Robert Shaw's Top 10 Films
Today marks what would have been Robert Shaw’s 93rd birthday. The actor, playwright and novelist is best known for playing ‘Quint’, the ill-fated fisherman in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 shark thriller “Jaws”.
Shaw’s screen acting career began in 1947 with an appearance in TV movie, The Cherry Orchard and earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal on Henry VIII in “A Man For All Seasons” (1967).
Shaw’s body of work is sometimes overshadowed by his towering achievement of “Jaws” so we felt what better way to honor Robert’s birthday than with a look back at what we consider to be his 10 best acting performances.
10. The Deep (1977)
Based on ‘The deep’, written by Jaws author Peter Benchley, two amateur treasure-hunting divers have a run-in with local criminals when they inadvertently discover the secret cargo of a World War II shipwreck.
Robert Shaw was paid $650,000, plus percentage points for starring in this movie. Shaw once said: “This is the first time in my career that I’ve committed myself to a movie without reading the script. So why this time? Just instinct. This production has terrific potential. It smelled like a winner from the beginning.”
9. The Guest - aka The Caretaker (1963)
While renovating his house in London, Aston, out of pity, lodges a homeless man, but Aston's brother taunts and harasses the cranky old bum.
The original Broadway production of "The Caretaker" by Harold Pinter opened at the Lyceum Theater in New York City on October 4, 1961, ran for one hundred sixty-five performances, and was nominated for the 1962 Tony Award for the Best Play. Sir Alan Bates, Donald Pleasence, and Robert Shaw re-created their Broadway roles in this movie. Pinter wrote the play and the screenplay.
8. Figures In A Landscape (1969)
Two escapees are on the run in the wilderness of an unspecified country. Wherever they go, they are followed by a menacing black helicopter.
This project was in the works for a long time before the film finally emerged. There were various changes of cast and director, and many writers, including James Mitchell and Stanley Mann, produced drafts of the script before Robert Shaw, who was also a novelist, agreed to do a final rewrite immediately before shooting was due to begin. Although he assured Joseph Losey that he would finish it before the first day of shooting, he did not, in fact, complete it until the end of filming, with changes being seemingly made almost every day. The film was a box-office failure and was mostly shown in Britain in a heavily-cut version, although television showings have been complete.
7. Swashbuckler (1976)
A pirate and a hot-tempered noblewoman join forces to protect Jamaica from a tyrant.
When he was interviewed for a featurette on the making of “Swashbuckler”, Robert Shaw remarked upon the sheer ardour of the physical requirements for the role. He said that Jaws was like a holiday in comparison.
6. Robin & Marian (1976)
Robin Hood (Sean Connery), ageing none too gracefully, returns exhausted from the Crusades to woo and win Maid Marian one last time. Robert Shaw plays the Sheriff of Nottingham, pitted against Sean Connery for the second time in his career.
5. The Taking Of Pelham 123 (1974)
In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. Robert Shaw plays ‘Blue’ the leader of the gang bringing a real gritty threat to the character determined to see his plan through. Coincidentally, 123 was directed by Joesph Sargent, who helmed Jaws The Revenge (1987).
4. The Sting (1973)
Designed to be the vehicle to reunite Newman and Redford, it was Robert Shaw’s Irish mobster Doyle Lonnegan that stole the show. As with all heroes, they are only as good as their adversaries, and Shaw’s portrayal raised the bringing a genuine feeling of danger to an otherwise comedic tone. The Sting was produced by Richard Zanuck and David Brown who kept Shaw in mind when they made Jaws.
3. A Man For All Seasons (1966)
The story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry. Jaws co-star Richard Dreyfuss called Robert Shaw’s portrayals of Henry VIII one of “….the all-time great Shakespearean performances.” Many agreed and Shaw earned his only Oscar nomination for acting.
2. From Russia With Love (1963)
James Bond willingly falls into an assassination plot involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
Robert Shaw played Red Grant, recruited by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. to kill James Bond. Grant was specially trained to for this mission and was physically superior to 007 and at least as smart. Grant is the only Bond villain who posed a credible threat to 007 and the spectacular train fight is the only in the franchise I thought Bond nay actually die.
1. Jaws (1975)
When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.
Robert Shaw based his performance on fellow cast member Craig Kingsbury, a local fisherman, farmer, and legendary eccentric, who was playing fisherman Ben Gardner. Steven Spielberg described Kingsbury as "the purest version of who, in my mind, Quint was", and some of his offscreen utterances were incorporated into the script as lines of Gardner and Quint. Another source for some of Quint's dialogue and mannerisms, especially in the third act at sea, was Vineyard mechanic and boat-owner Lynn Murphy.
FURTHER READING: The Shaw Thing, Remembering Robert Shaw
