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The Last Crew of The Orca
The Trio in general
- Commonality Connection: Hooper and Quint detest one another at first, but grow to tolerate and to some extent at least like one another after exchanging shark stories and other tales of lives spent at sea over shots of Quint's moonshine after dinner. They also seem to appreciate one another's sarcastic wit and dark, cynical sense of humor.
- Dwindling Party: If you accept the fourth film as canon, Quint is eaten by the shark in the first film and Brody then dies of a heart attack years later, leaving Hooper as the sole survivor.
- Fire-Forged Friendship: Quint and Hooper actively dislike one another when they first meet. Quint eventually develops some grudging respect for Hooper's skills and bravery during the shark hunt, and they seem to enjoy exchanging shark stories during the dinner scene. Subsequently, they're mostly on friendly terms for the rest of the movie.
- Freudian Trio: As summed up by the writer,
"It's this trio of primal man (Quint), intellectual man (Hooper) and Everyman (Brody). One of them working alone couldn't kill the shark but the three of them working together could."- Brody is the Ego - the mediator between the feuding Hooper and Quint.
- Hooper is the Superego - idealistic, adopts a scientifically rational and methodical approach to shark hunting.
- Quint is the Id - anger prone, colourful personality and language, harbours grudges and vendettas.
- Ignored Expert:
- Brody insisted on closing the beaches, but the town council refused to take his advice.
- Quint offers his services to the town to hunt the shark but says he works for $10,000 because $3000 is not worth him risking his life. The town's council ignores him though Brody wants to hear him out. Quint smirks because he knows they'll need his help soon enough.
- Hooper tries in vain to explain that the shark they caught is not the man-eater.
- Knight, Knave, and Squire: The Knight, Chief of Police Brody, is bent on ridding Amity Island from a killer shark that ate the son of one of the town goers that blames him for killing him and letting the beaches open for more attacks. He is an experienced police officer. The Knave, Quint, was a former Sailor in the navy who witnessed the deaths of his comrades at the hands of sharks during WWII. He is very much a loner and cynic. Finally Hooper is a book worm oceanographer called in for his expertise on the animal but also proves to have hidden depths of his own.
- Alternatively, Hooper, the highly-educated specialist with lots of shark experience, is the Knight, and Brody, who is deeply uncomfortable with boats, the sea, and sharks, but who ultimately comes through in the end through purity of heart, is the Squire.
- Only Sane Man: Brody and Hooper. Hooper even tells Brody that he will be "the only rational man left on this island" after Hooper leaves the next day to join a shark research vessel.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Quint and Hooper can't stand each other. They begin to warm up to each other as they prove their mettle on the boat (alcohol helps it along).
- The Three Faces of Adam: Hooper is The Hunter (young and eager), Brody is The Lord (middle-aged and in authority) and Quint is The Prophet (grizzled and worldly).
Brody
Chief Martin Brody
"You're gonna need a bigger boat."
Played By: Roy Scheider
Appearances: Jaws | Jaws 2 | Jaws: The Revenge note
" I can do anything; I'm the chief of police."
Amity's police chief, a former NYPD cop who moved to the island with his family to get away from the dangers of living and working in the city. He hates water, and to his dismay he has to deal with one of its toothier inhabitants up-close-and-personal...twice.
- Action Survivor: He doesn't have much sea experience and yet manages to take down a shark with an oxygen tank and an M-1 rifle.
- Adaptational Badass: In the novel, Brody survives the shark attack by mere luck. In the movie adaptation, he delivers the finishing blow to the shark himself after Hooper and Quint fail to do so.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the novel, Brody files away Chrissie's death in secret after being pressured by Mayor Vaughn, and focuses on other community matters until he receives phone calls of another shark attack a few days later. The film slightly changes it by having Brody being on the beach and silently monitoring the sea, so intent on keeping the beachgoers safe that he ignores other community issues being brought up to his face.
- Audience Surrogate: He's not experienced in matters of the sea, not perfect hero material, and basically ordinary.
- Berserk Button: At one point, Brody tries to contact the Coast Guard for further assistance with killing the shark. Quint, hellbent on doing the job himself, destroys the radio. This is enough to send the normally calm Brody into a screaming rage.
- Bitch Slap: He receives one from the grieving Mrs. Kintner. Brody wasn't really to blame, having had his hand forced by the town council and Mayor Vaughn, but he still solemnly accepts the blame.Mrs. Kintner: I just found out that a girl got killed here last week...and you knew it! You knew there was a shark out there! You knew it was dangerous! But you let people go swimming anyway? You knew all those things! But still my boy is dead now. And there's nothing you can do about it. My boy is dead. I wanted you to know that.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Ellen encourages him jokingly to talk more like the locals. He trots out his, "They're out in the yahd, not too fah from the cah" line.
- Cowardly Lion: Admits to having a phobia of swimming early in the film. The climax has him battling a shark on a sinking ship. His final line before the credits implies that he's not scared of the water anymore. This is further shown in the film's sequel, when after finding out Mike, Sean and numerous other children are stranded in the ocean and at the mercy of the shark, Brody unhesitatingly throws Hendricks off the police launch and sails out to them himself, despite having little to know knowledge of how to operate the boat.
- Determinator: He thinks Hooper is dead and watches Quint die, all while being on a sinking ship. As the shark comes for him, Martin does everything possible to fight for his life and wins. And he has to face a shark all over again in the second movie.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the fourth film, Martin died of a heart attack. Ellen claims that "the fear of it killed him!", implying that the repeated encounters with sharks led to Martin's death.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Brody's slurred speech, and the pile of beer cans found outside his truck the next morning imply that the night he was fired, he had more than a few to "celebrate" his termination.
- Good Parents: He's shown spending time with his children, and clearly has a healthy relationship with them.
- Happily Married: To Ellen, unlike the book where their marriage is strained.
- Ignored Expert: Everyone but Hooper and Ellen ignore Brody's warnings about the beaches, even his own kids.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: It might take 6 shots, but hitting a scuba tank from a distance while on a sinking mast is a hell of an accomplishment. Though to be fair, the shark was coming closer to him with every shot, which made the shot a little easier. Also, he fires off a couple of shots in quick succession, the final one being the one that hits the tank, which makes it less improbable, and more just luck that he finally gets the shot that nails the tank.
- It's Personal: Staring out into the sea after the estuary attack: the shark nearly claimed his son as a victim, so now he has a personal grudge against the animal.
- The Load: When he's aboard the Orca, Brody doesn't contribute all that much. He knows little about boats and less about sharks; even Hooper loses his temper with his mistakes. He is pretty helpless before his moment at the end. He does however managed to successfully drive the boat with Quint's instruction during the first encounter with the shark, as both Quint and Hooper are busy.
- My Greatest Failure: Alex Kintner's death. His conversation with Mrs. Kintner puts it in perspective for him and the audience. It's driven home even more when we see how depressed and drunk he is during the dinner scene between himself, Ellen, and Hooper. When Hooper arrives with wine, he basically fills a highball glass with it.Vaughn: I'm sorry, Martin. She's wrong.
Martin: No, she's not. - Nice Guy: Brody is a loving husband and father, and an easy-going and well-liked police chief. His concern for the safety of the town's people is one of his defining features.
- Noodle Incident: Brody never does reveal where his fear of the water comes from, cutting off his wife's attempt at an explanation and then changing the subject. All we get is 'drowning', which could imply a near such experience for himself or having witnessed it among other possibilities.
- Oh, Crap!: Upon seeing the shark for the first time, prompting the iconic reaction, "You're going to need a bigger boat."
- Only Sane Man: Hooper considers Brody to be the only rational man left on Amity, which is hard to argue with.
- Papa Wolf: While Brody has been trying to protect the locals and the tourists from the shark since Chrissie was attacked, he decides to help Quint hunt down the beast after it threatens his son Michael.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: One of the most famous in movie history; just before firing the killing shot, Brody snarls, "Smile, you son of a -" BOOM!
