Image: Zanuck/Brown Productions Universal Pictures
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.
The film 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!Â
What fear does Chief Brody suffer from?
Heights
Snakes
Enclosed spaces
Water
He explains the root of his fear very concisely: "Drowning."
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When Hooper cuts open the shark, what surprising object does he find?
Man's watch
Woman's high-heeled shoe
License plate
The plate is from Louisiana, suggesting the shark came up from the Gulf.
Whiskey bottle
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What distracts the townspeople from seeing the shark enter the pond?
A child goes missing
A dog goes missing
An elderly sunbather has a heart attack
A couple of kids play a prank using a fake dorsal fin
Once in the pond, the shark kills a boater.
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What is the name of the island on which "Jaws" takes place?
Amity Island
While it takes place in the fictional Amity Island in New England, much of the filming was done on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Comity Island
Cape Hope
New Salem
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How does Quint die?
He falls overboard and the shark gets him.
He slides down the swamped deck into the shark's mouth.
Quint's death -- with the shark jumping halfway up onto the deck -- is a little hard to swallow for audiences but it's a captivating scene nonetheless.
The broken mast falls on his head and he drowns while unconscious.
He doesn't; he survives.
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Why is Brody's son Michael admitted to the hospital?
He falls from the breakwater and hits his head.
He nearly drowns swimming to shore.
He's bitten while trying to save the man from the shark.
He's in shock after seeing the shark kill a man.
A shark prank in the sea distracts police so that the real shark enters the estuary and kills a boater. Michael witnesses this and goes into shock.
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Which line did Roy Scheider ad-lib?
"Drowning."
"That's some bad hat, Harry."
"You're gonna need a bigger boat."
Though it's often quoted as "We're," the line is "You're gonna need a bigger boat."
"We're gonna need a quick getaway"
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Who played marine biologist Matt Hooper?
Dustin Hoffman
Richard Dreyfuss
He and Robert Shaw reportedly didn't get along, which might have been useful in creating tension between their characters. He's still well-known for "Jaws," but the pinnacle of his career might be "Mr. Holland's Opus."
Mark Hamill
Donald Sutherland
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How does Hooper survive after the shark destroys the cage?
He swims quickly to the surface.
He swims down to the seafloor and hides in seaweed.
The shark is distracted by its continuing attempts to mangle the cage; Hooper slips out the other side.
He jabs the shark in the eyes, blinding it.
He doesn't survive.
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What do the two townie men throw off the pier to attract the shark?
Wetsuit
Mannequin
Roast
It's implausible that this draws the shark, as sharks are drawn by irregular and vigorous splashing.
Trout
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What kind of shark do the local fishermen catch, that is believed to be the killer?
Nurse shark
Mako shark
Tiger shark
Hooper is immediately skeptical because of the animal's smaller bite radius.
Thresher shark
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Which of these is NOT a sequel to "Jaws"?
"Jaws 2"
"Jaws 3D"
"Jaws: The Revenge"
"Son of Jaws"
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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Who played the shark hunter Quint?
Jon Voight
Robert Duvall
Gene Hackman
Robert Shaw
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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How does Brody kill the shark?
He draws it into shallow waters and suffocates it.
He drives a shard of the broken cage deep into its brain.
He jumps into the water and slits its throat with a hacksaw blade.
He jams a compressed-air tank into its mouth and blows it up by shooting at it.
An underwater shot shows the bulk of the shark's body sinking to the seafloor like a battleship going down.
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Why does Hooper go down in the shark cage?
As bait
To gather smaller fish as bait
To hit the shark in the mouth with a dart
Hooper has a dart gun and intends to inject the shark with strychnine.
For observational purposes
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Where is Chief Martin Brody from?
Houston
Fargo
New York City
His wife tries to teach him local pronunciation of "yard" and "car" early in the film.
New Orleans
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What is the name of Quint's boat?
The Makerel
The Kurtz
The Orca
An orca is a killer whale. Fun fact: the film's first potential director was passed over for using "shark" and "whale" interchangeably.
The Queeg
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To what does Hooper compare the shark's tooth that he found in the destroyed boat?
Chainsaw tooth
Hatchet blade
Scalpel blade
Shot glass
He's trying to give the mayor an idea of its size.
