Jaws 2: an alternative screenplay

Part Two

SCENE TWENTY THREE Half a mile off Amity Island's South Beach at night. Amity PD launch moves through the water. DEPUTY HENDRICKS at the wheel. CHIEF BRODY and SALLY stand behind him. All are lit by the yellow light of the cabin's interior.

HENDRICKS (checking the instruments): We're coming up on South Beach.

SALLY: Bear north-east towards Cape Scott. When we come round the headland we should see a buoy marking the channel.

BRODY: You know this stretch of coastline pretty well for an off-islander.

SALLY: I did research here one summer when I was a grad student at the Oceanographic Institute.

BRODY: Wood's Hole?

SALLY: Yeah.

BRODY: So you study fish?

SALLY: No, my field was Physical Oceanography. (BRODY looks blank.) Studying water. Ocean currents, wave phenomena, salt water properties. I was going to be an oceanographer.

BRODY: Was?

SALLY: Yeah, I dropped out. (Smiling.) I'm just a beatnik now.

HENDRICKS: We're coming to the headland. (Distant bell). You hear that sound?

SALLY: That's the buoy. About a hundred yards, south-south-west.

HENDRICKS: Say, Chief. Can you get the light?

BRODY: Aye, aye, captain.

BRODY mans a small searchlight mounted on the roof of the cabin. The light illuminates a patch of water and reveals the buoy with the dingy still tied to it.

SALLY: That's their dingy.

BRODY: Lenny, can you pull up alongside?

HENDRICKS reverses the launch so that its stern is close to the buoy. BRODY leans over the transom and grasps the line.

SCENE TWENTY FOUR POV of the police launch from the sea bed below.

SCENE TWENTY FIVE BRODY pulling at the line to draw the dingy in.

SALLY:What happened?

BRODY: Like I said, maybe they went ashore. Only a few hundred yards to that cove. You said they're good swimmers.

SALLY: That's private property. (BRODY reacts, puzzled.) I mean, they wouldn't go there. They said they would only take an hour to -

BRODY: To do what?

SALLY: To get here and come back. It's been almost four hours. The dingy's empty. There's no sign of them. Something's happened, I know it.

BRODY drops the line and goes into the cabin. He emerges with a small bullhorn.

BRODY (through the bullhorn): Ahoy! Ahoy there! Anyone on the beach? This is Amity PD. Do you require assistance? Ahoy there. (No reaction.) Looks like we'll have to notify the coastguard. Lenny, get on the radio. We'll tow this dingy back in. Whatever happened here, there's nothing more we can do.

SCENE TWENTY SIX Extreme close up on a glass of water. Two soluble aspirin are dropped into the water and begin to fizz. Pull back to reveal BRODY leaning forward on his office desk with his head in his hands. Interior of Amity Police Station, the next morning. POLLY, carrying an armful of files, enters the room.

POLLY: Ah, there you are, chief. You're in awful late. Bad night?

BRODY (looking up): You could say that. What are those?

POLLY: Files for the archive. (Looking at one of the spines.) Nineteen seventy four.

BRODY: Right. Listen, Polly, you seen Hendricks?

POLLY: The deputy was in earlier. Said he had to go down to the dock for something. (She exits the room.)

BRODY (to himself): Well, looks like the two of you have got everything under control. (He picks up the glass.) Cheers. (He swallows the contents in one gulp and grimaces.)

The phone rings. BRODY holds his head as if in pain and gently lifts the receiver.

BRODY: Chief Brody. Oh, hi, Mick. Any news? Uh-huh. Mm, yeah. The whole area? No, well, we don't know. Just thirty yards from shore in a secluded bay. I mean, what could have happened? Okay, well, I guess have the chopper make another sweep of the coastline. Keep me posted. Sure. Thanks. Bye.

Sound of outer door opening. HENDRICKS comes into the room.

HENDRICKS: Hi, chief. Did you see the coastguard's report? I left it on your desk.

