Matt Hooper [to Brody]
You know those eight guys in the fantail launch out there? Well, none of 'em are gonna get out of the harbor alive.
Played by Richard Dreyfuss 
Jaws (1975) · 71 quotes
Jaws (1975) · 71 quotes
Most-quoted character in Jaws (1975): in 31 of its 71 quotes
Most scenes with: Chief Martin Brody (15), Quint (11)
Mary Ellen Moffat. She broke my heart.
More lines from Matt Hooper
8 quotes Matt Hooper Matt Hooper [Examining the body of the first victim]
The torso has been severed in mid-thorax. There are no major organs remaining...The right arm has been severed above the elbow with massive tissue loss in the upper musculature...Partially denuded bone remaining. This was no boat accident. [To Brody] Did you notify the Coast Guard about this?...The left arm, head to shoulders, sternum and portions of the rib cage are intact...[He holds up the bluish, severed left arm/hand, with rings still on fingers, of the shark attack victim.] This is what happens. It indicates the non-frenzied feeding of a large squalis... Now, the enormous amount of tissue loss prevents any detailed analysis. However, the attacking squalis must be considerably larger than any normal squalis found in these waters....Well, this is not a boat accident, and it wasn't any propeller, it wasn't any coral reef, and it wasn't Jack the Ripper. It was a shark.
Matt Hooper What I am saying is that it may not be the shark. It's just a slight - it's a difference in semantics that I don't want to get beaten up for.
Matt Hooper Martin, there are all kinds of sharks in the waters, you know. Hammerheads, white tips, blues, makos, and the chances that these bozos got the exact shark...it's a hundred to one...a hundred to one. Now I'm not saying that this is not the shark. It probably is, Martin, it probably is. It's a maneater, it's extremely rare for these waters. But the fact is that the bite radius on this animal is different from the wounds on the victim. I just...I wanna be sure. You wanna be sure. We all want to be sure, OK?
Matt Hooper [singing]
Show me the way to go home... I'm tired and I want to go to bed... I had a little drink about an hour ago, and it went right to my head.
Matt Hooper If we can get close enough, I've got things on board that'll kill it.
Matt Hooper I think he ate the light.
Matt Hooper [the shark crashes into the boat killing the power]
It ate the light.
Scenes with Matt Hooper
22 scenes
My husband tells me you're in sharks.
Hooper Yeah, I love them, I love them. When I was twelve years old, my father got me this boat and I went fishing off of Cape Cod. And I hooked a scup. And as I was reeling it in, I hooked a four and a half-foot baby thresher shark who proceeded to eat my boat. Ha, ha. He ate my oar, hooks, and uh, my seat cushions, he turned an inboard into an outboard. Scared me to death. And I swam back to shore. And when I was on the beach, I turned around and I actually saw my boat being taken apart. And ever since then, why yes, I have been studying sharks. I plan to go to the Institute tomorrow and tell them that you still have a shark problem here.
Why would have to tell them that?
Hooper Sorry.
Excuse me, but what are you talking about? Didn't they catch the shark this afternoon? It was on the Cape station news.
Hooper They caught a shark, not the shark. Not the shark that killed Chrissie Watkins and probably not the shark that killed the little boy, which I wanted to prove today by cutting the shark open -- but you, you may want to let that breath for... nothing, nothing. You know uh, you're going to be the only rational man left on this island after I leave tomorrow.
Where are you going?
Hooper I'm going on the Aurora.
The Aurora? What is that?
Hooper It's a floating asylum for uh, shark uh, pure research. Eighteen months at sea.
Martin hates boats. Martin hates water. Martin - Martin sits in his car when we go on the ferry to the mainland. I guess it's a childhood thing. It's a - there's a clinical name for it, isn't there?
Drowning! Isn't it true that most people are attacked by sharks in three feet of water and about ten feet from the beach.
Hooper Yes, that's true.
Now this shark that, that swims alone...
Hooper A rogue.
Rogue, yeah, now this guy, he - he keeps swimming around in a place where the feeding is good until the food supply is gone, right?
Hooper That's the theory...A theory I happen to believe.
Then why don't we have one more drink and go down and cut that shark open.
Martin? Can you do that?
I can do anything. I'm the chief of police.
Hooper [during their autopsy of the shark]
Ah. Just like I thought... He came up with the Gulf Stream - from southern waters.
[He pulls a Louisiana license plate from the shark. Brody examines it]
He didn't eat a car, did he?
