Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

I did a search and couldn't find it, but maybe I just missed it because I can't believe this hasn't been discussed before.

Anyway, I just watched Jaws again for the millionth time the other day and I noticed the same thing I notice every other time I watch it. There seems to be either some missing dialogue or extra dialogue that just doesn't belong in the scene where Hooper is examining Chrissie's body. In that scene Hooper says:

"The left arm, head to shoulders, sternum and portions of the rib cage are intact. Do not smoke in here! Thank you very much. So this is what happens (he picks up the arm at this point). Indicates the non-frenzy feeding of a large squalus possibly Unjumanus or Isrus Glaucous." And it goes on. Now, why does he say "So this is what happens"? That line of dialogue just doesn't seem to fit. His tone of voice changes as well and it seems like he said that line later on and it was just added into that scene. Does anybody know anything about that?

The strange thing is Jaws won the the Academy award for best editing

That has nothing to do with editing; it was probably a looped line that was added in post-production in order to explain a story point or have something to come back to later in the show.

Yeah it's very noticable and I've always found it to be very annoying everytime I watch it. If it was a mistake it definitely should have been caught, but then again if it really was a mistake couldn't it have been fixed over the last 30 years? I mean how many different times has that movie been released for different mediums?

If it was in fact a looped line, then there is probably nothing they could do in different mediums unless they went back to the original mix elements. Also, it's not something that could have been "caught," it was just something they probably could only get so good in the final mix.

reminder to check this out.

I just checked this out when I got home tonight, and it does sound like either it was a looped line, but more likely, it sounds like they stole a line from another part of the movie and cheated it into this scene. The sound of the room on that line "This is what happens..." is different (more reverb) than the small room they are in which leads me to believe it is a line from somewhere else that they used here, because a looped line would sound too dry and warm.

Bing: looped. Jaws has some bad ADR in spots. This is another one. I've heard conspiracy theorists claiming things were cut...yaddah yaddah. It's just bad ADR. In fact, I'm better that Spielberg didn't like there being silence during that shot so they added the line. No biggie.

What's ADR?

Automated Dialogue Replacement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubbing

There are 2 Spielberg movie scenes that I think contain an awkward edit.

This scene in Jaws is one of them where they cut to the close-up of the arm.
The other scene is in Jurassic Park where they cut from Samuel Jackson to the boot prompt on the computer.

There's just something about those edits that breaks up the flow (Jurassic Park one is worse) and actually distracts me momentarily.

Wait...which part in Jurassic Park? What is the 'boot prompt'? Is that when he sees the little blinking cursor in the corner of the screen?

Yeah. Sorry I don't remember exactly whats on screen so it may be a cursor. It's after he shuts down the system and turns it back on. Sam says "Umm" and then there was an abrupt edit where it started zooming in on the screen.

Yeah I know that part. It then shows Samuel walking towards the screen and then he says something like it worked and all he has to do is boot up a couple systems or something and he leaves to go to that shack...and of course never returns.

There's also a point in the Jurassic Park where the music seems to miss a beat just for a second. I think it's when they first arrive on the island and they're driving in the jeeps before they see the dinosaurs for the first time. The music almost seems to cut out for just a split second. I've always found that a bit distracting too.

Hmm, I don't know. Look at Brody's cigarette. He puts it in his mouth. Just as he is about to light it, Hooper barks "do NOT smoke in here." Brody removes the cigarette. Cut to the severed arm. "This is what happens," says Hooper. Notice in that shot, the cigarette is back in Brody's mouth. Cut back to the previous long shot and the cigarette is back in Brody's hand. I think they should have trimmed down the insert, removing the cigarette continuity goof, and erased that line of dialogue, perhaps laying over more dialogue about the autopsy report over it. The shot of the arm is effective in and of itself, but it fits in so akwardly.

Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

Everyone speculating about this issue here is wrong. I saw this film in the theatre and and that scene and several lines are simply cut out of the film in all video versions. I can't remember the exact lines that are missing, but I found this from another website:

"I saw this twice at the cinema in the UK. I remember the dialog distinct as I wrote it down that evening in an essay for school... it goes like this... "So this is what happens when a young girl goes swimming". The camera pans up and shows you more of what is in the container. Hooper then picks up a tape measure, and measures a bite on the remains of the torso. He then says "The bite radius" (and that is where the cut joins in) "indicates...". That's why when he measures the bite radius on the Tiger shark, and discussed it with Brody, it doesn't make as much sense..."

Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

Was that on a double-bill with Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

I found this site:
http://www.nitpickers.com/movies/nitpick.cgi?np=2559

The interesting thing is that people "remember" different lines being the missing dialogue. "This is what happens when a large shark goes feeding"; "This is what happens when Mother Nature goes berzerk" or possibly, "Mother Nature goes berzerk, and this is what happens;" "this is what happens when people swim in the water off Amity," etc.

Also, some "remember" the extra dialogue being in the theatrical version, while others think it was in a TV version.

I agree with Fanboy in that this is likely an example of Ferris Bueller Syndrome, where people's brains filled in a gap in the film, then later "remember" the scene as actually existing in the original version.

Not that there might not be dialogue missing in that scene, but whatever edits were made were made to the original film, not the video releases.

Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

I agree. That moment has always stood out as awkward to me. In fact, I didn't see that scene until the DVD release; I swear that when I was a boy and saw the movie on TV, I think they cut that little moment of holding up the half-chewed arm out of the TV cut. Since the DVD came out, I've seen that scene on TV though it's nothing compared to what one can see on CSI and so on.

Yes, that moment in Jurassic Park is baaad editing!

There are also terrible moments of editing in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The first one that comes to mind is when Indy is confronted by two swordsmen near the bridge and when he reaches for his gun like in Raiders, it's not there. He does some hand-to-hand combat with them, whips the sword of one out of their hand and over the cliff, then has the sword in his hand?!

All (most?) odd editing moments in Spielberg films can be attributed to his longtime editor, Michael Kaan, who as far as I can tell has edited all of this films since Close Encounters. Verna Fields edited Jaws and Sugarland Express for him, probably after Lucas recommended her from his experience having her edit American Graffiti.

Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

Maybe the footage is missing and the people at Universal aren't aware? Since there's a new DVD coming out (and probably a Blu-Ray too), maybe you should email them and ask them about it and see if it's a glitch in their master that needs to be corrected.

Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

I think that drop in the sound occurs just after the jeeps pass through the main gate. The doors close with a heavy clunk, and at the instant the scene shifts from the gate to inside a jeep (at which time Gennaro lays out the financial concerns about the park to Hammond), it happens.

--THX

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.......

Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

So... Bryan Singer reads DVDTalk?

Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

He might I don't know!

But what I meant is that Bryan Singer was part of an article in last month's UK magazine called "Empire" (which was in fact guest edited by Spielberg himself) in which famous movie people asked Spielberg questions about his films. Singer said that every time he met Spielberg he always wanted to ask him about this particular cut but always forgot.

Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

On Spielberg's explanation, I'm surprised that he thought the line was necessary in order to cut the scene because that line is the only thing that seems completely out-of-place in the scene.

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)

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.

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 ?

Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

:lol:

Conspiracy theories never die.

Re: Missing dialogue in Jaws
 

So wait the line goes, "So this is what happens..." and then a scene change? If so I don't think that's bad at all or maybe it is. The movie itself is interesting and a missing theory could sting some but in a way it makes sense why they did it. In movie world, the convo went on but it's not important enough for us to know about.

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.