The jaws massacre: How 900 stricken men were surrounded by killer sharks (USS Indianapolis)

UK Daily Mail ^ | 8/17/07 | Tony Rennell

[Vision]

On the History channel...and Jaws, post 20.

[wagglebee]

That was one of the half dozen best movies scenes ever.

[wagglebee]

It had to be a horrific thing to live through and I could see how it would still haunt the survivors sex decades later.

[lilylangtree]

I never knew. Dear God in Heaven, what an ordeal to live through.

[pax_et_bonum]

Ping

[Teacher317]

Jaws got the date wrong, by the way. It was hit by the torpedoes on July 30th.

[Vision]

I challenge you to name a better movie scene.

[Teacher317]

The Indianapolis was also the second-to-last US ship lost in WWII, and the last lost to an enemy boat.
(The Bullhead was a sub sank by Japanese airplanes one week later.)

More from Wikipedia:
"When the Indianapolis did not reach Leyte on the 31st, as scheduled, no report was made that she was overdue... Thus it was not until 10:25 on August 2 that the survivors were accidentally sighted."

[Vision]

It was hit 14 minutes after midnight on July 29th. If you think about it, sailors would have considered it that day.

Which lends itself to the beauty of the writing.

[VermiciousKnid]

Yes. “The Mission of the Shark”. Good movie, but diffucult to watch the attack sequences.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0102455/

Regards,

[Red Badger]

Thanks.....

[wagglebee]

I'm not sure I could name one that is "better" but I would list the following as the others in the top six along with the Indianapolis monologue in "Jaws" (in no particular order):

- The opening segment of "Saving Private Ryan"
- The schoolyard scene in "The Birds"
- Marlon Brando's "I could have been a contender" monologue in "On the Waterfront"
- The chariot race in "Ben Hur"
- The opening speech in "Patton"

I'm sure there are others, but these would be the ones I can come up with off the top of my head. A few others would be the Russian roulette scene in "Deer Hunter," the segment where all of the Corleone enemies are killed in the end of the first "Godfather" and Robert Duvall's "smell of napalm in the morning" scene in "Apocalypse Now." I also left out comedy scenes on purpose, though there are plenty of great ones.

[ishabibble]

If the original story intrigued you, then you may enjoy the story of 12 yr. old Hunter Scott from Pensecola, FL.

http://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/history/military/uss_indianapolis/history.html

Capt. McVay’s name would never have been cleared if it weren’t for this amazing schoolboy.

[Vision]

The opening of Saving Private Ryan is a great scene, but not the caliber of writing as Jaws IMO.

[wagglebee]

I would agree. The opening in Private Ryan was great because a battle scene had never been done as realistically before, but that is mainly due to technology. Shaw’s scene in Jaws was great because he made it that way and I would certainly give it the edge over the other two scenes that is simple dialog (”On the Waterfront” and “Patton”).

[FlyVet]

The sinking of USS Juneau and the aftermath is an eerily similar story. Out of 700 crew members, only 10 survived. “Left to Die” is an excellent read.

[RandallFlagg]

“Leetle brown eel comes outta the cave, into the hole, comes outta the hole and back into the cave again.”

—Quint describes how to tie a bowline.

[wagglebee]

[Vision]

That visual makes no sense. Why would someone chalk a picture of a shark with a stick man in it?

[wagglebee]

If memory serves, Quint was the one who drew it. It was at the town meeting, he drew the picture and then scratched his fingernails across the chalkboard.