Jaws (30th Anniversary Special Edition) (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	The first EVER summer blockbuster !  !  !  A true Spielberg classic !  !  !
Disadvantages:	The shark looks a little rough and maybe that's all .  .  .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

* Please note: This review originally appeared on dooyoo.co.uk under my dooyoo alias of dlb74 *

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I just had to review this classic Spielberg film from 1975 as it was one that seemed to be on TV about every fortnight when I was a kid and I absolutely loved it... and still do!

There are now two versions of Jaws available on DVD: The single disc 25th Anniversary edition and the more recent 2 disc 30th Anniversary edition. I own both of these editions and will detail the 25th Anniversary edition details first and add the details of the 30th Anniversary edition toward the end of this review - that way, those who don't already own Jaws can decide which version should suit their needs should they ever wish to buy it.

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THE PLOT:

Based on the Novel of the same name by the late Peter Benchley, Jaws is set in the fictional seaside resort of Amity Island.

The story kicks off with the death of a local girl when she takes a night-time dip into the ocean and in a memorable and harrowing scene becomes the first of many victims of a great white shark. During this scene (and for about the first half of the film - a little more about that later…) the shark is not seen at all - which ramps the suspense greatly.

The main character in Jaws is Amity Island Police Chief, Martin Brody (Roy Scheider). Brody is originally from New York and feels that he is making a difference in the small resort town. Living with his wife, Ellen (Lorraine Gary) and his sons Michael and Sean, Brody's life is fairly peaceful and uneventful - but all that changes when Brody and his Deputy - Hendricks (Jeffrey Kramer) find the partial remains of the first victim on the beach.

Brody takes this news to the Mayor of Amity - Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) to warn him of the grim situation. Vaughn tells Brody that with the imminent start to the holiday season on the 4th of July upon them, they can't afford to lose any money brought in by their tourist season and that the beaches will be open regardless.

This of course, leads to disaster as bathers are killed when the shark returns. One of the more harrowing attacks shown is that of a young boy - Alex Kintner - who has pestered his mother into allowing him to go out on his inflatable raft for another ten minutes. I don't know just how much a film could get away with a scene like this nowadays - especially in one rated PG (I think this pretty much started the trend for Spielberg to have some intense moments in films rated suitable for most age groups). When Alex Kintner is taken by the shark, we still don't see the shark in all it's glory - but the boy is raised a few feet out of the water in an explosion of blood before being dragged down into the depths.

After this incident, Alex Kintner's mother puts a bounty on the shark that killed her son. A shark hunter named Quint (Robert Shaw) offers to catch and kill the beast but at a price - $10,000 ("For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing"). However, with the cash reward on the head of the shark, almost everyone local who owns a boat heads out onto the ocean to try to get the money for themselves.

Brody calls in a young shark expert from the Oceanographic Institute named Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), who views the partial remains of the shark's first victim. He informs Brody and the coroner that the attack was carried out by a Carcharodon carcharias - otherwise known as a great white shark.

Some local fishermen catch a shark and are treated like heroes upon their return - posing for the local newspaper with the Mayor. Brody and Hooper arrive on the scene where Hooper mentions to Brody that the shark they have caught is a tiger shark - and not a great white. He is certain that the shark caught is not the shark that killed the bathers as the bite radius is different. Brody and Hooper try to tell this important news to the Mayor - who completely brushes them and their revelation aside. He is happy that there will be news reports of a large predator being caught off the shore of Amity - and therefore people - both local and visting will feel reassured enough to go into the water once again.

Having fallen on the deaf ears of the Mayor, Brody and Hooper head out onto the ocean for a night-time reconnaissance to try to prove the great white is still cruising local waters. They discover the overturned wreck of a boat which belongs to a local fisherman named Ben Gardner. The boat is very badly damaged and Hooper decides to dive under the wreck to inspect it. In the upturned hull of the boat there is a large shark's tooth lodged in a big hole. Hooper removes what he knows is a great white tooth - only to drop it into the depths in a panic when another shocking discovery is made (I'm obviously trying not to go into major spoiler territory for the sake of those who haven't seen Jaws... if there is anyone who hasn't, that is!).

With the knowledge that the shark is still in the waters off Amity and with the Mayor still not listening to them, Brody and Hooper turn to Quint for help. The three of them set sail in Quint's boat, The Orca in a last-ditch attempt to find and destroy the killer shark before it claims more victims.

What follows is an extremely tense game of cat-and-mouse between the pursuing men and the shark which has you feeling very scared for the well-being of the trio. Very few films deliver characters that you care a huge amount for - let alone make you worry for them and their safety.

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THE ACTING:

The acting in Jaws is still absolutely incredible. Everyone plays their characters with such conviction that you don't doubt them for a minute. Roy Scheider is great as Police Chief Martin Brody - making it clear to the audience that he genuinely wants to make a difference in Amity and cares greatly for the people that live there. Richard Dreyfuss is very memorable as Matt Hooper - a young man from a very rich family who is clearly not short of some money himself - yet has a love of animals - particularly sea-life and has dedicated his life to studying and protecting them. Then of course is Robert Shaw as Quint… A grizzled shark hunter with a backstory that allows us to realise that his profession is based upon a very old, personal grudge.

Even the background characters are played to perfection with Murray Hamilton superb as the stubborn and ignorant Mayor Vaughn. The way in which he is portrayed as someone who puts the value of money over human life is vile and shows us the worst of human nature - but is also a credit to Murray Hamilton's acting ability.

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THE SPECIAL EFFECTS:

Okay… here goes... This is obviously the one major bone of contention that most people have with Jaws. Really the only special effect in Jaws is the shark itself. The shark was named 'Bruce' after Spielberg's lawyer… an honour if ever there was one!