Hooper No. Tiger shark's like a swimming garbage can - it'll eat anything. Someone probably threw that in a river. [moves back from the shark] That's it.
We've got to close the beach. Call the mayor.
Hooper You've got a bigger problem than that, Martin. You've still got a hell of a fish out there with a mouth about this big [gesturing].
How do we confirm that by morning?
Hooper If he is a rogue, and there's any truth to territoriality at all, we've got a good chance of spotting him between Cape Scott and South Beach.
Where are ya going?
Hooper I'm gonna find him right now. He's a night feeder.
On the water?
Hooper Well, if we're lookin' for a shark, we're not going to find him on the land.
Yeah, but I'm not drunk enough to go out on the boat.
Hooper Yes, you are.
No, I'm not.
Hooper Yes, you are.
I can't do that.
Hooper Yes, you can.
It doesn't make any sense when you pay a guy like you to watch sharks.
Hooper Well, uh, it doesn't make much sense for a guy who hates the water to live on an island either.
It's only an island if you look at it from the water.
Hooper That makes a lot of sense.
This is a Great White, Larry, a big one. And any shark expert in the world'll tell ya it's a killer. It's a man-eater.
Hooper Look, the situation is that apparently, a Great White Shark has staked a claim in the waters off Amity Island, and he's going to continue to feed here as long as there is food in the water.
And there's no limit to what he's gonna do. I mean, we've already had three incidents. Two people killed inside of a week, and it's gonna happen again. It happened before. The Jersey beach. [He points at Hooper]...1916 - there were five people chewed up in the surf -
Hooper - in one week.
Tell him about the swimmers.
Hooper A shark is attracted to the exact kind of splashing and activity that occurs whenever human beings go in swimming. You cannot avoid it.
You open the beaches on the 4th of July, it's like ringing the dinner bell for Christ's sakes.
Hooper Look, Mr. Vaughn. Mr. Vaughn, I pulled a tooth the size of a shot glass out of the wrecked hull of a boat out there, and it was the tooth of a Great White.
It was Ben Gardner's boat. It was all chewed up. I helped tow it in. You should have seen it.
Where, where is that tooth? Did you see it, Brody?...[To Hooper] And what did you say the name of this shark is?
Hooper Carcaradon carcharias. A Great White.
But you don't have the tooth. Look, we depend on the summer people here for our very lives.
Hooper You are not going to have a summer unless you deal with this problem.
And if you close those beaches, we're finished.
We're not only gonna have to close the beach, we're gonna have to hire somebody to kill the shark...
I don't think either one of you are familiar with our problems.
Hooper I think that I am familiar with the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you on the ass...There are two ways to deal with this problem: you're either going to kill this animal or you're gonna cut off its food supply.
Larry, we have to close the beaches!
[Pointing at graffiti showing a dialogue balloon with the words "Help!! SHARK" coming from the mouth of the swimmer on a surfboard]
Look at that. Sick vandalism! This is a deliberate mutilation of a public service message. Now I want those little paint-happy bastards caught and hung up by their Buster Browns!
Hooper I'm not gonna waste my time arguing with a man who's lining up to be a hot lunch...Mr. Vaughn, what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine - uh, an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that's all! Now why don't you take a long, close look at this sign. Those proportions are correct.
Love to prove that, wouldn't ya? Get your name into the National Geographic.
August! Tomorrow is the 4th of July, and we are going to open for business. It's going to be our best summer in years. If you're so concerned about the beaches, you two, you do whatever you have to to keep them safe, but with you or without you, those beaches will be open for this weekend.
Hooper Sure. Gentlemen, gentlemen?! The officer asked me to tell you that you're overloading that boat.
Fishermen
Ah, get outta here! You ain't going there, what do you care? Hold on there.
Hooper Well then, can you tell me if there's a good restaurant or hotel on the island?
Fisherman
Yeah ya walk straight ahead! Ha ha!
Hooper Ha ha they're all gonna die.
I'm not talkin' about pleasure boatin' or day sailin'. I'm talkin' about workin' for a livin'. I'm talkin' about sharkin'.
Hooper Well I'm not talkin' about hookin' some poor dog fish or sand shark. I'm talkin' about findin' a Great White.
You've got city boy hands, Hooper. You been countin' money all your life.
Hooper I don't need this working-class-hero crap.
Maybe I should go alone.