- Reasonable Authority Figure: In the first film, he's the only town official taking Hooper and the shark threat seriously. During the town meeting, Quint is aware of this trope and specifically addresses him while making his offer to kill the shark.
- Revolvers Are for Amateurs: Shoots with a revolver after the shark which comes off as quite amateurish. Admittedly, being a cop, he's probably the most weapons-qualified person there, and revolvers were default police sidearms in the 1970's.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: "I can do anything; I'm the chief of police."
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Sensitive Guy to Quint's Manly Man. He's a nurturing father and former NYPD officer who avoids the water and only has an appendectomy scar, struggling to pull his weight out at sea where even Hooper's field of expertise outshines his own.
- Took a Level in Badass: After being a quiet cop who avoided the water and not having much in the way of scars to show off to Hooper and Quint, he kills the shark with an oxygen tank and rifle while the boat is sinking.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He hates the water, despite living on an island.
- You Have to Believe Me!: In the second film, Brody has the nerve to be indignant about no one believing him after he causes a mass panic over what turns out to be a school of bluefish. After this, he brings a photo to the council that we know is of the shark, but is unclear enough that you really can't blame them for not buying it. He could have at least waited to see if there were any better shots.
Hooper
Matt Hooper
"Ah, they're all gonna die."
Played By: Richard Dreyfuss
"I'm not going to waste my time arguing with a man who's lining up to be a hot lunch."
Shark-fascinated marine biologist who was called to Amity island to help with the shark problem. He starts off as a white-collared college kid foil to Quint's blue-collar gruffiness, but they come to an understanding with each other.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: He's an arrogant, entitled, obnoxious jerkass in the book, who has next to no redeeming qualities. The film removes all these traits and makes him much more friendly, charming and likable.
- Adaptational Sympathy: The original book version of the character is an entitled prick who has an affair with Brody's wife. Movie-Hooper turns out to be a reliable ally and a good friend to Brody.
- Admiring the Abomination: Hooper is fascinated by sharks, and the 25-ft. man-eating Great White is a specimen to behold. He even tries to get Brody stand at the forward deck of the Orca in order to get the scale of the shark for his pictures. Unlike many cases in horror media, though, this admiration doesn't keep him from recognizing that the shark is dangerous and needs to go."...What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution."
- Badass Bookworm: He's a scientist who's studied some of the more dangerous ocean predators, and, although not exactly fearless, has the cojones to scuba dive into the wreckage of a shark-ravaged boat in the middle of a pitch-black night looking for evidence and later, hunt a 25-foot man-eating Great White. When the crew runs out of options to kill the shark while staying on the boat, he agrees to be lowered into the water in an attempt to poison it, with only a metal cage between him and the behemoth, even after the other two tell him he's essentially committing suicide. He doesn't hesitate to try.
- Carpet of Virility: His massive chest hair is showing prominently in the scene where they get drunk.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Not "moron" exactly given his expertise but he seems like a little nerdy guy with a smartass sense of humor, but where sharks are concerned, there's nobody who knows more. And he's not afraid to get his feet wet, or even the rest of him, such as in a shark cage.
- Deadpan Snarker: Hooper is a master of this, at one point even imitating W. C. Fields. One of his first lines is a quiet jab at a group of seamen who ignore his warning about overpiling their boat.Hooper: (Chuckling) They're all gonna die.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Quint. Given their contrasting experiences, one being a marine biologist the other a hardened sailor, the two don't exactly get along at the start. However, they eventually form a camaraderie by sharing various scars and injuries over a drink.
- Foil: His background as a marine researcher when compared to the more experienced but uneducated Quint. For instance, both tell Brody their story of their first encounters with sharks. Whereas Quint had his first big encounter when a number of sharks killed most of his crewmates from the Indianapolis, Hooper had his when a juvenile thresher destroyed his boat. Quint came out of his experience with a desire for revenge; Hooper was initially terrified but fascinated and has since spent his life studying sharks.
- Greedy Jew: Quint obliquely berates Hooper with this.Quint: You have city hands, Mr. Hooper. You been countin' money all your life.Hooper: All right, all right. Hey, I don't need this... I don't need this Working-Class Hero crap.
- Hidden Depths: Both Mayor Vaughn and Quint dismiss him as an opportunistic scientist out to make his career and a rich college boy who doesn't know anything of real labor but Matt is far from either. He has considerable hands on experience with dangerous sea creatures and doesn't back down when things get seriously dangerous, putting himself on the front line and playing a major role in stopping the shark.
- Ignored Expert: The only person who bothers listening to him and taking him seriously is Martin.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He can be snippy, short-tempered and doesn't suffer fools but he's not a bad guy at all. He can be very polite as seen when he visits Brody at his home and is perfectly cordial with Martin and Ellen and he mutually decides to bury the hatchet with Quint and the two happily exchange stories and jokes after a hard day's work. He also is doing everything he can to stop an extremely dangerous predator from killing more innocent people and proves himself extremely brave in doing so.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Hooper spends most of his time on the Orca dealing with Quint's abuse, driving the ship, and trying to study the shark in between tying knots and playing Solitaire. But when the chips are down and his poison injector appears to be their only remaining option, he immediately acquiesces to going down into the cage, even though Brody insists the shark will tear it to pieces.
- Manly Facial Hair: Unlike his book counterpart who was clean-shaven, film Hooper has an unkempt beard and scruffy hair. And he's badass and manly enough to escape the shark's jaws. The facial hair difference is appropriate given that he is more capable than his book counterpart and is able to survive unlike in the book.
- Nerd Glasses: His arcane knowledge and obssession with sharks, and his snarky-yet-nebbishy demeanor, certainly fit the nerd stereotype. And there those glasses are.
- Non-Idle Rich: He freely admits to Brody that his family comes from money, but he's more interested in studying sharks (including the one attacking Amity) than sitting around.
- Not So Above It All: While he shares the role of Only Sane Man with Brody, he's not above making very immature faces at Quint behind his back after the old seadog insults him once too often.
- Oh, Crap!: When he's in the cage after the shark has slammed into it once and is coming back a second time. Despite being underwater with a respirator in his mouth, you can hear him scream in terror.
- Only Sane Man: Is one and lampshaded Brody as one when he said he was leaving the island.
- Put on a Bus: When Martin attempts to contact him for help in the second movie, we learn that Hooper is busy with an Antarctic Ocean expedition and unreachable.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Immediately swims back up upon falling face-to-face with Gardner's dead head popping out of the hole in his boat, even dropping his lamp and the shark tooth he found.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: A Manly Man to Brody, given he possesses more confidence and once had an encounter with a ray. Not as much as Quint though.
- The Smart Guy: Has all the academic knowledge of the group, but not quite the amount of experience as Quint.
- Sole Survivor: If you take the fourth film as canon, he becomes the last surviving member of the Orca trio following Brody's death from a heart attack.
- Spared by the Adaptation: He died in the original book. He was spared in the film because Spielberg couldn't find a convincing way to film him getting eaten by the shark.
- Suddenly Sober: He becomes this right after Quint mentions the Indianapolis.
- Wealthy Yacht Owner: Owns the research ship full of high-tech gadgets that he brings to Amity, and claims heβs sailed in βthree TransPacs and an Americaβs Cup trialβ.
Quint
Quint
"Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies~"
Played By: Robert Shaw
"Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this bird for you, but it ain't gonna be easy."
Seaman with a bone to pick with all sharks, due to traumatizing events in World War II. He is hired to hunt down the shark with Brody and Hooper giving him assistance.
- Adaptational Sympathy: Quint in the books is a greedy fisherman that hunts sharks who doesn't have much of a detailed backstory, where in the movie he is a World War II veteran who survived the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Addionally, he's a lot more charismatic and charming and grows to respect both Brody and Hooper, even if he's more of an Anti-Hero than a traditional hero at points.
