Jaws Scene 7 Summary

  • At the Amity hospital, Michael's fine. Brody tells Ellen to take Sean home ("Back to New York?" she asks. "No," answers Brody. "Home here.") and strides over to Vaughn, who's muttering to himself. He's feeling like a real idiot right about now.
  • Brody convinces him to sign a voucher to pay Quint to kill the shark and walks out of the hospital like a man on a mission.
  • They meet Quint inside his boathouse, which is full of shark jaws from previous hunts. They've clearly found their man, but Quint behaves rather strangely and he really doesn't like Hooper.
  • He makes fun of Hooper's wealthy upbringing, his education, and his soft hands. Quint wants to go alone to get the shark, but Brody convinces him to let them both come along.
  • As they're loading Quint's boat, the Orca, Quint keeps bullying Hooper about his scientific gear. He thinks the anti-shark cage is a particularly useless piece of junk.
  • Meanwhile, Ellen's making sure Brody has his Dramamine, socks, clean underwear, the works. You kind of expect Brody to say, "Mom! You are embarrassing me!" But it's kind of sweet, too.
  • Quint tells bawdy jokes and sends Ellen away in tears. Sensitive he ain't.
  • The camera watches the boat pull away through some shark jaws hanging in Quint's boathouse. Quint sings and laughs maniacally as they leave the harbor.
  • Out at sea, Quint puts Brody on chum bucket duty and explains how they'll harpoon barrels to the shark's back to bring it near the surface and tire it out. He continues to mock Hooper's neat-o equipment.
  • Brody accidentally loosens a rope fastening a compressed air tank to the deck. Hooper yells at him and says if he's not careful the tank will explode. Foreshadowing alert.
  • Later, Quint's trying to teach Brody how to tie knots when something starts to tug on his fishing rod. He straps himself into his chair just in time for the line to start running out to sea. Something's taken his bait, and it's taking a lot of line.
  • Quint calls Hooper an idiot as Hooper pilots the boat to follow whatever's on the end of Quint's hook.
  • Suddenly he realizes that it's gone under the boat. It's a very smart, very big shark, he says, but Hooper doubts it. He thinks it's a sport fish.
  • Suddenly, whatever's on the hook bites right through Quint's piano wire fishing line. Hooper and Quint continue to bicker.
  • Later on, Brody's bored, frustrated, and still scooping chum when out of nowhere a giant shark head breaks the surface right next to the boat. He slowly backs into the cabin and tells Quint, "You're gonna need a bigger boat."
  • Quint comes out just in time to see the shark's fin approaching the boat. As it passes, the men realize how enormous the shark is—25 feet long and 3 tons.
  • Brody and Hooper are dumbstruck, but Quint gets right to work. He shoots a harpoon with a barrel attached into the shark's back. They circle around to attach another barrel, but the shark goes under with the barrel.
  • Brody wants to go back to Amity and get a bigger boat, but Quint says they need to wait out there until the barrel forces the shark to the surface.