Matt Hooper (Movie Version)

Matt Hooper is the secondary character in the movie Jaws. He is a marine biologist and an expert on sharks. He is played by Richard Dreyfuss.

Not a Boat Accident
Not much is known about Hooper before coming to Amity. However prior to his arrival, he was mentioned in passing by Chief Martin Brody during the town meeting regarding the death of Alex Kitner and the bounty on the shark that killed him. It was mentioned specifically by Brody that he was seeking help from the Oceanographic institute. Hooper then arrived not to long after the bounty frenzy begun. He was helped out his boat by Ben Gardner, who assumed that he was there for the bounty as well. Not knowing who Brody is initially, Hooper assumed he was just an officer and tried to get his attention, helping him with matters such as getting two docked sailors out, stopping a man from dynamite fishing and trying to prevent some boaters from overloading their boat. When the latter failed he tried to warn Brody who was in the middle of asking Deputy Hendricks to help him control the frenzy. Once everything calmed down, Hooper explained to Brody that he was looking for "Chief Brody." introducing himself and telling him where he's from. Brody introduces himself too, relieved because Hooper was the man he was trying to contact. Hooper requests to see the remains of the first victim, Chrissie Watkins. The incident was intially blamed on a boating accident. Upon going to the morgue and seeing the remains, Hooper was both shocked and disgusted at the sight while he records his analysis. Especially since neither Brody nor the medical examiner didn't notify the coast guard regarding the events. He concludes that the result of this gruesome death, was none other than a shark.

Wrong Shark
Not too long after his conclusion, Hooper and Brody find out some fisherman killed and captured a shark, much to the latter's relief and the former's disbelief. While the fisherman and Brody prepare for the picture taken, the picture is stalled because Hooper is taking measurements of the shark's bite radius. When the fisherman debate on what kind of shark they captured, Hooper correctly tells them they captured a tiger shark. When Hooper tries to tell them they may have the wrong shark, the fishermen threaten to stuff his head in the mouth causing Hooper to back up but still state his claims. Brody introduces Hooper to Mayor Larry Vaughn and Hooper tries to tell them both that the chances of the tiger shark of being the one they are looking for is 100 to 1. He suggests performing an autopsy on the shark to see if it's got any evidence of Chrissie's or Alex's remains. Brody is all for it, but Vaughn is against it in fear of Kitner's corpse spilling out on the dock. Before they could discuss the matter further, Hooper bares witness to Mrs. Kitner slapping Brody in the face and calling him out for his part in covering up Chrisse's death which in turn caused Alex to die.

Drunken Autopsy
Later that night Hooper, visits the Brody household while Brody is drunk and depressed over the events. He brings both red and white wine, as gifts. Brody chooses the red, while Ellen and Hooper talk among most things, why the latter got into studying sharks. Hooper relates a story about accidentally catching a baby thresher shark. The shark in a panic started eating his boat, prompting him to swim to shore while watching it get destroyed. He also tells them both that he is going to tell the institure that they still have a shark problem. When Ellen expresses confusion over this, hearing about the tiger shark from both Brody and the news. Hooper insists, they caught "A shark." not "The shark." Brody fills his tall glass with the red wine, while Hooper unsucessfully tells him he should let it breathe first. Brody then shares the wine with Ellen and Hooper, who are only drinking smaller glasses. Hooper mentions further, that, Brody is gonna be the only rational man once he leaves. He makes mention that he plans on sailing on The Aurora: 18 months at sea with fellow shark enthusiasts. Ellen informs Hooper of Brody's fear of water, to which the latter mentions he fears drowning. After asking Hooper questions about the shark's attack patterns and unreported incuidents, he mentions that this specific shark, maybe a rogue. A lone shark that assumes territoriality on the beach until the food supply (Humans and fish) is gone. A theory Hooper agrees with. As a result of this agreement, Brody agrees to supervise Hooper's autopsy of the tiger shark. of  Later that night, Brody watches while Hooper cuts open the shark's stomach and throws the contents of it on the floor: 1 fish head, 1 whole fish, 1 tin can and most importantly, 1 Lousiana license plate, stating that this shark came from southern waters. Hooper later goes onto mention that Tiger Sharks are mostly living garbag cans and that someone must have thrown that in the waters. More importantly, no remains of Chrissie or Alex are in the shark's stomach. Hooper concludes that the shark they are looking for is still alive and on the loose. Much to Brody's reluctance, Hooper insists they go out on the boat to look for it.

Ben Gardner's Boat
While on the boat, a drunk Brody laments that he came to Amity to make a difference, compared to the crime rate in New York city. He asks how Hooper even for a college student could afford all the shark finding technology on his boat, which Hooper said he paid for it himself, revealing that he's rich. When he detects something on his fish finder, Hooper and Brody discover a half sunken boat, which Brody identifies as belonging to Ben Gardner. Hooper dives down for a closer look and sees larger holes at the bottom, as well as a large tooth the size of a shot glass wedged into the hull. Before Hooper leaves, he stumbles upon the half eaten corpse of Ben Gardner himself. This scares him so much that he drops the tooth before resurfacing.

