One of the greatest films ever made, Jaws, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and to commemorate the occasion, it returns to theaters this weekend. And not just regular theaters. Jaws is being re-released in 3D, IMAX, and even 4DX. Yes, you can ride along in your theater seat and feel the watery mist alongside Brody, Hooper, and Quint as the Orca sets sail.
You can find showtimes and buy tickets for all of those at this link. But, to get even more excited about seeing the Steven Spielberg classic back on the big screen, we decided to rank the 10 best moments in the film. When you look at this list, you realize that’s not an easy task. Seemingly every shot in Jaws is awesome in its own way and limiting this list to 10 leaves off some major, major moments. Are these the 10 you’d pick? Did we miss your favorite? Read on and find out.
10. “A what?”
Part of the magic of Jaws is that for many of the supporting roles, Steven Spielberg cast actual people who lived on Martha’s Vineyard, where it was being filmed. It gives the film a real, authentic quality but few characters stand out more than the guy who reacts in the most perfect manner ever when Hooper tells him the shark caught early on is a tiger shark. “A what?” he says in a perfect New England drawl. It’s one of those moments that might pass you by on a first or second viewing. But by your 100th viewing, it’s absolute, hilarious perfection. Jaws is filled with those moments, so we decided to pick this one to represent them all.
9. The cage
When Brody and Hooper arrive on Quint’s boat, there’s a brief exchange about the cage that Hooper is bringing. Then, a ton of things happen, and you almost forget about it. And yet, that information lingers, making the moment Hooper actually goes into the cage that much more terrifying. That he not only encounters the shark but gets kind of really messed up by it, then takes it up a few notches.
8. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
Throughout Jaws, the film reaches various points of escalation. Scenes or lines where the characters learn, often in violent fashion, that things are much worse than they had originally thought. The most famous and fun one of these is when Sheriff Brody is off-handedly throwing chum into the water and is greeted by a shark much, much bigger than he’d imagined in his head. His resulting message to Quint has become the film’s most quoted line, and hearing it, you can’t help but smile.
7. The Orca‘s journey begins
Jaws is almost two movies. There’s the first half where everything is set up, and then the second half on board the boat. Each is amazing in its own right, and the transition between them is incredibly special. As the Orca leaves the dock to head out to sea, the camera films it from Quint’s shack and through a set of shark jaws. It’s Spielberg’s way of setting up everything to come. They are going into the belly of the beast, and it may not go well. (Oh, and the rising, adventurous John Williams score doesn’t hurt either.)
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