- Adaptational Wimp: In the original novel Quint is the one who ultimately and posthumously kills the shark by injuring it enough for it to eventually bleed out and die, instead of Brody blowing it up.
- Adaptation Expansion: He doesn't show up until more than halfway through the book, after Ben Gardner's attempt to hunt the shark failed. He didn't get any mention beforehand, nor was there any hype of his expertise other than being the next fisherman they hired.
- Animal Nemesis: He doesn't like sharks very much.
- Axe-Crazy: Played with. Quint gets a little bit more unhinged with each interaction with the shark, largely because he's been hunting them for a good portion of his life, and all the tricks he's apparently used in the past don't work on this particular shark. Also, it appears that the shark constantly making him look bad is damaging his pride. What makes the trope played with is the fact that Quint doesn't go axe crazy on Brody or Hooper, instead he goes axe crazy on the Orca, first destroying the radio so they can't call for help, and blowing out the engines, seemingly because his pride can't take killing the shark by drawing it into shallow water and drowning it. Once the Orca is stranded and is sinking, he snaps out of it, but by then he's sealed his fate and ends up Hoist by His Own Petard.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Quint would rather drown than be left at the mercy of the sea waiting for rescue.
- Blood from the Mouth: Blood spurts from his mouth when he gets Eaten Alive by the shark.
- Boisterous Bruiser: The stories he gleefully tells about arm-wrestling and fighting point this way.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Quint has a lot of really idiosyncratic mannerisms, and is often dismissed as a nutcase, but is a shark hunter of unmatched skill and experience.
- The Big Guy: Physically the largest of the Orca's crew, and certainly the most intimidating as well.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Quint doesn't even bat an eye when the shark attacks the boat the first time and it knocks a lantern over on the deck.Quint: Chief, put out the fire, will ya?
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The shark bites deep into him multiple times, further along his body each time, with its rows of razor sharp, kitchenknife-sized teeth starting with his legs until its chest high, with very visceral crunching sounds. By the end of it his chest caves in and he can't even scream. Nobody deserves to go out like that. Bonus points for
it being his greatest fear. - Dark and Troubled Past: His tale of the Indianapolis.
- Defiant to the End: Even as the shark is biting into him, he grabs the machete he'd set aside earlier and keeps stabbing at it even when he's chest deep inside its mouth.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Quint's abrasive and drunken self are at home out at sea but are clearly out of place at land.
- Determinator: He is obsessed with killing the shark and will go to any means necessary to defeat it.
- Dissonant Serenity: When Quint tells the utterly horrifying story of the Indianapolis being sunk and its aftermath, he has a disturbingly playful grin on his face for most of it.
- The Drunken Sailor: Quint is no stranger to a bottle. It's one reason for his Sanity Slippage below...
- Eaten Alive: Quint's fate in the climax; he's devoured by the shark, and gets the most graphic death out of anyone in the film.
- Establishing Character Moment: When he first shows up, he drags his nails across a chalkboard to get everyone's attention during a town meeting. He also talks directly to Chief Brody. He ignores the council, whom he knows won't deal with him, and gives his offer to hunt the shark to the one he knows is going to take the threat seriously.
- Everyone Has Standards: In the book, when asked if he has any other crew, Quint says he sometimes employs a 15-year-old boy as a part time deckhand but won't take him out to hunt a Great White Shark, especially one that's a confirmed man-eater.
- Expy: Of Captain Ahab from Moby-Dick. Especially evident in the book where he dies the same way.
- Father Neptune: Way more at home on sea, where he can bark orders at people. Without a beard, though.
- Fatal Flaw: His stubbornness. Quint refuses multiple times to try any alternative strategies against the shark and ignores Brody and Hooper's ideas to move in closer to shore or calling in any aid when the shark turns out to be bigger and smarter than expected. He even destroys the radio and lies to Brody's wife to make sure no one interferes in his hunt for the shark. By the time he's willing to listen to reason, it's too late—the shark has damaged the Orca beyond repair, and Quint dies after their last plan backfires.
- Fingore: What leads to his death; one of Hooper's oxygen tanks falls on his hand, causing him to lose his grip on the now-sinking Orca.
- Great White Hunter: He literally has shark jawbones all over his house as trophies. Bonus points for hunting an actual Great White.
- He-Man Woman Hater: It's not commented on, but the minute Quint sees Ellen standing on the dock next to his ship, he blows up and starts ranting about women. Then he sings filthy sea chanty songs at the top of his lungs, seemingly to further antagonize her. He also speaks gleefully of celebrating his "late wife's demise".
- Heroic BSoD: After the Orca's engine breaks down just before they can safely reach the shorelines, Quint quietly shuts down, only focused on keeping his crew alive and allowing Hooper to use his modern methods. The shark has bested him, and he knows it.
- He Who Fights Monsters: His obsession with the white shark makes him behave weird near the end, endangering himself and his mates by destroying his radio equipment to prevent Brody from calling for help. He also wrecks the Orca's motor by pushing it to overdrive even when Hooper begs him not to.
- Hidden Depths: He has a few for a shark hunter. He makes his own booze which he is happy to share with others, revels in every scar story told (most of which, unlike Hooper's stories, have nothing to do with sharks, but rather with his colorful history), has a dark and ribald sense of humor, had a best friend that was a baseball player and is a good singer. He's also surprisingly eloquent when reminiscing about his war experiences.
- Jerkass to One: Inverted. The only person he is generally friendly with and at least somewhat respectful towards is Chief Brody.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: There's no denying that he's kinda an asshole. However, Quint has a few likable moments, and eventually buries the hatchet with Hooper, getting drunk and swapping scar stories. There are also several instances where he looks out for Brody and Hooper's safety in risky situations, though this could just as easily be due to practical considerations of not wanting his mission interrupted. Quint also NEVER truly gets angry with Brody. He'll snap orders but he isn't rude or insulting to him like he is literally everyone else. In fact Quint is rather patient and kind with him, teaching him how to do things on the boat.
- Leitmotif: The sea shanty "Spanish Ladies", which he sings repeatedly and appears a couple of times throughout the musical score, most notably as the Orca is sinking and he finally understands he screwed up.
- Manly Facial Hair: He has a prominent handlebar mustache and helps jump into the water to get out people who fell in when the shark is loose. He is also the most physically intimidating and manly of the three, even though he is the only one to not survive.
- Meaningful Name: Quint is the shark's fifth victim. This is actually a coincidence since he's the sixth victim in both the book and the script- with Hooper getting done in before him in both.
- His boat is called the Orca. Orcas are the only known natural predator of great white sharks.
- The Millstone: Zigzagged. Quint is almost single-handedly responsible for everything that goes wrong on the Orca's last voyage. From refusing to turn back when the shark turns out to be bigger than expected, to breaking the radio when Martin tries to call for help, to burning out the engine when they finally decide to return to shore, he unwittingly (or maybe not so much) ensures they'll be marooned and trapped by the shark by the end of the movie. However, Quint is a very competent sailor and shark-hunter; it's just that a combination of PTSD, alcohol, and It's Personal cause him to make some very questionable choices. Furthermore, most of the early successes of the shark hunt (getting the three barrels into it, finding the shark and eventually getting close enough to land to swim to shore once the Orca sinks) are attributable to him too.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Martin attempts to call for help, Quint responds by smashing the ship's radio with a baseball bat. Being cut off from the island is bad enough, but it later prevents them from calling for help when the engines die out and the ship starts sinking.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He initially presents his service for the good of the town, albeit at a hefty price. But when the shark proves to be more difficult than he expected, he goes into full on Egomaniac Hunter and destroys the radio while Brody is trying use it to call for help after Quint had already blown the boats engine, deliberately stranding Brody, Hooper and himself on a sinking ship with a giant man-eater circling them. It soon becomes evident that Quint is only doing this to satisfy his vendetta against all sharks and maintain his reputation as the best shark hunter.
