Angle showing Vaughn approaching the dock

 

Brody spots the Mayor coming towards the dock, and detaches

himself from the group to join him.

 

BRODY

Larry, if you'd see these clowns

leave, you'd never believe they'd

come back with anything. But they

got him!

 

VAUGHN

That's good. That's real good. Ben

Meadows getting pictures for the

paper.

 

BRODY

Sure he is.

 

HOOPER AND THE FISHERMEN

 

The men who landed the monster are in a tight cluster,

debating something with Hooper, who is dwarfed by the big

beer bellies and ham-fisted hands all around him. It's

probable we don't even see him.

 

The Men ad lib "What kind of shark is this?" "It's a shark

like in the movies they got sharks." "It's a man-eater, for

sure." "I bet it's a record-breaker," etc.

 

HOOPER (O.S.)

It's a tiger shark. Very rare in

these waters, and definitely a

maneater.

 

Hooper enters the circle, and picks up where he left off,

measuring the shark's teeth. Others watch him. Charlie and

Denherder walk over to the shark. Charlie punches it.

 

BRODY AND VAUGHN

 

They are walking down to the shark together.

 

VAUGHN

Who's that young man?

 

BRODY

Matt Hooper, the specialist they

send down from the Oceanographic

Institute.

 

VAUGHN

(speaking to everyone)

I think we all owe a debt of gratitude

to these men for catching this

monster.

 

Brody and Vaughn are by now near the circle of fishermen,

who are surrounding Hooper, raising their voices at him.

 

PRATT

Whadya mean, 'Bite Radius?' What's

that?

 

GAFFER

Teeth are teeth, right?

 

HOOPER

I didn't say this wasn't the shark,

I just said I wasn't sure this was

the one...

 

BRODY

What d'ya mean?

 

HOOPER

There are hundreds of different kinds

of sharks; makos, blues, hammerheads,

white-tips... any one of them could've

attacked. Look -- shark digestion is

slow. We could open this one up, and

find whatever he's been eating is

still inside.

 

VAUGHN

That's disgusting! This is the

largest, meanest, most vicious shark

ever landed off Amity Island, and a

known maneater!

 

HOOPER

Let's just cut him open and see what's

inside...

 

BRODY

Why not, Larry? We could get a

positive confirmation that way.

 

VAUGHN

Be reasonable, boys -- this isn't

the time or the place to do some

kind of half-assed autopsy on a fish.

Ben...

(to Meadows)

do you have all the pictures you

need?

 

MEADOWS

Plenty.

 

HOOPER

Wait a minute...

 

Felix, Pratt and the others ad lib disagreement. "You're not

gonna cut up my trophy," etc.

 

VAUGHN

(seeing something

offstage, with low

intensity)

I am not going to stand here and

watch this fish cut open and see

some kid fall out on the dock.

Besides...

(he indicates off)

 

We see Mrs. Kintner approaching, dressed in black.

 

VAUGHN

(to Brody)

Chief, I'll take responsibility for

this. Boys, cut this ugly sonofabitch

down before he stinks up the whole

island. Harve, tomorrow you and Carl

take him out and dump him right in

the drink.

 

MRS. KINTNER JOINS THE GROUP

 

She seeks out Brody, and stops in front of him.

 

MRS. KINTNER

Chief Brody?

 

He nods, she slaps him full across the face. There is an

embarrassed silence. Some people leave, following a trend

that began with the first mention of cutting open the shark.

 

MRS. KINTNER

My Alex was a beautiful little boy

and you killed him. Did you know

that? You knew there was a shark out

there. You knew a girl got killed

here last week. I just found that

out. But you knew. You knew it was

dangerous, but you let people go

swimming anyway. You knew all those

things, and still my boy is dead now

and there's nothing you can do about

that. My boy is dead. I wanted you

to know that.

 

She stops, unable to continue. Her father takes her arm and

leads her away. Pratt, Harry and the others trail off after

her. During the rest of the scene, the camera tightens in on

Brody to the exclusion of the others.

 

VAUGHN

I'm sorry, Martin. She's in a sick,

terrible state.

 

HOOPER

Look, maybe this is the wrong time

to pursue this, but I'm not sure...

 

Before Hooper can finish, Brody's shoulders slump and he

goes slack.

 

BRODY

(almost to himself)

She's right.

 

VAUGHN

Let's all get out of here, this place

stinks.

 

BRODY

I'm going home.

 

He turns and leaves abruptly, surrendering the dock to Vaughn

and Hooper, who eye each other with mutual dis-admiration.