Steve Martin's 'The Jerk' is finally coming to Blu-ray on July 9. I've owned the HD DVD version since it was released and, hopefully, the Blu-ray version will be an improvement. The HD DVD version isn't horrible, but Universal could have done a better job with the transfer if it wanted to.
Anyway, regarding the movie, perhaps one of the AVS old-timers can help me remember the details about the soundtrack (musical number) change in 'The Jerk' for home video release?
In the theatrical version, the song/music that was playing over the radio when Mavin (Steve Martin) declares "this music speaks to me" is a number titled "Crazy Rhythm." Then, somewhere along the home video release timeline, a different musical number was substituted for "Crazy Rhythm." Or maybe it was just a different version (different orchestra) performing its version of Crazy Rhythm? As best I can remember, the original music was used for both the VHS and Laserdisc release. I'm reasonably certain the change took place with the first DVD release. As I recall, the back of the DVD contained a notice that some music had been changed (I forget the exact wording).
I'm pretty sure this was all discussed online (Compuserve?) at the time of the DVD release. But lots of Googling has not been able to come up with the answer or any reference to the discussion.
Does anyone here still have the VERY FIRST DVD release? I'd be interested in being reminded of the exact wording regarding the music change.
Or, maybe I'm remembering it wrong and ALL home video versions used the alternate music? (But I don't think so!)
I still own the original DiscoVision Laserdisc release of 'The Jerk.' Unfortunately, my Laserdisc player stopped working years ago and I've never bothered to get it fixed. Maybe I should spend the money just to satisfy my curiosity?
