It Is Here

It has finally arrived. After years of regularly checking Best Buy shelves and Amazon.com, they have finally put it out. Jaws is out on Blu-Ray. And I am pleased to report that they have done it right. In celebration of their 100th year anniversary, Univeral has picked a handful of their treasures and fully restored them. This isn't just a little boosting of the sound and throwing the same print that was on the DVD onto the Blu-Ray. Even for a diehard like myself, Jaws looks (and sounds) like a whole new film. They went back into the Universal vaults, retrieved the original 35mm film print, and restored it from there. I can't tell you what a difference this makes. In one of the many impressive accompanying documentaries, they claim that this new HD version of Jaws is now clearer by a multiple of 10 from the previous available versions. I believe them. I put it in late last night and cranked up the sound on my glorious 72 inch TV and just let it flow over me. The colors are now sharp, finally fixing that somewhat washed-out coloring that has plagued versions from the first VHS to even the most recent DVD release. The sound jumps out at you, the night water sparkles in the moonlight, the shooting stars are sharp in the night sky over the Orca. I was almost in tears.

As for the extras, the same documentaries (including the 2 hour "Making of Jaws") and visuals are here that were on the most recent deluxe release, but with one crucial addition. The more recent documentary The Shark Is Still Working has been added, and what a glorious doc this is. Made by a group of Jaws superfans who started out just wanting to document the Jawsfest held in Martha's Vineyard for the 30th anniversary, they somehow eventually got access to not only Spielberg, Roy Scheider (who narrates the doc), Richard Dreyfuss and the other heavyweights, but they tracked down any extras and character actors they could find for a true fanboy/obsessive/homage to Jaws. And there are some funny stories told. The doc focuses a lot on the obsessive fans (basically, Jaws Trekkies) and their quest to collect any prop from the original film they can find.

Especially intriguing from the doc is the fate of the Orca boats. Even casual fans of the film recall that the creaky boat Orca in the last third of the film is a character unto itself. There were two boats used, one a full boat and the other a half boat with no bottom. The original Orca, the Holy Grail for Jaws fans, was carelessly stored on the Universal lot for years. In a touching interview, Spielberg talks about how once he got big, he would still go to the lot when it was empty, climb aboard the Orca, and sit and remember. Then one day he went out there and it was gone. The studio decided to chop it up and get it out of the way. Nearing tears in the interview, the most powerful of directors speaks with visible anger that his Orca was so thoughtlessly destroyed for, essentially, firewood. As for the Orca II, a local businessman in Martha's Vineyard recovered it, and parked it on his beachfront property. It became a pilgrimage of sorts for Jaws fans, and in a funny but also sad sequence, footage of the boat is shown as the years pass. It simply disappears, piece by piece, as fans take souvenirs. Finally, this rather dimwitted owner decides to take what's left and save it in his house. What's left are a couple of pieces of wood that were on the hull.

Anyway, this set is a long-awaited gift for fans of this film. I know that JMW and I have had this argument before about all of the extras added to these films (the docs, interviews, etc.) But for the fan, it is a way to get closer to something that means a hell of a lot to you. The movie and characters are like old friends. And you want to know everything you can about them. During The Shark Is Still Working, I found myself smiling widely and laughing out loud, as these earnest fanboys not only get great stories out of Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss, but also out of the two goofy fishermen who caught the tiger shark in that one scene. Or the lady who played the grieving Mrs. Kitner, who in that famous scene slaps Scheider's Chief Brody for not closing the beaches sooner, as she talks about fans hunting her down to this day and demanding that she slap them in the face just so they can say they also were slapped by Mrs. Kitner. And how she happily obliges.