Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley. It stars Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody, who, with the help of a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter (Robert Shaw), hunts a man-eating great white shark that attacks beachgoers at a summer resort town. Murray Hamilton plays the mayor, and Lorraine Gary portrays Brody's wife. The screenplay is credited to Benchley, who wrote the first drafts, and actor-writer Carl Gottlieb, who rewrote the script during principal photography.

Plot

In the New England beach town of Amity Island, a young woman goes for a late-night ocean swim during a beach party. An unseen force attacks and pulls her underwater. Her partially eaten remains are found washed up on the beach the next morning. After the coroner concludes she was the victim of a shark attack, Amity police chief Martin Brody closes the beaches; Mayor Larry Vaughn persuades him to reconsider, fearing the town's summer economy will suffer. The coroner, apparently under pressure, now concurs with the mayor's theory that it was a boating accident. Brody reluctantly accepts their conclusion until a young boy, Alex Kintner, is killed at a crowded beach. A $3000 bounty is placed on the shark, causing an amateur shark-hunting frenzy. Quint, an eccentric and crusty local shark hunter, offers his services for $10,000. Consulting oceanographer Matt Hooper examines the girl's remains, confirming that she was killed by an unusually large shark.

Awards