[seeing Hooper's equipment]
What are you? Some kind of half-assed astronaut? [examining the shark cage] Jesus H Christ, when I was a boy, every little squirt wanted to be a harpooner or a sword fisherman. What d'ya have there - a portable shower or a monkey cage?
Hooper Anti-shark cage.
Anti-shark cage. You go inside the cage? Cage goes in the water? You go in the water? Shark's in the water? Our shark? [singing] Farewell and adieu to you, fair Spanish ladies. Farewell and adieu, you ladies of Spain. For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so nevermore shall we see you again.
Hooper [as Brody sends the air tanks flying]
Dammit, Martin! This is compressed air!
Well, what the hell kind of a knot was that?
Hooper You pulled the wrong one. You screw around with these tanks, and they're gonna blow up!
Yeah, that's real fine expensive gear you brought out here, Mr. Hooper. 'Course I don't know what that bastard shark's gonna do with it, might eat it I suppose. Seen one eat a rockin' chair one time. Hey chieffy, next time you just ask me which line to pull, right?
Hooper [trying to get the fishing line secure]
It may be a marlin or a tuna... but it's definitely a game fish.
[Hooper pulls as the lines snaps and he crashes his head into the wall] [picking up the line]
Gamin' fish eh? Marlin? Stingray? Bit through this piano wire? Don't you tell me my business again! Now you get up on the bridge...
Hooper Quint, that doesn't prove a damn thing!
Well it proves one thing Mr. Hooper. It proves that you wealthy college boys don't have the education enough to admit when you're wrong.
[Quint enters the cabin as Hooper makes faces at him] [following Quint inside the boat]
What's the point? Hooks and lines...
Hooper [Mocking Pirate Voice]
Aye, aye, sir! AYE JIMBOY ARAGHHH!
[to Brody]
See what I do Chief is I trick 'em up to the surface. And jab at 'em. I ain't gonna haul 'em up like a lot of catfish.
Hooper [Pirate voice]
I don't have to take this abuse much longer!
Hooper That's a twenty footer.
Twenty-five. Three tons on him.
Hooper [motioning to Brody to get closer to the barrels]
Come on Martin! Move, move, move!
I'm not going out there!
Hooper Beyond the edge of the barrels, go to the end of the barrels! Further out!
What?
Hooper Go further out!
What for?
Hooper Will you go to the end of the pulpit please? Please just go to the end of the pulpit!
What for?
Hooper I need something in the foreground to give it some scale!
Foreground my ass!
[referring to a cut on Brody's head]
Don't worry about it Chief, it ain't permanent. Wanna see somethin' permanent, boom-boom-boom?
Hooper [Quint pulls out a false front tooth] [to Quint]
I got that beat. [to Brody] I got that beat.
I'll drink to your leg.
Hooper I'll drink to your leg.
Okay, so we drink to our legs! [laughs]
Oh, that's a tattoo. I got that removed.
Hooper Let me guess. Mother! [laughs]
Hooper, that's the U.S.S. Indianapolis.
Hooper [Hooper's face drops]
You were on the Indianapolis?
What happened?
Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte. We'd just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half-hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that in the water, Chief? You can tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. What we didn't know, was that our bomb mission was so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin' by, so we formed ourselves into tight groups. It was sorta like you see in the calendars, you know the infantry squares in the old calendars like the Battle of Waterloo and the idea was the shark come to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and sometimes that shark he go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark looks right at ya. Right into your eyes. And the thing about a shark is he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, he doesn't even seem to be livin'... 'til he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all your poundin' and your hollerin' those sharks come in and... they rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks there were, maybe a thousand. I do know how many men, they averaged six an hour. Thursday mornin', Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water, he was like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. At noon on the fifth day, a Lockheed Ventura swung in low and he spotted us, a young pilot, lot younger than Mr. Hooper here, anyway he spotted us and a few hours later a big ol' fat PBY come down and started to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened. Waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went into the water. 316 men come out, the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.
[after Quint smashed the radio]
That's great! That's just great! Now where the hell are we, huh? You're certifiable, Quint, do you know that?!
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hooper Boys! Oh boys? I think he's come back for his noon feeding!
Hooper, what exactly can you do with these things of yours?
Hooper Well, I think I can pump around 20 cc's of strychnine nitrate into him, that is if I can get close enough.
Get this little needle through his skin?
Hooper No, I can't do that. But, if I can get him close enough to this cage, I think that I can get him in the mouth or the eye...
That shark will tear that cage to pieces!
