Summer has always been a big movie season since kids have nothing to preoccupy themselves with and their parents can entertain them only so long. Hollywood has known this but it wasn't until 1975, when Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Peter Benchley's suspense novel Jaws broke all records and became an international phenomenon, that tinseltown realized what a cash cow the summer season truly was.
For anyone who has been a coma for the past 25 years, the story involves Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider), a former New York resident, and his family who have come to call the beachfront tourist trap of Amity home. It also involves the grisly death of a teenage girl who, apparently, was eaten by a shark. "Apparently" is the key word here as the Mayor would rather keep the incident hushed up so the big Fourth Of July tourist rush isn't spoiled. Against his better judgment, Brody acquiesces leading to brutal consequences.
Also along are the oceanographer Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and the captain of the ship the two will have to charter to deal with the situation. In what is one of moviedom's greatest unhinged roles, Robert Shaw jumps out of the movie as the brazen, ruthless and slightly mad Captain Quint and takes the audience, like a shanghai'ed crew for Capt. Ahab, right into the middle of danger.
Now you know the facts, most of which are probably old hat to you by now. What you may not know is that Universal's anniversary collector's edition DVD of Jaws is one of those rare discs that anyone who has a player simply must own - bar none. Yeah, you've got your "Matrix" disc and you've toyed with picking up the "Fight Club" 2-pack, but if you don't put this release on your wish list, you do yourself a disservice. Not only is the video the best presented yet for home use but the soundtrack has been upgraded from it's already sharp mono to a full-blown 5.1 surround.
You also get a very well produced documentary from movie historian Laurent Bouzereau that, while not as complete as it's initial appearance on Universal's Signature Collection laserdisc a few years back, is still very thorough and reveals a lot of behind-the-scenes information. You get a couple deleted scenes and outtakes, a nifty trivia game accessable on any player, a short informative text about sharks, trailers for the film and much more.
For those not equipped with a DVD player, Universal is also releasing Jaws 25 Anniversary Edition on tape, but that comes with my very personal warning: If you get it in any form other than the letterboxed widescreen, you're missing a lot. Spielberg uses the entire frame to inform and build tension, and all that info is compromised, sometimes lost, by the selectivity of panning and scanning.
If you need to buy a disc that has "guaranteed" written all over it, you cannot miss with Jaws. Twenty five years, leaps and bounds in the field of special effects and music-video pacing cannot hope to diminish one of the greatest action-thrillers of all time.
Spielberg pits three mena against a Great White Shark that has been attacking swimmers at an island resort in New England. The film redefined the word...More at HotMovieSale.com
Spielberg pits three mena against a great white shark that hasbeen attacking swimmers at an island resort in new england. Thefilm redefined the word b...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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