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What kind of knot does Quint demand Hooper make to prove his skills?
Bowline
Four-square
Quick-release
Sheepshank
Quint thinks Hooper is a city-bred tenderfoot. It's a knot commonly used to shorten a rope and is not considered very stable.
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How do Brody and Hooper get back to land?
They're picked up by a Coast Guard ship.
They're rescued by passing fishermen.
They paddle back hanging onto the floating barrels.
The closing shot shows them heading home with Amity Island in the near distance.
They just swim.
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What are the residents about to celebrate and profit from?
Arbor Day
Fourth of July weekend
The town's merchants look forward to the influx of tourist dollars from the holiday.
Christmas
Thanksgiving Day
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Why is Hooper unable to shoot the shark from the safety of the cage?
It gets too close.
The trigger jams
He drops the gun when the shark rams the cage
This is definitely one of the more intense and thrilling scenes in the film as he tries to dominate the shark while avoiding getting attacked.
The shark never opens its mouth
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What scar does Hooper say tops the scar-comparing contest?
Bite from a moray eel on his arm
Bite on his leg from a thresher
Scar on his ribcage from a harpoon
Invisible scar of Mary Ellen Moffat breaking his heart
During the exchange, Brody is silent, only once looking sheepishly at his own appendectomy scar.
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How many people total does the shark kill?
Five
The finall toll: Chrissy the skinny-dipper, little Alex Kintner, the man seen in the broken boat, the boater in the pond, and Quint.
Six
Seven
Eight
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Who did "Jaws" author Peter Benchley play in the movie?
The victim in the pond
The fisherman whose face appears in the broken boat
The reporter on the beach on July 4th
Benchley was later escorted from the set when he got angry about the movie's unrealistic ending.
The mayor of Amity Island
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On what doomed ship did Quint serve?
Indianapolis
Quint's monologue about the ship's sinking is considered one of the movie's high points. This WWII ship delivered the Hiroshima bomb, as Quint himself says.
Hornet
Macaw
Oklahoma
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Who is Brody trying to call when Quint smashes the radio?
Coast Guard
Quint is a glory hound who doesn't want help; Brody is nervous and wants all the help they can get.
Navy
Other captains and fishermen
His wife
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What line of work is Amity Island's mayor in?
Being mayor is his full-time job
He's a fisherman.
He's a school principal.
He's a real-estate agent.
We see his business advertised on his car as he arrives at the docks in his first scene.
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How much is the bounty Mrs. Kinter offers for the shark that killed her son Alex?
$500
$1000
$1500
$3000
However, $10,000 is Quint's price for catching the shark.
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How does Quint get everyone's attention at the town meeting?
Stands up on the table
Drags his fingernails down a chalkboard
Given Quint's penchant for drink, showing up staggering would have worked, too.
Shows up staggering drunk
Blows a horn
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What kind of dog do the Brodys have?
Great Dane
Cocker Spaniel
The dog was director Spielberg's own, Elmer.
Labrador
Chihuahua
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What was the name of the novel that inspired "Jaws"?
"Jaws"
Often Hollywood films compact the titles of books they adapt, but here, there was no fat to trim. The book was released in 1974, a year before the film, and written by Peter Benchley.
"Jaws of Terror"
"Red Waters"
"Don't Go in the Water"
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What is the MPAA rating for the film?
PG
It was originally rated but after some of the more gruesome scenes were edited out, the film was given a PG-rating. The PG-13-rating wasn’t created until after Spielberg’s "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" though there was a warning that the film might be too graphic for children.
R
PG-13
MA
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Why doesn't the mayor agree to close the beach on the Fourth of July weekend?
He doesn't have the authority.
The town depends on tourist dollars.
Hooper doesn't actually have the shark's tooth to show him,
Both #2 and #3
Hooper dropped the "shot-glass-sized" tooth, and this allows the mayor to be skeptical, and to protect those tourist dollars.
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Steven Spielberg famously named the mechanical shark "Bruce" after whom?
His father
His brother
His lawyer
There was more than one "Bruce" shark used in the film.
A childhood bully he hated
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You Got:
/35
Zanuck/Brown Productions Universal Pictures