The New England sea-side town of Amity relies on summer tourism to sustain it. So when an enormous, very hungry Great White shark starts attacking, town officials are slow to acknowledge the deadly monster prowling off-shore. As the body count builds, three men are hired to find and kill the predator: police Chief Brody (Scheider), shark expert Matt Hooper (Dreyfuss), and salty shark hunter Quint (Shaw). This will not be your average fishing trip.

Still under age 30 when released, wunderkind director Spielberg hit the big time with this runaway box-office hit, based on Peter Benchley's novel. John Williams's unforgettable score and Spielberg's clever mounting of suspense recall the best of Hitchcock; and Scheider, Dreyfuss and Shaw make up an unlikely but appealing trio of protagonists. What "Psycho" did for the shower, "Jaws" does for the ocean. Be sure to get the new 30th Anniversary edition — the movie looks flawless.