Sunday, September 23, 2007
Almost perfect in 1975 - almost ruined in 2000 - Jaws Reviews
"Jaws" is one of those movies that never gets old.
The intense character conflict between a regular chief of police, a young college scientist,
and a working class, seafairing, ex-WWII vet turn shark killer is perfect.
The dialogue in this flick keeps you smiling and the story keeps you watching from the shocking opening to the sweat inducing climax.
The only problem I had with this movie was a single 3 second visual shot of the shark at the end of the movie that should have been cut out because it looked so fake. Other than that, I can find no flaws.
John Williams musical score adds most of the tension. Wonderfully written, Williams shows you how music itself is a language all of it's own that communicates in ways that words never can.
In 2000, a 25-year aniversary edition was made available on DVD. I bought it, watched it, and then went straight back to the video store and demanded my money back.
With today's digital audio technology, production companies continue to try to improve the audio of older films like "Jaws" only to make things worse. Throughout the entire film, new sounds were inserted that weren't there before.
During the climax of the film, when the shark rams thru the window of the boat while it's sinking, a newer sound of the glass shattering was inserted. The new sound was digitally stereophonic which of course is superior to the original mono. However, the original sound of the glass shattering was more menacing than the new sound that was used. The original shatter sounded like a large glass window shattering with tons of water pooring in behind it. The new shatter sounded like somebody hit a hammer thru a china-plate.
I have no problem with new audio being dubbed over an older film...just so long as it's not pathetically obvious that it's a new sound dubbed over an older film.
This is why many DVDs are now offering people a choice between the original audio and the newer digital audio. But unfortunately, the DVD 2000 edition doesn't give you this choice.
I'll be waiting for a newer edition that has the original audio before buying Jaws again.
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