8 Homages to Steven Spielberg’s Jaws to Celebrate 50 Years

Steven Spielberg’s Jaws celebrates fifty years of scaring people from swimming in the ocean. The film tells the story of Police Chief Martin Brody trying to curb panic and death in the beach town of Amity Island. Chief Brody enlists the help of oceanographer Matt Hooper and fisherman Quint to help him catch the finned fiend.

By being the top-grossing movie of 1975, it put the term “blockbuster” into the lexicon, as caused massive lines at movie theaters. Its status as one of the most enduring films has resulted in numerous homages over the years. Here are some pop culture touchstones for the film’s fiftieth anniversary.

Pirahna

With the success of any movie comes a number of knock-offs. Jaws was no exception. New World Pictures released Piranha in 1978. The Joe Dante-directed film moves its setting from the eastern seaboard to a river next to a summer resort. The piranhas have been genetically altered and threaten vacationing families at a resort next to their lake. Although intended for a more adult audience, Spielberg liked Dante’s film so much he stopped Universal from suing New World over its similarity to Jaws.

Kevin Smith

Ever a champion of pop culture homages, Kevin Smith has made references to the films and comics of his youth. While almost every film he’s made has had a Star Wars shout-out at some point, many of the early View Askew movies had references to Jaws.

Whether it’s the names of some lead characters in his movies, TS Quint and Brody in Mallrats and Hooper X in Chasing Amy; or a romantic gesture like proposing to his girlfriend when Jaws pops out of the water on the Universal tour, the references are abound. The best of these references is the sex injury battle scars discussion from Chasing Amy, which mirrors the trio of shark hunters bonding over injuries. However, it was Randal’s swimming tortilla chip in Clerks, dubbed Salsa Shark, that was the first of these references.

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo takes us on a deep-sea adventure while clownfish Marlin searches for his son, Nemo. As with most Pixar films, we meet many different characters during this journey, including a trio of sharks who are trying their best to make friends with fish, not food. A great white shark named Bruce does his best to resist, but in the end, tries to make a meal out of our heroes.

The origin of Bruce’s name comes from the mechanical shark built for Jaws, which frequently broke down. This led to a common lament on the set, “The shark isn’t working.” Despite the headaches the shark gave him over and over, Spielberg honored the shark with the same name as his lawyer, Bruce. 

1941

While Jaws and its follow-up film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, propelled Steven Spielberg’s star, Back to the Future scribes Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale were making a name for themselves, starting with 1978’s I Wanna Hold Your Hand. While that film was not a success, it impressed Spielberg enough to work with them on the World War II comedy, 1941. Released in 1979, the opening features a cameo and parody of Spielberg’s 1975 thriller.

Back to the Future 2

Back to the Future was produced by Steven Spielberg after Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale had a string of underperforming films. However, the success of the first ebtry changed that for Zemeckis and Gale, who were able to get two sequels greenlit and complete their vision for the trilogy. The second entry in the series features Marty McFly being transported to Hill Valley in 2015. While walking through the town’s main square, he encounters some interactive promotion for the latest Jaws movie.

Speaking of Back to the Future, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first film and the trilogy overall, Universal made a fake trailer for Jaws 19. However, given the number of Fast and Furious movies, is this parody or art?

Family Guy

Throw a rock at pop culture and the primetime or late night cartoons of our generation have parodied the films of our past, including Jaws. However, this Family Guy’s episode from March of 2010 that turns the third act of Jaws into the first act for a different Jaws sequel, Bigger Jaws.

Pirahna 3D (2010)

Whether it’s a knock off or not, movies find an audience for a myriad of different reasons. Piranha was one of those movies. While not only getting the sequel treatment in 1982 with Piranha II: The Spawning. It has been remade twice in 1995 and 2010. The opening for the 2010 remake shows the demise of an elderly man who looks very similar to the one of the brave men who had fought that great white back on the Orca in 1975

This list scratches the surface of references to one of the most popular movies of all time. There are many more out there and many more references to be made. Its great to know after fifty years, that the shark is still working. What are your favorites?

Read Forrest’s book review of the novel that started it all, here.