What makes JAWS (1975) so damn good?

Comments · 213

• BE

  @beatrixwickson8477 · 6 years ago · pinned

  This was incredibly useful.  I could honestly watch hours of this but for those who couldn't you covered so much so quickly.  Thank you.

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• SP

  @spencerlane2871 · 1 year ago (edited)

  One aspect about Jaws which I think goes critically unexamined is how it's a generational story. Quint, Brody, and Hooper represent three different age groups. Quint is the Greatest Generation who fought in WW2. Brody is a little younger; someone who didn't fight in the war but maybe grew up during the war and almost certainly knew someone who did fight in it, an older brother perhaps, or his father. He saw second-hand the ravages of war. And then there's Hooper, the young buck who knows nothing about the war personally, but who has heard the stories. He sits up straight the moment he hears the name "Indianapolis" -- in that one moment, Hooper gives Quint the respect that all of Quint's jibes and jeers and insults never could. Ultimately, the tension between Quint and Hooper was all about how Quint has a chip on his shoulder: he served, Hooper didn't. Hooper enjoys, unearned, a life of luxury and freedom for which Quint fought and about which Hooper knows nothing. Quint has a begrudging respect for Brody, both because he holds the office of Chief of Police but also because Brody has put his life on the line to serve, maybe not the way Quint served, but service nonetheless. Jaws is a story about younger men trying to relate to an older man who went through a war they cannot possibly understand as much as it is a story about hunting a shark.

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• CI

  @CINEXORIGIN · 1 year ago

  Simple. This is a perfect movie. A piece of art.

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• ST

  @Sticks_And_Glue · 1 year ago (edited)

  Ain’t it crazy that the oxygen tank that  crushed Quint’s hand and caused him to lose his grip and fall into the sharks mouth was the same oxygen tank that killed the shark in the end?

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• JA

  @jamierobertson9832 · 1 year ago

  Hollywood wishes it could craft a movie like this nowadays.

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• RU

  @Ruylopez778 · 6 years ago

  Another thing about the contrast of the characters on the boat, is how enjoyable it is when they start working together as team, and how Quint&apos;s anecdote makes him more likable as they bond.<br>We really want them to just get along, but we can also see each perspective and its influence on their actions. Quint also foreshadows his own end. We also get the exposition about the tanks through conflict, so we know exactly what Brody&apos;s plan is before he fires. The tanks are also tied to the ideas of safety and Hooper&apos;s love for modern technology.

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• LI

  @lisal.4498 · 1 year ago

  writing, character development, acting, musical score. &nbsp;Jaws has it all

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• GI

  @giovannicarnevale7704 · 1 year ago

  In my top 5 of all time. I always think of the Orca as a character in itself.

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• IM

  @Impressionistic-qc5y · 2 months ago

  You have to mention the music

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• AL

  @allenf.5907 · 1 year ago

  NOW we are in Jaws summer #2 - the 5o year anniversary.

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• BR

  @brandonbuchner1771 · 1 year ago

  The final sequencing is like any &quot;battle scene.&quot; In order to do a good battle scene you need ebbs and flows. Show the heroes winning, then pull back and show the villain advancing. Repeat this over and over but in different and interesting ways. This was done masterfully. The only other movie to pull of a battle scene this good was Lord of the Rings with Helms Deep. But to do it with what amounts to 4 characters is nothing short of incredible.

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• HE

  @hesch-tag · 1 year ago

  It is genuine, intelligent and character based.<br>Great characters first of all. We identify with Brody, we love Hooper and we admire and fear Quint. We all despise the mayor. The score is brilliant, the actors are real men. Not because they act tough, take off their shirts and show their muscles. There is no over the top bombasic music, no predictable cringy emotional scenes, just pure adventure, great pacing but it still takes the time to really get to know the main characters and care for them. It is just a perfect movie. But it starts with intelligence, vision and a genuine love for film making.

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