Jaws: Anniversary Edition (UK)

jaws is spielbergs best film and it is presented brilliantly with remastered picture and dd 5.1, which enhances the eerie soundtrack. The extra features are also top notch, especially the making of. a commentary would have been a welcome addition. overall, this movie classic is a must buy dvd.

Steven Spielberg`s legendary horror movie Jaws
was a big success in the middle of 70`s and now
we can enjoy it on dvd with good transfer.
This first Jaws movie is the one and only good jaws movie
in the saga and it has still got the same respect as years
ago.The picture quality is really good for a 70`s movie, almost
the best there can be for this old movie.The dolby 5.1 audio ain`t so
excellent, but still not so bad either, when we look the age
of the Jaws.John Williams theme sounded as scary as
always and mainly good transfer.Extra features are good
as it should be, with some documentaries, interviews exct.
Only, I thought there were some docs. about real sharks, but
no, so extras around 8 of 10.Afterall really nicely doned dvd.

Well what can I say about Jaws that hasn`t already been said.
Th best film of the seventies ( arguably, there is the first two Godfather films) and must be in most people`s top ten films (not the Scream generations admittingly). The premise is simple, shark kills people people hunt down shark, however there is nothing simple about the materfull way Spielberg made this gem. Responsible for scaring people out of the water for 26 years, it is just as terrifying now as it was in 1975, I blame this film for my fear of water as I saw it at an early age. I can`t even go in a swimming pool without s***ting myself! O.K I know very well there`s no sharks in swimming pools, but I defy anyone to swim anywhere deeper than 5 foot hear THE music in their head and not feel unnerved. Spielberg shot the film at sea level ( the shark attacks that is) because he wants us to go through what we would see if it was actually happening to us. About the opening sequence he said I didn`t want to show ths shark till near the end, if I showed the shark jumping on the girl at the beginning it would have been a great opening but there would have been nothing primal about it. Not many of us have been attacked by a shark, but wev`e all been swimming. From this remark (not quoted word for word) its easy to see why Speilberg is one of the greatest directors alive. The set pieces, the head in the boat, the opening sequence, the pond sequence are all fantatic, if there is a flaw in the film and its a minor one, there is an over abundance of dialogue but it will take more than this to spoil a film of this callibre. The picture on this disk is fantastic, Universal has done a great job ( as per usual), and ths sound while a little flat serves it`s purpose ( scaring the s*** out of us). The extra`s wow! I dont think iv`e got enough space to go into them all here, but to name a few there`s a brilliant documentry, trailers, tv spots, photo galleries and cast and crew info. If you don`t already own this disk run out and buy it now!!!

Ahh the legendry `JAWS` could this DVD live up to the expectations??? Of course it could, the makers have got it
spot on! The picture quality is excellent, and to think it was made all those years ago, it looks like its only a good few years old. I agree with the person who mentioned the `dusk`
scene, with the crew on `Orca`, i can`t even remember that scene on TV, but it does stand out on DVD with the great colours. The sound and of course the Da Da, Da Da comes
across brilliantly, and for me this sets the moment of the hunting scenes, and still sends chills down your back the first time you hear it! And i defy anyone to watch this and NOT
jump when the `head pops out of the underwater boat` scene
even know you have seen it 20 odd times and know what`s
coming......... The extas on this DVD are also spot on, with
some funny outtakes, deleted scenes, some classic trailers,
loads of other bits and bobs, and the brilliant 50 minute `The
Making of Jaws` which gives you a fascinating insight to the movie, and gives the views of some people behind the film.
This has to be in your DVD collection, the film is a legend,
and for once the DVD can back it up with great picture quality and colour, good sound, and plenty of extras.
why can`t all DVD`s be like this?

Cracking movie, if a little dated.

Features are a welcome addition to this movie and everybody should add this to their collection..

Not a lot to say about this - an all time classic finally makes it to DVD, but what happenend to the directors commentary?

