Watching more TED and I'm on the J.J. Abrams talk, and he is talking about his favorite scene in Jaws. You can catch it here.
But it put me in mind of my favorite scene from Jaws, where Roy Scheider pours himself a full glass of wine, in a 10 oz milk glass.
Awesomeness.
I love that scene, too (the one you mention; I haven't looked at Abrams'). I ripped this DVD just the other day, and it was difficult not to just sit down and watch the entire thing when it was done. It's such a masterwork. Any scene in which Brody and Hooper bump up against the city fathers is particularly gratifying, but one of my favorites is when Hooper is first examining the remains of the first woman killed in the surf. Just expertly done all around. Dreyfuss' delivery of "This is no boat accident" is spot on. It's impressive this sticks in my mind as such a memorable scene, given I've seen, oh, 20K or so scenes like it since Jaws was released. Also, does the scene in which Brody is slapped by the grieving mother EVER get old? The pitch is so perfect throughout that movie.
The scene Abrams shows is the one where Brody is at the dinner table and his son is mimicking everything he does. He also points out that if Bruce (the shark) had actually worked, Jaws would not have been as awesome as it was. We would have seen a lot more of the shark, and the movie would have lost many of these excellent scenes.