Jaws Page #11

CHARLIE:

Holy Jesus Christ!

Denherder steps up on the broken-off piling just to be out

of the water.

DENHERDER:

Get the hell out! Charlie! Swim!

Charlie, inhaling terror, trying to slog to shore. The jetty

is getting closer. Suddenly, an enormous black fin breaks

water like a periscope, making course corrections as it comes

for Charlie.

Denherder jumps from piling to piling, almost losing his

balance on his way to help Charlie. Charlie has reached the

last pylon toward open sea, and his hands clamber for a hold.

But --

INSERT - CHARLIE'S HANDS

The algae is too slippery, and his fingers keep sliding back.

That's when the fin behind him seems to reach up to the sky

and Charlie manages, with Denherder's desperate help, to

make it safely to shore. The remains of the pier float belly-

up in the inlet.

CLOSE ON THE HARBORMASTER OF AMITY - DAY

He is sitting on a little canvas folding chair, eating a

bowl of Cheerios with milk and sugar, watching a panorama of

ineptitude and greed unfold before his old seaman's eyes.

The Amity Pier area is a minor madhouse: out-of-state cars

elbow local vehicles for parking space at the foot of the

dock, and a parade of bounty-hunting townspeople, islanders,

off-islanders, tourist, and others shout and push their way

onto the crowded pier, each carrying some bizarre or

appropriate tool for the real or imagined capture of an

unarmed shark of indeterminate size.

Rods and reels, drop lines, crossbows, slingshots, harpoons,

shotguns, rifles, nets and tridents; every fishing supply

store and sporting goods house within a hundred miles has

been cannibalized to equip this weird array.

ANGLE ON BRODY AND HENDRICKS ARRIVING ON THE SCENE

Not having room to bring their police vehicle anywhere near

this mess, they are proceeding on foot into the confusion.

HENDRICKS:

...So then Denherder and Charlie sat

there trying to catch their breath,

and figuring out how to explain to

Charlie's wife what happened to her

freezer full of meat.

BRODY:

That wasn't funny.

Some of the locals greet Hendricks with occasional nods of

recognition, or an ad libbed "Hi, Lenny," or "Hey, Lenny."

HENDRICKS:

Mrs. Kintner must've put her ad in

Field and Stream.

BRODY:

Looks more like the readers of the

National Enquirer.

ANGLE ON BOAT RENTAL - PIER

An argument is in progress between and Out-of-Towner and the

Boat Rental Man.

OUT-OF-TOWNER

You're charging me double the usual

rent! I didn't come up here all the

way from New Rochelle to be gouged

by some Yankee Cracker!

BOAT RENTAL MAN:

Prices go up June First every year.

You want a nice cheap, leaky boat,

you go down to the Hamptons.

(he sees Brody)

Right, Chief?

ANGLE LOOKING OUT TO SEA

Making its way through the channel towards the dock is a

sleek, expensive runabout with the name "Fascinatin' Rhythm"

on the stern. It's professionally handled, and rumbles in as

it coasts in towards the dock area. Some other boats clear

the way for it, zig-zagging in the harbor, causing an annoying

chop.

CLOSE ON BOAT:

Matt Hooper, a bearded, bespectacled young man with an intent

look, is maneuvering the vessel peering through his windscreen

at the ragtag collection of seafaring loonies all around

him.

BACK TO DOCKSIDE

Hendricks is mediating the argument between the two men, and

we can hear a plaintive "But Lenny," from the local as Brody

sees something that makes him move towards the other side of

the dock. We see him cross to a little boat built for two or

three that is settling low in the water as a seventh man

climbs in with his gear.

BRODY:

Hey! You know how many men that's

supposed to hold?

MAN IN BOAT (WALTER)

Whatever's safe, right?

BRODY:

What you got ain't safe. You take

some guys off or you don't go out.

BEN GARDNER AND HIS BOAT, FLICKA

Matt Hooper is gliding into the dockside, and Ben throws him

a line to help make fast as he moors. It's a small island of

courtesy in an otherwise discourteous mob. Hooper nods

politely as he ties his boat up and steps onto the dock.

HOOPER:

Hello.

GARDNER:

Hello, back.

He's standing near where Brody is finishing after his

encounter with the chummers.

Brody approaches Ben Gardner.

BRODY:

You going out too, Ben?

GARDNER:

Might give it a try. That three

thousand bounty beats working for a

living.

(yells to his Mate)

We ready?

The Mate nods "Yes" and starts to prepare to get under way.

Ben and his Mate move away from the dock, headed towards the

channel and the open sea leaving Felix and Pratt to scamper

around the dock looking for another ride.

Rate this script:5.0 / 5 votes