Jaws (1975)
Robert Shaw: Quint
Photos
Quotes
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[the three men are comparing their scars]
Brody : What's that one?
Quint : What?
Brody : That one, there, on your arm.
Quint : Oh, uh, that's a tattoo, I got that removed.
Hooper : Don't tell me, don't tell me..."Mother."
[he roars with laughter]
Hooper : What is it...
[Quint solemnly clamps a hand on Hooper's arm]
Quint : Mr. Hooper, that's the USS Indianapolis.
[Hooper immediately stops laughing]
Hooper : You were on the Indianapolis?
Brody : What happened?
Quint : Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte, just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. What we didn't know... was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. Heh.
[he pauses and takes a drink]
Quint : They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin'. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. Y'know, it's... kinda like ol' squares in a battle like, uh, you see in a calendar, like the Battle of Waterloo, and the idea was, shark comes to the nearest man and that man, he'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin', and sometimes the shark'd go away... sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. Y'know the thing about a shark, he's got... lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'... until he bites ya. And those black eyes roll over white, and then... oh, then you hear that terrible high-pitch screamin', the ocean turns red, and spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces.
[he pauses]
Quint : Y'know, by the end of that first dawn... lost a hundred men. I dunno how many sharks. Maybe a thousand. I dunno how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday mornin', Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland- baseball player, boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep, reached over to wake him up... bobbed up and down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well... he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. Young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and come in low and three hours later, a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up. Y'know, that was the time I was most frightened, waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a life jacket again. So, eleven hundred men went into the water, three hundred sixteen men come out, and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945.
[he pauses, smiles, and raises his glass]
Quint : Anyway... we delivered the bomb.
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Quint : [Quint first scratches the chalk board to get everyone's attention] Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this bird for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down the pond chasin' bluegills and tommycods. This shark, swallow you whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', an' down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's just too many captains on this island. $10,000 for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.
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Quint : [singing] Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies. Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain. For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so never more shall we see you again.
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Quint : Here lies the body of Mary Lee; died at the age of a hundred and three. For fifteen years she kept her virginity; not a bad record for this vicinity.
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Quint : [seeing Hooper's equipment] What are you? Some kind of half-assed astronaut?
[examining the shark cage]
Quint : 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.
Quint : Anti-shark cage. You go inside the cage?
[Hooper nods]
Quint : Cage goes in the water, you go in the water. Shark's in the water. Our shark.
[sings]
Quint : 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.
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Quint : Here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women.
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Quint : Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him.
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Hooper : [trying to get the fishing line secure] It may be a marlin or a stingray... but it's definitely a game fish.
[Hooper pulls as the lines snaps and he crashes his head into the wall]
Quint : [picking up the line] Gamin' fish, eh? Marlin? Stingray? Bit through this piano wire? Don't you tell me my business again! You get back on the bridge...
Hooper : Quint, that doesn't prove a damn thing!
Quint : 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]
Brody : [following Quint inside the boat] What's the point? Hooks and lines...
Quint : [slams on the roof at Hooper] Hooper! 12 minutes south south east now, full throttle!
Hooper : [Mocking Pirate Voice] Aye, aye, sir! AYE JIMBOY ARAGHHH!
Quint : [to Brody] See what I do, Chief, is I trick 'em to the surface. And I jab at 'em. I'm not gonna haul 'em up like a lot of catfish.
[slams on the roof]
Quint : Hooper, full throttle!
Hooper : [voice imitating W. C. Fields] I don't have to take this abuse much longer!
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Quint : Hooper, what exactly can you do with these things of yours?
Hooper : Well, I think I can pump 20 cc's of strychnine nitrate into him, if I can get close enough.
Quint : Can you 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...
Brody : That shark will rip that cage to pieces!
Hooper : [shouting] YOU GOT ANY BETTER SUGGESTIONS?
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Quint : [On radio] Your husband's all right, Mrs. Brody. He's fishing. He's just caught a couple of stripers. We'll bring 'em in for dinner. We won't be long, we haven't seen anything yet. Over and out.
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[as Brody sends the air tanks flying]
Hooper : Dammit, Martin! This is compressed air!
Brody : 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!
Quint : 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?
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Quint : Front, bow. Back, stern. If ya don't get it right, squirt, I throw your ass out the little round window on the side.
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Quint : [trying to hurry Brody into the boat] Come on Chief, this isn't no boy scout picnic. See ya' got ya' rubbers!
