“You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat”
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 11th, 2008
Roy Scheider, 75, the actor best known for his role as a police chief in the blockbuster movie Jaws, died on February 10, 2008.
The movie brought to the fore the notion that cryptid Megalodons (Carcharodon megalodon) might still be waiting out there in the oceans of the world, ready to be found anew. Megalodon, the 70 foot, 40 ton prehistoric cousin of the great white shark, were seen as even more scary after Jaws set up all large sharks as tooth-laden swimming demons. (Opinions about sharks have shifted back to conservation, but 1975 is the watershed year in increasing shark interest and awareness.)
Certainly, sharks ~ monster ones and otherwise ~ were redisovered cinematically via Jaws. Scheider’s common man role represented us all. He wasn’t a scientist, he wasn’t a shark hunter, he was merely your local neighborhood cop, out of his element on a boat.
In 2005, one of Scheider’s most famous lines in the movie ~ “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” ~ was voted No. 35 on the American Film Institute’s list of best quotes from U.S. movies.
The following is a video with the scene including Roy Scheider saying that famed line:
Scheider died Sunday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock. He had suffered from multiple myeloma for several years, and died of complications from a staph infection, his wife, Brenda Seimer, said.
Scheider received two Oscar nominations, for best-supporting actor in 1971’s The French Connection in which he played the police partner of Oscar winner Gene Hackman, and for best-actor for 1979’s All That Jazz, the autobiographical Bob Fosse film.
But Roy Scheider will always be best known for that role he played so humbly in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film, Jaws, the famed classic about a giant killer shark terrorizing beachgoers and well as millions of filmgoers.
Born in 1932 in Orange, New Jersey, Scheider earned his distinctive broken nose in the New Jersey Diamond Gloves Competition. He studied at Rutgers and at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennslyvania, where he graduated as a history major with the intention of going to law school. He served three years in the United States Air Force, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. When he was discharged, he returned to Franklin and Marshall to star in a production of “Richard III.”
His pro acting debut was as Mercutio in a 1961 New York Shakespeare Festival production of “Romeo and Juliet.” While continuing to work onstage, he made his movie debut in The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964), a low-budget horror film by the prolific schlockmeister Del Tenney. “He had to bend his knees to die into a moat full of quicksand up in Connecticut,” recalled a documentary filmmaker. “He loved to demonstrate that.”
Living in Sag Harbor, New York, Scheider was a friendly and casual neighbor. His family and friends will miss him deeply.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Mr. Scheider was a very capable actor who never was able to recapture the magic of Jaws. What a cast Jaws had, Dreyfuss, Shaw, and Scheider. Those three men created a wonderful dynamic on screen. Each man managed to carve out their own identity without stepping on the others portrayal of their character. Spielberg managed to do something wonderful on his first effort.
Condolences to his family and friends. He will live forever in what has to be recognized as the best horror/ creature movie yet made.
Ditto. I always felt Schieder was an excellent actor (why he took that TV gig in the abominable submarine series eludes me).
As to his signature film, I thought Jaws was a wonderful example of lean, engaging storytelling, not a line of wehich felt like padding or wasted screen time. Spielberg looked at the book’s two subplots (the mob and the love affair) and decided correctly that neither actually changed the outcome of the main story, and so they could be dumped.
Neither in the film nor the novel was the unusual craftiness of this particular shark explained. (“He don’t play by the rules,” Quint said in the book.) Tha animal’s size, while it would have been a record for authenticated catches, was within the bounds of possibility. The climax of the fim, shooting an air tank in the shark’s mouth and blowing him up, did not work when the “Mythbusters” guys tried it, but if the tank had been hit from the right angle, you can still picture the punctured tank ramming down the shark’s throat or doing other lethal damage.
The success set off a series of bad novels about known species (I remember reading one really bad one about a giant tiger shark in Florida), and probably inspired one of the worst novels in this genre, Charles Wilson’s Extinct with its 200-foot Megalodon.
I’m sure Steve Alten’s Meg series, which started with what I thought was a deeply flawed novel but got much better by its third incarnation, owes something of a debt to Jaws as well.
The spate of sequels and killer-shark and giant-shark movies that have followed Jaws have, in general, made one wish certain producers and screenwriters had gone swimming off Amity at the wrong time.
OK, enough rambling. I wish a fond farewell to Roy, and thanks for the entertainment.
Mr. Bille,
You’re really hurting me on this one. 🙂
I just finished reading your article on Cryptofiction. You ripped some of my favorite books. And now Extinct! True, they are cheesy. And probably not very accurate. But the scene at the end of Extinct, where the Big Bad Dad Megalodon comes to the rescue?! That’s great!
Of course, I grew up loving Godzilla, so super-sized monsters work for me.
And it would be great if the Megalodon turned out to be a family oriented shark! Yea, that probably stretched it.
Anyway, zoologically inaccurate (Is 200 ft completely out of the question?), but a fast, fun read.
