Jaws Page #13

The owner of Pratt's boat throws it forward and Pratt removes

a .45 automatic from the holster of his belt. He tests it,

firing once in the air. As they near the scene of the

struggle, eleven other boats begin converging, until --

HARRY'S BOAT

Everyone wants to get into the act. They are attacking the

threshing beast with all they've got. Pratt uses his

automatic, another blasts point blank with a shotgun. There

are occasional water ricochets and the bounty hunters duck

from time to time as bullets skip by. Finally, the shark

stops threshing.

FELIX AND PRATT:

Their boat has moved close to the shark, closer than Harry's.

PRATT:

(exultant)

Hand me that pole! Quick!

One of his party in the over-filled boat grabs a gaff and

leans out to grab the moribund shark. But Harry won't give

up the line, still reeling in.

HARRY:

Beat it! I hooked him!

PRATT:

How's the family, Harry?

(to the man with gaff)

Go on and do it!

MAN WITH GAFF:

We split down the middle?

Pratt nods reluctantly. The man swings, lodges the gaff and

hauls the shark up onto the gunwale. A paroxysm of cheers

from the surrounding boats. Smoke flares are fired into the

air.

HARRY:

(a tug-of-war)

Let go my shark!

It is a ten-foot tiger, and what a mess -- splattered with

bullet punctures, gashes, bleeding from several orifices.

But it is not dead -- it kicks back to life and threatens to

capsize the boat. Pratt panics and fires six times with his

.45. The bullets pierce the shark's head, pass through, and

split the fiberglass hull through which a flood of water

rises. Everybody stands up as the boat slips beneath them.

INT. MORGUE - DAY

The Amity Morgue is also the Amity Funeral Home, a Victorian

house that normally serves as the community's mortuary. The

Coroner, a professional small-town GP, is standing by as

Hooper is speaking into a sophisticated cassette recorder

with a headpiece that leaves his hands free for measurement

with a calibrator or calipers.

BRODY:

Let's show Mr. Hooper our accident.

With a shrug, the Coroner slides open the drawer.

CLOSE ON HOOPER:

He is looking down as the drawer slides past him, still matter-

of-fact, turning on his recorder.

HOOPER:

Victim One, identified as Christine

Watkins, female Caucasian...

The sheet has just been lifted, and Hooper stares down at

the lump on the slab. He stops, turns off his recorder as

emotions wage war with his senses. Rationality wins, and he

turns on the recorder again.

HOOPER:

...height and weight may only be

estimated from partial remains. Torso

severed in mid-thorax, eviscerated

with no major organs remaining. May

I have a drink of water? Right arm

severed above the elbow with massive

tissue loss from upper musculature.

Portions of denuded bone remaining.

(tense, to Brody)

-- did you notify the coast guard?

BRODY:

No, it was local jurisdiction.

HOOPER:

Left arm, head, shoulders, sternum

and portions of ribcage intact.

(to Brody)

Please don't smoke. With minor post-

mortem lacerations and abrasions.

Bite marks indicate typical non-frenzy

feeding pattern of large squali,

possibly carchaninus lonimanus, or

isurus glaucas. Gross tissue loss

and post-mortem erosion of bite

surfaces prevent detailed analysis;

however, teeth and jaws of the

attacking squali must be considered

above average for these waters.

(to Brody again)

-- Did you go out in a boat and look

around?

BRODY:

No, we just checked the beach...

HOOPER:

(turns off the recorder)

It wasn't an 'accident,' it wasn't a

boat propeller, or a coral reef, or

Jack the Ripper. It was a shark. It

was a shark.

EXT. DOCK AREA - DAY

We open close on ugly, open shark's jaws, still oozing blood

and gore. As the shark is hoisted up into the air on a gin-

pole hoist dockside, Meadows is seen passing with his

secretary and a photographer from the Amity Gazette. A crowd

of returning fishermen from the Armada and townspeople are

gathering around the fish as it is hoisted tail-up into the

classic sports fisherman's trophy shot.

MEADOWS:

Ginny, get this out on the state

wire to AP and UPI in Boston and New

York. Have one of them pick it up

for the national and call Dave Axelrod

in New York and tell him this is

from me and he owes me one... let's

get a picture.

As he and the photographer turn to mob, we see Hooper and

Brody arriving from the morgue. Hooper immediately heads

towards the shark, while Brody pauses and we see a look of

relief and delight cross his features.

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