Three Interesting Men

Rating: Null/10 (11 August 2003)

As much as the shark suspense is key to "Jaws," I've always been intrigued by the relationships among the three men who go to sea to kill the shark: Chief Brody (Roy Scheider), Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and Quint (Robert Shaw.)
Each man is at odds with the other two. Chief Brody, who is scared and useless on the open sea, is at odds with salty seafarer Quint and brainy shark expert Hooper. Rich kid Hooper is at odds with working class heroes Chief Brody and Quint. And the crazed Quint is at odds with the sane Chief Brody and Hooper. Since each man lacks something the other two have, there is constant tension among them -- both comic and dramatic -- even as they must band together to stop the killer great white from killing them.
I saw this with a giant crowd in the summer of '75 -- and went down to the beach after the matinee. EVERYBODY was thinking about that movie. Everybody.
A great movie -- and a better "movie going memory" of a long time ago.