FILM: For those who are unaware, Jaws is all about a 25 foot man-eating shark that terrorises the water loving residents of Amity Island. Jaws stars Roy Schieder as Martin Brody, Amity Island`s Chief of Police. Schieder gives a great performance, making his character very likeable but vulnerable at the same time. Richard Dreyfuss stars as the young shark boffin Matt Hooper, who is constantly being intimidated by veteran actor Robert Shaw as Quint. Shaw is probably the most inspiring on-screen presence, shining with intelligence and experience. Together, the trio of men set out to kill Amity`s nemesis once and for all, which seems to account for the latter hour of the movie. This is no `Lake Placid` or `Deep Blue Sea`. This is the genuine article, the king of the castle and the Budweiser of all beers. Made in 1975 and one of Spielberg`s earliest movies, this is a relatively straightforward but all time classic piece of cinema. Jaws was a movie that many thought would never do well; according to the documentary, `Bruce` the shark kept failing to work and shooting was spoilt a lot due to bad weather out at sea. Regardless of all the problems encountered, Spielberg continued filming, even though the budget was spiralling out of control and they had been shooting for two years. During production, Universal was rightfully upset with Spielberg, but were ultimately pleased when it did great at the box office. Keep your eyes peeled for many classic scenes such as Quint`s Indianapolis speech, Hooper`s discovery of Ben Gardner`s boat wreckage (avoiding spoilers!) and Brody`s "Smile, you son of a..." finale. A classic in every sense of the word.
PICTURE QUALITY: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1.
This is the first time I have ever seen Jaws in its original aspect ratio. Spielberg uses every inch of the frame to encapsulate the action, making widescreen Jaws a real visual treat. The picture quality is generally immaculate, but odd night time scenes and ocean shots are scatched and grainy. For the most part, this looks like a brand new movie, with an extremely clean print. The colours are vibrant, the detail level is high and everything looks pleasingly sharp. Nothing here should disappoint, even if a few shots do show their age.
SOUND QUALITY: Dolby Digital 5.1.
Pretty damn good, if only slighty inferior to the picture quality. Dialogue is always clear, the chilling soundtrack is as powerful as ever and sound effects are always audible. It is definitely more dynamic than the mono soundtrack accompanying the VHS version. Also available are mono soundtracks in German, French, Spanish and Italian, which I didn`t have the patience to test. I haven`t heard the American DTS track of Jaws, but I have heard it is a great improvement even over Dolby Digital.
EXTRAS: There is a lot of extra material here. We have a 50-minute making-of documentary, trailers and the usual cast bios to begin with. More interesting extras include a text based shark featurette and a trivia game which reveals a hidden picture. Great stuff. The only real disappointment here is the lack of a Spielberg audio commentary.
OVERALL: Jaws is timeless movie full of scares and classic moments. It definitely stands out as one of Spielberg`s best and most original. So forget today`s CGI based imitators, and buy the first and best!

A true classic, brilliant performances, excellent pacing and a rubber shark (but who cares when the films this good?)
The DVD does the film justice with a cleaned up picture and sound. Also the extras aren`t bad either. The excellent 50 minute documentary is much better than the usual bit of promotional rubbish, the deleted scenes are a good addition although they aren`t seperate which makes accesessability
difficult. It`s the same with the photo gallery.
Other than that excellent movie, great disk which could be rated a `must have`.

Only one word can describe the overall feel of this movie
Rubbery!

Its a classic, but for the effects compared to todays films it can`t really float

Absolutely a delight to find the film in this condition and presented like this :)

Content

For those of you who have been living under a large rock since 1975, the film tells the story of a small island resort called Amity, which is being terrorized by a huge great white shark. When the remains of a young girl are found, Chief of Police Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) closes the beaches and enforces a strict "no-swimming" policy. With the 4th of July weekend fast approaching, and keen to protect the commercial interests of the townspeople, the Mayor tries to sweep the whole incident under the carpet and re-opens the beaches, much to Brody's disgust.

