Section 4 Summary
In the next scene, Hooper uses a long blade to open the tiger shark’s digestive tract. They both gag at the smell as Hooper begins removing the contents of the shark’s stomach, including several fish, a tin can, and a Louisiana license plate. There are no human remains inside. Brody says to close the beach and call the mayor. Hooper theorizes that they can spot the shark between Cape South and Scott Beach, and that they should go now because it’s a night feeder. Brody says he’s not drunk enough to go out on the water, but Hooper coaxes him into it.
Out on a boat together, Brody drunkenly tells Hooper how dangerous New York City is and how insignificant he felt as an officer there because there was so much continuous crime, whereas in Amity it’s easy for one man to make a difference because the crime rate is so low. They reach the stretch of water where the shark’s been feeding. Brody asks how Hooper can afford all his equipment and he explains that he has a lot of money. Brody says it doesn’t make sense for a rich man to watch sharks, and Hooper counters that it doesn’t make sense for a man who hates water to be police chief on an island. Brody says it’s only an island when viewed from the water.
Hooper’s fish finder begins making noises. They maneuver the boat toward where the signal is coming from and discover the capsized remains of Ben Gardner’s boat, a local fisherman that Brody knows. Hooper dons a suit and climbs in the water to briefly check the boat’s hull. Lights from his boat illuminate under the water as he swims under Gardner’s boat. He finds a shark tooth lodged in the wood of it, but as he examines closer, the severed head of Ben Garnder suddenly appears, pale white and missing an eye. Hooper screams, drops both the tooth and his flashlight, and returns frantically to the surface. He climbs back in the boat, gasping for breath.
In the next scene, Hooper and Brody explain to the mayor that the shark they’re dealing with is a huge great white that’s staked its claim on the coast of Amity and is attracted to the exact kind of splashing that humans make when they play in the ocean. They tell the mayor about the tooth Hooper found, but when asked to procure it, Hooper admits that he accidentally dropped it. The mayor appears skeptical, and reminds them that Amity relies on summer tourism to keep its economy afloat. Hooper and Brody begin yelling simultaneously about the danger the shark presents, that they need to close the beaches and tell the Coast Guard. Hooper grows livid, telling the mayor that he’s endangering every Amity beachgoer.
As they walk, the billboard advertising the 4th of July regatta comes into view. It’s been vandalized to show a shark fin chasing the swimming girl, who now screams, “Help! Shark!” Mayor Vaughn demands that Brody find the vandals who did it and punish them. Hooper declares that he’s leaving and Brody tries to stop him. Hooper makes one final effort to convince the mayor that they’re dealing with a huge eating machine. The mayor jokes that Hooper would love to prove that to get his name into National Geographic, which makes Hooper laugh bitterly. As he gets into his car and leaves, the mayor says that Brody should do whatever he feels is necessary to keep the beaches safe, but that they will remain open for the 4th of July the following day. Brody appears defeated.
Ferries full of people head for Amity. The picture of the sailors surrounding the dead tiger shark is on full display as they flood in. Brody and Hooper are both shown talking furiously on the phone. Hooper says he doesn’t need to go to Brisbane with a great white on the loose right in Amity.
The streets and beaches of Amity begin to fill as boat after boat of tourists arrive in droves. The scene switches to kids playing an arcade game called “killer shark” on the edge of a packed Amity beach. Brody checks in with Hooper, who is patrolling the shore in a boat, via walkie talkie. A reporter with a microphone speaks to the camera, telling of Amity’s longstanding reputation for having clean air and beautiful beaches—but now also, shark attacks. Mayor Vaughn is out on the beaches, watching a helicopter fly overhead. He approaches a man and his wife and asks them to get in the water to encourage others to do the same. The couple take their kids and head in, appearing noticeably nervous. Others soon head in, too.
The helicopter patrols from above, watching the dozens of swimmers. As Michael Brody and his friends attempt to get a boat in the water, his father pulls him aside and asks him to take the boat into the estuary known as “the pond” nearby, knowing that it’s less exciting but safer. Michael agrees. Ellen waves to Brody, and then we see their younger son Sean chasing Michael and his friends as they take their boat toward the pond. People chatter and swim excitedly in the water, but then we’re taken to an underwater shot of their legs thrashing with the suspenseful shark music underneath. Hendricks’ voice comes in over the walkie talkie, saying that he might’ve seen a shadow in the water. Meanwhile, the mayor tells the reporter that they caught and killed a predator believed to be the attacker that harmed some swimmers. He points out that it’s a beautiful day and that “Amity” means friendship.
The appearance of a shark fin in the water causes sudden panic, though the eerie music isn’t present now. People swim frantically toward the shore as the lifeguards blow their whistles and use megaphones to call everyone in. Brody tries to stop the lifeguards from using their whistles. People scramble for the shore, running past a distraught Mayor Vaughn. The large fin turns over and is revealed to be some boys with scuba masks who’ve attached a fake fin to the bottom of their vessel. They’re met by the barrels of over a dozen officers ready to fire on what they thought was a real shark. The officers call in, letting everyone know that the sighting was a hoax.
However, a woman down the beach begins shouting that there’s a real shark in the pond. Ellen reminds Brody that that’s where Michael is, and Brody takes off running. The suspenseful music returns as we see a shark fin dive beneath the surface, not far from where Sean plays happily on the sand. Michael and his friends are trying to get a knot tied aboard their boat. A man in a dingy nearby attempts to help them, but in the background, the shark fin approaches and knocks him into the water. The kids are knocked out of their boat as well.