Thanks for the interesting articles and books, by the way.
Yep, I will never ever forget the absolute cascade of very very VERY bad creature flicks and “Jaws” ripoffs that followed The Big One.
I still don’t think anyone’s ever made a more suspenseful movie, or a more exciting one. (Good call on the scene drops, Stevie!) And as to acting, and casting, I have to think that the interplay among the three boatbound protagonists has no filmic better, if indeed it has an equal.
Jaws came out the same year that my younger brother drowned at Flagler Beach (FL) during his 15th birthday celebration.
I didn’t go near the ocean again for more than a decade.
Kittenz, oh, so very sorry to hear of your personal loss.
My deepest condolences.
kittenz: That crushed me. I’m going to be thinking about it all day.
I’m so sorry. If I knew what else to say I’d say it. Alas, practice in that area doesn’t seem to help.
hey loren & everyone acter roy scheider was a wonderful acter. yes i like the 2 classic sayings smile you son of blank yes your going need a bigger boat. or jaws 2 he said youd better check the bite rates… when he destroyed the shark with electric cable he said to shark say haa that was classic. roy scheider is resting in peace in heavin now. roy scheider even signed & personaly autographed a jaws 2 poster for me a couple year ago. thanks bill green 🙂
Extremely sad news – Scheider certainly has been an excellent and talented actor. While “Jaws” is definitely an awesome movie, I personally feel he excelled in “2010”, which, in my view, is one of the best scifi movies ever. Sigh… his untimely death is such a huge loss for all movie buffs…. My deepest condolences go to his family.
Thanks, Loren.
My brother Ken was a great kid. He loved sports and action movies, and Jaws was one that he really would have liked. The timing was what was so ironic. Ken died June 25, 1975. Jaws had been released less than a week earlier.
It was a long time before I could bring myself to watch Jaws. When I finally saw it, I thought it was a terrific movie. I still do. Of course, you have to think of the shark as a sort of supernaturally evil monster in order to make it work; no shark acts the way that Jaws did. Once you allow the what if, though, it’s a great story. Roy Scheider’s performance was what kept the film from being too over-the-top. Dreyfuss and Shaw had really good parts too. Jaws played all summer that year. I’ll never forget how the audience in the theater spontaneously stood up and applauded when the shark finally bought it.
I’ve seen Scheider here and there in character parts too, and it always puzzled me that he was not better appreciated. Maybe the ghost of Jaws followed him to some extent.
A truly great actor. And of course we cryptomundians must not forget his role at the wonderful TV series Seaquest DSV. I’m sure many young marine biologists had their call because of that program.
Rest in peace
In fact, I just remembered that there was this Seaquest episode when two secondary characters discuss the posibility of sea monsters, and one of them says that monsters are nothing but myth.
“That’s what they said about Bigfoot”, replied the other.
Since Seaquest was placed in the not-so-distant future, I thought that was awesomely cool 🙂
One of Scheider’s best films (and one which was directed by “French Connection” and “The Exorcist” director William Friedkin) was “Sorcerer.” It was a remake of a great French film called “The Wages of Fear,” and Scheider played one of several desperate men who had to transport unstable dynamite through a treacherous jungle in big trucks.
The film was a commercial failure because given the title and Friedkin’s previous hit “The Exorcist,” audiences expected a supernatural thriller, but “Sorcerer” really is an excellent, gripping film and well worth a rental.
It was shocking news to me when I read it earlier today. Last year it was Peter Benchley and now Roy. I suppose it is gonna happen to us all eventually but it is still a mind job for me. I have loved the movie Jaws all my life and while I love other creature movies as well Jaws is the only one I would really consider a “good” movie. Great plot, great acting and characters, great score etc. And while I doubt any movie has ever had such a negative impact on the natural word I like to think it was the inspiration for many of the people behind shark research and conservation today and in the future. It certainly encouraged my personal interest in sharks and the ocean. Many thanks Roy, you will be missed.
““That’s what they said about Bigfoot”, replied the other.
Since Seaquest was placed in the not-so-distant future, I thought that was awesomely cool.”
That WAS awesomely cool, r_p_j. In fact, it may be one of the coolest TV lines ever. I’m sorry I missed it.
The only downside to the Movie Jaws was the concerted rush to catch and kill the Great White and almost drive it to the brink of extinction. This magnificent fish should be protected wherever it exists. R.I.P for Mr Scheider.
I always thought of Roy as a great actor, one of those who can take an otherwise grade b movie and make it at least palatable. I have to admit I liked SeaQuest (or as I dubbed it, ‘None Dare Call It Seaview), at least the first couple of seasons. He will be missed.
Kittenz, please accept my condolences and sympathies.
