The One...The Only...JAWS (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

I think “Jaws” and “The Godfather” are two of the best examples where the film versions were so much better than the original books.

 

[Tino]

I think “Jaws” and “The Godfather” are two of the best examples where the film versions were so much better than the original books.

Agreed. But I would say about 80% of The Godfather novel made it into the film while about 40% of the JAWS novel made it into the film. If that.

 

[Johnny Angell]

The making of doc on the disc seemed to at least imply that Hooper survived because they wanted to use film of a live shark and no one was in the cage (the cage was a miniature). Also in an interview a still of Chrissie is seen in the background. Susan Backline is very convincing in her agony. I find it impressive because stills of an actor often have a fake look and because she was not really an actress, but more of a stunt woman. She’s very good in her role.

 

[Sean Bryan]

The delivery of my UHD disc has been delayed, but I look forward to watching this on my projector soon. It’s been a while.

Just saw this video and it’s pretty wild. The marine biologist is very impressive for a variety of reasons!

 

[TravisR]

The making of doc on the disc seemed to at least imply that Hooper survived because they wanted to use film of a live shark and no one was in the cage (the cage was a miniature).

If they changed it because of the shark, they owe that thing big time because I think in terms of a movie, it's vastly better that Hopper survived. Giving Brody someone to talk to gives the movie a simple but needed 'epilogue'. If Hooper is dead, there's just been a big rousing ending and then what? Brody looks around, swims away and credits? Him and Hooper talking ("What day is it?" and "I used to hate the water." "I can't imagine why.") is way better than that.

For anyone familiar with Grizzly (a Jaws ripoff), that has the explosive ending with a lone survivor, he looks around and the credits roll. Compare the two endings and it's not hard to see which is more entertaining.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I guess I'm the only one using spoilers.

 

[Traveling Matt]

 

[Jeffrey D]

I watched the UHD on Saturday- more than satisfied with how it looks. The USS Indianapolis scene REALLY looked nice, I thought.

 

[TonyD]

The making of doc on the disc seemed to at least imply that Hooper survived because they wanted to use film of a live shark and no one was in the cage (the cage was a miniature). Also in an interview a still of Chrissie is seen in the background. Susan Backline is very convincing in her agony. I find it impressive because stills of an actor often have a fake look and because she was not really an actress, but more of a stunt woman. She’s very good in her role.

Well they were really pulling her back and forth and under the water, she wasn’t getting eaten by a shark but she was actually getting thrashed around quite a bit.
I know it would be extremely upsetting to just about anyone.

 

[Jeffrey D]

The making of doc is great- I love the story Dreyfus tells of Shaw, and how seasick he was.
He found the strength to do one line of dialog, and as soon as Spielberg said, “cut, print”, Shaw collapsed.

 

[Malcolm R]

Well they were really pulling her back and forth and under the water, she wasn’t getting eaten by a shark but she was actually getting thrashed around quite a bit.
I know it would be extremely upsetting to just about anyone.

Yeah, from what I recall of some of the "making of" info she was in a harness and was really being yanked back and forth and it was pretty painful, so I don't know that there was much "acting" there. She was really getting beat up. Suffering for her art, indeed, but it created a pretty iconic scene in motion picture history.

 

[TravisR]

The making of doc is great- I love the story Dreyfus tells of Shaw, and how seasick he was.
He found the strength to do one line of dialog, and as soon as Spielberg said, “cut, print”, Shaw collapsed.

The part that always makes me laugh is when Spielberg and Dreyfuss talk about how a hole was accidentally in the Orca and it started to sink. Over the intercom, they kept saying "Someone get the actors off the boat" and then the sound guy says "Fuck the actors, save the sound department!"

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The part that always makes me laugh is when Spielberg and Dreyfuss talk about how a hole was accidentally in the Orca and it started to sink. Over the intercom, they kept saying "Someone get the actors off the boat" and then the sound guy says "Fuck the actors, save the sound department!"

I saw that behind the scenes doc for the first time while doing a high school summer program for young filmmakers where we just learned about sound recording and had been shooting at the “Jaws lake” section of the Universal backlot. We were all cheering on that crewman!

 

[Tino]

45 years ago today one of the greatest films ever made was released to theaters, JAWS. Movies would never be the same and the summer Blockbuster was born.

Quint: Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte... just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail fin. What we didn't know, was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin', so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old squares in the battle like you see in the calendar named "The Battle of Waterloo" and the idea was: shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark will go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon, the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us. He swung in low and he saw us... he was a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and he come in low and three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and starts to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened... waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.

 

[bujaki]

45 years ago today one of the greatest films ever made was released to theaters, JAWS. Movies would never be the same and the summer Blockbuster was born.

Quint: Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte... just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail fin. What we didn't know, was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin', so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old squares in the battle like you see in the calendar named "The Battle of Waterloo" and the idea was: shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark will go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon, the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us. He swung in low and he saw us... he was a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and he come in low and three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and starts to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened... waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.

Never heard of this movie. Should I look it up?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Never heard of this movie. Should I look it up?

Start with "Jaws the Revenge" and work backwards! They'll get better as you go!

 

[bujaki]

Start with "Jaws the Revenge" and work backwards! They'll get better as you go!

I saw Jaws 3D at the 3D Film Expo. That was a blast. Looked good on the big screen. Would @Tino recommend this over the one I don't recognize? Or over his other love, Titanic, which I don't particularly care for? Must admit Titanic played better in 3D. So maybe Jaws 3D is better than Jaws 2D? Hey, Tino, what do you think?

 

[TravisR]

I had just watched Jaws when I got the 4K disc and didn't plan on rewatching it again so quickly but its siren song lured me in yet again.

Am I the only one who insists on only watching it in mono?

Start with "Jaws the Revenge" and work backwards! They'll get better as you go!

That is actually true.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I had just watched Jaws when I got the 4K disc and didn't plan on rewatching it again so quickly but its siren song lured me in yet again.

Am I the only one who insists on only watching it in mono?


That is actually true.

No, but I'll never watch it again in mono!

 

[DFurr]

I saw Jaws 3D at the 3D Film Expo. That was a blast. Looked good on the big screen. Would @Tino recommend this over the one I don't recognize? Or over his other love, Titanic, which I don't particularly care for? Must admit Titanic played better in 3D. So maybe Jaws 3D is better than Jaws 2D? Hey, Tino, what do you think?

We were also at that Jaws 3D screening in Hollywood at the 3D Film Expo and were not impressed with the technical presentation. The spacing setting was not correct and I was removing my glasses every few minutes and rubbing my eyes. It was terrible. I don't know what happened in the projector booth that day but I'm guessing they didn't have the .366 alignment loop which is required to set t he 3D spacing for that film.
I'm glad you enjoyed it but i thought it was a hot mess. And of course, it didn't help that there were 3 different 3D cameras used in the filming of Jaws 3D. I have a 35mm print of Jaws 3D in my collection but I use the test loop before each showing to insure the image look good on the screen.
I expressed my concerns to Jeff Joseph and he didn't disagree with my observations.
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