BRODY (looking at his in-tray for the first time): Oh, sure. As a matter of fact, I just got a call from Chief Petty Officer Feldman. They've found nothing.

HENDRICKS: Yeah. (Leaning over the desk with a self-satisfied expression.) But I have.

CUT TO:

SCENE TWENTY SEVEN Close up of table in police interview room. A battered scuba tank and partially torn breathing apparatus is set down with a clang. Pull back to reveal BRODY on one side of the table. On the other sit SALLY and TOM. HENDRICKS leaning back against the wall.

BRODY: So, do you want to explain this?

SALLY and TOM exchange a nervous glance.

BRODY: You recognize it?

TOM (bluffing): Sure, it's a scuba tank. Pretty common equipment on an island, I'd say.

SALLY (her head bowed): It's Ron's gear. There's a sticker on the base of the tank that says Great Barrier Reef.

BRODY: Your Australian friend?

SALLY: Yes, but I can explain -

BRODY: Oh, you can be sure you're gonna do that.

TOM: Where did you find this?

BRODY: On the sea floor. Hendricks had some local divers go down first thing this morning. Now what I want to know is -

TOM (leaning forward): The tank's all beat up.

SALLY leans forward to examine the tank. She runs her hand over the metal surface.

SALLY: Yeah. Look at these marks. What are those?

CLOSE UP on a curved line of indentations on the tank. BRODY exchanges a look with SALLY and TOM.

CUT TO:

SCENE TWENTY EIGHT Clear blue sky over water. An amphibious helicopter with a Coast Guard decal on its side flying low over the ocean, the coastline visible in the distance.

SCENE TWENTY NINE Interior of the chopper. PILOT staring straight ahead. Next to him the CO-PILOT is scanning the surface of the sea with binoculars.

PILOT: Okay, that's it. We've circled the island twice. Let's head back in.

CO-PILOT: Okay, roger that.

The helicopter banks to head back towards land. CO-PILOT takes one last look through the binoculars.

CO-PILOT: Hey, wait a minute.

PILOT: What?

CO-PILOT: Thought I saw a shadow. Something in the water.

PILOT: Want me to set us down?

CO-PILOT (rubbing his eyes): Maybe it's just the glare. (Scanning the water again with binoculars.)

PILOT: Let's take a closer look.

SCENE THIRTY The chopper descends until it's hovering just feet above the surface of the ocean. The wash from its rotor blades makes a circle of choppy water.

SCENE THIRTY ONE POV of the disturbed water and the distorted image of the chopper from thirty feet below. Muffled beat of the rotor blades.

SCENE THIRTY TWO The chopper settles on the ocean. PILOT cuts the engine and the rotor blades slow to a stop, and sag over the cockpit. CO-PILOT opens his door and puts one foot on the pontoon.

SCENE THIRTY THREE From the interior of the cockpit PILOT surveys the water.

PILOT: See anything?

SCENE THIRTY FOUR POV of the chopper from twenty feet below and slowly closing.

SCENE THIRTY FIVE CO-PILOT leans a little further out and squints at the water.

CO-PILOT (muttering) I could have sworn …

PILOT (from inside the cockpit): What you say?

SCENE THIRTY SIX CO-PILOT pulls back into the cockpit and closes the door.

CO-PILOT: Okay, let's go. I could use a beer. A cold glass of Narragansett. Or maybe two.

PILOT (starting the engine): Roger that.

SCENE THIRTY SEVEN The chopper on the surface of the ocean. The rotor blades turn and turn, becoming a blur.

SCENE THIRTY EIGHT POV of the chopper from ten feet below.

SCENE THIRTY NINE The chopper lifts off the surface of the water and begins to gain height.

SCENE FORTY Low shot over the water showing the helicopter heading towards land. The gentle sway of the tide. Without warning the monstrous head of a SHARK breaks the surface as the creature breaches the water. Briefly we see its full length before it crashes back into the ocean. Gradually the water becomes calm again. The dorsal fin of the SHARK is heading towards the island of Amity.

END OF PART TWO