Ignored Warning
The next morning Hooper and Brody try to warn Vaughn, that the shark out there is none other than a great white. Insisting that they either close the beaches to cut off it's food supply or kill the shark. However due to lack of evidence regarding the tooth, Vaughn dismisses the claim and is more preoccupied with the vandalism of their town sign, specifically the painting of a large dorsal fin chasing the beach bunny displayed on the sign. Hooper uses the sign as an example of how big the shark is in real life, but is ignored by Vaughn who forces them to compromise by suggesting they simply keep the beaches safe with patrols and sentries.

The Fearsome Fourth of July
The Fourth of July festival begins, with tourists pouring into Amity. While Brody is on the phone trying to assemble as many people as he can to protect the beaches, Hooper is on the phone with the institute insisting he postpone his trip on the Aurora, citing that he discovered a great white in Amity. Hooper himself is helping the cops patrol the beaches searching for the shark, witnessing first hand the false alarm regarding two kids with a cardboard fin. While he and the police patrol the beaches, the shark attacks the estuary, killing a local rower and nearly killing Michael Brody.

Meeting Quint
Hooper is later seen with Brody, while the latter is discussing with Quint his fee for his contract. Hooper is in awe of Quint's shark jaw collection before he tries his homade liquor, which Brody spat out before, despite his warnings not to drink it. Hooper offers his services, but Quint rebukes him until Hooper entices the offer telling him the shark he's after is a great white. As a test, Quint makes Hooper tie him a sheephank, which Hooper does in quick speed. Not impressed, Quint insults him for being a rich city boy which Hooper responded stating he didn't want to hear Quint's "Working class hero crap." When Brody tries to calm the situation down, Quint agrees to take Hooper along for ballast. As they prepare to set sail, Quint witnesses Hooper assembling his equipment calling him a half-assed astronaut. The only thing that he does show interest in was what Hooper refers to as his "Anti-shark cage."

Piano Wire
As the trio sets sail, Hooper fiddles around with a green tackle box, while Brody is baiting the shark with chum and Quint is using a fishing rod ranting about the modern tech used for tracking sharks and sea faring while cracking open a beer. In an act of one upmanship, Quint crushes the steel can with his bare hand while Hooper mimics the motion by crushing his plactic water cup. When Brody goes to look for a chum marker, he accidentally pulls a knot that causes the shark cage and the scuba tanks to fall over. Hooper berates him over the mistake insisting that if the tanks get screwed with, they'll blow up. Quint makes a remark that the shark would probably eat one of those tanks, before telling Brody to just ask him what line to pull. Hooper is later seen reading as he inspects his scuba gear. Something big catches Quint's line going under the boat and he orders Brody and Hooper to hold the line while he gets his hook. Hooper insists that it's not a shark they caught, thinking it was a game fish. However when trying to pull the line, the wire breaks knocking them both over and cutting Brody's head. Quint tells Hooper that only a shark could do this, because the wire attached to the line is piano wire. Further telling him, that Hooper doesn't have the education enough to admit when he's wrong. Hooper makes faces at him in retaliation. While he checks Brody's wound Quint orders Hooper to drive the boat full throttle. Later in the day, Hooper is seen playing solitare while Quint orders him to go slow ahead. Hooper was the last person to see the shark after it scares Brody, who in turn brings the attention of it to Quint. Quint orders Hooper to shut off the engine, which brings his attention to the shark. Hooper guesses that the shark is a 20-footer, to which Quint corrects him saying that it's 25 feet long and weighs 3 Tons.

Cameras and Spearguns
While Quint prepares his spear gun, Hooper takes some photos for documentation. He tries in vain to ask Brody to move to the end of the pulpit, so that something's in the foreground for scale. Martin instead stays back while Hooper takes pictures. Just as Brody was trying to head to the cabin, Quint comes in with the gun, ordering Hooper to tie the speargun line to the first barrel, while ordering Brody to drive the boat, hoping to get a shot at the shark's head. Hooper instead leaves the barrels and goes into the cabin to get a tracking device. When he comes back, He ties both the line and the tracker to the barrel, inadvertantly stalling the shot Quint wanted. Quint fires hitting the shark in the fin just as Hooper finishes tying the tracker and line to the barrel. The spear hits the shark's fin and drags the barrel out. Hooper then leaps into the driving area ordering Quint to bring another barrel while he chases the shark. However the shark dives under much to the trio's disbelief.

