Want to help support this channel? Consider subscribing on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheCriticalDrinker

The good thing about today's movies is, they make you appreciate just how great movies used to be.

One of the most ironic aspects of Jaws is that Quint's monologue about the USS Indianapolis was nearly left on editing floor. Spielberg initially thought the monologue might have been too boring for the film. That monologue is one of the best and most chilling and integral parts of a movie ever made. Having Quint recount the  horrors that he and his crew had to endure  with shark attacks in the Pacific during World War II really helps to define  Quint's character and why he has such a hatred for sharks.

Jaws 2020: “3 brave women girls kill a giant shark easily and effortlessly. The end”

12:05 The monologue blew my mind. It made him seem like a real person, with a real hatred for sharks. Tying it in with a real historical event just made it hit harder.

You're gonna need a bigger drink.

In Austin Texas a couple years back this was played on a giant inflatable screen on the lake free to the public, just pull up a kayak, paddle board, inflatable mattress, or whatever floated.  Made the movie way more intense in the water at night.  People screamed when fresh water fish would nibble at their toes.  Epic.

The boat they hunt the Shark with is called “The Orca.”
The only predator in the ocean that kills adult White Sharks. Clever 👍

Best scene of the movie: When Hooper asks Quint about the tattoo, and Quint says he was on the Indianapolis. Hooper and Brodie get spooky quiet and Quint tells that story... it's so compelling, quiet, calm, and personal, it's like it's real and you're actually there. One of the best scenes ever made.

"We're gonna need a bigger boat"
Drinker, taking another swig of whiskey: "Nah, it'll be fine."

I love the rubber shark. Still scares me as an adult, probably because it’s a real, physical presence, not a bunch of pixels.

I don’t care if it’s fake. I still wouldn’t want to be filming in the water with that thing.

Back in 1974 when I was a spritely 14-year-old in Western Australia, I joined up with my local Surf Life-Saving club (the volunteer versions of the USA's professional Life-Guards) and spent the weekends and school holidays from November to February (the southern hemisphere's hot season) pulling people from the water when they got out of their depth or caught up in rip currents and one time had to give CPR to one poor fellow who suffered a fatal heart attack while running on the beach.  Another of our jobs, when the tower spotted a shark, was to sound the siren and go out in the inflatable outboard motor boat and chase it back out to sea.  The people seemed so lax and non-panicked when the shark siren sounded and most of them would wait out in knee-depth watching the action until we gave the all clear.

Then came the 1975/1976 season.  The season of "Jaws"!  There was a distinct drop-off in the number of swimmers and rescues that year.  And when the shark siren sounded...remember the story of Jesus walking on the water?  Many of our beach goers learned to run on water, turning the clear blue sea into white froth while we sent the boat out.  Nobody went knee-deep anymore!  Even when we chased the animal out to sea and we sounded the all clear, it was quite some time before anyone decided to be the first brave one to dip a toe in.

I have never before or since seen a movie affect the behaviour of the general public in such a way ever again.  I doff my hat to Mr Spielberg for making our job just that little bit easier for that season.

Saw this in the Cinema and everyone stood and clapped at the end. Brilliant.

Ah, the 70's... when things were realistic in movies because audiences didn't want to be patronized to all the time, and if you were a hack writer you were called out for it.

Jaws is one of those extremely rare movies.....it’s damn near perfect. Its so freaking good we can forgive the mechanical shark. Not one of the films featuring photoreal cgi sharks, come close to licking the boots of this classic.
What makes it extra special is that we actually care about the characters and what happens to them. If they did a remake of Jaws today, I guarantee I’d be rooting for the shark!

After learning about the tragedy of the USS Indianapolis, the scene where Quint looks over at the life jackets with dread as the boats sinking, that scene without words, says so much.

Because I was so involved in the intensity of the movie, the shark looked real enough to me.

ya know, i dont get the "shark looks so fake" constant bashing. when i was a kid, it most certainly DID NOT look fake, and that last scene with quint especially scared the shit out of me, it was horrifying. even now, i appreciate what they did with the shark. it doesnt look terrible like a c-grade horror movie prop, and ofcourse it doesnt look great like todays effects. i think it gets the job done, its adequate.

i guess what im saying is it doesnt take me out of the film. its still looks good enough, even today, to be believable and not take you instantly out. i think that shark gets an unjustified bad rap for 1975 and considering what they went through. the film doesnt suffer for it. as you said, it actually benefits from it. that shark simply doesnt look as bad as everyone makes it out to be. not by a longshot.

Making a monster movie where the main characters actually have character, are multidimensional and relatable? What madness is this you speak of?

I remember Roy Scheider once saying that you could show this film to somebody who doesn't speak English and they would still be able to follow the whole thing.