Watching Jaws for about the 87th time on ITV4. Ever tried watching it on board?

Greenheart

Greenheart

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 Dec 2010
Messages
10,384
Visit site
I haven't myself, but I reckon watching the boozy night-scenes might have been a handy way to get closer to nervous ladies, taken aboard for a first date.

SWMBO seems not to have seen the film before...when the shark just appeared unexpectedly, she threw her Cava all over.

Why does Robert Shaw keep referring to an orca? Aren't those whales, a totally different animal?
 
Totally becalmed: tropics, clear blue water several miles deep, nice dip off the transom to cool off (not that I am a good swimmer, that's why I sail so I can keep on top of the stuff).

Dog paddle up to the bow with goggles on, and there just by the keel is one solitary little fish. Striped. Isn't that the sort of thing that swims along in front of sharks? Get nervous.

It was a brief swim.
 
robmcg said:
Orca is the name of the boat they are trying to catch Jaws with.
Click to expand...

That, I realised. But at several points during the film, Robert Shaw's character 'Quint' refers to their prey as an 'orca', which is definitely a killer whale...and a mammal...really not the same creature as the big toothy fish...

...I reckon it's either the fault of Peter Benchley, the writer, or possibly the great Robert Shaw - an English actor, who even says 'bloody' during a busy scene on deck, despite the fact it's almost unheard of, for an American to use the word "bloody" for emphasis...

...I think Shaw thought 'Orca' was the classical name for the shark, and he threw the word in whenever he wanted to 'get into character'. An online script for the film assumes the word Quint says, when he's meeting Hooper in his boathouse, was "porkers" - twice in the same line - which makes even less sense. He says it again on the water..."that orca"...referring to the shark.

The same online Jaws script is littered with mistakes - when Brody asks who's driving the boat, Quint replies "the tide"...but the online script says "we're tied". So, I don't believe "porkers" is what Robert Shaw said, either.

Under any kind of analysis by anyone even slightly familiar with boats, the script ain't great...from Quint's "over and out", to the jargon-loaded utter nonsense spoken by the soon-to-be-eaten man in a rowing boat on the pond...

...doesn't stop me loving the film. :D
 
When I re floated after a neaping I used a very long line to hand haul myself back to my mooring. It was dark. Classic FM was on the radio. They played the Jaws theme when I was half way. I was very, very carefull about not falling in.
 
I saw "Jaws" for the first time in Hong Kong, the night before setting off on my first China Sea Race to Manila. Five days later we were drifting slowly into Manila Bay, crew all on the leeward rail, when a shark* swam very slowly alongside. We could almost touch his dorsal fin!!






*Scary length : at least 5 feet. A mere tiddler!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top