What actually happens
A mayor who has a summer to protect
Late one night a woman goes swimming off Amity Island, a New England beach town, and something pulls her under. Her remains wash up on the beach the next morning. The coroner calls it a shark attack, and police chief Martin Brody decides to close the beaches. Mayor Larry Vaughn talks him out of it, because a town that lives on summer visitors cannot afford a shark. The coroner then seems to change his mind and goes along with the mayor's version, which blames a boating accident. Brody accepts that until a boy is killed on a crowded beach. The town responds with a $3,000 bounty, and amateurs flood the water with fishing gear. Quint, a local shark hunter who is somewhat eccentric, offers to do the job for $10,000. Oceanographer Matt Hooper examines the first victim and confirms that an unusually large shark was responsible.
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A boat with a tooth in its hull
The fishermen catch a tiger shark and Vaughn announces the water is safe. Hooper cuts it open, finds nothing human inside, and decides the real shark is still out there. That night he and Brody search the water in Hooper's boat and find the half-sunken boat of a local fisherman named Ben Gardner. This is the scene to brace for, and it comes before the boat trip. Hooper puts on scuba gear and dives to check the hull, finds a large shark tooth stuck in it, and then comes face to face with Gardner's severed head, underwater and at night. He drops the tooth. Vaughn still refuses to close the beaches, so on the Fourth of July weekend the tourists pack them. The shark enters a nearby lagoon, kills a boater, and almost kills Brody's son Michael, who ends up in the hospital in shock. A guilt-ridden Vaughn finally agrees to hire Quint.
Quint's collection of scars
Quint, Hooper and Brody go to sea on Quint's boat, the Orca. Quint and Hooper do not get along, and Brody is afraid of the ocean. When Brody spreads chum into the water, the shark appears behind the boat. Quint guesses it is 25 feet long and weighs about 3 tonnes, harpoons it, and watches it dive away with a barrel attached. That night Quint and Hooper get drunk and compare scars. Quint explains that a missing tattoo is from his time on the USS Indianapolis, where sharks killed many of the sailors. The shark comes back and rams the hull, which cuts the power, and the men work on the engine until morning. In the morning Brody tries to call the Coast Guard, but Quint smashes the radio because he wants the shark to himself. A long chase follows, the cleats break off, and Quint heads for shallow water until the damaged engine fails.
A cage that does not last
With the Orca taking on water, the three men try something riskier. Hooper puts on his diving gear and gets into a shark-proof cage, planning to inject the shark with strychnine from a spear shaped like a hypodermic needle. The shark attacks the cage, and Hooper drops the spear. The shark wrecks the cage, and Hooper gets away by going down to the seafloor. That leaves Brody and Quint on the sinking boat with the shark, and the ending follows from there. The barrels from the earlier harpoons are still attached to the shark.
The ending, explained
The shark leaps onto the stern of the Orca and eats Quint. Brody is stuck on the sinking boat, so he jams a scuba tank into the shark's mouth, climbs up to the crow's nest, and shoots the tank with a rifle. The explosion kills the shark. Hooper had escaped to the ocean bottom and now resurfaces. He and Brody paddle back to shore, holding on to the remaining barrels. Quint is the only one of the three who does not come back.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: not fine, though the camera never shows it.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Jaws scary?
Jaws is a 6 out of 10 with medium dread. Most of the fear comes from open water and a hunt on a small boat, with an underwater scare and a few other jump scares.
How does Jaws end?
The shark eats Quint, and Brody blows it up by shooting a scuba tank lodged in its mouth. Hooper and Brody then paddle back to shore on what is left of the barrels.
Does the dog die in Jaws?
Yes, the dog dies in Jaws. It vanishes while playing fetch in the water, and only its stick is shown, so the death is implied rather than seen.
Is there a post-credits scene in Jaws?
No. Jaws has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
What kind of shark is in Jaws?
It is a great white. Quint estimates it at 25 feet long and about 3 tonnes. The tiger shark the fishermen catch early on has nothing human in its stomach, so Hooper decides the killer is still out there.
