One of the principal actors in arguably my favorite movie of all time died. Roy Scheider will always be Chief Brody first and foremost in my mind, as well as most other moviegoers he's entertained for decades, but he had other notable roles particularly in the 1970s:
It's oddly bittersweet that I was chuckling through Discovery Channel's Mythbusters episode certifying/debunking much of Jaws the day Scheider passed away.
I don't care what's possible or not. It's just a movie, yes, but Jaws is still pretty close to the best movie of all time, in my experience. I saw it in a theater when I was six or so years old, and the impression, the experience was so visceral, I may as well have rocking back and forth on the doomed boat with Hooper, Brody, and Quint. As I got older and more sophisticated in my appreciation of film, I was pleased to see how Jaws holds up as a thoughtful, at times funny thriller with real characters, particularly Scheider's Police chief Martin Brody. He's a nuanced Joe Everyman fighting his biggest fear (the water) manifest with a malicious maw. At the end of the day, how can you not admire the hell out of a public servant doing whatever it takes to protect his citizens?
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