Jaws Documentaries Differ!! (1 Viewer)

[ScottR]

I just assumed that the two hour making of documentary of Jaws was a long version of the 25th Anniversary one. For the most part, it is. But there are some striking differences I noticed!

The short version contains these elements not in the long version:

1. An opening title and montage of scenes from the film.
2. Most of the interviews are combined with stills, instead of having the camera on the interviewees the entire time.
3. Lorraine Gary tells a great story about Brody's son at the dinner table.
4.Quint's death is also shown in storyboards.

5. Other scenes described are shown in storyboards.
6. The description of the Ben Gardner head scene is longer, explaining that the scene was filmed in a swimming pool
7. A still of the public waiting in line outside of a theatre to see the film.
8. The ending contains a longer, final bit of dialogue by Spielberg.
9. The end credits are different.


..These are just some of the differences. They are almost like two different documentaries. If you have the 25th Anniversary edition, you might want to hang on to it...even if the long version is superior.

 

[Jerome]

thanks for the information

 

[James Luckard]

I held onto the 25th Anniversary version just for the trailers, but now that you mention it, I remember some of those bits, especially the montage at the beginning. I just pulled the old DVD out of the stack and watched that sequence, it's one of the best movie trailers I've ever seen. I remember stopping the documentary and rewatching that portion when I bought it. Since I'd only have gotten maybe $5 for the thing if I sold it, I'm even more glad that I kept it.

 

[Ray_R]

That is because the storyboards aren't in the documentary itself on the 30th Anniversary DVD. They're in a different section which is "STORYBOARDS". Sorry to point out this oh so subtle result.

 

[ScottR]

The entire presentation is different though. Stories told in the short version are not in the long version.

 

[Chucky P]

I have a widescreen VHS from around 95 (which includes a very short version of the doc) that has a story which Carl Gottlieb tells that the studio considered using a real shark but scrapped the idea when they realized that sharks have no brain and therefore can not be trained which is on neither the long or short versions of the documentary.