look a little old to have a son as young as Alex? According to IMDB the actor was born in 1929, which means that she was just 46 at the time of the filming, but to me she looked at least 10 or 15 years older.
shareIt's not just you.
Jeffrey Voorhees called her "Grandma" between takes.
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Probably one of those couples that started later in life, though less common back then than these days. Probably why she only had time for the one kid. This of course is pure speculation.... :-)
shareYeah, she probably did get a late start as a "late bloomer", and judging by her plain, somewhat haggard features, she had already been through tough times when her son was taken from her. A single Mom, devoted to her apparently only child, perhaps eschewing faulty romantic relationships for his sake, and then she is hit with an almost unthinkable tragedy. Mrs. Kintner ought to be an object of compassion and empathy, not a punching bag for shallow gossips who think "she's too old to have such a young kid", and "she's unattractive to boot"...(and no offense to the OP).
shareDon't read into my post anything other than I thought it was a somewhat odd casting choice. Things like that become distractions that tend to pull me out of the movie, which I think filmmakers would want to avoid.
shareHave you considered that she is unlikely to be able to have another child, and that was the reason for the casting choice?
๐ฆ๐บ All the little devils are proud of Hell.
I understand your point, but I would hope that a mother would have a strong reaction to the death of her child regardless of whether or not she could make a replacement.
shareIt's about the tragedy that we see as the audience. She's standing with what seems to be her father. It looks like they are all they have left, now that their reason for believing in the future has been eaten.
It's part of the rich backstory that pretty much all of the characters have, and that gives the Jaws script the sort of brevity and depth that is associated with poetry, or at least short story writing. An oak of substance in an acorn of presentation.
Well, that's how I see it. That's why I mentioned the grandparent thing on the beach. Anyone could have been cast, but the grandparental relationship opened up a moral issue that is the oak.
๐ฆ๐บ All the little devils are proud of Hell.
It's about the tragedy that we see as the audience. She's standing with what seems to be her father. It looks like they are all they have left, now that their reason for believing in the future has been eaten.
dhull wrote, "Don't read into my post anything other than I thought it was a somewhat odd casting choice."
Okay.
:)
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They may not have been the only late-starter couple. Later on, the mayor encourages a family to get in the water to try to influence others (just before the 'shark in the pond' attack). This could be a couple and their grandchildren, but they are decidedly older compared to the ages of the kids with them.
shareThat brings up a moral question- do grandparents have the right to place their grandchildren at risk without the children's parents' consent.
๐ฆ๐บ All the little devils are proud of Hell.
Do you believe that she couldn't have another child?
๐ฆ๐บ All the little devils are proud of Hell.
Mrs. Kintner DID have another child--Clark Kent.
Check out this 1980 "Adventures of Superboy" comic cover, which was clearly inspired by JAWS.
https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/708741.jpg
I hope Superboy rolled with that slap, otherwise Mrs. Kent is going to need some medical attention.
Yes, she may have looked it, but as you say she was only 46 when it was filmed & thus Mrs Kintner would have been in her mid 30s when she had Alex. Perhaps she was cast as she wore mourning clothes well, slapped well, & looked like the sort of person who'd convincingly walk arm-in-arm with an old man who could be her husband or father; perhaps she didn't even know...
After seeing Larry Mondello and his eighty year old mother on "Leave It To Beaver", I believe anything is possible.
shareThe freshly awakened memory of Larry Mondello's mother has me wincing like Hooper after Mrs. Kintner slaps Brody.
Oh, and do check out that Superboy cover linked above. Jaws was forever inspiring pop culture, wasn't it?
She looked way too much like Billie Jean King for my taste. Whether the older man was her husband or father, neither was ever going to tap her again to get her pregnant.
shareHa, I've always thought the same thing! She really did, didn't she? It wasn't very long after the whole 'battle of the sexes' thing that the movie came out, too...That had been in the news so much that even I, at the tender age of seven, knew exactly who she was!
share