- Oh, Crap!: Quint's reaction when he sees the shark pull all three barrels beneath surface with no issue. He admits to Hooper that he's never seen a shark able to do that, and starts to silently show fear when he helms the Orca. Instead of maintaining the Orca's steady pace to the shore, Quint pushes the boat's speed limit to the max in an attempt to outrun the shark.
- Only in It for the Money: Quint makes it clear he isn't risking his neck to hunt and kill a giant man-eating shark for a measly $3,000. He'll do it for $10,000. He knows the great white shark requires the best of the best shark hunters, and $3,000 would only attract amateurs with no chance of catching and killing it.
- Only One Name: Officially, Quint has no last or first name in the film. It's just Quint. Some obscure tie-in merchandise gave him a first name Sam, but it's not officially recognized by Universal as canon. The original novel makes it more explicit by having Brody look through the phone book and find Quint's name to be just Quint.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Quint initially dismisses Hooper's technological methods (such as the shark cage and poison) to be a college kid's naΓ―vety at best, stubbornly sticking to his gut instinct instead. So when he asks Hooper about the effectiveness of the cage near the climax, it's a sign that the old shark hunter has admitted defeat against the shark.
- Prophetic Name: "Quint" is Latin for "fifth". He is the fifth person to be killed by the first shark.
- Punch-Clock Hero: Quint is in it for the money, along with a healthy dose of It's Personal (Quint really hates sharks).
- Revenge Before Reason: At first, Quint only seems to treat the whole sharking hunting trip as a big paycheck job but after he reveals his backstory as a USS Indianapolis survivor, it becomes clear he sees the 25-foot Great White as the ultimate manifestation of his nightmares that he must conquer alone. Unfortunately, this means he won't accept any aid or advice from anyone except his own, leading to him to destroy the radio needed to contact the Coast Guard and accidentally blowing out the engines of the Orca in the attempt to lure the shark into shallow waters.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He's the town's major expert on shark hunting, and has a sizable collection of shark trophies at his shop. When we find out he was on the USS Indianapolis — Hooper stops mocking Quint the second he finds out — we realize he's been hunting sharks for 30 years to get his revenge for what they'd done to his crew mates.
- Sacrificial Lion: His death near the end increases the stakes by proving that Anyone Can Die.
- Sanity Slippage: When it becomes clear the shark is much more of challenge than he initially thought (even by his standards), Quint's professional skills begins to slip as his frustration at the shark's persistence grows. Some of his acts, like lying to Brody's wife or breaking the radio, defy all logic.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Possesses war experience, survived a shark attack in WWII, and is a crusty sailor; Hooper is regarded as "soft" and Brody is less hardened than all.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Being stranded at sea and witnessing several hundred people being eaten by sharks in WWII left him a little unhinged.
- Stepford Smiler: He's grinning during his telling of the Indianapolis disaster, especially during the most disturbing details (like how his friend was bitten in half), but it's clear that this is just how Quint copes with the trauma.
- Working-Class Hero: Played with. Quint is a veteran, competent, and savvy seaman who dismisses Hooper's knowledge of sharks outright because Hooper is a college kid. Hooper, treated with contempt, calls him out using the exact term. Deconstructed in that Quint's pride causes him to ignore important advice from Hooper, and ultimately gets killed for it. Hooper, although not exactly effective in his own right, at least survives at the end.
- The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): He's an expert shark hunter, as evidenced by the numerous shark jaws lining the walls of his residence, but the shark that they go up against seemingly shrugs off everything in Quint's formidable arsenal they that throw at it. And then he gets eaten by it while unable to fight back. That said, it's debatable how much of this was due to his drinking since, before he got hammered the night of his Indianapolis speech, he'd been quite competent in hunting the shark and only really started making mistakes afterwards.
Brody Family
Ellen
Ellen Brody
"I just want to know one thing; when do I get to become an islander?"
Played By: Lorraine Gary
Appearances: Jaws | Jaws 2 | Jaws: The Revenge
"My husband tells me you're in sharks."
Martin's loving wife, who offers emotional support to him when things are looking down. After he died, she was forced to deal with a killer shark that was specifically targeting members of her family in the fourth film.
- Adaptational Nice Girl: In the novel, Ellen was a bored housewife going through a midlife crisis and even cheated on Martin with Hooper. In the films however, this aspect is dropped completely, and she's never depicted as anything less than Happily Married.
- Big Good: For the fourth film due to Brody's death.
- Mama Bear: In the fourth film, she faces down a shark that's been stalking the Brody family after it had attempted to attack her granddaughter.
- Happily Married: With Martin, right up to when he died between movies three and four. This is in contrast to the novel, where their relationship is rockier.
- Mood-Swinger: Ellen goes through this after her son's death, swinging wildly through emotions from intense angry paranoia to giddiness, to uncontrollable sobbing to distant depression. She even displays emotions in odd settings, such as laughing happily at Sean's funeral, then bawling when her granddaughter wants her to play with her. Truth in Television, as all of this, including the unusual timing, isn't uncommon when coping with grief. Plus, the laughing at the funeral is due to the happy flashback she's having.
- Silver Fox:
- Downplayed. She's only middle age in the first book but Peter Benchley dedicates an entire scene prior to her stepping out with Hooper describing how she still has the body of a woman half her age despite bearing three kids.
- Played straight in both the film and novelization of Jaws: The Revenge where several characters comment on how good she looks despite being a grandmother.
- Nice Girl: Unlike the novel, in the films she's a caring mother and a supportive wife to Martin.
Michael
Michael Brody
Played By: Chris Rebello (first film), Mark Gruner (2), Dennis Quaid (3D) and Lance Guest (The Revenge)
Appearances: Jaws | Jaws 2 | Jaws 3-D | Jaws: The Revenge
"White sharks are dangerous. I know 'em. My father, my brother, myself. They're murderers."
Oldest son in Brody family. Becomes the main focus of third and fourth film.
- Adaptation Name Change: Michael Brody is named Martin Brody Jr. in the book. Possibly his name was changed for the purposes of the One-Steve Limit.
- Expy: He becomes one of Hooper by the fourth film, since he grows up to be a marine biologist. He even resembles Hooper with that beard of his.
- Took a Level in Badass: A helpless child in the first film and an irresponsible teen primarily concerned with having a good time and picking up chicks in the sequel, he volunteers in dangerous rescue missions to save a bunch of tourists in 3D and his mom in Revenge and he takes down the titular antagonist sharks of said films.
Sean
Sean Brody
Played By: Jay Mello (first film), Marc Gilpin (2), John Putch (3D) and Mitchell Anderson (The Revenge)
Appearances: Jaws | Jaws 2 | Jaws 3-D | Jaws: The Revenge
Michael's younger brother. He spends most of the time following his brother and is ultimately killed in the first minutes of The Revenge.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: In the second film, where he's constantly pestering his older brother.
- Big Brother Worship: He follows his old brother around and always looks up to him. Starts crying after the shark nearly gets Michael, who lies in shock on the beach.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He is the shark's first target in The Revenge.
- Freudian Excuse: Events of the first two films gave him an aversion to water. It's missing in the fourth film.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: After surviving shark encounters in the previous films, he winds up the first victim of the shark in The Revenge.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Sean has a fear of water following his experiences in the second movie.
Citizens of Amity
Vaughn
Mayor Larry Vaughn
Played By: Murray Hamilton
Appearances: Jaws | Jaws 2
"You yell 'shark', we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July."
The Mayor of Amity, Vaughn is more concerned with the island's tourism industry than protecting the islanders from the shark.
- Adaptational Sympathy: In the book, Vaughn was indebted to the mafia and wanted to keep the beach open so he could skim what he needed from the island's profits to pay them back. Here, he's just a man trying to keep his community afloat by having a profitable Summer.