I think we should be forgiving to how the shark looks at times when you consider that this film was released in 1975. It couldn't have been easy to build a life-size shark in those days - and we also shouldn't forget that with the possible exception of Jaws 2 (the only worthy sequel to the original film), the shark just went from bad to worse in the following and simply bloody awful Jaws 3 (or 3-D upon it's release) and Jaws: The Revenge.

The problem was that the shark didn't work very well at all and was forever malfunctioning due to being placed in the salt-water of the ocean or sometimes just sinking to the bottom of the sea like a brick (Spielberg got so sick of the shark not working that he started to refer to it as 'the great white turd'). This is of course why we don't see the shark until well into the movie - which was probably a blessing in disguise as had things gone to the original plan, there would have been many more scenes where we would have seen the shark - and therefore there would have been more to pick holes in.

It's remarkable that as yet, Spielberg hasn't replaced 'Bruce' or at least improved him via CGI - à la Lucas… I love Jaws so much I just can't tell whether or not taking this path would be simply amazing for the film or absolute sacrilege. The shark isn't great and of course it's pretty much the star of the show - being a character in itself that the entire film is based upon. Thankfully the acting and tense story are fantastic and allow the film to succeed even when the shark doesn't look as good as it could have.

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THE MUSIC:

I could simply not review Jaws without mentioning this incredible music score. With possibly the most famous movie theme in the whole world (is there anyone out there who doesn't know it?) Williams' score for Jaws would be the second in a long collaberation of well over 20 movies where they have worked together.

John Williams won the Best Score Oscar at the 1976 Academy Awards. The amazing thing is that he himself was conducting the orchestra for the whole awards ceremony and had to briefly leave the orchestra pit to collect his award before rushing back to continue conducting the orchestra!

Quite simply, the music that John Williams provides is an excellent accompaniment to the visual magic that Spielberg conjures up.

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MY HISTORY WITH THIS FILM:

As I mentioned previously, I remember watching Jaws when I was young and was both scared stiff and hugely entertained by it. This is possibly why I rate it as one of my favourite movies of all time and pretty much know the entire film's dialogue off by heart. Sad but true!

This was one of my first introductions to Steven Spielberg and his work - which along with a few other memorable films (such as Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial as well as some by other directors) shaped my love of the movies that I suppose I will have until the day I die.

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THE DVD: 25TH ANNIVERSARY 1 DISC EDITION

This version was originally released back in the year 2000 and had excellent picture and sound quality as well as lots of bonus features that made it a worthy purchase.

Presentation ratio:
2.35:1 Anamorphic PAL
Available Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1
French Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
German Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Extras:
"The Making of Jaws" - 50 minute long documentary.
10 Deleted Scenes.
2 Outtakes.
3 Theatrical Trailers.
Cast and Crew Biographies.
Production Notes (text only).
Photo Gallery.
Storyboards and Original Production Drawings.
"Shark World" - shark encyclopedia.
"Get Out of the Water" - Jaws trivia game

DVD-ROM content:

Web links to the JAWS web site.
Deleted scenes and outakes (as seen on the DVD).
More detailed production notes and information on the cast and crew.
Jaws screensaver.

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THE DVD: 30TH ANNIVERSARY 2 DISC EDITION
This edition of Jaws was released on DVD in 2005 and featured 2 discs.

Disc 1: The film

Presentation Ratio
2.35:1 Anamorphic PAL
Available languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1
English DTS 5.1
Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1
Czech Dolby Digital 5.1

The main notable difference in this version of Jaws compared to that of the 25th Anniversary edition is the inclusion of a DTS soundtrack. Sadly, my surround sound is only Dolby Digital so I can't comment on any DTS tracks on DVDs that carry them - but I'm sure it will also be of amazing quality.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is still very impressive and makes it hard to believe that the film has been around for over 30 years now! Some of the extras from the previous version are missing from this one and new extras are now in their place. The other extras included on this version are as below:

"A Look Inside Jaws" making of documentary with a run time of about 110 minutes - which is strangely about 15 minutes shorter than that on the American R1 version - so is therefore still not entirely complete.
"From the Set" - 1974 featurette with a run time of about 9 minutes.

Gallery:
Including: Original Conceptual Drawings, Unused Storyboards, Behind the Scenes Photos, Cast & Crew Production Photos, Ben Gardner Scene Photos, The Orca, 'Bruce' and the Live Shark, Publicity Photos and Marketing and Merchandise.
"Shark Facts" featuring an interactive 3D great white shark.

Deleted Scenes:
Including: Brody with Ellen, Brody Discusses Chrissie, Chrissie's Body, Town Parade, Car Ferry, Quint's Car, Quint in Local Store, Brody at the Pier, Hooper Arrives in Amity, The Hunt, Sea Otter Discussion, Search for the Tiger Shark and Quint's Assistant.

Outtakes.

Storyboard Comparison:
Including: Opening Credits & Chrissie's Death, Death of the Kitner Boy, Hooper's New Future and The Climax.

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MY CONCLUSION:
After over thirty years have passed since the release of this incredible film, it still manages to retain all of it's charm, humour and at times almost unbearable tension and excitement. Bruce the shark might not have aged as well as he might have hoped but one thing is certain: he certainly hasn't lost any of his bite.

In regards to both versions of the film that are currently available on DVD, I can honestly say that both versions are very good value for money but the extras and inclusion of the DTS track on the newer version probably make it pip the previous DVD to the post. Still a fantastic piece of Spielberg magic after 30 years... Fantastic stuff!