When a young boy becomes the shark's second victim, Brody teams up with shark expert Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and together they set out to stop the dorsal-finned menace. It soon becomes apparent that they aren't capable of dealing with the creature on their own, so the duo seeks to enlist the help of a contractor. Enter Quint (Robert Shaw), a wily old seafarer who offers to help the pair track and kill the shark before it can eat any more holidaymakers. Unfortunately for our daring trio, the shark proves to be slightly more troublesome than your average cod…

Jaws features some fine performances, especially Robert Shaw as Quint. His "Indianapolis" speech is enough to send shivers up and down your spine (even if he did get the date wong)… Roy Scheider is great as Brody, the hydrophobic cop who takes on the task of ridding Amity of the killer shark, and Richard Dreyfuss puts in a good performance as the young shark expert. Still, there are some that might argue that the real star of the show is the mechanical shark, or Bruce, as he is otherwise known. Sure it looks like a big rubber shark, but it still made me jump the first time it unexpectedly lunged out of the water…

Video

Presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen, the picture quality is excellent, especially for a film of this age. There are a couple of very minor image problems, but on the whole this is a superb transfer, certainly the best-looking version of the film you'll come across. Everything is very sharp and colourful, which provides a showcase for the excellent cinematography. A lot of work must have gone into the restoration of the image, and it really shows in the final product.

Audio

After the splendor of the video transfer, sonically Jaws is a little bit of a let down. It all sounds good enough, but the surrounds are only really used for John Williams' admittedly excellent score. Then again the film was originally shot in mono, so I guess it is to be understood and I'm probably just being too picky. However, the perfectionists among you may be alarmed to learn that the original mono track is not present on the disc. Still, the audio deserves a lot of credit just for the incredibly atmospheric, and instantly recognisable John Williams score.

Features

This anniversary edition comes packed with quality extras. There's a 50 minute 'Making Of' documentary, deleted scenes, outtakes, photo galleries, 'Get Out of the Water' shark trivia game, shark world, 3 trailers, production notes, talent files and DVD Rom content. The documentary is very interesting, with lots of behind the scenes info and interviews with the principals. The deleted scenes offer slightly longer versions of some takes, as well as a couple of new scenes. The trailers are also worthy of a quick mention, all three create a great deal of tension, although it has to be said that the first one goes on so long it's hardly worth watching the film afterwards!

Overall

With Jaws, director Spielberg created a film that terrified people of all ages years after its initial release. To this day I'm still paranoid about swimming in the sea! With its excellent script, accomplished performances and tremendous (for their time) special effects, the film is an all round winner. Its appeal lies not in gory, prolonged shark attacks, in which the evisceration of the victims is shown in detail, but rather in the apprehension of these attacks. Spielberg manages to build up enough suspense to completely engross the viewer in the narrative, so that by the time the decidedly fake looking shark is revealed suspension of disbelief is a given. I just wish the makers of Deep Blue Sea had taken note of this when making their film, but I digress. The superb video quality and generous collection of insightful extras combine to make this an exceptional presentation of an all time classic, and one that comes highly recommended.

In my opinion this is a fantastic movie. After watching this for the first time, I could not even go to my local swimming pool for a long time!

The Video is great for it`s time and especially the features on this Anniversary disc set, make this a must to own for any Spielberg fans.

MOVIE
I`m probably going to be a little unpopular here, but someone should reassess this movie, as although there was no doubt that it was scary then, it pales in comparison now. It is beginning to look dated, which some movies just do not. The acting is top notch, in particular the drunken moment, and it does have a good story line., but it just isn`t scary to me. I`m in a similar opinion on Alien. Most see it as a classic movie, but it did bore me slightly. Having said that, it has some stunning cinematography and soundtrack, and a few good scares. The final set piece is a wonder in cinema, but the earlier attacks really have no significance, as the shark is killing characters in the background, who you simply have no bond with in the movie.

VIDEO
The picture, for such an old and low budget film is a marvel. They really have cleaned up the print and although it is grainy and there are a few flecks of white and dirt, this is to be expected. Apart from that it looks like it has had 15 years taken off it.

AUDIO
I wasn`t that impressed with the audio. I don`t have the whole surround setup, but I had to turn the volume up far more than I expected. This is the only real complaint I had, and the score comes across quite well, as do the background sounds, particularly the sea, just the voices were too quiet.

EXTRAS
One of the better of the Spielberg back catalogue. There is again, no commentary, but there are some good deleted scenes which we rarely see on his discs. The main 50 minute documentary is very good, and details all aspects and has some nice retrospective talking heads interviews. The game is a bit pointless, as is the ROM content. There is a screensaver, but it is a little ugly.

Great movie and great DVD. 10/10 is the rating that this should get.