It's been 50 years since the premiere of Steven Spielberg's Jaws and so much has happened in the world of oceanography and marine life. We still read about shark attacks and the changing patterns and behavior of sharks, dolphins, and whales - mostly as a result of climate change.

Jaws was based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Peter Benchley, and 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 New England 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.

Regarded as a watershed moment in motion picture history, Jaws was the prototypical summer blockbuster winning several awards for its music and editing. It was the highest-grossing film of all time until the release of Star Wars two years later; both films were pivotal in establishing the modern Hollywood business model, which pursues high box-office returns from action and adventure films with simple high-concept premises, released during the summer in thousands of theaters and advertised heavily.

Jaws was followed by three sequels, none of which involved Spielberg or Benchley, as well as many imitative thrillers. In 2001, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

We all still remember the Jaws soundtrack composed by John Williams which earned him an Academy Award and was later ranked the sixth-greatest score by the American Film Institute.