I’m watching Jaws on Bravo for the 500th time, and it got me wondering, yet again, where the hell Quint is supposed to be from. I’ve never heard anyone else speak like that here in America, so I’m a little confused. He served in the Navy during WWII, so I’m assuming he was born here, but seriously, I can’t place the accent. I’ve seen Robert Shaw (I think that’s his name) in other movies, without the accent, so the accent was part of his character. Is it just a “sailor” accent?
I always thought “New England sailor” when I heard him.
I read somewhere (sorry, no cite) that Robert Shaw was imitating the accent of an old salt who either worked on the set at Martha’s Vineyard, or lived nearby.
I could be mistaken, but doesn’t he have a line in the film where he says he was born and raised in Amity? Possibly somewhere around the “town meeting” scene? I know he has lines about how “you all know me…you know what I do”, but I seem to recall him saying something about having lived there all his life.
I don’t know if this is significant, but the song he was singing is the same tune as a Newfoundland folk song.
It is just the result of an Irishman doing his best to sound like a New Englander.
Lol! I was just searching the web for “Quint Jaws accent” and found I myself had answered it 2004. Except I was wrong. Shaw was from Lancashire.
OK - as long as this has been bumped - what the hell was he always chewing on? Raw potato? Water chestnuts?
Salt cod?
The scenery.
Well I suppose I lobbed that one over the plate, didn’t I?
I think they’re crackers, saltines or round water crackers. He’s tough enough that he eats them dry.
Well played.
Hardtack?
Doubtful. I’ve made hardtack, and it’s not the kind of thing you can just snack on without breaking your teeth. Plus you really can’t buy it, and Quint doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who spends the afternoon in his kitchen rolling out stiff dough then baking it twice.
But what do I know? After all, I never would have figured him for a music teacher.
You can. You just got to know they’re called Ship’s Biscuits these days.
You’re right about the danger to teeth, though.
Noted. I should have said “you couldn’t really buy it in 1975”.
Here’s to swimmin’ with bowlegged women.
Served in US Navy on USS Indianapolis which was sunk after delivering atomic bomb to the AF base in the pacific.
If you’re answering the 16 year old question “where is Quint from?” then yes, we knew he served on the Indianapolis, since it’s literally the best scene in the whole movie, and perhaps in all of film history.