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9

Which 1975 horror film, which caused a slowdown in summer tourism, starred Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss?

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Directed by a young Steven Spielberg, this 1975 thriller famously made an entire generation of moviegoers afraid to go in the water. The story is set in the fictional New England resort town of Amity Island, where a great white shark begins attacking beachgoers. The film follows the desperate efforts of police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and grizzled shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) as they team up to hunt the monstrous creature.

The film was a massive cultural phenomenon and is widely credited with inventing the modern summer blockbuster. Its wide release during the summer, backed by an unprecedented television marketing campaign, created a new and incredibly profitable model for the film industry. The film's terrifying effectiveness, amplified by John Williams' iconic and suspenseful two-note musical score, led to a documented phenomenon of beach-related anxiety. This "Jaws effect" resulted in a very real, albeit temporary, slowdown in tourism at coastal resorts across the United States during the summer of its release.