The four-minute monologue from Robert Shaw as Quint in JAWS (1975) is about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, and it’s about as good as monologues get and it gives you some background on why Quint is the way he is.

On July 26, 1945 the Indy had just delivered the Hiroshima bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian and was now cruising to Leyte. No one had told the cruiser’s captain, Charles McVay, that Japanese subs were in the area. And the ship had no escort.

Around midnight on July 29, Japanese submarine I-58 slammed two torpedoes into the side of the heavy cruiser. About 300 men were killed instantly. About 900 men went into the water. The ship was gone in 12 minutes.

Without my friend Bo, I wouldn’t have known about In Harm’s Way, written by Doug Stanton and published way back in 2003. I’d just missed it completely. I enjoyed reading it and have since passed it along to three other friends, who loved it as well.

The Navy for years made McVay a scapegoat; the book opens with a story about McVay, years after the sinking and on the final day of his life.

Because of various Navy snafus, for five days and nights the men were in the water. In Harm’s Way is mostly about the survival of the 317 who were rescued and survived. 56 of the first men rescued were thanks to the courageous efforts of the captain and crew of the Dumbo PBY Catalina (pictured), which landed in the Pacific despite rough seas with Indy crew members battling a shark attack.

Here’s a blurb from the book’s promotion: “Interweaving the stories of three survivors — the captain, the ship’s doctor, and a young marine — journalist Doug Stanton has brought this astonishing human drama to life in a narrative that is at once immediate and timeless. The definitive account of a little-known chapter in World War II history, In Harm’s Way is destined to become a classic tale of war, survival, and extraordinary courage.”

Think about it! You are welcome in advance.

And here’s a link to Quint’s monologue: https://www.google.com/search?q=jaws+quint+monologue+youtube&oq=quint%27s+monologue&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l4.6010j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

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