About This Quiz
Think you know all there is to know about the 1975 movie "Jaws?" Take this quiz to find out just how much you remember.
If you read the book "Jaws" by Peter Benchley, you would probably have agreed that it would make a great movie. But, no one could have anticipated that a mechanical shark could have inspired so much fear in beachgoers that they avoided the nation's beaches for months.
Who knew that a movie with a budget of a mere $9 million would end up grossing over $470 million (the highest ever until the release of "Star Wars" in 1977)? In fact, the movie almost made back its production costs in the first weekend.
"Jaws" pushed movie boundaries in several ways, mainly in its use of suspense. However, the technique Spielberg used in the movie wasn't intentional, but rather the result of those crazy mechanical sharks. Unfortunately for Spielberg, the sharks did not always cooperate, often refusing to work at all, so he was forced to use sound, specifically music, to let viewers know that the shark was near. This type of suspenseful play was a technique used heavily by Alfred Hitchcock, and it certainly worked for Spielberg... and millions of viewers.
If you're ready to swim with the big fish, take this quiz.
Much of the filming was done on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
The plate is from Louisiana, suggesting the shark came up from the Gulf.
He explains the root of his fear very concisely: "Drowning."
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It's implausible that this draws the shark, as sharks are drawn by irregular and vigorous splashing.
Given Quint's penchant for drink, showing up staggering would have worked, too.
Once in the pond, the shark kills a boater.
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Nowadays. it's unlikely someone would be admitted overnight -- but this was prior to HMOs!
Hooper is immediately skeptical because of the animal's smaller bite radius.
An underwater shot shows the bulk of the shark's body sinking to the seafloor like a battleship going down.
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Quint's death -- with the shark jumping halfway up onto the deck -- is a little hard to swallow. (Sorry!)
First the shark tooth, now the gun -- Hooper needs some kind of waterproof lanyard so he can quit dropping things!
Quint is a glory hound who doesn't want help; Brody is nervous and wants all the help they can get.
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"Orca" is a whale. Fun fact: the film's first potential director was passed over for using "shark" and "whale" interchangeably.
The town's merchants look forward to the influx of tourist dollars from the holiday.
The closing shot shows them heading home with Amity Island in the near distance.
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He and Robert Shaw reportedly didn't get along, which might have been useful in creating tension between their characters.
The shark is distracted by its continuing attempts to mangle the cage; Hooper slips out the other side.
His wife tries to teach him local pronunciation of "yard" and "car" early in the film.
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During the exchange, Brody is silent, only once looking sheepishly at his own appendectomy scar.
Hooper has a dart gun and intends to inject the shark with strychnine.
His drinking caused some difficulties on set, like when he went "method" and got drunk to deliver his original "USS Indianapolis" monologue.
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Quint's monologue about the ship's sinking is one of the movie's high points.
We see his business advertised on his car as he arrives at the docks in his first scene.
The string of movies spawned an irrational fear of sharks; novelist Benchley spent a lot of his later life remorsefully working for ocean conservation.
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Quint thinks Hooper is a city-bred tenderfoot.
He's trying to give the mayor an idea of its size.
The finall toll: Chrissy the skinny-dipper, little Alex Kintner, the man seen in the broken boat, the boater in the pond, and Quint.
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Hooper dropped the "shot-glass-sized" tooth, and this allows the mayor to be skeptical, and to protect those tourist dollars.
The dog was director Spielberg's own, Elmer.
$10,000 is Quint's price for catching the shark.
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