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Jaws (1975) DVD Review
Jaws (1975) DVD Credits:
Jaws (1975) Directed by:
Steven Spielberg
Jaws (1975) Written by:
Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb
Jaws (1975) Cast:
Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Carl Gottlieb, Jeffrey Kramer, Susan Backlinie, Jonathan Filley, Ted Grossman
Jaws (1975) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
Jaws (1975) DVD Release Date:
1st January 2006
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Jaws (1975) Synopsis:

A giant great white shark arrives on the shores of a New England beach resort and wreaks havoc with bloody attacks on swimmers until a part-time sheriff teams up with a marine biologist and an old seafarer to hunt the monster down.

Jaws (1975) DVD Review:

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water again they released the 30th Anniversary Edition of Jaws, making one of the most famous and greatest thrillers of all time available for even more generations to come. This was the first film to gross over 100 million in ticket sales, an impressive blockbuster hit which catapulted Steven Spielberg into theaters with intensity which none of his earlier films had done. This was truly the beginning for a blockbuster genius. Based on the No. 1 seller by Peter Benchley, Jaws inspired three sequels, including Jaws 3D, but none come close to being as good as this original fright-fest.

From the very first scene, in which a young woman is killed and we learn a valuable lesson about skinny-dipping, Jaws grabs you and leaves a mark. A man-eating great white shark has come to the small beachside vacation town, Amity Island, and Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) wants to shut the beaches. This idea does not go over well because of the large tourist crowd coming for the Fourth of July celebration. As it happens, Brody is right and after a few more attacks take place, actions to kill the shark are finally taken. This is where the story really gets good, with the introduction of Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), the shark expert, and Quint (Robert Shaw) the veteran shark hunter. When the three of them head out onto open seas to hunt down the shark, Jaws comes to its spectacular climax.

It seems somewhat strange that a 30th Anniversary Edition is being released when a 25th Anniversary Edition was released in 2000, especially considering many of the aspects are the same. Fans who purchased the 25th Anniversary Edition may be upset by the fact that there is enough new in this edition to make it worth purchasing the same film only five years later, but they have definitely improved upon what was already a good package.

The video quality is fantastic for a thirty-year-old film. Despite some grainy scenes, particularly the darker scenes, it still looks great. The audio has been improved upon with the choice of DTS and 5.1 Surround, but they also have the option of the original 2.0 Mono for purists. There are also captions and subtitles (Spanish and French).

This fantastic package is a two-disc set with a great 60-page photo journal. The first disc contains the film, with a simple menu design of the open sea. The second disc has a number of great features, many of which were on the 25th Anniversary Edition, but the best feature is the full-length Making Of documentary. This documentary alone adds a great deal of value to the package. There are also a number of deleted and extended scenes, none of which are extremely interesting or entertaining although it has become tradition to throw as much stuff on these special editions as possible. One new addition to this package, which was not on the 25th Edition, is a UK interview done on set on the second day of shooting at sea. This was not an easy shoot so all of the footage showing this is extremely interesting.

There are also a great number of other features, including a number of slideshows, one for the marketing and posters of the film. They show posters from all around the world, which is great, although not something you are likely to view countless times. There are also photos from the production as well. Of all of these features the documentary is the best but many of the others will make avid fans feel good just owning.

The whole package looks great with a darker front photo, although still keeping the traditional art, which has been famous for three decades. Many people may be wary of the fact that this another release of a film which has been released numerous times before, but this is by far the best, and hopefully the last. There isn’t much more that could be done to improve upon this package.

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Jaws (1975) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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