I send out my condolences to you, Kittenz, on your loss. And wow, I am deeply saddened by the death of this great actor. He really brought something to this role which I do not think would have been pulled off by any other actor. The interaction between he, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss was great too, especially the scene where they are comparing scars, which led into the USS Indianapolis story, which led to them singing Show Me The Way To Go Home. A wonderful ten-minute segment which really stands out as a great scene. There was also the scene where he says, “Slow ahead? Yeah, I can go slow ahead. Come on down here and shovel some of this s***,” and the shark pops up out of the water and scares him, which prompts the aforementioned “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” line, which was also spoofed in “Abominable” by Matt McCoy, who said “I’m gonna need a bigger knife.” referring to the Sasquatch creature he had to deal with in that movie. Thanks, Loren, for this wonderful write-up on a great and talented actor.
Sad news for sure. What a great movie!! The music was perfect in that film. I could’nt go near a GLASS of water for a month after seeing “Jaws”!!!!
KITTENZ:
Sorry about your brother. BUMMER.
Ditto the comments about SEAQUEST. That’s the second cast member whom I know has passed away. The other one is Jonathan Brandis, who died WAY too young (suicide).
CHRIS1980:
I liked 2010 but I’m sorry, you CANNOT compare that movie to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Scheider WAS good as the EVERYMAN character (as was John Lithgow, too, who was also in the movie, for those who remember) but the ending to 2010 was WAY too literal, and it lacked the mysticism and mystery of the KUBRICK classic. 2010 may have a place in the 100 best sci-fi films of all time—but the top 10? No way. Peter Hyams is a good director—(OUTLAND, 2010, etc.) but he cannot compare with Kubrick.
Let’s not forget though, THE FRENCH CONNECTION. He almost stole the movie away from Hackman in his own laid-back, quiet way.
ALL THAT JAZZ was great, too.
I also liked him in BLUE THUNDER. Anyone remeber that one?
Wow, there is a lot of good comments above. My sympathy goes out to Kittenz as well. Roy Scheider was one of my heroes when “Jaws” hit the big screen. So sad to hear about his death. He will be missed.
Scheider was really great in The French Connection. All That Jazz wasn’t my cup of tea, but Scheider’s performance in it was powerful.
Scheider’s classic line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” was actually his alone; he ad-libbed it. That whole scene is a gem. His timing in delivering that line was perfect.
Sad news indeed. ‘Jaws’ is one of my all-time favorite films, and turned out to be one of the best movies ever made, in my eyes. A gripping story, a cast that turned out to be perfect, suspense and terror . . . it had everything you could ask for. Scheider was a very underrated actor, but I actually think that worked well for him; he didn’t end up in a thousand mediocre films that would’ve lessened his greatness. Nice to see somebody mention ‘Sorcerer’, another film I enjoyed as a youth and don’t think many people saw.
For those interested in trivia, not many of the leads in ‘Jaws’ were first choices, and it’s a prime of example of alternate choices working out brilliantly together and bringing out the best in a film. The only actor to be Spielberg’s first choice was Murray Hamilton as Mayor Vaughn. Scheider’s role of Chief Brody was offered to Robert Duvall, and Charlton Heston was considered but rejected. Robert Shaw’s role was offered to Sterling Hayden and Lee Marvin; Hayden had IRS problems and Marvin declined, saying he’d rather go fishing. Jeff Bridges, Jan-Michael Vincent, Timothy Bottoms, and Jon Voight were considered for the role of Matt Hooper; Dreyfuss declined originally but later accepted. Peter Benchley wanted Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and Steve McQueen in the three major roles, and I assume they would’ve played Hooper, Brody, and Quint respectively. Thankfully, the casting worked out perfectly and couldn’t have been better. On another note, my son Quint is named after Shaw’s character in the film 🙂
My condolences go out to Mr. Scheider’s family and friends. He was a great actor and seemed to be an even better gentelman, and he will be missed. He’s entertained millions and will be fondly remembered.
Quint is a cool name 🙂
I think “Jaws” is one of those movies I could watch over and over again, forever, probably “2010” too, and Roy Scheider has to be one of the main reasons for making them so repeatedly watchable (Unlike “2001”, which it took me years to be able to sit through anything beyond the ape sequence, and which I think you could probably cut down to about 30 minutes long without losing anything). He made “Seaquest” something more than it would have otherwise been, much as Patrick Stewart did for Star Trek. I was saddened to hear of his passing, but I think we can all take a moment to join in ceremonious and reverent song-
“Show me the way to go home, I’m tired and I wanna’ go to bed…”
He was a great actor, and one of my favorites. I loved the way he potrayed his characters and the compelling nature he brought to them. He was gifted, and made it all look easy. It’s a sad day in Hollywood.
I enjoyed his acting, especially in Seaquest DSV . This television series should have in my opinion continued beyond its 1993-95 run.
My wife and I saw Jaws in Tysons Corner, Virginia. She had left Thailand for the first time in January 1974. She laughed a bit at some scenes which I thought peculiar at the time. I attribute this to a cultural viewpoint different from ours. Scary scenes to us Americans (Westerners) are not necessarily
scary to other cultures.