8mm Forum: JAWS2-17mins/colour/sound.

This is topic JAWS2-17mins/colour/sound. in forum 8mm Print Reviews at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on October 19, 2006, 11:56 AM:

Here my view on the 1978 sequel to that super thriller..
Universal released this as a two reeler only,and a smashing job they made of it.
Two girls are water-skiing,one towing the other-when a shadow begins to follow them.Slowly,the tell tail fin rises from the water
and with one snap,the skier disappears.Her mate stops the boat,and peers over the side,only to sway back in terror as the huge shark
rocks the small boat!.In the chaos that follows,parrafin is splashed around as the shark gets a burned nose before the boat-
and the girl-explode.Later,Police Chief Brody(Roy Scheider)is on partol when he sees a piece of driftwood.He stops,gets out of his
police car,and wades out to it,he heavens at the planking-only to
release the burnt remains of the girl..It's a super shock moment.
The action switches to a yacht race manned by some carefree youngers.Soon,thry are paralysed with fear as,one by one,their small boats are destroyed by that toothy villian.
An air rescue helicopter arrives on the scene,and lands on the water..This is obviosly giving JAWS a headache-the monster leaps from the water and completely demolishes the whirley bird!.
Desperately,the youngers try to paddle their damaged dingies to the small island as Brody arrives in the police launch.There are screams galoreas the kids are picked off one at a time,then Brody spots a high voltage cable leading from the small island.Can he attract JAWS on to this instant barbecue?....
If the first JAWS was the best ever 200footer..then Jaws2 is one of the best 400footers ever.Universal 8 did a brillant job on this one as well.My copy does have a little fade,but it's still very watchable.Great fun all round;track down this two reeler.It's a brillant edit job..A scope print was also released;
This is the panned and scanned version,giving a nice widescreen effect.Excellent.Andy.

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on October 19, 2006, 12:50 PM:

Andrew-

Again, another great review, and I agree, one of the best 400 foot digests around. This was my most requested digest for kids Halloween shows in the 80's.

I wish it could have been 2 x 400 like Jaws, but then the editing wouldnt have been as swift, I guess.

Mine is letterboxed.

Nick.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 09, 2009, 10:46 AM:

I was glad to hear that a scope version was released of this as well, as this would great in scope! I'm selling that Jaws 2 on ebay now, but I watched first as well, and it is a good digest release. No filler, all action!

Jaws looked better in this sequel, by the way!

Posted by Steven J Kirk (Member # 1135) on April 09, 2009, 10:56 AM:

Jaws 3D - yay! a classic. Wasn't there a fourth one with Michael Caine? 'Jaws - the Revenge'. I believe it was about that he said, 'When one enjoys a high standard of living one has to sometimes make a low standard of film.' Guess that comment didn't make it to the poster.

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on November 09, 2010, 08:50 AM:

I just watched this last night, and I was reminded what a cool digest this one is.

As mentioned before, Andrew did an excellent job reviewing ths one (hows he doing these days [Smile]

). It certainly is fast-paced, and perfect as a 400 footer.

Mine is the letterboxed version, and the most impessive wide-screen scene to me is the waterski attack/explosion scene. The viewer needs to see both sides of the screen for the full dramatic effect, so the letterboxing is very effective (I'm sure the scope print is even better).

The backround music score is impressive in this too, and has some great moments.

Another great scene in this digest is when the helecopter is just inches over the water, when "jaws" suddenly pops up and grabs the bottom of the chopper, pulling it into the water. To add to the chaos, the chopper blades start breaking up on the water's surface, sending speeding projectiles everywhere, and shredding whats left of the small sail boats.

Sorry to ramble on, but I just thought this U-8 400 footer deserved to be mentioned again.

Of course, there's not much color left on mine. But I refuse to discard it. Its still alot of fun to watch.

Would LOVE to have a scope print, with excellent colors [Wink]

.

James.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on November 09, 2010, 01:21 PM:

Great review Andrew as always. I have both Jaws 1 and 2 and the color had held up very well. I wish J2 was 2x400 like J1. As far as Jaws:The Revenge, that was directed by Joe Alves who did work on the other J films as special effects editor. The best part was when Michael Caine says "oh the breath on that thing".

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on November 10, 2010, 05:04 AM:

I have the scope version - must run it again soon in view of the glowing praise here. Neither the flat or scope versions seem to be offered for sale very often, so I guess it's one that people hang on to.

For additional fun viewing, I can recommend the Jaws 3 trailer that Derann released. (I didn't say Jaws 3D, as the trailer must have been for cinemas showing it 2D, as the title appears as Jaws 3.)

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on November 10, 2010, 11:02 AM:

JAWS 2 is pretty common on EBAY in its flat version,I have seen it listed at least half a dozen times over the past 2 years.

A very good cutdown and far better than the tedious full length version.

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on November 11, 2010, 05:11 AM:

Yes Mark. MUCH better as a cut-down. Would have been alright as a 2 x 400 footer, but not great as a feature length film.

Although-

Its funny, I saw this at the movie theater when it came out in the 70's, and I was somewhat dissapointed. But then, Jaws 3 and Jaws 4 came along, and then Jaws 2 seemed like a small masterpiece!

James.

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