MOVIE GOLD

The first summer blockbuster, Jaws, celebrates its 50th birthday

- ROBERT EDELSTEIN

DURING THE LAST three months of 1974, three all-star-cast “disaster” movies drew fans to U.S. theaters. Airport 1975, Earthquake and The Towering Inferno were each rousing successes.

Another film that had been set for a Christmas 1974 release was delayed for months and deemed a disaster of a whole different kind. Helmed by a fledgling director whose ideas seemed too big for his budget, it was plagued by crippling problems with special effects, a difficult shooting location and gnawing doubts from its producers.

And yet, somehow, upon completion, director Steven Spielberg's Jaws became an absolute action-horror winner.

But it wasn't the astonishing quality alone that made