Scare Value Hall of Fame – 2025
Jaws review
50 years ago today, Steven Spielberg changed summer movies forever. A look back at the greatest creature feature ever made…from a very specific perspective…and how changing it for a while resulted in greatness.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
Jaws
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Screenplay by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb
Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gray, Murray Hamilton, Lee Fiero, Jeffrey Kramer and Susan Backlinie
Jaws Review
Who’s the main character in Jaws?
It’s a silly question, right? Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) is clearly the lead of the story. He’s tasked with keeping his community safe…overcomes his personal fears…and, ultimately, saves the day. It’s a definitive main character arc. He even experiences one of the most memorable “dark night of the soul” stories in film history. Guilt over his complicity (even though most viewers try to absolve him of it) in Amity’s beach staying in business after a girl is eaten by a shark drives a change of character. No longer willing to go along to get along with the town’s shady Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) …Brody takes up his own mission to protect Amity after a confrontation with the local woman who lost her son under his watch. Brody becomes a man of action…driving the story forward.
So why did I ask such a ridiculous question? Because Jaws does something so interesting with its main character that it propels a great story into a stone cold classic. It unwittingly puts him into someone else’s arc. Quint (Robert Shaw) isn’t the main character of Jaws. But he is the lead of his own story. A story that Brody doesn’t realize he’s wandered into until it’s too late.
Now wait, you might be saying. Every character in every story has their own lives that they star in. That’s true. Mrs. Kintner has an unseen life marred by tragedy when it touches upon Brody’s story. It even impacts Brody…as mentioned. What it doesn’t do, however, is change Brody’s role as the lead of the narrative. Everything that happens in Jaws sees Brody as the protagonist…until he hires Quint. That’s when Jaws shifts from a fun creature feature to a timeless classic. That’s when we, and Brody, discover that we have ventured into someone else’s story. A tale that Brody no longer drives the action of…and has no control over whatsoever.
When Brody and Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) climb abord Quint’s ship, The Orca, they leave behind any notion of dealing with this shark situation with science or politics or police work. They, and we, are now in Quint’s revenge story. They enter the story wanting the same outcome Quint does…but have no idea who they are partnering with to get it. I’ve heard the questions asked a thousand times… “why does Quint break the radio” or “why does Quint destroy his own ship”. The answers are obvious…but it’s also understandable how people wouldn’t know them. Why did these things…so unhelpful to Brody’s story…take place? Because we aren’t in Brody’s story. We’re in Quint’s. And Quint’s story is destined to end in that ocean no matter what.
You can read that in a meta way if you want to. It’s fine…Jaws isn’t shy about commentary like that. Quint gives his entire U.S.S. Indianapolis speech to Brody for a reason. While the character may not know that his story is going to end tragically…and that Brody is the one he needs to pass his mission off too…Steven Spielberg knows it. That’s why Hooper is such a non-factor in the scene. It’s why Quint speaks directly to Brody. Brody is going to get his story back…but Quint has to pass it back to him first.
I mean it in a narrative sense, however. Quint, the salty sea captain who gives the greatest monologue in film history, breaks his radio and damages his engine because those actions make sense to his story. He tells you everything you need to know in that masterful monologue. He’s done waiting. He isn’t waiting for help to come along, and he isn’t waiting for another day. Live or die…Quint is going to face this shark on his terms. This entire portion of the film is fueled by Quint’s emotions. He may let Hooper drive the boat…but he’s navigating the narrative.
It makes what happens next the most terrifying part of Jaws. Sure, there are a couple of the most effective jump scares in movie history along the way…but true fear…from the perspective of the story’s once and future main character Brody…comes from the moment Quint realizes he’s not prepared for this particular creature. From the moment the trio take to the sea…Quint has all the answers. Brody is woefully out of place, as he should be. Hooper’s scientific background leads to a lot of questioning of Quint’s methods…but Quint is always right. Until he isn’t. Once they get a third barrel onto the shark, Quint is convinced that there’s no way he can go under the water again. Until he does. That’s the scariest moment in Jaws. At least…it is if you’re still riding from Brody’s perspective.
Quint isn’t equipped to deal with this shark. He’s out of answers…and they’re still stuck on a boat he has no intention of returning to shore without finishing the job. He immediately turns to Hooper, who he has spent the entire trip mocking for his concept of shark hunting, to ask if he’s got any ideas. It’s officially the moment that everyone is completely screwed.
Quint is pot committed to finishing the game…and he’s all out of chips. His story ends as it needs to…in the jaws of the shark that had been coming for him since the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. He’s known it was out there…even if he didn’t know it was going to be this shark on this day. I’ve often wondered if Quint believed he was cursed from his role in delivering the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. That he could only escape the fate of his fellow serviceman for so long. He goes down swinging…piercing the shark with a blade as it finishes him off. Like every battle Quint has had since 1945 however…it’s a waste of time. This was always going to happen.
Of course, Brody, Hooper and the viewer can’t know any of that. We barely see Quint in Jaws before it becomes his story. Brody hasn’t properly vetted him. The Indianapolis story is the first time he begins to understand what kind of man he’s dealing with. Not a bad man by any stretch…but a man who is going to wrestle the story away from Brody and hand it back after doing as much damage as possible. Brody regains his stature with a sinking ship, a dead Quint and a missing Hooper. He’s alone, surrounded by water…with a killer shark on the hunt. All his worst fears realized in a moment. Because Jaws makes a brilliant decision to take the story away from him for a while.
Scare Value
Young Spielberg’s mastery of suspense elevates every frame of Jaws into the stuff of legend. Psycho made people afraid of showers…Jaws made them afraid of the water. It also launched the summer blockbuster industry as we’ve known it for the last fifty years. It remains as exciting and entertaining as it was upon its release. Spielberg has made a lot of great, and influential, films. Picking a favorite from so many classics comes down to personal preference. Jaws is never far from the top. That’s where it sits on my list.
5/5
Jaws Links
Rent/Buy on VOD from Fandango at Home and Amazon
Buy on Blu-Ray from Amazon
