The main purpose of the next scene (which takes place on Amity's dockside the day after the pier incident) is to introduce Matt Hooper, but it begins with the focus of attention on Frank Silva, the local harbormaster. A genial-looking elderly man, he emerges from his cabin (above which his name and station are written) and pauses front and centre of the screen to survey the mayhem around him. Wearing a black and white checked shirt over a striking red vest and sporting a nautical cap, he has about him the air of a cartoon character, a well-meaning Mr Magoo: he has what Nigel Andrews accurately describes as 'a serene, weather-ruddied, Toytown face'. The harbormaster looks about him with an air of benign amusement, puffing contentedly on his pipe while possibly totalling up all the mooring fees he's going to collect. He's holding what look like a couple of cereal boxes and a carton of milk to his chest.
The non-speaking part of Frank Silva was played by
Menemsha lobsterman Donald Poole, a local character who so captivated Steven Spielberg with his fisherman's yarns that they lunched regularly together on set. Although he has no dialogue in the movie, Poole's brief appearance effectively establishes the primarily comic mode in which the following scene will be played. As he turns his back to the camera, Brody and Hendricks walk into shot, the deputy recounting the tail end of the previous night's failed attempt to catch the shark. It's indicative of the way a small community thrives on gossip that the story is already being passed around by word of mouth. Hendricks frames the incident as a humorous anecdote, which Brody rejects with a line ('That's not funny. That's not funny at all.') that echoes Mrs Taft's reaction to the cash or cheque gag in the town hall meeting.
