Ext. Aboard Hooper's boat - night (tank)

 

We see Brody, looking sick and nervous, holding on anxiously

as the "Fascinatin' Rhythm" moves slowly ahead trolling at

night. His glasses are already flecked with the white salt

of dried seawater. He is wearing a life-preserver.

 

Hooper is at the wheel, a chart spread in front of him, his

eyes scanning the sea restlessly, checking the dials and

gauges in front of him as well as the electronic depth-finding

and "fish-finder" gear mounted in the cockpit. A green glow

shines from the instruments on his face. Two closed-circuit

TV cameras mounted below the hull flash their pictures onto

monitors in the dash.

 

In the aisle between the seats is a large container filled

with unpleasant-looking bait; Hooper is long-lining for signs

of shark, and chumming.

 

HOOPER

(indicating distant

flashing beacon)

That's the Cape Light -- we're on

the stretch where he's feeding, if

he's still here.

 

Brody, bored, tired, and slightly queasy, is trying to

concentrate on anything but the motion of the boat. He stares

at the sophisticated electronics displays.

 

BRODY

What is all this stuff?

 

HOOPER

(ticking them off)

Depth-finder, fathometer, sonar,

closed-circuit TV -- fore and aft --

RDF, single side band...

(points to themselves)

And two loose nuts behind the wheel.

 

BRODY

Can you tell from that if a big man-

eater is around?

 

HOOPER

Sometimes.

(indicates display)

Look here -- something big, probably

a school of mackerel clumped together.

And staying right with us.

 

INSERT - ELECTRONICS SCREEN

 

It's blipping and peeping.

 

CLOSE ON THE TWO MEN

 

BRODY

Where'd you get all this?

 

HOOPER

I Bought it. Both sets of

grandparents set up trust funds for

me; stocks went up, so I don't have

to touch my principal.

 

BRODY

You're at the Institute full time?

Or do you have a job?

 

HOOPER

(a nerve has been

touched)

It is a job. I'm not fooling around

like some amateur. It's my life!

 

BRODY

We gotta get back soon...

 

WIDE ON THE "FASCINATIN' RHYTHM" AS IT SWINGS AROUND

 

The two men looking very small and vulnerable in the open

sea, the low-hanging mist obscuring their visibility in the

night.

 

CLOSE ON BRODY

 

He hears something, his eyes widen. It is the "bump-thump"

of something scraping the hull.

 

BRODY

Hey!

 

Hooper looks up and cuts the wheel hard, as the same time

dropping the engines into neutral, and then reverse. The

sudden change throws Brody to his knees.

 

BRODY

What the hell?

 

ANGLE FROM HOOPER'S BOAT: GARDNER'S BOAT "FLICKA" AWASH AND

FLOATING DEAD IN THE SEA

 

It's what they've just run into -- flooded to the gunwales,

loose debris floating around, a tangle of lines and gear

looking like floating garbage in the cockpit. Hooper's light

sweeps across it.

 

BRODY

That's Ben Gardner's boat! It's the

Flicka! Ben? Ben!

 

Hooper cuts his engines and drifts in; he scampers out to

the bow of his boat and makes a line fast to the Flicka.

 

INSIDE THE COCKPIT OF HOOPER'S BOAT

 

The electronic display is showing increased activity, but

only Brody, who is clinging to a support for dear life, can

see the blips and hear the chatter. Hooper is leaning out to

look at the Flicka.

 

THE TWO BOATS

 

Hooper is examining the Flicka, tying a towline to it.

 

INSERT HIS POINT OF VIEW

 

The light picks its way across the ruined boat. The rail

where a cleat once was is broadly scarred down to the raw

timber, and the heady cleat has been torn bodily out of the

hull, ripped out screws and all.

 

HOOPER'S BOAT

 

Something he has seen moves Hooper.

 

BRODY

What happened?

 

HOOPER

I want to check something. Hold my

feet.

 

He sticks his head over the side, into the black water.

 

BRODY

Don't they have lifejackets or

something? An extra boat?

 

HOOPER

(surfacing)

They must've hit something.

 

INSERT, ELECTRONICS DISPLAY

 

Blip, chatter, blip, chatter.

 

BRODY AND HOOPER

 

Hooper moves to get a better look, the boat rocks in the

swell and from his movement, Brody clutches the rail in a

death-grip.

 

Hooper goes below decks, getting into his wet suit, buckling

on a weighted belt, holding a mask and hot flashlight.

 

HOOPER

He didn't have a dinghy aboard. I'm

going down to take a look at his

hull.

 

BRODY

Why don't we just tow it in?

 

HOOPER

(hyperventilating)

We will. There's something I've got

to find out.

 

BRODY

Be careful, for chrissake.

 

Hooper takes a last few breaths, orients himself, takes a

long, hard look at the quiet, open ocean, and falls into the

sea.

 

CLOSE ON BRODY

 

He is studying the surface, trying to follow Hooper's

movements. Brody is forcing himself to stay at the edge of

the boat by sheer willpower and grim determination. Brody is

fascinated by the sea like a bird facing a cobra. He is very

much alone. He grasps a flashlight or boathook as a fragile

defense against the unknown.