Jaws 30th Anniversary Edition in June (2 Viewers)

[walter o]

What is wrong with THIEF AND THE COBBLER DVD?

Also I have the CD soundtrack from the mid-90's, is that the original rescored soundtrack from the LP days, or is it the actual one that was used in the movie??

 

[george kaplan]

I wasn't being defensive, I was simply pointing out that Jaws is in no way a B movie. Now, if you want to say it's a movie without a certain type of artistic temperment, that's fine. I would probably also disagree with you about that as I find Jaws to be not only great entertainment, but great art. But there's not much point in getting into a debate over it.

 

[Jay Pennington]

Well, to be fair, they probably had no choice. My guess is the isolated effects stems are long since lost.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Do you mean his motives in the movie are not defined? He's obviously motivated by "summer dollars" and wanting to make money over the safety of the people. So there's certainly reasoning for his actions provided in the film. As far as his priorities being unfathomable goes, I'd have to agree the Mayor has got no heart and his decisions are screwed up -- but this happens in real life, so why not in the movie?

 

[Joe Karlosi]

George, as much as I love JAWS and think it's an 'A' film myself, I do believe the filmmakers and cast even thought it was more of a "B" all along and were surprised it turned out as it did.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Members,
If you want to continue this discussion about the merits of "Jaws" in detail, then please, do so in the appropriate area of the forum which is Movies. Thank you.





Crawdaddy

 

[Tom Brennan]

It's the original 1975 album. The actual film recordings weren't released until 2000.

 

[Nathan*W]

Had and sold the Signature Collection LD boxset years ago, (man, that was a LOT of platters!) and skipped the 25th Anniv. Ed. so with the mono track included this time around, this is a must buy for me.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The Fight Club DVD came out a month BEFORE Jaws. Gladiator hit shelves about four months after Jaws...

 

[Kevin M]

Entirety of what, the TV version from the late 70's?
The cut scenes were never in the theatrical version so we are indeed seeing the film in it's "entirety". Having said that I do miss the "music store" scene from the TV version, it always made me laugh and was a nice intro to Quint's personality.

 

[Tom Brennan]

Universals web site doesn't say anything about new single disc editions coming. Their page only announces the new set and also lists the currently available discs.

 

[MattHR]

The three single-disc versions are the ones currently available.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Very few movies will earn an automatic double-dip from yours truly, and Steven Spielberg's Jaws is absolutely one of them. The way I look at it, the DVD I presently own has already paid for itself. So if I list the thing on eBay, get 8-12 bucks for it, and then go out and buy the new version ... what do I have to be annoyed about?

And I too believe that Jaws could accurately be described as a high-end B-movie - and in no way do I consider that an insult or criticism towards the film.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

The Laserdisc version of the documentary, although 125-minutes long, is not the "full-length" version. The 57-minute version that is on the DVD contains segments of interviews that are not in the 125-minute Laserdisc documentary.

Segments missing from the DVD edit: www.imdb.com/title/tt0251821/alternateversions

The Making of Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" was Laurent Bouzereau's first documentary. His Taxi Driver piece is his best work and Close Encounters is also good, but it too was cut down from 140 minutes to 102 minutes.

The Jaws documentaries out there aren't that great, to be honest. Carl Gottlieb's The Jaws Log is a far better, more comprehensive resource. But a DVD of Jaws isn't complete without an extensive documentary. A commentary by Gottlieb and Spielberg would really be great.

Crikey! I'm not alone! Only This Island Earth tops Jaws in terms of "Bubblegum Cinema", for This Island Earth, as Raymond Durgnat states in his out-of-print masterpiece, Films and Feelings:

"This Island Earth has everything against it. It's a fantasy, it's science-fiction, it's slanted at adolescents, it's a routine product from a studio with no intellectual pretentions, [my italics] it has no auteurs, it's artistic 'texture' is largely mediocre - and for all that, it has a genuine charge of poetry [my italics] and of significant social feeling. It's not a cliché; with its sense of inner tensions, of moral tragedy, it's myth."

This is the World of Cinema where the early career of Steven Spielberg came from: simplistic, rudimentary stories (Duel) elevated to visual poetry by sheer imagination - intellectual pretentions are put on hold, the rush of sheer driving energy in Duel and the last hour of Jaws are almost unbearably exciting and absorbing. They, like This Island Earth are some of the most important American films ever made.

There are many fans of Jaws but most of them don't seem to be able to explain why they love the film so much. They should study Films and Feelings closely.

 

[CraigL]

Really? This is the first I've heard of this. How much is different?

 

[Reagan]

Just a couple of anecdotes. The main one is a comment by L. Gary on how much she liked the way that a dinner table scene between Chief Brody and his youngest son is played. Nothing major.

-Reagan

 

[Iain Quinn]

Please no! The Jaws menu is my favourite of any DVD. Subtle and foreboding. Please no trashy video game CGI that takes 10 minutes to load and half an hour to figure out how to navigate.

 

[BrettB]

I don't think I've seen this mentioned here at HTF, for the bigtime Jaws/Spielberg (Lucas also) fans; Courage & Stupidity
You can watch the trailer and the first 8 minutes. DVD only $12.

 

[Ryan Belfast]

I just bought the DTS Widescreen version of Jaws. I dont know if I will double dip. If the extras are good, then I probably will. BTW why you guys on about an original Mono soundtrack? Surley the DTS or DD 5.1 mixes are much better. Maybe im wrong.

 

[TravisR]

The problem is that the 5.1 mix used some different sound effects from the original soundtrack. So if you're very familiar with the movie (as I and a ton of others are), it's very obvious and distracting.

Personally, I wish they had had both sound options (if only for posterity) but I love the movie so I had no problem buying when it came out.