Beachgoers now rush toward the pond, including Chief Brody, and we watch from above as the enormous shark pulls the man into the water. Michael looks on in terror as the man shrieks in pain. A severed leg drops to the bottom of the water and an enormous cloud of blood bubbles to the surface. Tourists look on as the shark swims about, its fin clearly visible above the surface now. Michael appears petrified. Brody hops over the bridge separating the pond from the main beach and onto the sand, with Ellen following behind him, screaming for Michael. Brody helps Michael’s friends drag him out of the water. He’s unconscious but appears unharmed. Ellen is hysterical, believing him to be dead, but Brody says that he’s in shock. He grabs some blankets and covers him up as Ellen cries. Brody looks to the water, where the shark’s fin has disappeared.
In the hospital, a nurse tells Ellen that Michael experienced mild shock but will be fine to go home the next morning. She and a doctor wheel Michael on a gurney down the hall as Ellen comforts him. Brody hands Sean to Ellen to take home. She asks if he means home as in New York, but he says that he still means Amity. When she goes, Brody finds Mayor Vaughn in the hall, who begins apologizing, but Brody interrupts him and tells him to sign a contract hiring Captain Quint to kill the shark. The mayor talks aloud to himself about acting in the town’s best interest, but Brody doesn’t budge. The mayor says his kids were on the beach during the shark attack, too. Brody insists again, and the mayor signs the contract.
We hear Quint voicing his demands for $10,000 plus $200 a day, among other requests including alcohol, as Brody leaves Vaughn standing in the hospital hall. The shot then cuts to Quint, Brody, and Hooper in Quint’s harbor shack, in which dozens of shark jaw bones adorn the walls. Quint gives Brody a shot of homemade liquor, which Brody spits out when Quint isn’t looking. Quint then pulls a shark jaw from a pot of boiling water, replaces it, and goes to his loft, muttering aloud. Brody gets his attention to introduce Hooper, suggesting that he can be of help during the hunt. Quint doubts this and asks Hooper to tie a sheepshank knot. Hooper ties one quickly, but Quint casts it aside and takes Hooper by the hands, saying that a great white can tear the net used to catch a dogfish shark to shreds. He says Hooper has “city hands” and Hooper recoils in anger. Quint suggests that he go alone, but Brody reminds Quint that this is his charter. Quint counters that it’s his vessel they’ll be using. They agree that all three of them will go, but that Quint will be their captain.
They carry equipment out to Quint’s boat, the Orca, Quint joking that Hooper’s long list of equipment makes him sound like an astronaut. He sees that Hooper is bringing a shark-proof cage aboard and begins singing an almost sarcastic sea tune. Ellen accompanies Brody to the dock, listing everything she’s packed for him as Quint yells incoherently in the background. She asks Brody what to tell the kids, and he says to tell them he’s gone fishing. They embrace one another and then Brody boards the Orca. Quint continues shouting throughout this exchange. Ellen appears distraught by the shouting and runs away in distress.
Section 4 Analysis
We learn a lot about Brody as a character from his drunken ramblings aboard Hooper’s boat. Brody came from a city so big and wrought with crime that any mess he cleaned up was only followed by more messes; he never felt that he could make a real difference. By comparison, we begin to understand the small-town appeal of Amity Island for him; he feels that his actions as police chief matter to the lives of these islanders. This makes his quest to find the shark and stop it from terrorizing Amity that much more personal.
The sudden appearance of Ben Gardner’s severed head underwater is often called the scariest moment in Jaws. To be sure, it tested as such to preview audiences. When Spielberg noticed that that moment garnered the biggest reaction from viewers, he came to the conclusion that a movie can only truly have one terrifying moment, because after that an audience will be on their guard for the rest of the film. Prior to that moment in the film, his utilization of tension build-up and continued suggestion of the shark, rather than actual shots of it, paved the way for the peak reaction to that unexpected floating head.
Michael Brody’s surviving what could have been two gruesome shark attacks in a row, instead of one, reinforces a theme whose development began when the shark pulled the fisherman from the dock and chased him back to the shore: Jaws is not about shock value through killing as many people as possible. Rather, its power lies in promising nothing, and thus the viewers stay on the edge of their seats, not knowing who is going to be spared or targeted next.
The mayor undergoes a stark change in behavior following the second beach attack. His infuriating conversation with Brody and Hooper in front of the vandalized billboard solidifies his role as the film’s primary antagonist, ignoring their pleas despite the death of two islanders and reasonable belief that the shark will kill again. However, in the hospital after the 4th of July incident, he appears disheveled, perplexed, and somewhat humbled. His most human moment comes when he tells Brody that his kids were on the beach, too, as if he’s somehow realizing that fact for the first time as he’s sharing it. It’s this character shift on his part, combined with Brody's emboldened insistence, that convinces him to sign the paperwork hiring Quint to hunt the shark.
The film's exceptional cinematography is on display in the scene where Brody and Ellen say goodbye before the hunt. We follow the two as they arrive by the docks, then view them with Quint and the Orca to the right in the background, creating an exact path from left to right for Brody to follow. They then move squarely in front of the boat, which embodies the reason for their separation as it sits directly between and beyond them. Next, Ellen watches Brody board the boat, standing to the left in the fore with the boat to the right in the background, as before. Finally, she leaves in a hurry the way she came and we follow her out in parallel to how she and Brody came in, creating a perfect palindrome of a scene. The whole thing from beginning to end is a single, uninterrupted shot, and involved careful choreography both on the part of the actors and the camera operators to achieve.
