The Restoration of Jaws
It was the movie that invented summer blockbusters, Jaws. And it's coming back. Steven Spielberg's story of a great white shark that terrifies a coastal town is being restored and will be released on Blu-ray for the first time ever this August.
One of just 13 films Universal is fully restoring as part of the studio's 100th anniversary, Jaws has been cleaned, repaired and color-balanced frame by frame, then digitally remastered. All of it under the watchful eye of Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment's post-production team.
The film starred Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw as the trio that take to the water to kill the gigantic creature. While the special effects might look tame in comparison to today's CGI wonders, the fear factor is just as high now as it was when the film first hit screens in 1975. Spielberg was smart enough to make audiences afraid, not of the monster itself, but the idea of a monster. Glimpses of a shadow under the water as the beast swam by, swimmers being dragged under, and blood spreading in the ocean were enough to make us all afraid to go into the water, without ever getting a good look at the beast.
Of course, later in the film we do see the enormous monstrosity, when it tries to jump in the hunter's boat, for example. But by then Spielberg already had hold of us; the shark was terrifying and there was no going back. Spielberg also gave us characters to care about, such as the kind police chief (Scheider) and the grizzled old seaman (Shaw). And composer John Williams turned in one of the most effective scores ever, adding to the suspense.
There are loads of extras in the Blu-ray combo pack features The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact and Legacy of Jaws feature-length documentary, with never-before-seen interviews with Spielberg, Scheider and others, The Making of Jaws, a two-hour long documentary, deleted scenes, outtakes, and more.
Watch Art Attack for more about the upcoming release.