[Quint laughs wildly]
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Quint : [talking Brody through making knots] Little brown eel comes out of the cave... Swims into the hole... Comes out of the hole... Goes back into the cave again... It's not too good is it Chief?
[Refering to Brody's messed up knot]
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Quint : I'm not talkin' 'bout pleasure boatin' or day sailin'. I'm talkin' 'bout workin' for a livin'. I'm talkin' 'bout sharkin'!
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Quint : [as he spots Hooper sitting on the deck playing solitaire] Stop playin' with yourself, Hooper.
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Quint : [Poking fun at Brody] Ah, the missus, Chief. If they don't like you going out, they'll love you comin' in.
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Quint : [on board the Orca] Goddamn women today, they can't handle nothin'. Young girls just ain't quite smart... like their grandmothers were!
Ellen Brody : [on the dock] Gotta be Quint.
Brody : Colorful, isn't he?
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Quint : [referring to a cut on Brody's head] Chief... don't you worry about it, Chief. It won't be permanent. Wanna see somethin' permanent, boom-boom-boom?
[Quint pulls out a false front tooth and laughs]
Quint : Hey, Hoop, you wanna feel somethin' permanent? You just put your hand underneath my cap... and you just feel that little lump. Knock an ole un, St. Paddy's day, Boston.
Hooper : I got that beat.
Hooper : [to Brody] I got that beat.
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Quint : [In shark's mouth] Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!
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Quint : This shark, swallow you whole.
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Quint : [the Orca, their boat, is clearly sinking with water all over the deck, Quint hands Brody a small hand pump] Pump it out Chief!
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Quint : [shouting] Hooper, ya idiot! Starboard, ain't you watchin' it?
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Quint : [before leaving dock] Break it up will ya', Chief! Daylight's wastin'.
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[Quint has just destroyed the boat radio with a baseball bat when Chief Brody is trying to call on the Coast Guard]
Quint : [handing the bat to Brody] Excuse me, chief.
Brody : [shouts hysterically; slamming down the receiver and hitting the bat on the already destroyed radio] Ah, that *GREAT*! THAT'S JUST *GREAT*! WHERE THE HELL ARE WE NOW, HUH? YOU'RE CERTIFIABLE, QUINT, YOU KNOW THAT? YOU'RE CERTIFIABLE!
Quint : [dismissively] Yeah, yeah, yeah...
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[the three shark hunters have found the shark and are preparing to tag and kill it; Brody and Hooper are climbing over the the bow while Quint is in the cabin, taking out his harpoon gun]
Sonar Operator : [via Quint's radio] Amity Point Light Station to Orca. This is Amity Point Light Station to Orca. Come in, Orca.
Quint : [answering; via receiver] Orca. Come in.
Sonar Operator : [via radio cont] I have Mrs. Martin Brody here.
Quint : Put her on.
[Shift back to Brody and Hooper; The shark is circling around the boat]
Hooper : Come on, Martin! Move, move, move!
Brody : I'm not going out there!
Hooper : Beyond the edge of the barrels, go to the end of the barrels!
[Brody stops halfway]
Hooper : Further out!
Quint : What?
Hooper : [points with his outstretched arm] Further out!
Brody : Why?
Hooper : Go further out!
Brody : What for?
Hooper : Will you go to the end of the pulpit, please?
Hooper : What?
Hooper : Will you please go to the end of the pulpit!
Brody : What for?
Hooper : [getting his camera out] I need to have something in the foreground to give it some scale!
Brody : [shouts] Foreground, my ass!
[Scene shifts to Quint]
Quint : [rapid fire speech; into the receiver] Your husband's all right, Mrs. Brody, he's fishin', he just caught a couple of stripers, we'll bring 'em in for dinner, we won't be long, we haven't seen anything yet, over and out!
[Quint hangs up, ending the call]
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Quint : Mr. Hopper, attach the end of this line to the first keg. I gotta get a good shot at that porker's head. - - He's coming. He-he. He's coming. Hooper? Stay clear of the barrel. Hooper?Tie it up, will ya!
Hooper : Your turn, Quint.
Quint : Hooper, where are you? Hooper, hurry it up now. Tie it on. Hurry up, he's coming straight for us. Don't screw it up now!
Hooper : Don't wait for me.
Quint : Come on, Hooper! Hurry it up! Come on. Tie it on!
Brody : Now. Now. Kill it, quick! Kill it! Now!
Hooper : Shoot!
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Quint : [screaming at Hooper, while Brody wets the reel of his shark-fishing rod] HOOPER! REVERSE IT!
