Supposedly, Spielberg did explain the oddness of the edit in the Hooper examination sequence to TSISW filmmakers. Alas, if this is true, it does not appear on the version released on the new Jaws blu ray.
Does anyone know the actual story behind this insert shot?
Hey, I just watched TSISW on Blu ray. I am very disappointed by the whole thing. Where are the hundreds of hours of footage of the shark not working??? i can't believe they still haven't shown us these. Especially the final edit of the famous cut scene with Body's son being held by the fisherman in the mouth of jaws. And the strange edit of the arm has always intrigued me. Then there is the little discussed fact that there was music composed for Quint's death that was never used. I played the cd track QUINTS Death with the scene in the movie and it FITS PERFECTLY!
It is utterly thrilling! WHY did they cut it? I could go on and on. Hope I live to see more of the outtakes.
Spielberg answered this question when it was put to him by director Bryan Singer in an Empire magazine Q&A feature.
It was near to release date and he and Verna Fields were looking for content trims to ensure they got a PG rating. Rather than finesse that entire scene to make it seem likea more natural cut, they just lopped a part of the examination close-ups along with the VO dialogue. They were satisfied with the way it was at the time because A) It showed the MPAA that they were behaving themselves by showing how willing they are to compromise the flow of the scene for the sake of the rating which meant that they were more lenient on some the more grapich material in later, more crucial scenes. B) Cutting things like that can actually make them stick in the audience's mind even better C) It was the New-Wave influenced seventies. A jump cut like that was not unheard of and just considered part of the style. D) They didn't have time to do anything else.
Glasgow's FOREMOST authority Italics = irony. Infer the opposite please.