Continuity mistake: When Hooper pulls the tooth from the hull of Ben Gardner's boat, he wears his watch and ring on his left wrist and hand. However, in the close-up as he drops the flashlight, knife and tooth, he wears them on his right side. Flipped shot. (00:49:35)
Continuity mistake: After the shark leaves with Quint, Brody is in the flooded cabin as the boat starts to tip and the stove is behind him. The large metal side panels are fitted in the grooves between the lid and base. However, when the shark crashes through the window the panels are gone and the lid to the stove is closed. (01:57:45)
Continuity mistake: When Brody tries to hail the Coast Guard, Quint smashes the radio and the stove area beside them is visible. When the shark re-appears Quint heads for the stern, and the stove area, which is visible as he walks, is completely different. (01:38:25)
Continuity mistake: After Alex's attack, there is a close-up of the $3,000 reward sign pinned to the board, as the woman complains, "We won't have any of our regular customers..." in the next shot as she continues to say, "We don't even know that there's a shark around here..." the reward sign on the board has different handwriting and is positioned differently on the board. (00:18:10)
Continuity mistake: When Brody starts chumming, the stern of the Orca is bloody and the white container is dirty and bloody. When he and Quint watch the shark coming towards them, the container is much cleaner and the pattern of blood on the boat, at the stern, differs. (01:20:45)
Continuity mistake: At Orca's bow, the hole in the steel hull beside its number, is oval shape. However, after Quint is gone, when the ship begins to sink, and later when Hooper surfaces beside the wreckage of the bow, the shape of the hole in the steel hull is completely different! The white water stain lines change throughout the shots as well. (01:25:00 - 02:01:10)
Continuity mistake: The positions of the harpoons - two at the dorsal fin and one under the mouth - change on the shark's body and are actually gone in quite a few shots. (01:43:50 - 01:56:45)
Continuity mistake: At Quint's, when he holds the two steaming shark jaws, assorted dry goods on the shelves above the stove are seen, particularly the cans of Del Monte vegetables. When Quint gives Hooper the rope to tie the knot, some of the goods on the bottom shelf and every can of veggies on the top shelf are entirely different. (01:07:00)
Continuity mistake: The damage to Orca's stern changes back and forth, between shots. For instance, when the shark first comes aboard the entire transom is torn off, splitting the deck and side rails. Yet, just before the air tank rolls onto Quint's hands, part of the transom is back and the deck rail is whole again. (01:56:50)
Continuity mistake: When Hooper runs below deck to get the homing device, life jackets hang on top of the rope, to the left of the machete. When Quint gets the machete there are no life jackets near it and when the engine hatch blows up, life jackets hang against the wall where the machete was. The life jackets near the fire extinguishers change position as well. (01:23:55 - 01:44:45)
Continuity mistake: There are two buttons on each of Quint's shirt cuffs. When Quint pokes his head out as he works in the engine room, one button is closed on his right cuff. When he gathers the rope in hands, just as the shark surprises him, he has two buttons closed, then as the rope is pulled from his hands only one button closed. (01:36:50)
Continuity mistake: When Chief Brody and Hooper tie the ropes to the stern cleats, Quint shoots a harpoon under the shark's mouth. When Hooper is in the shark cage, look at the shark's mouth when it passes by. There is no harpoon there. (01:53:35)
Continuity mistake: When Quint comes out the cabin with the life jackets the boat is listing to our left as we look at it from the back. When he asks Hooper about the injection and the cage the boat has levelled off, and stays that way until they try and lift the cage back up.
Continuity mistake: When Hooper is lowered into the water in the shark cage, in the following shots the ring he is wearing on his left hand vanishes and reappears in a few shots, such as when he drops the poison shark dart. (01:53:50)
Continuity mistake: When the fishing reel clicks, Quint readies himself in his chair and Brody is finally successful with the knot. The knot in the rope, and the way he holds it, differs between the close-up and wideshot. (01:15:50)
Continuity mistake: When Brody and Hooper first arrive at Quint's place, Quint goes to pour the drinks, and beside him are windows with shades. There is a fish that hangs over the window beside Brody and the window upstairs, above Quint, is open. In the following shots positions of the roll shades, towels, etc., differ. Then when Quint climbs the ladder a bunch of rope now hangs beside the mirror, there is a small net that hangs with the fish above the window, and the window upstairs is now closed. (01:06:15)
Continuity mistake: When Ellen speaks with Brody at the beach, while worrying about the shark, Michael and other kids get up, and head toward the water. In the next shot, Michael, who wears very distinctive green and orange swimming trunks, jumps into the water (holding a football), and gets his hair and body entirely soaked. Next three shots Harry (and his 'bad hat') sits down and speaks with Brody. In the next shot Michael, with dry hair, passes Mrs. Kintner and is still running towards the water with Sean. (00:15:40)
Continuity mistake: Just after Brody flips through the pages of the graphic shark book, Ellen tells him that Michael is sitting in his boat and outside their window the sun is just above the horizon, showing a pretty sunset. Then when Brody rushes to the door to shout for Michael to get out of the boat, amusingly enough the sun is now much, much higher in the sky. (00:23:00)
Continuity mistake: As Quint lies to Ellen Brody on the radio and yammers that they caught a couple of stripers, the window above the portable stove in the cabin is spotless. However, a moment later when Hooper is on his way to get to the homing device, there is an interior view as he walks along the side of the boat outside. In this shot there are scraped blotchy remnants of a large rectangle sticker on that same window, above the stove. (01:23:15)
Continuity mistake: When Mrs. Kintner confronts Chief Brody on the dock, in the shots facing her the veil blows away from her face, but in the shots facing Brody, the veil blows towards her face. (00:36:10)
Answer: Although the 1995 documentary "The Making of Jaws" claims that the shooting star was real, the fact is that the shooting-star background effect is a Steven Spielberg trademark in most of his films (first noticed in "Jaws," but also appearing in "Close Encounters," "E.T. The Extraterrestrial," "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "Saving Private Ryan" and others). Spielberg has always had a fascination with shooting stars, dating back to his childhood, and he works them into almost every film. Http://americanprofile.com/articles/steven-spielberg-shooting-stars-movies/.
Charles Austin Miller