Chief Brody, the reluctant hero of Amity Island, has an awkward but endearing demeanour. Brody’s scared of the ocean but lives on an island. He sports a towel over his shoulder inside his jacket. There's an odd skip in his step as he heads to the store. He knocks over the paintbrushes once there.
The Chief’s glasses don't sit right on his head. He smokes around Chrissie's remains. He wears a life jacket on Hooper's expensive boat. He clumsily knocks his head on a light in the Orca (and again on one in his home in Jaws 2).
Brody allows himself to be bullied. With his garish suit jacket and lapels, Vaughn and his heavies surround him. Vaughn patronises the Chief of Police for this being his "first summer" on the island.
Quint, Hooper and Vaughn are arrogant and confident, unlike Brody. Who else, bar Matt Hooper, would take someone's dinner while he hasn't even finished asking if anyone's eating it? Or rock double denim with a tie like that?
The powerhouse performances behind Brody, Quint, Hooper and Mayor Murray Vaughn show them as complex characters. They each have separate fears, motivations and backstories. There's a power struggle between man and shark – and between these three men.
The islanders also fight to be seen and heard. One of the many remarkable things about this film is that most of the actors were either bit-part, local actors or not actors at all.
As soon as Chrissie Watkins is killed, Brody isn't interested in the islander’s petty squabbles. He doesn't care about the truck parked in front of the store, bad-hat Harry's broken fence or "cats barking" in front of Mr Taft's house. Whatever that means, arrogant wife in tow.
Who knew that pruned fingers would be cause for concern? Moments later, Mrs Kitner has a more permanent problem than when the shark takes his second victim: her son.
Brody was sick of people goading him about being scared of the water. He gets narky with Harry and abruptly cuts off his wife when she mentions it. Watch out for when he's rushing people out of the water after the shark attacks Alex. His toes touch the water. He doesn't like it and pulls back.
The internet is full of comments about her being too old to have an 8-year-old boy and that she looks more like his grandmother. But Lee Fierro was 45 at the time of filming, which would've made her 37 when she gave birth. Nothing now. Old back then.
She scolds Brody for being responsible for her son's death. Vaughn claims she's wrong; Brody claims she's right. Mrs Kitner was right. Brody allowed himself to be intimidated.
Vaughn’s intimidation techniques bully a family into the water. Only until the fourth victim does Brody take a stand. Only when Quint and Hooper fix the Orca's engine on calm water does the audience get some respite from the non-stop intensity.
You can see the certifiability in Quint’s eyes as he eyeballs the shark heading for for the Orca after Roy Scheider's famous ab-libbed line. If you want more evidence of Scheider's prowess and screen presence, look no further than Sorcerer (1977). In the end, Hooper is partly responsible for Quint's death when his oxygen tank crushes his hand.
No thoughts on this masterpiece would be complete without mentioning John Williams. It's wild how this film improves with each viewing, even if you're well into double viewing figures.
It's the perfect film. The only jarring thing is that some of the supporting cast is dressed for winter in July. But it was filmed when spring was barely off the teat, and it does get blowy on Martha’s Vineyard
Queue Jaws 2: a solid sequel and a tense, early teen slasher. It's not as good as Jaws, but which film is?
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