Jaws
Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Hooper wears rimless eyeglasses, with the arms either attached at the upper corners of the lenses or at the sides of the lenses. If this didn't happen between shots within the same scenes, it could be presumed that Hooper has two different pairs of glasses and switches between the two, but they do indeed change between shots, such as when Mrs. Kintner slaps Brody, or even later, on the Orca. (00:36:05)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Quint embeds his machete into the wood at the side of the boat, but in the following wideshot the machete is gone. Then as Orca starts to move, when Hooper says, "He's chasing us, I don't believe it," the machete is back. But when the shark leaps onto the boat the machete is gone again, and then as the shark devours Quint the machete is back for him to grab, so he can valiantly stab the shark. (01:44:30)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When the fishermen start out on the hunt, Ben Gardner appears in a close-up leaning on the windshield at forward deck, while talking to his boatmate about how stupid some of the others are. In the next wide shot of the boats, Ben's green boat is towards the left of the screen, and the large reflector screen and camera, that are mounted to the bow of his boat, are visible in front of the forward window where Ben was seen in the previous shot. (00:30:25)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Hooper gets his gear from below, after the explosion in the engine room, he runs to the deck passing Quint using the fire extinguisher. The camera pans from Brody, who stands on the bridge deck, to Hooper right below him. So where exactly is the tall iron ladder that leads up to the bridge deck in this shot? It should be behind Hooper, in front of the window, but it's gone. Don't fret, it's back in the following shots. (01:49:05)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: At the scene just after the fake shark scare, the real shark shows up at the pond area of the beach. As the lifeguard in a small boat reacts to everyone's panic, the shark tips over the boat then appears underneath him to tear his leg off. We watch as it sinks slowly to the bottom. You can plainly see that the lifeguard is barefoot in the boat. The severed leg has a tennis shoe on. (01:02:15)

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Orca's ID number normally reads MS 15 LF on both her port and starboard side at the bow. However, after Quint shouts, "Hooper, you idiot. Ain't you watchin it?" Orca's ID number reads M 15 L at starboard side and 15 LF at port. (01:16:30)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Other mistake: On the death certificate for Chrissie, the shark's first victim, the date of death is July 1st. But later, on the reward paper posted by the boy's mother, it says that the date of Alex's death was June 29th. Alex died after Chrissie, not before. Also, the form refers to the coroner as the "corner," and Jun 29th 1974 was a Saturday, not Sunday. (00:09:05 - 00:18:10)

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The number of barrels on the deck of the Orca changes from shot to shot, during the final scenes at sea. (01:41:00)

Jaws mistake picture Video

Revealing mistake: Just as Quint finishes scraping his nails on the chalkboard, the camera begins to move in closer when he takes the first bite of the cracker. On the right side of the screen under Harry's chin, Roy Scheider is ducking down while staring at the camera, as it pans toward Robert Shaw, and Roy then lifts his left hand up, cueing Robert's line. (00:20:55)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: During Quint's attack, as the shark's biting down on his legs, Quint's bare hand is grabbing the shark's snout. Subsequent shots show Quint wearing gloves as he's devoured. (01:57:35)

c00ld00d

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Quint goes below deck to get the machete, with the intent to cut the barrel lines, the machete he takes is shiny and clean, with no rust or pit marks at all. Yet, when Quint holds it over his head and then embeds it into the side of the boat, the entire blade is rusty and full of pit marks. (01:44:40)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Brody is throwing chum in water and Quint is in the chair they show him wearing no socks and old tennis shoes. After Brody falls and then sets a new chum marker Quint has brown socks on and loafer type shoes. (01:12:45 - 01:14:00)

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Quint slams the machete into the wood beside the side cleat, and rigging lines. However, when the shark joins them aboard the boat and Quint is sliding towards its mouth, the machete's position changes - it is farther down towards the stern, note the black anti-slip mats. (01:44:30 - 01:57:00)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Brody waits to board the ferry he says, "Charlie, take me over to those kids, will ya," and there's a painted board with 'Amity' attached to the ferry base. However, when they reach the other ferry landing the board with 'Amity' is gone, in sloshing water (even more visible in a deleted scene). It's the same side of the ferry, note the ferry Captain is stationed at the permanent helm at only one side. The short haul Chappy Ferry On Time scow was the stand-in for the fictitious Amity ferry. (00:11:40)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Revealing mistake: During Chrissie's attack, she clings to the buoy and cries, "Oh my God! Oh God!" In the next shot, as she is pulled away from the buoy, a wire (at about the height of the bell) that shimmers in the moonlight and bounces up and down with the buoy, runs from the buoy towards the right of the screen. It is not visible in any other shot. (00:04:35)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the close-up of the stern cleat as the shark pulls on the line, there are two large metal 'L' shape brackets screwed onto the corner of the wood of transom. Amazingly, these large brackets are not screwed into the wood in the close-up, as Brody winds the line round the cleat just a moment earlier. The metal brackets repeatedly appear and disappear. (01:42:30)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Revealing mistake: While Hooper is below in the cage, he sees the shark nearing and up on deck as the barrels speed closer, the black triangular device attached to their lines is clearly visible, right in front of the barrels. The device pulls the barrels, not the shark. (01:53:15)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Quint remarks, "Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him." In the shot of Orca's stern, just prior to this comment, the two attached yellow barrels are very worn, with many black marks all over. Yet, in the shot right after, both yellow barrels are almost entirely yellow - quick paint job. Throughout the Orca scenes the marks on all the barrels change many times in consecutive shots. (01:43:20)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: During numerous close-ups on the bridge deck, such as when Brody is behind the wheel, as Hooper shouts, "Our injectors got scored from the salt water in the fuel," the three large gauges over the steering column are seen. The center gauge has a wide shiny chrome trim, and a partial black face with a silver center. However, in the extreme close-up of the gauge panel, it is an entirely different style RPM gauge, and it now has a blackish rusty trim, and a solid black face. (01:41:00)

Super Grover

Jaws mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Quint embeds his machete into the wood at the side of the boat, but in the following wideshot the machete is gone. Then as Orca starts to move, when Hooper says, "He's chasing us, I don't believe it," the machete is back. But when the shark leaps onto the boat the machete is gone again, and then as the shark devours Quint the machete is back for him to grab, so he can valiantly stab the shark. (01:44:30)

Super Grover

More mistakes in Jaws

Quint: Hooper! Stop playing with yourself Hooper!

More quotes from Jaws

Trivia: Actor Robert Shaw took inspiration from and based his performance of Captain Quint on an eccentric, real-life Martha's Vineyard fisherman named Craig Kingsbury. Steven Spielberg was deeply impressed by Kingsbury, also, and actually cast him in the role of fisherman Ben Gardner. Beyond that, Kingsbury's colorful language around the set was often written into the dialogue of Captain Quint and Ben Gardner.

More trivia for Jaws

Question: There are two scenes on the boat after they have seen the shark and Brody has a panicked look, while in the background a shooting star passes right behind him. This happens twice, but it's in the day time. Was it real?

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

More questions & answers from Jaws

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.