- All for Nothing: His attempts to keep the beaches open and the shark attacks discreet end up all for naught when the shark attacks out in the open, therefore it would seem that the town's economy will be in trouble either way.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Mayor Vaughn is shown having a cigarette in his hand throughout the film, but the only time he lights up is after the attack on the Fourth of July, as that's when the town's summer season is effectively over.
- Dirty Coward: On the Fourth of July weekend, Vaughn, who can see no one is going into the water and wanting to prove the beaches are safe but he doesnβt volunteer to go swimming first, instead he decides to pressure a couple to go in the water with their kids instead.
- Hate Sink: Downplayed and possibly subverted. You can't hate the shark as it's only acting on instinct, but you can hate this guy for not caring about the situation, keeping the beach open, and outright lying to people about the danger. He is not entirely without redeeming qualities however. See Heel Realization, Jerk with a Heart of Gold, and Pet the Dog below.
- Heel Realization: After the shark attack in the pond, Vaughn is visibly traumatized as the reality of what he's done comes crashing down."Martin, my kids were on that beach, too."
- Jerkass Has a Point: Even though his actions are motivated by greed in the novel, he does have understandable reasons for his actions:
- From his perspective, it's hard to believe that a man-eating shark is terrorizing the seafront and the police chief was only making assumptions, at this point, about the shark attacking the girl on purpose.
- Vaughn is also motivated by the town's economy, which will suffer tremendously if they don't make enough money on the 4th of July, though his point ends up moot when the shark attacks out in the open and therefore alienate customers.
- It's also perfectly reasonable for him to forbid Hooper from cutting open a shark on a pier full of people when it's possible that there are the remains of a child inside.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Vaughn ignores the danger the shark presents, is dismissive to Hooper and clearly places more value on tourist revenue than actually doing his job. However, he's not necessary a bad person and his main goal is to see the town thrive, which it can't do without the money brought in by tourism. Plus, when the Shark attacks for the third time, Vaughn has a total My God, What Have I Done? moment, realizing how many lives he put at stake.
- Madness Mantra: After the attack in the pond he has a nervous breakdown and keeps mumbling about how he "acted in the town's best interests."
- Mayor Pain: He ignores his Police Chief, dismisses valuable advice and outright lies to his citizens about the possible danger.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After the Fourth of July attack, which led to a boater dying and Michael going into shock, Vaughn has a horrified expression on his face when Brody confronts him.
- Only in It for the Money: Subverted. While he most certainly cares about the summer tourists at Amity beach, it isn't so much for the money going into his wallet, as it is for the rest of the community. Everyone in Amity makes their money during the summer. If the beaches were to be closed, everyone would be on welfare by next Spring.
- Pet the Dog: After Mrs. Kintner accuses Brody of neglecting to warn the public, Mayor Vaughn soberly gives his condolences to the latter and says "She's wrong". He's acknowledging that if anyone deserves Mrs. Kintner's angry spiel about keeping the people of Amity in the dark, it's him, not Brody.
- Shady Real Estate Agent: Hinted at. His day job seems to be realtor (look closely and you'll see signs for "Vaughn's Realty" on Main Street), and given how he handles the crisis, it wouldn't be surprising. It's much more explicit in the book, where his realty firm has ties to organized crime, which is the main reason why he's insistent on keeping the beaches open.
- Suit with Vested Interests:
- Despite the obvious danger, he refuses to shut down the beach because he wants the tourism money. This results in several deaths that could have been prevented.
- In the original novel, Vaughn is in serious debt to a Mafia family, and thus needs the beach attendance to boost revenue to pay them back, making his insistence on keeping the beaches open significantly more understandable/plausible — he's already in fear for his life.
- Symbol Motif Clothing: He's seen wearing a suit patterned with anchors, likely symbolizing how he's dragging the people of Amity down with his lies.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In Jaws 2, Vaughn is one of the few people who takes Brody's warnings about another shark seriously. In a deleted scene, he's the only member of the town council who votes against firing Brody.
- Ultimate Job Security: It rather strains belief that Vaughn wouldn't be booted out of office within seconds of the first film's ending.
Hendricks
Deputy Lenny Hendricks
Played By: Jeffrey C. Kramer
Appearances: Jaws | Jaws 2
Brody's deputy in the Amity Police Department.
- Dude, Not Funny!: When Hendricks tries to tell Brody a joke:Hendricks: So then Denherder and Charlie sat there trying to catch their breath β and to figure out how to tell Charlie's wife what happened to her freezer full of meat.Brody: That's not funny. That's not funny at all.
- The Illegible: When Brody wanted to plant no swimming signs along the beach, he insisted that someone else does the printing instead of Hendricks.
- Vomiting Cop: He dry heaves when he witnesses the sight of Chrissie's remains.
Gardner
Ben Gardner
Played By: Craig Kingsbury
"When we get them silly bastards down in that rock pile, it'll be some fun, they'll wish their fathers had never met their mothers. When they start takin' their bottoms out and slamming into them rocks, boy!"
A veteran fisherman on Amity who participates in the hunt for the shark.
- Demoted to Extra: In the novel, rather than dozens of out of town fisherman descending on the town, he's the original one hired to hunt the shark. After his destroyed boat washes ashore, then Quint is hired.
- Doomed Predecessor: Gardner is the first fisherman to set out after the shark. Chief Brody and Dr. Hooper (who are out to stop the predator themselves, which takes up the final act) find Gardner's boat wrecked with several holes in it. Hooper finds a shark tooth in the wreckage, along with what little is left of Gardner himself.
- Eye Scream: One of the most infamous (postmortem) examples in film history. When Hooper is swimming through the wreckage of the fisherman's boat, he finds evidence that the shark has been there...and out pop's Ben Gardner's severed head, with one missing and the other floating loosely in its socket.
- Father Neptune: He's just as old and crusty as Quint, and quite dismissive of the amateurs who come to the island for shark hunting.
- Killed Offscreen: We don't see him get killed by the shark, but we do discover his remains in the wreckage of his boat.
- Peek-a-Boo Corpse: Gardner's chewed-off head pops out of a hole in the hull of his boat while Hooper is inspecting it.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He appears during the shark hunting scene, and is killed off shortly after.
Chrissie
Christine "Chrissie" Watkins
Played By: Susan Backlinie
"Come on in the water!"
A young woman visiting Amity Island, who has the misfortune of being the first person to encounter "Bruce".
- Dead-Hand Shot: All that the viewers can see of Chrissie's remains is her hand.
- Eaten Alive: She is one of the first victims of the shark.
- Half the Woman She Used to Be: Though the film makes it seems that the shark ate everything except the arm, Hooper's autopsy reveal that more of Chrissie's remains were found; specifically her upper torso and head.Hooper: "The torso has been severed in mid-thorax; there are no major organs remaining [...] The left arm, head, shoulders, sternum and portions of the rib cage are intact."
- Hope Spot: As Chrissie thrashes around, she manages to grab onto a buoy. Judging from her evident relief, the shark apparently lets go of her at this point β only to immediately grab hold of her again and finish her off.
- Monster Munch: Is just there to showcase the dangerous shark.
- Night Swim Equals Death: One of the most famous examples of this trope.
- Playful Pursuit: Has her suitor chase her to the beach in the opening scene.
- Skinny Dipping: She goes swimming naked, with the only possible reason of providing some Fanservice.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: She is introduced in the very opening and gets killed shortly after.
Mrs. Kintner
Mrs. Kintner
Played By: Lee Fierro
"I just found out, that a girl got killed here last week, and you knew it! You knew there was a shark out there! You knew it was dangerous! But you let people go swimming anyway? You knew all those things! But still my boy is dead now. And there's nothing you can do about it. My boy is dead. I wanted you to know that."
Mother of Alex Kintner, one of the many unfortunate victims of "Bruce".
- Bitch Slap: She gives a rather harsh one to Brody.
