Jaws: 10 Most Iconic Moments, Ranked

Summary

• Jaws
  is a classic must-watch movie with iconic moments that prove its greatness.
• The film changed the movie business with artistic techniques and character development.
• From Brody to the shark, many scenes in
  Jaws
  are unforgettable and truly shocking.

There are almost too many shocking iconic moments in Jaws to count, and the sheer abundance of them proves why it’s earned a rightly-deserved place as being considered a classic must-watch movie by many critics and viewers alike. In 1975, Steven Spielberg unwittingly created the summer blockbuster that changed the movie business forever with the shark-movie Jaws — a suspense-filled, seafaring thriller that brought artistic filmmaking techniques and careful character development to a high-concept Hollywood production, Jaws has been praised as one of the greatest films ever made.

From its everyman protagonist, Chief Martin Brody, to its Hitchcockian set pieces that limit the visibility of the shark, Jaws is filled with unforgettable moments. With masterful pacing and beautiful cinematography, some of the quieter moments are just as memorable as those where someone gets eaten. While every fan of the Spielberg classic may have their own opinion of which scene is the most jaw-dropping, the 10 most iconic moments in Jaws stand out as truly unexpected, shocking, and near-impossible to forget.

10 Hooper Finds Ben Gardner’s Corpse

Hooper’s First Glimpse Of How Dangerous The Shark Haunting Amity Island Truly Is

When Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) arrives in town, he goes out to sea with Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) in the middle of the night and finds Ben Gardner’s missing boat. Hooper dons some scuba equipment and goes down into the water to check it out. He finds a hole in the boat where the shark attacked it, and then Ben Gardner’s corpse — with an eye missing, for good measure — pops out of it.

It’s the first big jump scare in the movie. There aren’t a lot of them in Jaws, but the times it does include a jump-scare are always iconic. This is a prime example of a trope where less is more, and as a result, this scene never fails to get a huge reaction from audiences. It also serves as an example of how Jaws has aged well, as Ben Gardner’s bloated body is still unsettling to look at despite the movie releasing almost fifty years ago.

9 Brody’s Son Imitates Him

The Human Characters In Jaws Are Just As Memorable As The Shark

While the titular great white shark is undoubtedly the star of Jaws, it’s not the only reason the 1975 Spielberg movie became a hit. The many human characters are incredibly well-rounded, which adds to the suspense and the emotional impact of the relatively simple plot. Most of the iconic scenes from Jaws involve the shark, but there are also a couple of quieter character pieces that are just as effective. Roy Scheider’s Martin Brody is an incredibly solid and believable protagonist, and the scene where he’s eating dinner with his son is perhaps his most humanizing.

This moment with his son reminds him what’s really important in life, and motivates his heroism throughout the rest of the movie.

There’s a touching moment of father-son bonding after dinner, as Brody’s son Sean joins him at the table and starts imitating his movements. Brody’s been stressed out lately, as bureaucratic red tape has been preventing him from doing his job properly, and this moment with his son reminds him what’s really important in life, and motivates his heroism throughout the rest of the movie.

8 The Tiger Shark Autopsy

Spielberg Reminds The Audience How Powerful Even Normal-Sized Sharks Can Be

It’s not only the shark in Jaws that causes tension for viewers, but also empathy with Brody for having to deal with the dangerous naivity of figures like Murray Hamilton’s Mayor Larry Vaughn. Despite Brody’s protests, Mayor Vaughn is adamant that the presence of a deadly shark won’t mean the beaches are closed, as this would ruin the tourist season for Amity Island. So keen is Mayor Vaughn to put Brody’s protests to bed that he jumps at the chance to declare the dangerous shark dealt with at the earliest opportunity — even when all evidence points to the real danger still being out there.

When a couple of Amity Island’s fishermen bring in a tiger shark, they believe they’ve caught the shark that’s been eating people. Hooper doesn’t believe that this could be the shark, and performs an autopsy to prove it. He and Brody find all kinds of things in the shark’s digestive system — including a license plate with a James Bond Easter egg — but no human remains. The scene remains iconic for multiple reasons, not least of which is that it shows how even a medium-sized shark is capable of consuming almost anything.

7 The Shark Pops Up While Brody’s Head Is Turned

The Moment Viewers Get To Understand The True Scale Of The Monstrous Shark In Jaws

Audiences don’t get a clear look at the shark in Jaws until the final act of the movie, but when the great white made its first appearances instantly became incredibly memorable scenes. One of them, however, managed to also be somewhat funny too (though it was, to many, also quite a fright). In the classical sense, Jaws is a horror movie. But it’s not without moments of comedy. A great way to convey visual comedy is to have something unexpectedly pop into the frame, and Jaws does this surprisingly well in one incredibly iconic moment.

While Chief Brody is hurling bait into the water to attract the shark, he turns back to speak to Hooper and Quint. While his head is turned, the shark breaches the surface of the water. Brody turns back to see a 25-foot great white with its mouth wide open and its many sharp teeth on display, and he’s unsurprisingly taken aback. It’s a scene that shows viewers to true scale of the shark too, which is why, while some find it amusing, others are shocked.

6 The Ferry Scene

Mayor Vaughn Shows His Ineptitude Is Just As Dangerous As The Shark Itself

On the surface, it would appear that the shark is the villain in Jaws, but the shark has no malicious intent; it’s just a force of nature. The real villain is Mayor Larry Vaughn. When Chief Brody identifies Chrissie’s remains on the beach and determines that she was killed by a shark, he wants to close the beach. However, it’s the beginning of the summer season, and Vaughn doesn’t want Amity Island to lose any revenue from tourism.

