Does JAWS jacket make appearance in Dreyfuss Oscar winner?

On April 26, I attended the Sci-Fi World convention in Malmö, Sweden. This convention is held a few times each year in different cities in Sweden and I have attended several through the years. They feature anything regarding movies, TV shows, games, cosplay and much more. But this year was special. Richard Dreyfuss from my all-time favorite movie "Jaws" was a guest at the show. Naturally, there was no doubt I had to make the trip from Stockholm to Malmö to meet him. I met him on the first day of the convention, a Saturday. I was the first one standing in line to meet him. He was very nice and we spoke briefly as he signed a couple of my ”Jaws” items. I managed to secure my first place due to having a VIP ticket and being let in thirty minutes before regular ticket holders. I am glad I had my early access ticket as the line quickly grew very long. It is the longest line I have seen a guest have at these conventions and it stayed constantly long without seeming to let up as I wandered around the convention for several hours. But that did not surprise me. This is the first time the convention has had an Oscar winner as a guest who has had a long and successful career in movies spanning six decades. Several of which are regarded as classics today.

I also went to the convention on Sunday. After a few hours, I went back to my hotel and took a long nap. I woke up around 6 p.m. and decided togo to the nearby grocery store. I was very surprised to run into Dreyfuss and his wife there. He was very generous to give me some of his time as we talked about this and that. The next day, I attended "A Special Evening With Richard Dreyfuss". A show that was held by Sci-Fi World. First, we watched "Jaws" and then Dreyfuss cameout on stage and was interviewed for an hour. The show ended with everyone singing "Show MeThe Way To Go Home" which is the song the threemain characters in ”Jaws” sing during some downtime from hunting the shark. Safe to say, these days were great for a huge ”Jaws” fan like me.

A week ago, a video popped up in my "recommendations" on YouTube. It was the ending scene in "The Goodbye Girl" from 1977 which Dreyfuss won an Oscar for. It did not surprise me that it was suggested to me by YouTube since I have been recently watching a lotof clips with Dreyfuss. I have not seen this movie yet but I got curious and decided to spoil the ending for myself by clicking on the video. Right away, I noticed something interesting. The green jacket Dreyfuss is wearing looks very similar to the jacket Robert Shaw wore as Quint in "Jaws". I did a Google search about my discovery without any results. Could it be that I am the first person to notice this possible Easter egg or simple coincidence?

I started doing some research and it quickly became apparent to me that the jacket looks to be identical. The placement of the buttons, pockets, lapels and seams appear to be exactly the same. The first thought that comes to mind is, "Is this the actual jacket that Robert Shaw wore?”. It is possible that someone involved in the making of "The Goodbye Girl" had access to the actual prop and had Dreyfuss wear it as an Easter egg. According to Wikipedia, the term ”Easter egg" was coined around 1979. However, Iam sure the idea of planting references in movies about other movies was not a new concept at the time.

I could be wrong but the jacket appears to be a bit too big for Dreyfuss. Not by much, though. This means the jacket could have originally been meant for someone else, making it more possiblethat it is the actual prop as Shaw appeared to be bigger built than Dreyfuss. However, there seem to be some stitches on the right sleeve on Quint's jacket that are missing on the jacket Dreyfuss wore. But they could have been fake stitches thatwere later removed after filming. Quint’s name tag is obviously missing too. If it is not the actual prop, it could still be an Easter egg. Maybe they found the exact same jacket for Dreyfuss to wear as a subtle nod to ”Jaws”. Robert Shaw passed away in 1978, one year after the release of "The Goodbye Girl”. So, Dreyfuss wearing the jacket (actual prop or same model) would not have been some kind of tribute to Shaw.

It could, of course, simply be one hell of a coincidence. To be fair, it appears to be a fairly common type of jacket that can still be seen today. My guess is that it is not the actual jacket from "Jaws" but an identical model. Coincidence or Easter egg? I want to believe it is the latter.-

Eric Sparkwood

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