- Mama Bear: When her son is killed by the shark, she gives Chief Brody a Bitch Slap when she hears about how he knew about the shark and kept the beaches open (Mayor Vaughn unfortunately does not gets one himself) and puts a $10.000 reward to anybody who can kill the shark, which to the despair of Brody and Vaughn she sent off to print to newspapers all over the Eastern Seaboard.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Her only son is killed by the shark.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Immediately following the Bitch Slap, she blames Brody for the death of her son due to his inaction.
Alex Kintner
Alex Kintner
Played By: Jeffrey Vorhees
A young boy who has the misfortune to be one of "Bruce's" victims.
- Death of a Child: He gets pulled underwater by Bruce and devoured.
- No Body Left Behind: The only thing left following Bruce's attack on him is his deflated, bloody float.
- Swallowed Whole: Bruce is big enough to swallow an adult whole. So it's not surprising that, unlike most other shark victims, there's no remains of Alex to be found.
Len Peterman
Len Peterman
Played By: Joseph Mascolo
A real estate developer who can bring new business to the town following the original series of shark attacks.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He's absolutely right to blast Brody for his reckless actions in the beach, pointing out that he started a panic, could have injured people and that the town could be sued.
- Suit with Vested Interests: Like Vaughn in the first movie, Len is a rich-looking man who is determined to keep the beaches open despite shark risks, although he at least can argue some genuine ignorance about the creature's presence.
Larry Vaughn Jr.
Larry Vaughn Jr.
Played By: David Elliott
Mayor Vaughn's teenage son.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Larry's nice enough but a lot of his dialogue is sex-related.
- The Leader: He arguably has the most dialogue and ideas of those among the teens who are stranded near the lighthouse.
Jackie Peters
Jackie Peters
Played By: Donna Wilkes
A teenage city slicker staying at Amity with her cousin Brooke.
- City Mouse: Jackie is an out-of-town visitor who isn't quite used to small towns like Amity.
- Screaming Woman: Jackie spends most of the climax screaming in terror.
Marge
Marge
Played By: Martha Swaytek
A teenager and one of Mike's friends.
- Cool Big Sis: Takes this role towards Sean, letting him on her boat and being protective of him during the attacks.
- Swallowed Whole: Her apparent final fate, although she was meant to escape the shark in the earlier versions of the script.
Eddie Marquand
Eddie Marquand
Played By: Gary Dubin
One of Mike's friends and Tina's boyfriend.
- Sacrificial Lamb: He serves as first victim of the shark's teenage killing spree in the climax.
Tina Wilcox
Tina Wilcox
Played By: Ann Dusenberry
One of Mike's friends and Eddie's girlfriend.
- Beauty Contest: She's been elected Miss Amity in the sequelβs opening scene.
- Break the Cutie: She's left nearly catatonic after seeing the shark kill Eddie.
- Nice Girl: Tina waves to a water skier she doesn't know and offers to let Sean ride in her boat in an early scene.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Tina openly hugs Eddie during a slow dance and is constantly kissing him or playing keep away with his stuff whenever theyβre at the beach or on their boats.
Lucy
Lucy
Played By: Cynthia Grover
One of Mike's friends and the girlfriend of another sailor, Patrick.
- Big "NO!": Yells out this when the shark swims at her, although it goes past her and just brushes her side, pursing the others.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's blonde and one of the sweeter sailors, also trying to help Doug and Mike when their boat is knocked over and get Vaughn Jr. out of the water when he falls in a little later.
- Say Your Prayers: She's seen saying a desperate prayer for them not to die after the shark wrecks the boats and leaves them drifting.Lucy: God, please help. Jesus,Holy Mary, Mother of God, please help us. We're begging you. Save us.
Andy
Andy Nicholas
Played By: Gary Springer
Mike's best friend among the sailing crowd in the second movie.
- Brutal Honesty: Andy doesn't sugarcoat his words when other people would choose to be graceful, such as when he criticizes the taste of punch or tells Sean that he finds him annoying to sail with.
Brooke
Brooke
Played By: Gigi Voran
Jackie's cousin.
- Nice Girl: She's one of the friendlier and more down to earth sailing kids.
Bob
Bob
Played By: Billy Van Zandt
Vaughn Jr.'s best friend.
- Deadpan Snarker: In a grim, nervous way.Sean: What's after Cable Junction?Bob: The Atlantic. Then Ireland.
- Never Bareheaded: He always has a gray cap on.
- Nice Guy: He's uncomfortable about lewd comments towards Jackie. He also elbows a friend for making an Innocently Insensitive comment about Chief Brody in front of Mike.
Timmy and Doug
Timmy and Doug
Played By: G. Thomas Dunlop and Keith Gordon
Two more of the sailors.
- The Eeyore: Timmy is very downbeat and pessimistic about his romantic prospects.
- Nerd Glasses: both are among the more awkward and less fit of the group and wear glasses. During an early sailing scene, Doug reads a book during an early sailing scene instead of joining his friends in a water balloon fight.
- Nice Guy: They're friendly enough to each other and their peers.
- The Smart Guy: Doug spends a lot of time pointing out (legitimate) flaws in the others' efforts to reach Cable Junction, such as the difficulties caused by the tide and current.
- Those Two Guys: Timmy and Doug are among the funnier members of their group and spend most of their time talking to each other.
Polo
Polo
Played By: John Dukakis
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Polo is almost certainly a nickname but its the only name he gets.
Denherder and Charlie
Denherder and Charlie
Played By: Robert Chalmers Jr. and Ed Chambers
Two locals who try to catch the first shark by fishing off the dock with a pot roast as bait.
- Did Not Think This Through: Their plan had no guarantee to attract the shark in the first place and when it did, the shark was strong enough to rip the dock that their fishing line was tied to apart, with Charlie barely swimming to safety in time to avoid becoming the shark's next meal himself.
- Take Our Word for It: Denherder says this nearly word for word when the shark turns around and heads for Charlie, telling him to not look back.
Salvatore
Salvatore
Played By: Hershel West
A man who works for Quint.
- Ambiguous Situation: Why he doesn't accompany Quint for the final shark hunt is a bit unclear. In the novel, Quint fired him for an unrelated cause earlier on and in a deleted scene he refuses to go out of fear and is fired. The final cut of the movie implies that it's simply because Quint doesn't want too many people on the hunt with Hooper and Brody coming along and/or doesn't want to pay Salvatore a bigger part of the fee. Salvatore is seen helping them load up the boat, implying he wasn't fired.
- Demoted to Extra: He is largely a background character in the film but has some lines in the book, deleted scenes and earlier versions of the script (one version of which had him make Quint's offer to hunt the shark at the town meeting while Quint himself didn't bother to attend).
- Never Bareheaded: He always has on an orange hunting cap.
- Perma-Stubble: He looks like he hasn't shaved in a few days.
- The Quiet One: In the final cut of the movie he has no audible dialogue.
- Sidekick: He's an employee of Quint and is constantly seen following him around in some of his earlier scenes.
Mrs. Taft
Mrs. Taft
Played By: Fritzi Jane Courtney
The local hotel owner, and member of the Amity city council.
- All the Other Reindeer: Played with. She's good friends with Ellen Brody but half-jokingly tells her that she can't be a real islander without being born there.
- Dude, Not Funny!: She is not amused at all when an attendee at the town hall meeting jokingly asks if Mrs. Kintner's bounty on the shark is in cash or cheque.
- Suit with Vested Interests: Like the mayor she's a bit preoccupied with the beaches being closed.
Sea World
Calvin Bouchard
Calvin Bouchard
Played By: Louis Gossett Jr.
The manager of the Florida Sea World.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He starts seeing dollar signs at the prospect of capturing a great white and putting it on display at the park. His insistence on opening the new attraction before it's ready is what leads to the shark's death.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: When the mother shark makes its presence known at the park, Calvin takes a more protective stance towards his employees and visitors. When he sees that some of his visitors have been trapped under water, he appears to be on the verge of tears. Towards the end of the movie, he even saves one of his technicians from drowning/being eaten when he could've gone ahead and saved himself.