Mayor Vaughn’s insistence that profit be placed over safety is a key reason that
Jaws
is so tense, as it leads to dozens of beachgoers happily entering the water with no idea they’re in mortal danger.

Mayor Vaughn’s insistence that profit be placed over safety is a key reason that Jaws is so tense, as it leads to dozens of beachgoers happily entering the water with no idea they’re in mortal danger. It’s also the reason that Brody inevitably has to take matters into his own hands. Mayor Vaughn being perhaps the true threat in Jaws is outlined in a very talky scene shot in one long take, and Steven Spielberg ingeniously chose to set it on a ferry, so that the background is constantly changing, and the scene remains gripping.

5 “Smile, You Son Of A B****!”

Brody’s Finally Besting The Shark Is A Truly Heroic Moment

It’s little surprise that one of the most iconic scenes in Jaws is the moment that Brody finally kills the titular shark. There’s a reason that Chief Brody is considered one of actor Roy Scheider’s best roles, as he plays the character incredibly well — and the moment Brody finally kills the shark is perhaps his most well-acted scenes in the entire movie. Brody’s fear, frustration, and exhaustion feel palpable, and his victory is truly sold by one of the most memorable Jaws quotes.

There are a lot of scientific inaccuracies in this scene. For example, great white sharks don’t roar like lions. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a thrilling climax to the movie. Brody shoves a pressurized scuba tank into the shark’s mouth, then climbs up onto the mast as the Orca sinks and shoots the tank, blowing up the shark in a flurry of blood.

In the edited-for-TV version of this scene, Brody’s line is cut off before the word “b****,” but oddly enough, all of the gore is left intact and uncensored.

4 Mrs. Kintner Slaps Brody

Spielberg Shows Viewers The Human Suffering That Accompanies The Spectacle Of The Shark

There’s a reason few movies about dangerous and deadly sharks have come close to matching Jaws. Spielberg was considerate when demonstrating the impact of the many memorable deaths in the movie, but none were as emotionally raw as when Mrs. Kintner slapped Chief Brody. Not only is this moment Chief Brody’s wake-up call, but it’s also a stark reminder that the victims of the great white shark all had loved-ones they’d left behind.

After rolling over and letting his superiors endanger the people in his town, a young boy named Alex Kintner was ravaged by the shark. Alex’s mother, Mrs. Kintner, learns about Chrissie, the shark’s first victim in Jaws, and finds out that Brody knew there was a killer shark in the water and didn’t close the beach. Dressed in all black after attending her son’s funeral, Mrs. Kintner walks up to Brody and slaps him in the face. It’s a powerful moment, played superbly by Lee Fierro.

3 Chrissie Gets Eaten

The Shark’s First Kill In Jaws Remains One Of The Most Iconic

There are several death scenes in Jaws as the titular shark starts using the waters around Amity Island as its own personal hunting ground, but few are as iconic as the first. In the opening scene of Jaws, partygoer Chrissie drunkenly decides to go skinny-dipping in the ocean in the middle of the night. What’s particularly iconic about this particular Jaws death scene is that viewers don’t actually get to see the shark.

All that’s really shown in Chrissie struggling in the water, a creative decision by Spielberg that only serves to make the scene much more intense.

All that’s really shown in Chrissie struggling in the water, a creative decision by Spielberg that only serves to make the scene much more intense. Chrissie can’t see the shark when it attacks her — as she’s dragged around the surface of the water in the pitch-black of the night — so, effectively, not seeing the shark puts the viewer in her shoes when she’s eaten alive, heightening the terror.

2 The Dolly Zoom

The Moment That Proves How Well-Crafted A Movie Jaws Truly Is

There are several reasons that Jaws put Steven Spielberg on the map as a director, and it’s not just because of the animatronic shark. The movie contains several incredibly well-shot scenes that are still dissected by cinephiles to this day, with perhaps none showing Spielberg’s abilities better than his use of the dolly zoom. After Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, this is arguably the second-most memorable use of a dolly zoom in film history.

The beach scene is one of Jaws’ tensest sequences, as both Brody and the audience are just waiting for a shark attack. When the lengthy, suspense-filled sequence comes to a head, Brody sees Alex Kintner getting eaten in the distance. The dolly zoom perfectly encapsulates the shock and terror in Brody’s mind, and cinematographer Bill Butler pulled it off brilliantly. While most viewers remember Jaws for the shark and the deaths it causes, Brody’s dolly zoom moment stands out as a scene that proves just how well-made a movie Jaws is even beyond the spectacle.

1 Quint’s Indianapolis Speech

The Monologue That Made The True Threat Of The Shark Impossible To Ignore

There are several memorable characters in Jaws besides Chief Brody, and few stick in viewers’ minds quite like Quint, the shark-hunter played by Robert Shaw. He’s a unique and grizzled character, and it’s mainly thanks to one particular monologue that Shaw managed to cement him as one of the most iconic members of the Jaws cast. This monologue is placed in the calm-before-the-storm sequence, right before the trio’s final showdown with the shark, and it prepares viewers for the grim reality of a shark attack.

Interestingly, Robert Shaw’s drinking became a major problem on the set of Jaws. And when he first attempted to shoot the now-iconic Indianapolis speech, he got even drunker than usual, seeing it as an opportunity to do some method acting. His drunken takes were unusable, and Shaw felt bad, so he remained stone-cold sober when they reshot the scene, and he nailed it in one take.