Jaws Page #37

HOOPER:

He's under!

BRODY AND HIS POINT OF VIEW

BRODY:

There!

(points wildly)

The barrels have surfaced and we see the monster shadow

sliding under the Orca, seemingly endless. Violent scraping

sounds.

BRODY:

He's trying to sink us!

QUINT:

(to Hooper)

Dead astern! Zig-zag!

Quint is grimly silent. Brody senses that Quint is in the

fight of (and for) his life.

The Orca taking evasive action. But the three barrels are

closing the gap, the engines coughing and missing, destroying

themselves with every rotation of the damaged shaft.

BRODY:

He's chasing us! I

don't believe it.

QUINT:

Full throttle! To port!

ANGLE ON THE BRIDGE

Hooper is jamming the throttle forward, but the engine is

pounding and knocking wildly. The barrels circle and move

in. Quint has his rifle ready.

HOOPER:

(suddenly giving Quint

the wheel)

Hold her.

He leaps to his gear, trying desperately to get his dart

gun.

Just then, the shark attacks, breaking water and rising over

the boat like a rocket; snout, jaws, pectoral fins, belly,

falling sideways. A vast spray drenches the men. Quint fires

into the belly, the bullets pocking the smooth whiteness.

HOOPER:

(loading)

Keep him there! Keep him!

The Orca shudders from side to side. From Hooper's point of

view we can the shark gripping the transom in his jaws,

shaking the boat as he saws his massive head from side to

side, trying to tear a chunk out of the very hull. Quint has

reloaded and is firing into the fish. Brody has a wicked

pointed gaff, and is swinging wildly at the snout, gashing

and gouging it, trying for the eyes. The killing lust is on

all three men.

QUINT:

Throttling back!

The boat surges, the shark gives a final unbalances wrench,

and disengages. The dorsal fin circles off, beginning a wide

loop around the boat.

The engine quivers and dies, the boat without power, rolling

half awash, a wounded victim.

The fin dips, the barrels follow, the shark disappears beneath

the waves. There is complete silence.

THE THREE MEN ON DECK

In the dead quiet, we can hear the lap of waves against the

hull, the hoarse panting breathing of the men, the pings and

pops of the cooling, dying engines.

QUINT AND THE TRANSOM

He eyes the stern. Huge cracks and broken timber testify to

the fury of the attack.

QUINT:

(very quietly, to

Hooper)

What can that gun of yours do?

HOOPER:

Power head with 20 ccs of strychnine

nitrate. If I can hit him. I can

kill him. But I gotta be close.

Very close.

BRODY:

(the awful realization)

You gotta go in the water...

CUT TO:

ON DECK, LATER

Quint and Hooper are assembling the shark cage, its shiny

bars the only undamaged things on deck. Brody is working

too, bolting the sections together.

HOOPER:

(in command now)

Rig the cable to the roof eyebolts.

The men are speaking in near whispers, quiet in the silence

that surrounds them. Hooper is in his wet suit, adjusting

weights, mask, tanks, etc. The cage is standing in the stern.

Quint runs a line from the gin pole to the roof section.

Hooper climbs in though the top.

HOOPER:

Take me up.

Brody cranks the winch, hoisting cage and Hooper into the

air. Quint balances the gin pole lines, Hooper crouching in

the cage, examining it for stresses; satisfied, he holds out

his hand. Quint puts the spear gun into it.

CLOSE ON HOOPER IN THE CAGE

He examines his weapon, checking the power load, with the

big wicked-looking syringe head uncapped to reveal its razor

point.

HOOPER:

Lower away, Chief.

(then, to Quint)

Try and keep him off me till I'm

under.

Hooper inside, looking out the bars of the cage, gives Brody

a reassuring smile, then pops his mouthpiece between his

teeth and checks his regulator. Brody steps back, and with

Quint guiding the cage, begins lowering it off the gin pole

boom arm into the sea alongside the boat.

Brody and Hooper stare at each another as their faces pass,

Hooper sliding down into the cold grey ocean.

As Hooper disappears beneath the surface, Quint and Brody

exchange a long look between them.

UNDERWATER - CAGE

HOOPER'S POINT OF VIEW

Submerging. The sky, horizon, water line, clean fresh sea

air then... the magnificent innerspaces, with bubbles

sparkling in front of us.

ANGLE - HOOPER IN THE CAGE

as he floats to twenty feet Hooper never stops looking around

360 degrees. He removes the rubber guard from the needle and

waits.

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