Continuity mistake: There are long poles and large hooks clipped to both the starboard and port side of Orca. In quite a few shots all three poles are gone from either side, and in other shots the amount of poles and hooks and their positions change repeatedly over and over again, in consecutive shots throughout their hunt! (01:41:15)
Continuity mistake: The knots on the supporting rigging lines aboard Orca keep changing in consecutive shots, within the same scenes. (01:41:20 - 01:43:20)
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)
Continuity mistake: When Hooper and Brody tie off the stern cleats, the amount of line, and the way the lines are wound round the cleats, varies in the following shots. (01:42:35)
Continuity mistake: As the shark pulls on the lines tied to the stern cleats, the boat tips to the side and in the wideshot the emblem on one of the air tanks faces the side. Yet, in the next close-up as they hit the ladder, both face front. (01:43:05)
Continuity mistake: After wrapping the lines round the stern cleats, Quint yells, "Stand away from those stern cleats!" In the wideshot Quint stands at the wheel on the bridge deck, facing the bow, but in the next close-up he stands beside the foremast, below the crow's nest, facing the stern. (01:43:05)
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)
Continuity mistake: After Hooper and Quint come up from the engine room, there are grease stains all over the front and back of Hooper's blue sweatshirt, that disappear, reappear or keep changing throughout the following shots. (01:43:35)
Continuity mistake: The chum markers, with the yellow flags, disappear and reappear on deck, in consecutive shots within the same scene. For instance, in the wideshot when Quint, Brody and Hooper are splashed and Quint shouts, "Untie us! He'll pull out the transom!" they are gone, but are back in the next shot of the deck. They keep changing positions as well. (01:43:40)
Continuity mistake: After Hooper says, "Yeah, he's eating his way right up to us," Hooper and Brody shout for Quint. As Quint rushes to the stern, in the interior shot looking out the window the toolbox and books are in front of the window. When the barrel flies into that cabin window, smashing it, ALL the books are different, things are positioned differently and a thermos suddenly appears. But after the engine burnout, when Quint surveys the damage in the cabin, the books are same as the first shot and now they're actually upright. (01:43:40)
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: After the two barrels are tied off, there is at least twenty feet of line between the barrels and where it disappears into the water. When the next harpoon is shot (the barrel shatters the cabin window) and the shark pulls Orca, that last barrel trails way ahead of Orca, its taught line being extremely shorter than the lines leading to the two other barrels, though the shark pulls them at the same time. However, once the cleats break off, the length of the three lines are identical in length. (01:44:15)
Continuity mistake: When the shark is harpooned to some rope, Brody & Hooper tie the rope to the stern cleats, causing the boat to be dragged backwards. Quint gets a machete to cut the rope to limit the boat's damage. At this point the sea is somewhat choppy. He throws the machete making it stick into the edge of the boat. The sea in the background is now completely calm. (01:44:25)
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)
Continuity mistake: When Chief Brody is standing on the boat, almost ankle deep in water, he throws down the pump and is about to climb up the ladder. In the next shot, while he is on the ladder, the shark (we presume) hits the boat making it list to the right and the deck is dry. (01:44:30)
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)
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)
Continuity mistake: After the cleats are ripped off, the size, shape and characteristics of the exposed area of wood underneath significantly changes in some of the following shots. (01:44:50)
Continuity mistake: Just as the first cleat flies off the stern of Orca, the shape of the small metal hood differs and the entire wood rail at the top of the transom in this close-up differs from the rail in all other shots. The long wood rail has another small piece of wood attached at the end, forming an 'L' shape with a 90° angle, whereas in all other shots the rail is one long solitary piece. (01:44:55)
Continuity mistake: When Hooper removes the pump from the locker, in the close-up Quint takes the pump with his empty hands and gives it to Brody with both hands. However, in the wideshot he is holding the machete in his left hand, as he gives Brody the pump. (01:45:30)
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