Blu-ray Review Jaws Blu-ray Review - Very Highly Recommended (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

The novelization of Jaws 2 (and I think Jaws 4) was by Hank Searls.  I remember the novelization of 2 being interesting, but I read it as a 12 year old and don't remember much about it now.

I read the Jaws 2 novelization somewhat recently although I can barely remember it now. It's based off on an older draft of the script rather than the one that was filmed and it's pretty terrible. The book/draft focuses more on the goings-on in Amity (such as a shoot out with mafia goons!) than the shark eating people. When you make a Jaws movie and the shark isn't the biggest worry of everyone, you've made a mistake.

 

[Mike_Richardson]

I believe it was again a Martha's Vineyard shoot primarily, but I think I read that somewhere that some of the scenes of the teens sailing were done in Florida as the waters in M.V. eventually became too cold as shooting went on.

Not sure where you read that, but very little of the movie was shot on Martha's Vineyard -- just a few shots of the town and that was it. I think they said they spent a week or so on MV. Nearly all of the movie was shot in Florida, though it became so cold down there, the actors had to place ice cubes in their mouths to prevent their breaths from showing on camera! They wanted to film in Florida because of the sandier ocean floor (making it easier for the shark and the mechanics to work) and the overall conditions, though the film had some troubles down there too....but not nearly as many as shooting on MV.

I read the Jaws 2 novelization somewhat recently although I can barely remember it now. It's based off on an older draft of the script rather than the one that was filmed and it's pretty terrible. The book/draft focuses more on the goings-on in Amity (such as a shoot out with mafia goons!) than the shark eating people. When you make a Jaws movie and the shark isn't the biggest worry of everyone, you've made a mistake.

Searls fleshed out the original JAWS 2 script with some of his own subplots, so the novelization isn't entirely an accurate rendition of the screenplay (same as he did with the JAWS THE REVENGE book -- which is quite good compared to the movie!). The Marvel Comics adaptation was likewise based off the original screenplay of the movie too.
That JAWS 2 LOG is fascinating, given how troubled the film was and how it had to be shut down, director replaced, etc. I would've loved to have seen some of the original footage from the movie other than the one shot they retained from Hancock's shoot (the shark in the harbor).
Maybe Shout! can release it as one of their "Scream Factory" special editions down the line on Blu-Ray....it's no classic like the original but I love Williams' score and find the picture highly entertaining.

 

[Kevin EK]

The Jaws 2 production by pretty much all accounts was a disaster before Jeannot Szwarc came in to get a handle on it. But even then the situation was strained. You can see some of the results of this onscreen, but overall it works okay as a movie. Watching it today, it feels overlong, with very little new to bring to the table. But it is nice to see most of the characters one more time. I have never seen Jaws 3D other than a few isolated moments on cable. And I never saw Jaws The Revenge, although I remember reading part of the novelization.

For me, the story properly ends in the first movie.

 

[WillG]

Maybe Shout! can release it as one of their "Scream Factory" special editions down the line on Blu-Ray....it's no classic like the original but I love Williams' score and find the picture highly entertaining.

The Universal DVD is already pretty comprehensive in terms of special features. Weird that it was never labeled as one of their Collectors Edition Series.
Other than the lack of a Commentary, it had pretty much all the "Special Edition" type stuff such as a pretty comprehensive documentary (May have actually been done by Bouzerau, but I can't remember off hand), Deleted Scenes, Trailers, an anecdote about the issue with the French translation of the title (which someone mentioned earlier in the thread). I think there is also some kind of retrospective with actor Keith Gordon (who was pretty much the only one of the teenagers who went on to enjoy some moderate, if fleeting success in the movie business).

The book/draft focuses more on the goings-on in Amity (such as a shoot out with mafia goons!) than the shark eating people. When you make a Jaws movie and the shark isn't the biggest worry of everyone, you've made a mistake.

I think I remember reading somewhere as well that one of the original concepts was that the events of the first Jaws devastated Amity as a tourist destination, so the town had become somewhat run down. I thought it seemed like an interesting idea. But of course would most likely have proven to be difficult to juxtapose a killer shark story on top of that.

 

[NY2LA]

I can see the mob putting a hit out on the shark. "Yo, Vinnie break his fins!"

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

The Jaws 2 production by pretty much all accounts was a disaster before Jeannot Szwarc came in to get a handle on it.  But even then the situation was strained.

Yes, didn't Scheider (in)famously punch out Szwarc during production? Scheider, of course, had a pretty good record as an amateur boxer before his acting days so that couldn't have felt too good.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

Yes, didn't Scheider (in)famously punch out Szwarc during production? Scheider, of course, had a pretty good record as an amateur boxer before his acting days so that couldn't have felt too good.

Indeed, I wrote a little about this several years ago, after Scheider's death.
Free preview of Scheider bio detailing the rough production of JAWS 2.