Kathryn Morgan
Kathryn Morgan
Played By: Bess Armstrong
A senior marine biologist and Mike's girlfriend.
- Friend to All Living Things: Kathryn cares about the safety and welfare of the park's marine life.
- Sequel Non-Entity: Kathryn is still with Mike at the end of the movie but is nowhere to be seen in the fourth film, which may be due to Canon Discontinuity.
Philip FitzRoyce
Philip FitzRoyce
Played By: Simon MacCorkindale
An expert shark hunter and Calvin's friend.
- Blue Blood: He's refered to as the Sixteenth Earl of Haddenfield.
- Egomaniac Hunter: He's a polite enough guy and willing to help save lives, but FitzRoyce seems mostly interested in going against a big predator.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a conceited jerk, but he jumps in to help whenever things go wrong and is clearly just as sad as Kay at the death of the baby shark.
Kelly Ann Bukowski
Kelly Ann Bukowski
Played By: Lea Thompson
A water skier who becomes Sean's girlfriend.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Downplayed, but she enjoys playing one called Standoff involving two people who've just had a drink standing in the floor, and trying to push each other back without moving their legs.
- Serendipitous Survival: She's nearly killed by the shark in the opening scene while water skiing before the boat starts up again right before the shark can reach her and the others. When it attacks her later on, she manages to survive, albeit with a badly slashed leg.
Shelby Overman
Shelby Overman
Played By: Harry Grant
A mechanic who winds up the first victim of "Brucetta".
- The Alcoholic: Implied. His wife thinks that he's just off getting drunk when he first doesn't come back.
- Mr. Fanservice: Shelby is a muscular man who is first seen doing repairs in nothing but skimpy swim trunks.
- Too Dumb to Live: He goes diving alone, without telling anyone—a huge violation of the rules of diving. Even if there hadn't been a huge shark out there, any other calamity could have befallen him with no one to help.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Shelby is eaten in his first scene.
Fred
Fred
Played By: Alonzo Ward
A control room booth technician.
- Mauve Shirt: Fred appears throughout much of the movie and assists the main cast with important work, but he gets little characterization and dies in the final scene.
- Nephewism: He has an important job at the park and Bouchard calls him "Nephew" in one scene, although he might not have been literal.
- Stating the Simple Solution: He suggests blowing up the turbine while the shark is inside to ensure its dead, but Bouchard isn't willing to damage so much valuable equipment.
Danny and Liz
Danny and Liz
Played By: Elizabeth Morris and Danny Glasko
Kathryn's two assistants at the dolphin pen.
- Kindly Vet: Liz shows concern for the dolphins that she cares for during the shark attack, is concerned when they are too frightened to enter the lagoon, and seems happy while training them to do tricks.
- Satellite Character: Dan has little characterization or plot relevance beyond being an extra assistant to Liz.
Jack Tate
Jack Tate
Played By: P.H. Moriarty
Phillip's manservant and fellow hunter.
- Battle Butler: He is a servant who isn't hesitant to help go after the shark.
- Manly Tears: He dissolves into these upon realizing that Philip has been killed by the shark.
Lisa
Lisa
Played By: Lisa Maurer
The second control room technician.
- The Generic Guy: She appears in several key scenes but is mainly there to assist Calvin and Fred without doing anything important.
- Sudden Name Change: Her name is alternately given as Ethel and Lisa.
Leonard Glass
Leonard Glass
Played By: Richard Valliere
The public relations spokesman for the park.
- Mr. Exposition: His first scene is describing the workings of the park to several reporters, and indirectly the audience.
The Sharks
The ones with the eponymous jaws. After the first shark swam into the waters of Amity Island, all members of the Brody family have found themselves confronting them in increasingly convoluted ways. For various reasons, the first shark is the one fans prefer to talk about.
In General
- Animalistic Abomination: The sharks in the Jaws films could fall into this category. Aside from being unusually large, aggressive, and intelligent, they're also rather creepy due to their unusual swimming movement compared to normal sharks, which helps to make them feel less like animals and more like supernatural monsters.
- Artistic License β Biology:
- None of the sharks are shown to have their eyes rolled back when they're attacking someone. This is likely due to the limitations of the mechanical sharks as Quint accurately describes how a shark behaves when it bites someone.
Quint: "When he comes at ya, he doesn't even seem to be livin'⦠'til he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then⦠ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin."- Also, humans are not preferred prey to any shark, especially great whites: we are just too bony with too little fat tissue to be of any worth as food.
- Big Bad: They're the primary antagonists in the series.
- The first shark terrorizes Amity Island during the Fourth of July, putting the island's reputation and economy in jeopardy.
- The second shark also terrorizes Amity Island, continuing the legacy of the first shark.
- The third shark goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge in Florida's Sea World after her offspring dies in captivity.
- The fourth shark has a vendetta against the Brody family and follows them all the way from Amity Island to the Bahamas.
- Determinator: Gunshots, harpoons, electroshock devices and third degree burns don't stop them.
- The Dreaded: The sharks are the apex predators of their respective movies. They fear nothing and are feared by almost everything.
- Everybody Calls Him "Barkeep": None of the sharks have names in the films. They're only called "the shark" in any given scene. In the novel, Peter Benchley refers to the shark as "The Great Fish" or simply, "The Fish."
- Extreme Omnivore: When Hooper and Brody open up the shark caught by Gardner, they find many different objects in the stomach including a car's license plate.Quint: "...I seen one eat a rockin' chair once."
- It Can Think: They don't call the fourth film The Revenge for nothing. It's heavily implied to be the case in the preceding three, especially the original.
- "Jaws" First-Person Perspective: Collectively, they're the Trope Namer. For example, the first movie starts with the shark's point of view.
- Leitmotif: DUN-DUN. DUN-DUN. DUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUN...
- Monster Is a Mommy: The third shark to the little one.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Sharks are known to have rows of teeth.
- Noisy Nature: The third and fourth sharks roar for some reason. As does the shark in the original. It roars at Quint just before he shoots it in the lower jaw with a harpoon. In real life sharks, being fish, are mute by nature.
- Non-Malicious Monster: They're just following their instinct and trying to not starve, though as stated above, this is averted with the fourth shark, who has a personal vendetta against the Brody family.
- P.O.V. Cam: During the opening scene, we watch from the shark's perspective as it swims over to Chrissie.
- Revenge: All 4 sharks have a vendetta against the team as they constant try to attack them.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: All 4 are characterized with a serious bloodthirsty vengeance for the team as well as literally anybody or anything else, human or animal, in a way that would make John Wick hurl.
- Sea Monster: They are abnormally large and aggressive for Great Whites. The sharks of the first and third movies are described as twenty-five and thirty-five feet long, respectively, which is much larger than any documented individuals of the species.note Sizes are not given for the sharks of the second and fourth movies, but they're at least comparable in size and definitely highly aggressive.
- Super-Persistent Predator: The fourth one, especially, which borders on Ax-Crazy.
- Threatening Shark: Some of the most famous examples in fiction. Bruce is probably the Trope Codifier.
- Two-Faced: The second shark, after half of its face gets burned when a boat it's attacking is caught on fire.
- Would Hurt a Child: These sharks don't discriminate. Men, women, children, other fish or animals, EVERYTHING is prey to them.
Bruce
Bruce / "Jaws" / The Trouble
"...What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution."
— Hooper
A large man-eating Great White Shark that terrorized Amity Island.
- Adaptational Badass: While unusually large, the shark in the original novel is unable to pull the barrels attached to it underwater like in the film. Additionally, it dies from exhaustion thanks to these barrels while the movie shark is so impervious that it requires a literal explosion from a scuba tank to stop the beast.
