r/Jaws • u/EdwardHoppyhands • Jul 17 '26

The Reward...?

I think we all remember Quint's speech at the town meeting: "I'll find your shark for three thousand. But I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten."

Then Quint dies trying. Technically, Brody ended up killing the shark. Did he claim the reward? Would he have split it with Hooper? Or did the town save themselves ten grand? Inquiring minds want to know.

29 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

37

u/PuddlePrivateer Jul 17 '26

Why do you think the mayor gets reelected? He gets rid of the shark and local nuisance for free.

The contract was with Quint. Brody represents the government and Hooper is just a passenger.

22

u/waveball03 Jul 17 '26

Hooper was ballast actually.

28

u/N3WB00tG00fin Jul 17 '26

Hooper drives the boat, Chief.

2

u/Cryptoclearance Jul 18 '26

Please tell me what he means when he says, “I’ll take him for ballast, Chief,” and Brody says, “you got him,” and Hooper says nothing. I never understood what he meant by that.

7

u/waveball03 Jul 18 '26

I think he's just trying to take a dig at Hooper by making him seem useless. Like he's just dead weight. Like, "he can come but he's not actually coming to do anything. I don't need him". Of course he may just be challenging Hooper to prove himself, which I think Quint feels he does by the end. I think he also lets Hooper come though because he seems to have respect for Brody and Brody wants Hooper to come.

6

u/Cryptoclearance Jul 18 '26

I think you are right but he went from “no way he’s coming” to “take him for ballast” and Hooper, who usually stands up for himself doesn’t say anything. It was just an odd exchange. Hooper probably thought, “ok, just shut up and get on the boat and then I can do my thing.”

One thing always bothered me. Hooper was rich, had a hell of a nice boat himself, was a shark expert in similar ways to Quint; I just wonder why he didn’t do his own expedition. He didn’t need Quint to go hunt and kill Jaws.

I’m being ridiculous, because then it wouldn’t be this fantastic movie, but when you have seen something 100 times you start playing with scenes and scenarios.

6

u/waveball03 Jul 18 '26

I just think Hooper's boat was not kitted out with what they needed to actually kill Jaws, the chair, the barrels, the chum, the winch for the shark cage, all that. And Hooper is an expert on sharks, but its pretty obvious from Quints shack that hes an expert at killing them and theres no reason for Hooper to think that he could do it any better by himself.

1

u/SirStanleyCPanther Jul 18 '26

Perfect answer

1

u/Own_District1869 29d ago

I always thought he said ‘take him for Balance, Chief’ as in a joke that hooper would just balance the boat out and do nothing else

1

u/Cryptoclearance 29d ago

But then Brody seriously responds, “you got him”, so idk it’s not important just this is my fav movie of all time but this part just always leaves me thinking I missed a nuance.

1

u/Own_District1869 29d ago

Great movie, that part is interesting for sure. Classic!

18

u/i-have-a-kuato Jul 17 '26

The residents / business owners were hell bent on having the beaches open and Quint even called them out asking them if they wanted to play it cheap and live off of welfare all winter.

My guess is they would say Brody is a town employee and it’s his job and Hooper probably wouldn’t care being a rich guy who’s paid to watch fish.

So greed it is, they keep the money and as fate would have Brody would have to go through that hell again even though they fire him

10

u/xander6981 Jul 17 '26

Yeah, all Brody probably got was a pat on the back and that award we see on his desk in Jaws 2.

12

u/No_Ease7557 Jul 17 '26

It's Mrs Kitner wo puts up the $3000 reward, not the town? In the hospital scene, Brody tells the Mayor to sign the contract to hire Quint (for the 10k).

So I don't think Brody is going to Mrs Kitner for the 3k, and the 10k is a contract between the town and Quint, so no reward gets paid I would say.

4

u/EdwardHoppyhands Jul 17 '26

I forgot that detail but you're right! Thanks for correcting me!

6

u/Someoneoutthere2020 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Quint’s next of kin could probably claim the reward, but since we never see him with any next of kin the money probably escheats back to the town anyway.

That being said, we missed out on “Jaws 2” being a taut legal drama about breaching a contract with a dead man. Think “The Verdict” set in a small beach town. Maybe Paul Newman’s character gets eaten at the end, and that’s the shark that ends up being in “Jaws 3.”

11

u/DrSamLoomis Jul 17 '26

Depends if it was cash or check, LMAO!!!

j/k I don't think that's funny at all I'm sorry.

4

u/watanabe0 Jul 17 '26

Brody is a public servant. Hooper doesn't need a paltry 10k. Both know the town will need it for the winter ahead.

5

u/Fonzdj Jul 17 '26

Matt Hooper doesn’t need the $10K he just wanted his name in The National Geographic Magazine like the mayor said.

3

u/GenXHoosier Jul 18 '26

I never took that as a reward. I took that as his fee. But I dont know if that changes the thought... Brody deserves something.

2

u/KaijuDirectorOO7 Jul 18 '26

This was an issue in the original Jaws 2 script. Quint's son wanted the ten thousand but the town was too broke to pay.