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In the summer of 1975, the movie 鈥淛aws鈥� made people across America stop thinking it was safe to go into the water.

Instead, they went to the movies to get by a wunderkind director named Steven Spielberg, a testy mechanical shark and perhaps the most menacing musical score in the history of cinema.

鈥�Jaws鈥� debuted on June 20, 1975. Universal Studios gambled that by unleashing the movie in wide release to theaters across the country, then an uncommon practice, and coupling the release with a massive TV ad campaign, the film would be big. They were wrong.

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It was huge.

鈥淛aws鈥� played in theaters for months and earned more than $470 million, thus becoming the first summer movie blockbuster, according the book 鈥�Blockbuster: How the Jaws and Jedi Generation Turned Hollywood into a Boom-Town鈥� (Simon & Schuster, 2004).

The picture remained the biggest box-office hit of all time until George Lucas bumped it from the top spot two years later with another summer smash, 鈥�.鈥�

What makes the story even more remarkable is that 鈥淛aws鈥� was a movie plagued by production problems.

Spielberg, who had previously directed only one feature, 鈥淭he Sugarland Express,鈥� was running behind schedule and way over budget. The movie was filmed on Martha鈥檚 Vineyard and shooting lasted nearly 160 days, instead of the scheduled 55, and cost more than double its original $4 million budget, according to 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry鈥� (The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2010).

To make matters worse, the film鈥檚 title player, , was a malfunctioning mess that rarely worked. In the 鈥淢aking of Jaws,鈥� a documentary produced for the movie鈥檚 30th anniversary, Spielberg talked about the frustration he felt with the nonfunctioning Great White.

But those mechanical mishaps may have been the most important technical snafus in movie history.

The frequent delays allowed for the script to be continually refined. And because his primary special effects prop wasn鈥檛 working properly, Spielberg had to improvise. As a result, the shark (nicknamed Bruce, after the director鈥檚 lawyer) didn't make its first full appearance onscreen until 81 minutes into the 124-minute movie.

In keeping off-screen for most of the film, Spielberg employed a strategy often used by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, wrote film critic Roger Ebert in his book, 鈥淕reat Movies II鈥� (Random House, 2005).

"A bomb is under the table and it explodes. That is surprise," Ebert quotes Hitchcock. "The bomb is under the table but it does not explode. That is suspense."

Spielberg leaves the under the table for most of the movie, Ebert explains, and the payoff is one of the most effective thrillers ever made.

The eerie suspense, combined with the crisp cinematography and John Williams鈥� unforgettable score, made 鈥淛aws鈥� a spine-tingling sensation.

The astounding success of 鈥淛aws鈥� opened the eyes of studio executives to the moneymaking ability of summer movies. It may be hard to believe today, but in 1975, the summer months were considered a dumping ground for movies, according to the industry compendium 鈥淕eorge Lucas鈥檚 Blockbusting鈥� (Harper Collins, 2010).

鈥淚n the early 1970s, the only movies that got simultaneous wide release were big-budget turkeys that the studios wanted to play off quickly before word [got out],鈥� according to 鈥淕eorge Lucas鈥檚 Blockbusting.鈥�

After 鈥淛aws,鈥� studios reversed course and started programming big-budget, high-concept films for the summer. And instead of slow burning, word-of-mouth "platform" release patterns, Hollywood started rolling out its high-profile films in wide release, for maximum impact.

For better or worse, 鈥淛aws鈥� and its fellow 1970s phenomenon 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� ushered in the modern era of movies as mass commercial commodities, so-called tentpole pictures that could sell as much merchandise as movie tickets, according to 鈥淓asy Riders, Raging Bulls,鈥� (Simon & Schuster, 1998). "Jaws" merchandise included t-shirts, plastic fins for swimmers and a game.

One can only wonder how it all would have turned out if the shark had actually worked the way Spielberg wanted it.

This article was provided by , a sister site to LiveScience.

IN PICTURES: Top shark attack locations