You Know How To Whistle, Don't You?

As Brody and Cassidy run towards the sound of the whistle the camera cuts to a reverse angle further down the beach and shows a pair of blue-uniformed legs stagger on a sand dune. With a final shrill blast the owner of the legs collapses into a heap and in close up we see the face of Patrolman Hendricks. He occupies the right side of the screen - just as Brody did when he took the phone call in the kitchen. The crown of his hat is cropped just above the brim by the top of the frame. Over his left shoulder, on which can be seen a blue and yellow patch bearing the Amity Police emblem, is a quadrant of sea. Snaking away behind him to the left of the screen is a tilted section of weather-beaten fencing, and in the distance can be seen six orange and white striped bathing cabins. The expression on the officer's face is either fear or disgust, or both, and - to leave us in no doubt that he has just stumbled upon something unpleasant - a brief ominous music cue plays on the soundtrack. The whistle (attached to a key ring) is still clenched between his teeth and, as he removes it with an almost automatic gesture, he wipes his lower lip with the back of his hand, breaking a thin line of saliva that hints at a recent emetic reaction.

There is a cut to a lateral view of the surf line as Brody and Cassidy arrive at the scene and the camera pans with them as they come to a halt. They remain framed on the left side of the screen between two extended wooden poles that form part of the twisted fence whilst Hendricks kneels on the dune on the right. Brody motions to Cassidy to remain where he is and then advances cautiously towards something out of shot. In the foreground, his head bowed, Hendricks picks up his whistle-cum-key-ring and digs it into the sand like a petulant schoolboy. The sound of seagulls is prominent on the soundtrack almost drowning out the music which continues to play under the scene, now less ominous and almost plaintive.

Having wound the tension up to such a point, Spielberg satisfies our ghoulish curiosity with a close up: a lump of tangled seaweed overrun with scuttling crabs in which the recognisable form of a female hand entangled in hair is upraised as if in a final plea for help. This will, presumably, be the same limb that Hooper examines in the later mortuary scene. The crabs - like the spiders that Indiana Jones brushes off Alfred Molina's back in Raiders of the Lost Ark- seem to hunt in packs. They also seem to be able to fly as one of them drops into the frame (no doubt aided by a wrangler dressing the set) just as Brody utters the words, 'Oh, Jesus.' As the crabs swarm over the grisly flotsam the score incorporates eerie harp figures that seem an echo of the music that accompanied Chrissie's midnight swim.

There is a cut to a medium shot of Brody standing to the left of the frame, the sea beating implacably behind him. He is still clutching the girl's belongings that he has gathered up like a beachcomber - her jeans and top under his arm, his left hand clutching the orange hemp bag. He removes his glasses and turns his head towards the ocean until his eye line connects with the horizon. This visual motif - already established in the shot of Brody's silhouette in the bedroom - establishes him as an observer rather than a participant of the action. There will be two further occasions when he stares out at the expanse of water (before the attack on the Kintner boy and after the attack in the estuary) and only on the second and final occasion - as the camera follows his gaze and pushes out into the ocean - will he make the decision to act.

The beach scene in which Chrissie's remains are discovered  was the first scene of the movie to be filmed (in May 1974) and - judging from the mismatched weather patterns alone - it clearly took more than a single day. By a stroke of luck the changing sea and sky contribute a subliminal message. When Cassidy and Brody walk along the beach the sky is blue and the sun sparkles invitingly. In the next moment with the discovery of the body, the sky has become uniformly overcast and the water is a cold slate green. Although it was probably not remarked upon at the time, it was a sign of things to come.