 

[Kevin EK]

Scheider didn't punch out Jeannot. But they did get into it as I understand it, and Verna Fields separated them.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

Scheider didn't punch out Jeannot.  But they did get into it as I understand it, and Verna Fields separated them.

Yes, details are in the link I provided. As David Brown said, Verna sat on them and that ended it.

 

[ijthompson]

The only good thing to come of Jaws: The Revenge is this quote from Michael Caine:
“I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.” 

That was so damn funny, I just had to share it on facebook!
But it should be remembered that 'Jaws: The Revenge' is also responsible for this great quote from Roger Ebert:
"...what shark wouldn't want revenge against the survivors of the men who killed it?"
As for the 'shark family' thing, I too read Jaws 2 back in the day, and I swear there was something in there about a mated pair or parent-child relationship, which, in my opinion, is dumb - it's a killer shark! Why does there have to be a 'dramatic context'?

 

[Bryan Tuck]

No one's arguing with you, buddy, though you may not be the oldest one around here, maybe younger than me, but I'll admit it's possible and concede that you may feel like it...
Now what you guys have done is alter the coarse of my weekend. I had cut way back on my Netflix to just streaming only, and thanks to those remarks about J3&4, I just re-upped and got the three Jaws sequels coming to me by Friday.

Sounds like Netflix and Universal owe us some advertising fees
Interesting thing about #4 is that there are (at least) two different versions, the US theatrical version (which I think is usually the one that played on TV), and the video/DVD (which may have been the international theatrical version). The main difference is the ending; both are ridiculous, but the video/DVD version is more ridiculous. Really, it has to be seen to be believed.

 

[TravisR]

...and the video/DVD (which may have been the international theatrical version).

Yeah, I'm 99% sure that they're the same thing. The box for the VHS and the first DVD release touted how there's "footage not seen in U.S. theaters" so I assume the video release is the version that played internationally.

 

The scene with Marge that I saw was definitely from the front, because I wondered where the actress went when she was "swallowed." You could see her in the mouth. Other people on imdb I've noticed, have seen this same scene but say it is gone now.

 

[Peter Neski]

why is the newer doc not 16x9?? I don't get it ,its not like they can't format it to 16x9 there's no full 1:33 segments like some
of thee letterboxed non 16x9 things ,all they would have to do is blow it up,also why is the Doc" jaws Inside story not included "

 

[NY2LA]

why is the newer doc not 16x9?? I don't get it ,its not like they can't format it to 16x9 there's no full 1:33 segments like some
of thee letterboxed non 16x9 things ,all they would have to do is blow it up,also why is the Doc" jaws Inside story not included "

I'm with you there, PN. the doc has its own thread here with one of the filmmakers posting. you could ask him. I have never gotten an answer to that question.

 

[TravisR]

The scene with Marge that I saw was definitely from the front, because I wondered where the actress went when she was "swallowed." You could see her in the mouth. Other people on imdb I've noticed, have seen this same scene but say it is gone now.

You see her from the front/sideways trying to get on the overturned boat and the shark coming near her but before you see her eaten, they cut to a shot behind the shark and her.
Memory can be a funny thing. For years, Star Wars fans would swear that they saw the Biggs on Tatooine scenes and they never did. I'm a pretty big Seinfeld fan and I would have bet my life on having seen a visual gag with Newman in an episode and when I saw it again, it's not in there. It's not that it was edited, it's that my memory invented it (and it's the audience's loss because what I imagined was funny as hell).

 

Thanks, Travis. I was only about 7 or 8, so that's probably my memory. I remember seeing "The Amityville Horror" at the drive-in in 1979 when I was 4 and could have sworn that the house changed several colors during the opening...I guess it didn't. It only changed from red to blue.

 

[Todd Erwin]

If anyone lives in the Orange County, CA area, Triangle Square Cinemas in Costa Mesa will be screening Jaws this Monday, 9/3 at 7pm. Admission is $7.00.

I confirmed with the theatre that the digital print they received was struck from the recent restoration.

I plan on attending, so if anyone would like to meet and discuss the film over a beer at Goat Hill Tavern afterwards, drop me a PM.

 

[NY2LA]

The scene with Marge that I saw was definitely from the front, because I wondered where the actress went when she was "swallowed." You could see her in the mouth. Other people on imdb I've noticed, have seen this same scene but say it is gone now.

On the DVD it's from the back but what you describe sounds not unfamiliar...
There are some pretty decent extras on the DVD of Number 2. Even the menu is nicer than the J1 Blu ray.
OMG, The Revenge 4 has a couple more familiar faces from the first movie. When Ellen gets a visit from Amity friends, neighbors and what's left of her family, there are the lady who had the motel and, um... another familiar looking woman...
I didn't remember this one happens at Christmas. Yeah the shark roars, and the ending, um... how the hell did... and how the hell can... oh nevermind.

 

[clambake]

Jaws 3 and 4 are my favorites of the series. 4 (The Revenge) is brilliant, what happens with Hoagie/Michael Caine at the end has to be seen to be believed. Even more so than the growling shark!