Missing dialogue in Jaws
07-06-09, 03:51 PM
#26
Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
Yeah - I think the Academy Award win for JAWS' editing is undeserved, in my opinion.
I know their footage musta been hard to work with, but it's still very sloppy.....
The lighting changes from shot to shot (re: Alex's death, the sun is in different spots)
and sometimes the shark is one spot and in the next shot, he's way out to sea (re: the final attack on Brody)
07-07-09, 10:39 AM
#27
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
I think the fact that the footage was hard to work with (for example, there was little good footage of the constantly malfunctioning shark) which meant a lot of the movie had to be fixed in editing and is exactly the reason why Jaws won the Oscar for Best Editing. And I think it completely deserved that Oscar because the editing job is so masterful in crafting a great movie out of what could've been a complete and total disaster of a film in a less-skilled editor's hands.
04-07-10, 11:52 AM
#28
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Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
Hello whoopdido ,
yes i saw jaws 13 times when it was first released on the cinema and have been looking for it in it's uncut state for years but still cannot find it. The scene you are asking about is the cut where hooper says while examining chrissies remains " a young girl goes swimming and gets tired along comes a great white shark " and this is what happens . the scene was in the original video but has never appeared in any D.V.D's .
hope it was useful ?
yes i saw jaws 13 times when it was first released on the cinema and have been looking for it in it's uncut state for years but still cannot find it. The scene you are asking about is the cut where hooper says while examining chrissies remains " a young girl goes swimming and gets tired along comes a great white shark " and this is what happens . the scene was in the original video but has never appeared in any D.V.D's .
hope it was useful ?
04-07-10, 09:16 PM
#30
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Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
I am very happy to put this one to bed. If you want to read the truth then please purchase a copy of EMPIRE June 2009 and Spielberg explains this dodgy edit. The revelation is spawned by a question that comes from none other than Bryan Singer. Who, I might add, Spielberg goes on to pay full credit to for spotting the error. Like he's the only one who did!!!!
Anyway the explanation is pretty simple. There was no extra dialogue and it was never an unfinished sentence that appeared in other versions, that's just people's memories screwing with them. The truth is that the scene was going on too long and Verna Fields (editor) and Mr.Speilberg couldn't find a good place to make a cut so they made up the line "This is what happens...." from some of Dreyfuss' lines elsewhere in the scene. They had to as there was no actual dialogue over where he picks up the arm. In doing so they "manufactured" a good place to facillitate the shortening of the scene. I think you can also hear a "So" at the front of it making the line, "So, this is what happens...." But that might just be me. If true though, the line makes a bit more sense. Either way, Spielberg admits it's a rough edit but he thought he'd gotten away with it. Little did he know.......
Anyway the explanation is pretty simple. There was no extra dialogue and it was never an unfinished sentence that appeared in other versions, that's just people's memories screwing with them. The truth is that the scene was going on too long and Verna Fields (editor) and Mr.Speilberg couldn't find a good place to make a cut so they made up the line "This is what happens...." from some of Dreyfuss' lines elsewhere in the scene. They had to as there was no actual dialogue over where he picks up the arm. In doing so they "manufactured" a good place to facillitate the shortening of the scene. I think you can also hear a "So" at the front of it making the line, "So, this is what happens...." But that might just be me. If true though, the line makes a bit more sense. Either way, Spielberg admits it's a rough edit but he thought he'd gotten away with it. Little did he know.......
05-01-10, 05:19 AM
#31
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Answer
The explaination given above is not correct. There is a piece of dialoge missing... it is included in the version shown on ABC in the 1980s (which had more deleted footage than the anniversary version they started airing in 2000). The line was something like "When you start fooling around with these things, this is what happens". The scene struck me as if there was an edit when I would watch "Jaws" on VHS, but when I saw it on ABC, the scene made more sense. To my surprise there was more to what Hooper said! I was excited. In fact, it was the first time I saw extra footage in "Jaws" (such as Quint's vehicle door with the shark image opening and coming at the screen--typical and great Spielberg shot--when he was going to buy piano wire). To answer the issue, yes, there is a partial line of dialogue cut, which is why it seems abrupt. I do not know the reason why it was cut and it is the only place I have seen it. Although it had been aired repeatedly before was the last time that version aired on ABC, I think (it was the same night "Lone Wolf McQuade" aired), around 1987, I think.
