Steven Spielberg's breakout film, Jaws is the quintessential summer blockbuster, generating all the horror, thrills, suspense, and special effects you would expect from such a film. Not excessively violent or gruesome like traditional horror films, Jaws nonetheless manages to create an icy frost in every viewer's veins. Based on the true story of a great white shark which terrorized the shores of New Jersey in the summer of 1916, Jaws is an ingenious adaptation of Peter Benchley's best-selling novel inspired by the incident. Jaws tells the story of man's eternal struggle against nature, a story so compelling it captures the imagination of every generation who hears it - from 1916 to 1975 to the present day