10 Best Jaws Moments
8. Ben Gardner’s Head
This is arguably the film’s greatest jump scare.
After discovering the abandoned boat of local fisherman Ben Gardner, Matt Hooper dives below the surface to investigate. Absorbed in his discovery of an enormous tooth embedded in the hull of the boat, Ben’s horrible head (grotesque and staring out of one eye) takes him completely by surprise. Us too.
The shock of a disfigured body was so effective that there are homages to Ben’s head in Jaws 2 (1978), Jaws 3-D (1983) and other shark films like Deep Blue Sea (1999), where unexpected corpses and chewed up faces crop up willy-nilly.
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7. Alex Kintner’s Death
Alex Kintner’s death is so incredibly important to the plot of Jaws. It comes seventeen minutes in and provides a shock: a child is dead. A completely innocent bystander has been taken, and it was entirely avoidable. The emotional impact of this moment is vital.
Once the stakes have been raised this high the tension can’t back down. The way his death is depicted isn’t dramatic, it takes a moment of realisation. That creeping dread is what stays with you for the entire film.
Kintner’s death is a two-for-one as the scene also comes with the famous dolly zoom moment.
Jaws was not the first film to feature this camera technique – a shot in which the camera angle and lens are changed simultaneously to create a disorientating effect – but the technique and Martin Brody’s horror-stricken face have become synonymous with each other.
You can’t think of Jaws without thinking of Roy Scheider in that moment.
6. Lining up to Be a Hot Lunch
Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) is, frankly, as dangerous as the shark. Possibly more so because he should know better. By refusing to take Brody’s advice and close the beaches, he is responsible for two avoidable deaths and countless injuries.
In this scene, Hooper tries to convince the mayor of the danger, while a comedic sign – showing just how little heed the townspeople are taking of the experts – looms behind them. It’s also a lovely indicator of how Brody and Hooper are on the same page, completely united in their mission to save Amity. This moment provides the perfect respite from all the other conflict.
Great choices! To this day it’s a movie my dad and I can pretty much quote word for word to each other.