GoodFellas currently beats Jaws 61–39
Scorsese’s surplus edges Spielberg’s restraint.
The Verdict Decade Duel
The Copacabana tracking shot is Scorsese telling the audience: I can show you every inch of this world and you still won’t be ready for what happens in it. GoodFellas is built on that promise — total access, total detail, and then violence that arrives without the courtesy of a warning. Spielberg’s Jaws operates on the opposite principle: withhold everything, let Williams handle the dread, reveal the shark only when the audience has already constructed something worse in their heads. Scorsese's generosity is edging Spielberg's economy. The film that shows you everything and still surprises you is narrowly outperforming the one that shows you nothing and lets you scare yourself.
The Numbers
| Jaws | GoodFellas | |
|---|---|---|
| Head-to-Head | 39% | 61% |
| Overall Win Rate | 44% | 60% |
| Championships | 12 | 29 |
| Avg Decision | 2.5s | 3.1s |
| Budget | $7M | $25M |
| Box Office | $471M | $47M |
Where This Matchup Sits
For genre context, GoodFellas is in the top quarter of Drama on BingeBracket.
Looking at shared opponents, Raging Bull draws a line between them: GoodFellas dominates that matchup, but Jaws comes out on the wrong side.
GoodFellas with 29 titles and Jaws with 12 — the tournament record and the head-to-head point the same direction.
Jaws earned $471M at the box office while GoodFellas made $47M. Even so, GoodFellas takes the bracket — commercial performance and voter preference diverge.
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