You know, scenes like those from Jaws, Lethal Weapon 3, or Chasing Amy, where two characters have a contest about who has the worst scars? Were there any movies that had such a thing before Jaws?
And on a completely unrelated note, will filmmakers ever get tired of having these scenes?
I think Jaws was the first. And Kevin Smith has done several homages to Jaws, the scene in Chasing Amy among them.
“Man goes into cage. Cage goes into salsa. Shark’s in the salsa; our shark.”
Robot Arm: Wasn’t that in Clerks?
I remember it - Salsa Shark! da dum da dum da dum da dum
Yes, of course. I just love that line and I threw it in as another example of Kevin Smith riffing on Jaws. I guess it was a bit confusing the way it came out.
For anyone who hasn’t seen it, the scene in Chasing Amy has characters comparing injuries sustained during sex, instead of fishing.
There was a scar-comparing scene in The Mountains of the Moon; I don’t know why it’s such a popular gimmick, except that it’s a way to give us background on the characters.
Yes but Mountains of the Moon, which is a great film, was post Jaws.
So Jaws is the first one, then?
So Jaws is the first one, then?
Well, there’s a little known factoid about a scene cut from the original Wizard of Oz, where the Cowardly Lion and a Flying Monkey compare scars sustained from tree branches, parasites, and mating ritual fights, among other things. Unfortunately, it went the way of the Jitterbug and wound up on the cutting room floor, never to be seen again.