Hooper YOU GOT ANY BETTER SUGGESTIONS?
What day is this?
Hooper Wednesday...No, it's Tuesday, I think.
Think the tide's with us?
Hooper Just keep kicking.
Y'know, I used to hate the water....
Hooper I can't imagine why.
[Martin and the Medical Examiner walk Matt Hooper into the morgue]
Why don't we show Mr. Hooper our accident?
Hooper [Martin gets the remains out of a locker while Hooper reads aloud the paper report]
Uh, victim's name is Christine Watkins, female caucasian...probable boating accident. The height and weight of the victim can only be estimated from the partial remains. [uncovers the tray of the remains, panting in nausea and shock] The torso has been severed in mid-thorax. There are no major organs remaining. May I have a glass of water please?
Medical Examiner Sure.
Hooper Right arm has been severed with massive tissue loss in the upper musculature. Thank you very much. [sips his water] Partially denuded bone remaining. [to inspector] This was no boating accident. [to Brody] Did you notify the Coast Guard about this?
No. It was only local jurisdiction.
Hooper The left arm, head, shoulder, sternum, and portions of the rib cage are intact. [to Brody, who he notices is about to light a cigarette] Do not smoke in here! Thank you very much. [holds up a severed arm] This is what happens. It indicates the non-frenzy feeding of a large squalus, possibly longimonus, or Isurus Glaucus. Now, the enormous amount of tissue loss prevents any detailed analysis. However the attacking squalus must be considerably larger than any normal squalus found in these waters. Did you get on a boat and check these waters?
No.
Hooper [to Inspector]
Well, this is not a boating accident! It wasn't any propeller, it wasn't any coral reef, and it wasn't Jack the Ripper! It was a shark.
Hooper Martin, there's all kinds of sharks in the water, you know? Hammerheads, whitetips, blues, makos, and the possibility that these bozos caught the exact shark that-
Oh, there's no other shark like this in these waters!
Hooper Martin, Martin, it's a hundred to one. A hundred to one. Now, I'm not saying it's not the shark. It probably is, Martin, it probably is! It's a man-eater, it's extremely rare for these waters. But the fact is, the bite radius on this animal is different than the wounds on the victim. I just- I wanna be sure. You wanna be sure, we all wanna be sure, okay? Now, what I wanna do is very simple; the digestive system on this animal is very, very slow. Let's cut it open, whatever it's eaten in the past 24 hours is bound to still be in there, and then we'll be sure.
...Well, I guess it would be the only way to confirm it, huh?
Look, fellas, let's be reasonable. This is not the time or the place, to perform some half-assed autopsy on a fish. And I am not going to stand here and see that thing cut open, and see that little Kintner boy spill out all over the dock!
Hooper [he and Martin have just taken the recently caught tiger shark to a boathouse for an autopsy]
We start in the alimentary canal, and open the digestive tract. [stomach fluid pours out as Hooper cuts the shark open, and throws out 2 dead fish and a can] Ah! Just like I thought.
What?
Hooper Came up in the Gulf stream, from southern waters. [throws out a Louisiana license plate; Chief Brody picks it up and examines it]
He didn't eat a car, did he?
Hooper No. [laughs] Tiger shark's like a garbage can, it'll eat anything. Someone probably threw that in the river. [slides over to Chief Brody] Hoo, that's it.
[now knowing the crisis hasn't been resolved yet]
I've got to close the beach, call the mayor.
Hooper You've got a bigger problem than that, Martin. You still got a hell of a fish out there, with a mouth about this big. [gestures with his hands demonstrating the width of a big mouth]
I'm not talkin' about pleasure boatin' or day sailin'. I'm talkin' about workin' for a livin'. I'm talkin' about sharkin'.
Hooper Well I'm not talkin' about hookin' some poor dogfish or sand shark. I'm talkin' about findin' a Great White.
Porkers? Ya talkin' about Porkers, Mr. Hooper? [stares at Hooper] Tie me a sheep shank. [gives Hooper some rope]
Hooper I haven't had to pass basic seamanship in a long time. [ties the knot expertly] You didn't say how short you wanted it. [tosses rope back to Quint]
Gimme your hands... [grabs Hooper's wrists and looks at his hands and examines them] Dogfish? [contemptuously] You've got city boy hands, Hooper. You been countin' money all your life.
Hooper [pulls away]
All right, hey, I don't need this! I don't need this working-class-hero crap!
Maybe I should go alone.
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