Scars
Later that night the trio are hanging inside the cabin drinking, while Quint and Hooper compare scars. Hooper himself mentioning a Moray Eel biting into his wetsut, a bull shark scraping his leg and a woman breaking his heart. Brody takes notice of a tattoo on Quint's arm Quint himself had removed. When Hooper jokingly guessed it as a mother tattoo, but after asking for real, Quint mentions that it was of the USS Indianapolis, much to the shock of Hooper. The trio then sung together the song "Show Me The Way To Go Home." in a moment of bonding before the shark interrupted them ramming into their side causing the boat to leak as well as shaking it up. Hooper tried to start the boat but the starter was jammed and pumed the leaking water out. The sharks ramming took the light out prompting the trio to go outside. Quint tries to shoot the shark with his, rifle much to Hooper's protests of him wasting his ammo in the water. Hooper on Quint's order mans the outside wheel while Brody prepares to take his service pistol out. The Shark flees by the time he gets it out and Hooper asks if Brody is ok.

Noon Feeding
The next morning Quint and Hooper make repairs on the engine, while Brody tests them out on the driving area. Hooper notes that the salt water in the fuel caused the injectors to get scored. Just as they got it fixed, the barrel emerges and Quint orders Hooper to reel the ropes in. Warning him to let go when the shark runs, taking the reel from Hooper as Hooper holds the remaining rope. Hooper tells Quint that if he can get the shark close enough, he's got equipment on board that could kill it. Quint half-heartdly considers it. The shark pops up pulling the ropes from them. Hooper manages to drop the rope in time, but Quint has it forced out of his hands, cutting them in the process. When Brody tries to radio for help Quint destroys the radio. Hooper interrupts the argument, warning them of the shark. On Quint's orders, Hooper ties another barrel to the spear gun and Quint fires another barrel at the shark. Hooper drives the boat giving chase once again. Quint orders Hooper to go full throttle, but Hooper warns that the ship can't take it. They close in on the shark and ram the boat into him, while Quint fires another barrel into the shark. Brody empties his pistol, only hitting the shark once. The shark dives underwater once again, much to their shock, but the barrels re-emerge moments later. Brody and Hooper use the poles to reel them in and tie them to the stern cleats nearly crushing Hoopers legs in the process. Once Hooper is free, the shark tries to tug the boat, while Quint tries to drive forward tugging back. Hooper orders Quint to stop, warning him he's losing a cleat. The shark pops up once again, eating it's way through the ropes. Quint comes in firing a third spear at the shark's lower jaw, which causes a barrel to fly out and knock Brody's glasses off. Hooper tries to untie the cleats, but the shark trying to run keeps them tight in place dragging the boat with it as the splashing water makes it's way into the engine housing. Quint tries to cut the ropes with a machete only for the shark to pull the cleats clean off. As the shark goes under yet again, Hooper asks if Quint ever seen a shark go under with three barrels, which Quint replies with a disbelieving no. After it nudges the boat, enraged at the constant attacks, the shark gives chase. Quint decides to drive the boat into the shallow waters to drown it, while Brody asks Hooper if he's ever seen a great white do what they saw it do. Hooper cuts him off saying no. Hooper tries to warn Quint to not go full throttle, but Quint turns it up instead. When Hooper tries to stop him, Quint pushes him away. The Engine starts smoking up while Brody forces Quint to stop the boat. Hooper goes to check on the engine only to find the cabin completely flooded and the engine exploding, strading the boat in water. Hooper takes most of his equipment out, while Quint puts out the fire.

Better Suggestions
After some contemplating, Quint asks how Hooper would be able to kill the shark. Hooper states if he could suggest he use his hypodermic spear to inject strychnine nitrate into it. Further suggesting that if he uses his shark cage, he could probably get close enough to jab it in the eye or the mouth. Brody protests, believing that shark is strong enough to tear the cage into pieces, but they agree anyway. The cage is constructed and Hooper, after changing into his wetsuit; loads the spear with the poison. Putting a cork on it to make sure he doesn't jab himself by mistake. The three put the cage into the water as Hooper gets in. Brody takes Hooper's glasses while Hooper cleans his goggles. He tells the two to hold the shark off until he's under and the cage is submerged. While he waits underwater, he takes the cork off preparing to fight. The shark circles around the cage at first and Hooper is able to get a clear view of the large beast underwater. The shark leaves as Hooper watches for signs of it's return, only to be surprised from behind causing him to drop his spear. As he tries to find a way to recover it, the shark rams the cage again bending the bars and breaking through. Hooper defends himself, by stabbing the shark with his knife until it goes away. Only for it to break through again getting caught in the cage. Hooper escapes from the top before swimming away from it, but was presumed dead by Brody and Quint.

"Quint?" "No."
Little was known about what Hooper was still doing under water, but once Brody killed the shark he resurfaced. It's not known whether or not he saw the shark explode from the spare air tank. He asks Brody if Quint made it out alive, but Brody says no. They then use the remaining barrels to swim back to shore, making small talk on the way.

Trivia

 * Hooper never appears again on screen in the entire series. However in Jaws: The Revenge, he was originally supposed to appear to attend the funeral for Sean Brody.
 * Richard Dreyfuss later played a parody of his character Hooper in the movie Pirahna 3D.