Jaws....The greatest movie of all time!

Last night, I watched Jaws with my oldest son, Jeff. He has heard me go on and on about how this is my favorite movie of all time, and he finally was able to experience this movie with me. I've only seen this movie about 50 times, and I can almost quote each line word for word. Jeff had to be extremely patient with me as I rambled-off each sentence before the actors delivered their lines.

My favorite part of the movie is set at sea while Chief Brody, Quint and Matt Hooper are all sitting around a table sharing stories. Chief Brody notices a scar on Quint's arm and asks him what it is. Quint explains that it was a tattoo he had removed. The tattoo was a symbol representing his service on the USS Indianapolis. This intrigues both Brody and Hooper to know more, so Quint tells of his experience.

The story is so eerie and the setting at sea makes the story very compelling. Everyone who ever watches the movie listens intently as the story is told in Quint's Scottish accent. Even after watching the movie so many times, I get the chills when I hear it.

The realism of the story is a lot like being on a scout camp and all the scouts and leaders will sit around a camp fire and tell scary stories. Usually, the stories will evolve into something about Big Foot or the Blair Witch or bears or something that really creeps you out while sitting in the dark in the woods. When story time is over and it is time to break up and go back to one's tent to sleep, men and boys will actually cry at the prospect of sleeping alone in the woods in a tent.

Although the story Quint tells is fictionalized, it is about an actual occurrence. The USS Indianapolis was hit by a torpedo on July 30, 1945. The ship sunk in under 12 minutes. There were 1196 men on board and approximately 300 men went down with the ship while the remainder, about 900 men, were left floating in shark-infested waters with no food, water or life boats. The ship was never missed, and by the time survivors were spotted, by accident, four days later, only 316 men were still alive. This was the Worst Naval Disaster in history.

Well, I was able to find the story Quint told about the USS Indianapolis. Here it is, word for word:

Hooper: You were on the Indianapolis?

Brody: What happened?

Quint: Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, chief. It was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte. Just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. Well, what we didn't know 'cause our bomb mission had been so secret: No distress signal had been sent. Huh-huh. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, chief, the sharks come cruisin'. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know it's...kinda like 'ol squares in a battle like a, you see on a calendar, like the Battle of Waterloo. And the idea was, the shark would go for nearest man and then we'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark would go away. Sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, he's got...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya. And those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah, then you hear that terrible high-pitch screamin' and the ocean turns red and in spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' they all come in and rip you to pieces. Y'know by the end of that first dawn, we'd lost 100 men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I don't know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday mornin', chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player, bo'sun's mate. I thought he was asleep. Reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up and down in the water just like a kinda top. Up ended. Well...he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. He's a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway he saw us and come in low. And three hours later a big, fat PBY comes down and starts to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a life jacket again. So, 1,100 men went in the water, 316 men come out, the sharks took the rest, June the 29, 1945 [sic]. Anyway, we delivered the bomb."

Gives you the creeps, doesn't it? Betcha wanna watch Jaws now, eh?