As ‘Jaws’ Turns 50, It’s Time To Bring Back the Grand ’70s Tradition of Animal Disaster Movies

In the 1970s, one film kept beachgoers—and generations of beachgoers to follow—out of the water with an irrational fear of big teeth eating them whole, accompanied by a chilling John Williams score. That movie, of course, is Jaws, the iconic Steven Spielberg film that launched the era of the summer blockbuster 50 years ago. And in Hollywood, overwhelming success leads to a slew of copycat films, as true now as it was then, and Jaws was no different.