Jaws

Steven Spielberg's 1975 masterpiece, Jaws, tell the tale of a small American town beset by a savage great white shark. The movie was actually inspired by a book written by Peter Benchley, who himself was inspired by real life events that took place on the New Jersey shoreline in 1916. Spielberg's deft hand at horror earned him a place as one of the preeminent directors of his generation.

The story begins off the coast of Amity Island, where a young swimmer gets pulled under and devoured by a shark. Thus begins an epic confrontation between man and beast. The local sheriff wants the beach shut down so that the shark can he hunted and killed, but the mayor wants to keep the beach open, since the town relies on tourism to sustain itself.

Ultimately, after several other shark incidents, the sheriff teams up with a crew of hunters to take on the animal. After an epic battle, which recalls the great confrontation between Captain Ahab and the white whale in Moby Dick, the crew dispatches with its mission.

The haunting musical score from the movie has been emblazoned into the culture, and countless subsequent ocean horror movies have referred to or drawn directly from Jaws. David Brown and Richard Zanuck produced the film, and the movie rung up a huge tally at the box office. The roles played by Roy Scheider (the police chief) and Richard Dreyfuss (Matt Hooper) are particularly intriguing. Memorabilia such as movie posters, soundtracks, scripts, and more are available online.