"Jaws" was released in June of 1975, and the very fact that we're still passionately, eagerly discussing the movie decades later for its 50th anniversary says a lot about its impact, value, and staying power. In addition to just how damn good the film itself is, there's so much lore and debate that surrounds it to this day. One question that often comes up is a deceptively simple one: what's the scariest scene or moment in the movie? Some will say the opening sequence, others the various attacks by the Great White on crowded public beaches in the middle of a sunny summer day. For my money, however, no moment in "Jaws" is more richly disturbing than a setpiece we don't actually get to see: the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis in 1945, in which the few survivors of the World War II skirmish found themselves wading in shark-infested waters with no hope of rescue.
That moment, a fictionalized version of an actual incident, may not be visualized in a literal sense, but a vibrant picture is painted nonetheless thanks to the performance of actor Robert Shaw, who plays the shark hunter Quint. It's a scene that packs a wallop within a movie that is suffused with indelible moments and characters. Heck, the monologue isn't even the only standout bit of Shaw's performance alone — one could also single out Quint's introductory monologue, wherein he boasts about capturing and killing the shark which has been terrorizing the citizens of Amity Island. Then there's the lovely bonding scene between Quint, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), where the dispa
