Int. Brody's study at home - sunset

 

A riffly blur, color alternating with black and white. The

dizziness stops on a book page showing a black and white

rendering of eight species of shark. The banner at the top

of the page reads: THE KNOWN AND REPUTED MANEATERS.

 

The riffling begins again, stops on a grizzly photograph of

scar tissue on six former shark victims. Riffling -- stop.

 

Photograph of five Ichthyologists posing on wooden stools,

framed by the enormous jaws of a prehistoric shark from the

family Carcharodon charcharias.

 

BRODY

 

his reading glasses reflecting a stack of twelve library

books, all on the subject of sharks and shark attacks. The

door opens and Ellen enters, quietly, in respect for Brody's

mood.

 

ELLEN

Can you stand something to eat?

 

BRODY

Love a cup of tea. With lemon.

 

Ellen walks past Brody to the window and looks out the window

which overlooks the south bay. It is the hour of dusk.

 

ELLEN

Mikey loves his birthday present.

 

BRODY

Where is he?

 

ELLEN

(with a slight laugh)

He's sitting in it.

 

Brody gets up, concerned, and joins her at the window.

 

ELLEN

Honey. He has it tied up to the jetty

with a double-knot.

 

BRODY'S POINT OF VIEW

 

Michael is sitting in the boat, but two of his young school

chums are in the water, swimming around it. Brody opens the

window and calls down:

 

BRODY

Son! -- Out of the water now!

 

MICHAEL

My boat's neat, dad!

 

BRODY

(turning to Ellen)

I want him out of the ocean.

 

ELLEN

It's three feet deep, Martin

 

BRODY

(angry now)

Michael! Come inside!

 

ELLEN

It's his birthday present, and you

closed the beach, Honey. I told him

not to go in the water after what

happened yesterday. I don't believe

he'll ever do it again.

 

BRODY

I told him not to go out until he

memorized the handbook and the safety

safety regulations, until he was

sure of himself...

 

Ellen's eyes drift down to the open book, which is displaying

a reproduction of the famous painting "The Gulf Stream,"

showing a black fisherman in a small dinghy similar to

Michael's being assaulted by the jaws of three man-eating

sharks, circling his boat.

 

ELLEN

You heard your father! Out right

now!

 

SUNSET ON THE BEACH

 

Hendricks and another deputy are assisting Brody. Silhouettes

of townspeople look on like mourners at a funeral.

 

In the background some workmen are taking down the shutters

from a quaint summer cottage. They pause to watch the

declining moments of the day.

 

Three Selectmen also stand watching. One of them seems to be

whispering bounty news to three youngish men on a nearby

dune.

 

Sounds: Surf and hammering.

 

CUT TO:

 

EXT. OCEAN AND PIER - NIGHT

 

Selectman Denherder and his buddy, Charlie, a professional

angler, row towards a tumble-down jetty that leads fifty

feet out into the black water.

 

DENHERDER

You wanna call it a night after here?

 

CHARLIE

It's only two-thirty. What, are you

tired?

 

DENHERDER

Yeah, Charlie, I got my second wind

three nibbles back.

 

Denherder hefts a bloodstained laundry bag from the

wheelbarrow, revealing about a hundred feet of coiled dog

chain and a large patched inner tube. Charlie takes out a

monster hook and together they push the wheelbarrow onto the

rickety pier that is only about five feet across.

 

DENHERDER

(reaching into the

bag)

Leg of lamb this time?

 

CHARLIE

Screw lamb -- let's shoot the sirloin!

 

DENHERDER

(a hyena laugh)

We're blowin' half the bounty on

bait --

 

The splintered pier sways to and fro as the men reach the

end and start to work. Charlie baits the hook with a massive

chunk of sirloin while Denherder secures the loose end of

chain to a skinny piling. Charlie then fastens the inner

tube to the chain five feet from the end of the hook.

 

DENHERDER

One more after this, then I'm going

home.

 

CHARLIE

Set?

 

Denherder tugs the chain against the piling to prove that it

is. Charlie heaves the bait. Splash! The inner tube follows

and both men eagerly watch as it floats seaward, the chain

playing out from the wheelbarrow.

 

CHARLIE

Tide's taking it right out.

 

Charlie lights his pipe and sits back against a piling. He

turns on his transistor radio and loops one end around a

fractured board. Denherder paces, bored to death.

 

DENHERDER

You do this all the time, right,

Charlie?

 

CHARLIE

Twenty years.

 

DENHERDER

I can't believe that people pay money

to go fishing. This is really dumb.

This isn't even relaxing... it's

just boring.