- Alas, Poor Villain: When the shark, who was for the most part only driven by the instinct to eat, is finally blown up to pieces, sad piano music from the soundtrack is playing in the background while the shark's corpse is slowly sinking to the bottom of the sea.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: When Brody finally blows it into pieces, he bursts out in joyful laughter, having finally ended the terror. A few seconds later, Hooper reappears and joins him.
- Animal Nemesis: Specifically, a Great White Shark Nemesis.
- Artistic License β Biology: The shark from The Revenge didn't start the "roaring shark" meme, this one did. It only does so once just as Quint shoots him in the bottom jaw, but it can be heard. Later home releases added in a soft growl from The Land Before Time's Sharptooth when the shark submerges after said shot.
- Ax-Crazy: It is far more aggressive, homicidal and destructive than great white sharks normally are.
- Character Development: Surprisingly enough for a mostly unseen animal; it starts off as a Non-Malicious Monster. It kills to eat, but no more than that. After killing and eating a man in the pond, it swims right by Michael who would be an easy target. Later, it establishes an enmity with the crew of the Orca, becoming a Super-Persistent Predator.
- Determinator: It never stops ramming the cage while Hooper is in there screaming his heart out. Once Hoop escapes, the shark turns its aggression onto the Orca with Quint and Brody still onboard, successfully managing to kill the experienced sea captain. Brody barely has time to collect himself before the shark rams the Orca's side in an attempt to eat him too. Despite being fed an oxygen tank and even before he's killed, the leviathan makes another attempt on Brody's life by trying to reach him on the sinking mast before being forced back by a spear.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: The shark dies of his various injuries and blood loss in the novel just before reaching Brody. He tanks all that damage and then some in the film until Brody tosses an oxygen tank in the shark's mouth and snipes it while the huge predator closes in, blowing the latter to kingdom come.
- Hero Killer: Once the shark eats Quint alive in front of Brody, survival is almost entirely down to chance.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The shark's ravenous appetite is its ultimate downfall. Because it would eat anything, the shark didn't bother to spit out the scuba tank that Brody threw into its jaws. This allows Brody to shoot the tank with his rifle, creating a massive explosion that blows the shark apart.
- Immune to Bullets: The thing is so big and its hide is so tough that bullet wounds are a mere annoyance. It doesn't help that most of the animal is underwater, making it difficult to see what you're shooting at, and (as the MythBusters demonstrated) the fact that most bullets stop after a few feet in the water, assuming they don't disintegrate altogether on impact.
- Implacable Man: The shark in the movie shrugs just about everything that is thrown at it. It's able to submerge with three whole barrels attached to it, shrugs of gunshots, machete stabs, harpoon stabs, etc. It takes blowing its face up to finally kill it.
- It Can Think: Although Hooper had described the Great White Shark as a mindless machine capable of only eating and reproducing, the shark is anything but. It is clever enough to outwit the crew of Orca on several occasions, and it has enough grudge to drop its usual hunting activities in favor of sinking the boat and killing all onboard.Quint: "He's either very smart or very stupid... He is a smart big fish. He's gone under the boat!"
- It's Personal: Subtly implied to be the case with the shark's grudge against the crew of the Orca: he drops his usual hunting activities after being harpooned by Quint and devotes all his efforts to killing everyone on board the vessel.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The shark is much more ferocious, determined, and most significantly, intelligent than a great white should be, suggesting this trope is at play.
- Monster Delay: The shark is never shown on screen during the first hour/three reels, only the damage it causes from the perspective of the victims. It finally shows up when Brody, Quint, and Hooper are at sea.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Downplayed, since the shark is still a predator. In the first half of the film, it kills swimmers for food, sees them as easy prey, only attacks by chance, and is content with one or two victims before leaving the vicinity. It is subverted in the second half, however, when the crew of the Orca is out hunting for the shark. While its aggressive behavior can be seen as self-defense from the Orca, the shark's actions suggest it intends to kill the entire crew regardless if they pose a threat to it or not. This can be best seen after the shark sinks the Orca and eats Quint. Rather than leaving the nearly defenseless Brody alone, the shark attacks the police chief several times, which ultimately became its own undoing.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Due to the prop shark not working most of the time.
- Rage Breaking Point: Once it realizes Hooper has escaped the supposedly shark-proof cage, the furious shark mangles it thoroughly.
- Rasputinian Death: Tanks numerous gunshots, harpoons, stabwounds and even being hacked in the face with a machete, none of which seem to slow it down, before it is finally killed by the air tank shoved in its mouth exploding and taking its entire head with it.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Initially, it eats people for food, but then starts targeting the main crew out of vengeance.
- Super-Persistent Predator: When the shark realizes it's being hunted by Orca crew, it goes out of its way to turn the tables on them. First, the shark tries to sink the boat by ramming the hull or pulling the ropes deep into the ocean. Then it proceeds to chase the Orca down until the boat's engines are blown out. And once it has the crew stranded and at the sea's mercy, it does things that a regular shark would never do, like smashing into the diver's cage to get Hooper, launching itself onto the boat to get Quint, and destroying the rest of Orca to get Brody.
- Underestimating Badassery: The Orca crew does this pretty often. The shark is not only strong enough to pull three barrels attached to it but even the boat itself that it is strapped on. It is also much more clever than the crew anticipated, being able to sneak attack Hooper and demolish his cage, nearly killing him in the process. Later on, it destroys the entire Orca boat altogether and kills Quint. It takes a literal explosion in the head to kill it.
- Unseen Evil: How the shark is often depicted due to Obscured Special Effects.
- Villainous Glutton: Its never-ending appetite is what makes it so dangerous.
- Your Head Asplode: Due to the scuba tank exploding in its mouth.
Brucette
Brucette
The second Great White Shark to terrorize Amity Island, she was scarred by a boat explosion, something that gave her a gruesome visage.
- Ax-Crazy: She appears even more crazed than her predecessor Bruce, who was pretty vicious to begin with.
- Deadlier Than The Male: She racks up a bigger body count than Bruce.
- Facial Horror: Half of her face ends up hideously burnt during an attack on a speedboat.
- High-Voltage Death: Brody kills her by getting her to chomp down on an underwater electrical cable, electrocuting Brucette to death.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: It is implied that this second shark is in some way related to the shark from the first movie and is targeting the people of amity out of revenge.
- Sadist: Heavily implied with the way she grabs Eddie, slams him into the side of his boat, and then pulls him down to finish him off.
Brucetta
Brucetta
A large, man-eating Great White Shark who infiltrated Sea World and began eating fish and anyone unfortunate enough to be in her general vicinity. After her baby was inadvertently killed by the staff, she went on a rampage throughout the park, killing anyone in her path.
- Artistic License β Biology: The reason for Brucetta's rampage is that her baby died and she blames the humans. In reality, sharks have no parental instincts towards their offspring. Once a shark is born, they swim off on their own. Some sharks may even eat their offspring.
- Mama Bear: She's enraged that her baby was captured and died at the hands of Sea World.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Only for about one day.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After her baby dies, she goes on a rampage across Sea World to kill as many people as possible.
Vengeance
Vengeance / The Fourth Shark
- Artistic License β Biology: It roars whenever it is shocked by the device thrown inside it, which is in real life impossible as sharks don't have anything to provide sound with.
- Itβs also smart enough to identify and target members of the Brody family out of revenge and is somehow able to locate them when they travel all the way from New England to the Bahamas.
- Hollywood Voodoo: The novelization revealed that shark in it is actually a spirit animal of a scorned Voodoo priest. This turn of events gave us the Voodoo Shark.
- It's Personal: Chases Ellen Brody to the Bahamas to get revenge.
- Made of Explodium: For
some reason. - Odd Name Out: The first shark was named Bruce, which was the nickname given to the animatronic during filming, and the next two are female variants of Bruce. The fourth shark is named Vengeance by fans.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Actively targets Ellen Brody and her family.
- Super-Persistent Predator: You have to be a really dedicated predator to chase the Brody family from Amity Island, New England, all the way to the warm waters of the Bahamas down in the south.
