{"id":864370,"date":"2025-07-23T00:11:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T05:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/23\/the-tale-of-a-legendary-shark-hunter-from-long-island-might-have-influenced-the-creation-of-the-iconic-character-quint-in-jaws\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T00:11:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T05:11:56","slug":"the-tale-of-a-legendary-shark-hunter-from-long-island-might-have-influenced-the-creation-of-the-iconic-character-quint-in-jaws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/23\/the-tale-of-a-legendary-shark-hunter-from-long-island-might-have-influenced-the-creation-of-the-iconic-character-quint-in-jaws\/","title":{"rendered":"The tale of a legendary shark hunter from Long Island might have influenced the creation of the iconic character Quint in \u2018Jaws.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they wouldn\u2019t get it right.<\/p>\n

Long Islanders insist that the fictional town in New England where Steven Spielberg\u2019s classic film \u201cJaws\u201d is set is actually inspired by a local legend from their own community.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonster\u201d hunter fisherman Frank Mundus \u2014 a proud son of Montauk \u2014 was the inspiration for Robert Shaw\u2019s salty Capt. Quint in the movie, which turns 50 on Friday, family and friends said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody who knows anything about fishing knows that it\u2019s based on him,\u201d the shark hunter\u2019s daughter Pat Mundus told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody on the East End knows,\u201d she added of the mighty man who died in 2008 at 82. <\/p>\n

Mundus, who lives in Greenport, said people still ask her daily if she\u2019s related to Frank.<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn-born seaman came to the Montauk Point from the north jersey shore in the early 1950s to do what wasn\u2019t traditionally done before: intentionally go out in search of the feared apex predators of the sea.<\/p>\n

The self-branded \u201cmonster fisherman\u201d turned the tide of \u201cthe family-friendly inshore fishing image that Montauk had,\u201d said Pat, a former oil tanker worker who is now 68.<\/p>\n

Mundus couldn\u2019t give two flying fins, however. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe branded himself a \u2018monster fisher\u2019 because he knew that it would attract more charter customers,\u201d she explained, adding that there was a method to the madness. <\/p>\n

As a boy in the city, Mundus tried jumping from roof to roof between a pair of three-story buildings and fell to the ground, breaking his arm and developing a near-fatal infection. The miracle recovery \u2014 one that hindered his schooling to the point he finished eighth grade at nearly 18 \u2014 is what gave Mundus his \u201cbig booming energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe painted one toenail red and the other blue and called them port and starboard. He wore an earring. He went barefoot everywhere. He played pranks and made a public spectacle of himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps Mundus\u2019 most iconic gag was when \u201che had another guy dress up as a Frankenstein-like monster and they put him in a waterproof casket and marked it offshore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey \u2018discovered\u2019 the guy, they brought the casket back and opened it up on the dock, and this big monster sprang out.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the 1960s, the attention-grabbing antics were enough to reel in \u201cJaws\u201d author-to-be Peter Benchley. <\/p>\n

The penman fatefully rode on Mundus\u2019 boat, the Cricket, which was named for the running joke that its captain looked like Jiminy. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy father was a very intelligent person, but not terribly well-educated, so he didn\u2019t know who Peter Benchley was,\u201d Mundus, one of Frank\u2019s three daughters, said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe just thought it was a guy who was interested in listening to stories about catching fish.\u201d<\/p>\n

The depiction of Quint and the lack of recognition of the real story sent Mundus overboard, his daughter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had very carefully crafted his whole image in his own brand for 30 years,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd then some guy just came along and stole it without acknowledging who he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine laments to this day that Mundus and the setting of Montauk were shortchanged.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrank Mundus was a legendary fisherman who could be in Hemingway\u2019s \u2018Old Man and the Sea,\u2019\u201d he told The Post.<\/p>\n

What \u2018Jaws\u2019 got wrong<\/h2>\n

Mundus said her father isn\u2019t the bitter old salt that his Hollywood counterpart.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was never in the Navy, he had no revenge against evil \u2014 he didn\u2019t seek restitution for the loss of his shipmates, who were all eaten by sharks, none of that,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a flair for being outrageous, but he wasn\u2019t angry and pissed off, and would never take a baseball bat to a VHF radio.\u201d<\/p>\n

When they saw the film in theaters together, Mundus wasn\u2019t afraid to speak his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of times he stood up and said, \u2018that\u2019s impossible, that wouldn\u2019t ever work!\u2019\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe laughed through all the parts that everybody else was totally scared about.\u201d <\/p>\n

Although Pat said that her dad moved on from his gripes, Roy Scheider apparently didn\u2019t get the message and worried Mundus would do something like give him a black eye \u2014 like a doll\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n

The man who played Chief Brody told publicist Todd Shapiro he was petrified of doing film anniversary events on the East End in case he would run into Mundus, according to the PR consultant who tried recruiting Scheider for a reunion.<\/p>\n

\n

Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post\u2019s signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\n