Jaws - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[kenzi]

With this film being nominated for 4 Oscars at the 48th Academy Awards in which star Robert Shaw hosted, he became the first person to host the Oscars and die in a movie that was nominated in the same ceremony

[jamie]

Peter Benchley's novel was first discovered in galley form at early 1973 by then Cosmopolitan Magazine editor and producer David Brown's wife Helen Gurley Brown who was to be excerpting part of the novel to be published in an upcoming issue. Brown saw it by accident, having read it then a few days brought it to the attention of his partner Richard D. Zanuck, subsequently obtaining the rights to the book at the end of the year.

[kim]

The brand of beer that Quint drinks onboard the Orca is Narragansett. A popular brand of beer in New England, and a sponsor of the Boston Red Sox. It's running line was "Hi neighbor, have a Gansett."

[caroline]

After the surprise success of the film, Hollywood insiders ascribed the film's effectiveness mostly to veteran editor Verna Fields rather than the little-known, 28-year-old Steven Spielberg. Although he undoubtedly learned much from Fields, Spielberg wished to prove his worth in following films and never worked with Fields again. It should be said that from Jaws (1975) until Fields death, Spielberg only made three films: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), 1941 (1979) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

[ken]

As the shoot ballooned from 55 days to 159, with the budget likewise spiraling, the film earned the nickname amongst the crew of "Flaws".

[linda]

Steven Spielberg cast Roy Scheider based on his performance in The French Connection (1971). The studio was wary of having him but eventually agreed to the casting decision when Scheider signed a three-picture deal. The sequel, Jaws 2 (1978), would be Scheider's last film under the deal, the other one was Sorcerer (1977).

[carla]

To get the crabs to move in the scene with the arm part on beach, the property master poured some hot coffee on them.

[beth]

Robert Shaw sang the song "Spanish Ladies" while at the dock with Hooper and Brody, loading the boat to catch the shark. The song is a traditional British shanty, not a New England one. However, Shaw changed the lyrics from:"for we have received orders, for to sail to old England..."to;"for we've received orders for to sail to old Boston..."Shaw who was born and raised in England was an accomplished novelist and playwright, and may have become familiar with the tune while working as a teacher in the fishing town of Saltburn by the Sea.

[riley]

During the night time scene aboard Quint's boat ORCA, the Quint character describes sharks have lifeless dolls eyes until it "bites ya" and then the "eyes roll over white." This occurs with many species of sharks but the "eyes" on mechanical sharks in the film never roll over or become white.

[veronica]

After the shark blows up, the "dinosaur roar" sound effect during the shot of the carcass sinking is the same one the truck makes as it crashes off a cliff at the end of Steven Spielberg's first film, Duel (1971). Spielberg later said in an interview that he placed this sound effect their intentionally to demonstrate the "kinship" he felt between the two films. The sound effect is originally from The Land Unknown (1957).

[addison]

The shark in "Finding Nemo" was named Bruce, supposedly as an homage to the mechanical shark's nickname.

[victoria]

Quint's name comes from the Latin word for "fifth". Quint is the fifth person killed by the shark (after Chrissie Watkins, Alex Kintner, Ben Gardner's disembodied head in boat, and Michael's sailing teacher).

[ronnie]

The limerick that Quint tells as they are preparing to cast off is the same as one that Robert Shaw uses during a limerick contest with James Earl Jones in the film Swashbuckler (1976).