Jaws is a 1975 American horror/thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's best-selling novel. The police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant great white shark by closing the beach, only to be overruled by the town council, which wants the beach to remain open to draw a profit from tourists during the summer season. After several attacks, the police chief ...