Jaws (film)/Characters

Martin Brody
""You're gonna need a bigger boat.""

Amity's police chief who moved to the island with his family to get away from the dangers of living in New York. He hates water, and to his dismay he has to deal with one of its toothier inhabitants up-close-and-personal...twice.

Played by Roy Scheider


 * Action Survivor
 * Badass Bookworm: After taking a level in it.
 * Bus Crash: Died offscreen from a heart attack before the fourth film.
 * Happily Married: With Ellen.
 * Ignored Expert: In the second film, where nobody believes his claims that another killer shark is now in the area.
 * Only Sane Man
 * The Load: On the 'fishing trip'. He brings little to the table, having neither Hooper's knowledge or Quint's skill. But he does turn out to be useful, and acts as a broker between the other two.
 * Took a Level in Badass
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He hates water. But he overcame this after the events of the first film.

Matt Hooper
""Mr. Vaughn, what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine.""

Shark-fascinated marine biologist who was called to Amity island to help with the shark problem. He starts of as a white-collared college kid foil to Quint's blue collar gruffiness, but they come to an understanding with each other.

Played by Richard Dreyfuss


 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Foil
 * Nerd Glasses
 * Non-Idle Rich
 * Serendipity Writes the Plot: The film got some footage of a real great white attacking an empty shark cage, leading to a plot change.

Sam Quint
""Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies~""

Seaman with a bone to pick with all sharks, due to traumatizing events in World War II. He is hired to hunt down the shark with Brody and Hooper giving him assistance.

Played by: Robert Shaw


 * Animal Nemesis
 * Badass
 * Father Neptune
 * Prophetic Name: "Quint" is Latin for "fifth"..
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against all sharks.
 * Sanity Slippage
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran: Being stranded in sea and witnessing several hundred people being eaten by sharks in WWII left him little unhinged.

Ellen Brody
""I just want to know one thing; when do I get to become an islander?""

Martin's loving wife, who offers emotional support to him when things are looking down. After he died, she was forced to deal with a killer shark that was specifically targeting members of her family in the fourth film.

Played by: Lorraine Gary


 * Deuteragonist: In the fourth film.
 * Hair of Gold
 * Happily Married: With Martin, before the fourth film.
 * Your Cheating Heart: She is having an affair with Hooper in the original book.

Michael Brody
""White sharks are dangerous. I know 'em. My father, my brother, myself. They're murderers.""

Oldest son in the Brody family. Becomes the main focus of third and fourth film.

Played by: Chris Rebello (first film), Mrak Gruner (2), Dennis Quaid (3) and Lance Guest (The Revenge)


 * Expy: He becomes one of Hooper by end of the series.
 * The Other Darrin

Sean Brody
Michael's younger brother. He spends most of the time following his brother and is ultimately killed in the first minutes of The Revenge.

Played by: Jay Mello (first film), Marc Gilpin (2), John Putch (3) and Mitchell Anderson (The Revenge)


 * Annoying Younger Sibling: In the second film, where he's constantly pestering his older brother.
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him: He is the shark's first target in The Revenge.
 * Freudian Excuse: Events of the first two films gave him an aversion to water. It's missing in the fourth film.
 * The Other Darrin

The Sharks
The ones with the eponymous jaws. After the first shark swam into the waters of Amity Island, all members of the Brody family have found themselves confronting them in increasingly convoluted ways.


 * Big Bads
 * Dirty Coward: Initially the shark was one by chance. Many of the victims prior to the Orca hunting it, were often singled out individuals. Chrissie was all alone, because her date was passed out on the shore. Alex and Pippin were singled out one at a time when there was plenty of other humans to munch on in the beach that day. It even goes to the estuary simply because there were fewer people there than the main beach. The Rower being the last single victim. However it becomes subverted when the Orca starts hunting the shark. The shark dropping all tactics and intending to kill all three of them. Succeeding only with
 * Everything's Even Worse with Sharks
 * Hollywood Voodoo: The novelization of the fourth film revealed that shark in it is actually a spirit animal of a scorned Voodoo priest. This turn of events gave us the Voodoo Shark.
 * Immune to Bullets
 * It Can Think: They don't call the fourth film The Revenge for nothing.
 * The first movie's shark was no slouch in the intelligence department either. When the Orca begins hunting it down, it surprises Brody with a jump scare. Then later at night, when the trio is singing it slams into the hull, leaking salt water into the engine and somehow even manages to cause a power outage leaving them in the dark. When Hooper tries to hunt it with the cage and spear, it fakes him out making him think he's going for a frontal attack, only to sneak up and hit the cage from behind.
 * It's Personal: The fourth film's shark.
 * Leitmotif: DUN-DUN.
 * Made of Explodium: The fourth shark, for some reason.
 * Noisy Nature: The third and fourth sharks roar for some reason.
 * Production Nickname: Bruce for the first shark. Spielberg himself called it Great White Turd due to its breakdowns.
 * Super-Persistent Predator
 * Two-Faced: The second shark after half of its face is burned.
 * Would Hurt a Child: These sharks don't discriminate. They eat everything.