll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you’ve gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don’t want no volunteers, I don’t want no mates, there’s just too many captains on this island. $10,000 for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.
And what I’ve kind of always wondered is, what did Quint mean when he said he would find the shark for $3,000? I’m assuming that doesn’t mean bringing the shark back alive, since that seems like it would be more difficult than killing it, which he charges ten grand for. But I can’t imagine that means he’s just going to boat out, go ‘yep, there’s the shark all right’ and then head home?
Oooh, excellent thought exercise! What if the Amity town council tried to cheap out of the full contract? What if they just hired Quint for recon duties?
I’m guessing Quint would track it down with the understanding that Hooper would fire his tracker dart into it (the one that seems to do fuck-all, other than alert the audience before the shark interrupts the night-time sing-a-along), and then it would be a matter of the Wood’s Hole Institute trying to do some sort of study, or at least tracking program, while the shark continued to terrorize the population? Basically, it would have just kicked the can down the road, right?
In other words, the exact same situation as Jackson, Mississippi cheaping out on their water treatment plants instead of paying for necessary infrastructure. It’s to the detriment of the local population and presumably the town council will have to answer for it down the line. Because back in 1975, politicians were sometimes held accountable for policy decisions like trying to save $7000 from the Amity budget! :)
But it is a great question, @divedivedive. Why did Carl Gottlieb write in this possibility that Quint might work for less money on a lesser assignment? I’ve internalized that moment so much that I’ve never really thought about its dramatic or narrative purpose.
I also love the idea of Quint sauntering in, seeing everyone bicker, and just hanging fire for the right moment to weigh in. I love the fact that he picks up a piece of chalk to doodle while he waits (in fact, new theory: Could Quint be the “paint-happy bastard” who defaced the Welcome to Amity billboard?). No one sees him the whole time, so he sits patiently and starts eating some crackers. When still no one pays attention to him, then its the nails on the chalkboard, and now he’s well and truly in the movie!
Yeah either that or maybe Quint takes the Orca out leading a fleet of fishermen, locates the shark, and then bids them farewell and adieu, best of luck. But I’m not sure exactly what he meant by that whole ‘I don’t want no volunteers, I don’t want no mates, there’s just too many captains on this island’ bit. Did he really plan to lone wolf the whole thing? Or he just didn’t want somebody bossing him around?
Was there a preceding moment where they offered him 3k or had it in a flier? Could’ve been more of a “pfft!” at the low amount. “For five bucks I’ll pour you a glass of water and bring some rolls, but if you want me to serve you an actual meal it’s going to cost you more than that!”
Right, but the thought exercise is what if the Amity Town council, instead of being galvanized into action by the Fourth of July attack on the scout leader and ponying up the full amount for “head, tail, whole damn thing”, had hired Quint for the cheaper recon option? Would he have actually done anything? Would it have made a difference?
Although I like your take that the lower sum isn’t even worth bothering with. Like he’s just throwing that out there because he knows it won’t do any good and no one would bother to take him up on the glass of water and some rolls. :)
Ah. In that case, he could have gone out and chummed, but that’s pretty counterproductive. Now you’ve just kept a shark in the area and made him hungry. There’s a reason shark feeding isn’t allowed in the US.
As for the “nobody else” thing, that was his Ahab tendencies already at the fore. He hates sharks and this is a special shark, so he wants a special swing at it.
Right? It actually belonged to the extra playing Quint’s assistant, a local fisherman named Hershel West. It sounds like the little thing was quite a terror:
I saw Jaws in non-3D IMAX tonight and I was hoping there would be a thread about this. A that sound level, the absolute horrific peak of this movie is Quint’s nails dragging on the chalkboard. Wow. I shuddered with my hand over my mouth for most of it.
Haha. I know you’re joking, but I thought it was awesome that I was so immersed that I did that. I loved it.
Another horrifying moment I didn’t expect from the big screen was in the opening scene. The ocean at twilight was so wide and encompassing when the girl went under. It touched a fear of drowning alone, surrounded by an unfeeling natural expanse. It reminded me of the Oba Chandler triple murder in Tampa, which I read about several years ago. I become frustrated when I think about that family being swallowed by the Gulf of Mexico.
Anyway, I really recommend getting to this if you have the time. There are so many more moments I could mention: frightening, funny, or just beautiful. After the screening, I talked to an elderly couple who had seen it in the theater in 1975 and got a kick out of reliving that. They were happy for me and my first-time experience.
We took our daughters to see this in IMAX over Labor Day weekend… what a treat! Hadn’t seen it in years and never on a big screen before. We all loved it.
It gave our summer a nice pair of IMAX bookends since back in May we saw Top Gun Maverick on the big, big screen for Memorial Day.
