Bite-size facts on JAWS
1 The movie was based on Peter Benchley’s best-selling book about a great white’s attacks on humans at a seaside resort. It was inspired by real killings in 1916 off New Jersey, US, and fisherman Frank Mundus who landed a 4,500lb shark in 1964.
2 Steven Spielberg got the job to direct Jaws after making TV film Duel about a maniac truck driver. But filming was so chaotic, he got PTSD and vowed never to go near the water again.
3 Roy Scheider, cast as Police Chief Martin Brody, adlibbed the movie’s best remembered quote: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat!” He died aged 75 in 2008.
4 Brit Robert Shaw got the role of grizzled, boozy shark hunter Quint. The actor was an alcoholic in real life, often drunk on set, who would die aged 51.
5 On-screen tension between his character and marine biologist Matt Hooper, played by Richard Dreyfuss, was echoed off screen as they constantly argued.
6 Ditching an original aim to train a real shark, makers created three 25ft mechanical, pneumatically powered models, costing £200,000, weighing 1.2 tons and needing 14 people to operate.
7 Spielberg nicknamed the shark Bruce, after his lawyer.
8 Because it worked so badly, the shark only appears an hour and 21 minutes into the action and is only on screen for four minutes. Some real footage of sharks was also used.
9 Much of it shot at water level, filming mishaps included seasick crew and cast, a screenwriter nearly decapitated by a propeller and a boat sinking with the actors on board.
10 All the problems on set saw the crew nickname it Flaws. It went more than twice over budget and a 65day schedule turned into 159.
11 Spielberg thought a severed prop arm of the first victim Chrissie, sticking out of the beach, looked too fake so they buried a female crew member in the sand with only her arm showing.
12 Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts doubled up as fictional beach resort Amity Island. Locals were paid £50 each to star as extras running out of the water and child actor Jonathan Searle from the movie grew up to be a real police chief in the area.
13 The music by John Williams has become iconic but when Spielberg first heard him play it, he thought he was joking.
14 Author Benchley had a cameo role as a news reporter, while Brody’s dog was Spielberg’s own cocker spaniel.
15 The highest-grossing film in history when it came out, Jaws spawned three cinema sequels and fans have included Quentin Tarantino and even Cuban leader Fidel Castro.