Favorite Movie References In The Simpsons
God… so many.
It’s from an otherwise poor, later-season episode, but I’ve always loved this conversation…
Marge: But Homer, you’ll like Japan. You like Rashomon.
Homer: That’s not how I remember it!
Or, in the Australia episode, during the slide show explaining America’s brief infatuation with Australia, one of the slides is a broken down theater with a marquee reading “Yahoo Serious Festival,” Lisa’s response is…
“I know those words, but that sign makes no sense.”
Oh flip! A Kurosawa reference! I don’t remember that one! Nice.
A Streetcare Named Marge: Maggie and the other babies are used to reference The Birds and you see Alfred Hitchcock walking his famous dog outside. Its frig’n sweet.
And that’s on top of a great Ayn Rand joke, supersolth. Not a movie reference, I know, but any show featuring a totalitarian pre-school named Ayn Rand’s School for Tots is beyond genius.
Too bad the quality dipped so much at around the tenth season mark, and the show continues it’s run of mediocrity to this day (20 seasons in, and no end in sight).
Brandon Bedaw – Well put.
“Stop The Planet Of The Apes I Want To Get Off!”
“Oh my god! I was wrong! It was Earth all along! You finally made a monkey…”
“Yes we finally made a monkey!”
“Yes you finally made a monkey out of me!”
I’ve never been good at remembering Simpsons quotes, but in response to Brandon: Season 10 of the Simpsons and beyond (coming after the incredible genius of Season 3-8 + scattered episodes of 9) is pretty much one of the biggest travesties ever inflicted on humankind.
during the episode where Lisa gets married you see a sign for an adult theater with the now playing title: Sperms of Endearment
Another one…
When Homer forgets to pick Bart up from his soccer game, all the other kids are about to leave to go to the movies, and they ask if he wants to come.
Milhouse: “Hey Bart, we’re going to go see an R-rated movie… it’s called Barton Fink! Do you want to come?”
Bart (disappointed): “No, I have to wait for my dad.”
The kids then take off on the back of the pickup truck, pumping their arms up in the air and yelling, “Barton Fink! Barton Fink!”
It perfectly captures the lure an R rating has for children, even if the movie in question is nothing that would interest them. Another similar joke/reference is when they use Bart’s fake ID to get into a screening of Naked Lunch, but come out disappointed…
Nelson: “I can think of at least two things wrong with that title.”
Homer spoiling the “twist” in Empire, Bart’s Clockwork Orange costume, and Nelson’s 400 Blows homage, just to get started.
There’s another great Clockwork reference, when Lisa conditions Bart to become physically ill whenever he comes near cupcakes, a la The Ludovico Technique. All of this coming to it’s glorious conclusion, when they re-create the shot of Alex reaching up for the woman’s breasts, but with Bart reaching up for two cupcakes, complete with cherries for nipples.
dammit BRANDON, you just stole the reference i was gonna post! good call…
i still say later day Simpsons is still better than 90% of TV, even if its not as good as it was from seasons 3-9.
as long as we’re talking Kubrick on the Simpsons, the whole “The Shinning” episode from Treehouse of Horror was EXCELLENT. probably one of the best Treehouse of Horror episodes, ever.
Homer: No TV and no Beer make Homer…something something…
Marge: Go crazy?
Homer: DON’T MIND IF I DO!!!
or when Moe goes to get Homer out of the food storage locker and he and the other monsters want to know how is progress killing his family is going. Homer’s response? “Can’t kill. Eating”
hell yea…
Theres a great vertigo reference in the episode “Principal Charming” from season two. Principle Skinner is running up a tower and the view down becomes distorted. I also want to acknowledge that the scene where Bart is reaching for the cupcakes is pretty brilliant.
best cinematic simpson moment to me is the episode when they decide to have a film festival in town. good god, i laugh so hard at that episode, it makes me smile just thinking about it.
-senor spielbergo
-barney’s art film
-after barney’s film, homer saying “wowwwww. i’ll never drink another beer again.” “BEER HERE!” “i’ll take 10!!!”
- moleman’s football in the crotch short
Homer’s dilemma as a judge at the film festival is great (after Marge chooses him as the final judge over Scorsese)…
“Barney’s movie has heart, but Football in the Groin has a football in the groin.”
Oh, and Mr. Burns’ defense of comparing himself to Schindler…
“Me and Oskar Schindler are like pees in a pod. We both own factories, we both made shells for the Nazis… but mine worked, dammit!”
“The Shinning” from Treehouse of Horrors V.
I recently saw one where they were in Italy, and Homer was driving a fast car and needed directions, and said…
Homer: The GPS says we need to turn left at that midget feeding that really fat woman.
Lisa: That’s not the GPS, that’s a DVD of a Fellini movie.
About the funniest thing I’ve seen from that show in over a decade, but even then it was just chuckles, no big laugh.
I think the film festival is one of the better episodes, from what I remember.
“Hey ma, can I have a cookie?”
“No dice.”
“This ain’t over.”
Even though it’s not a specific movie reference seeing Bronson’s face all over was hilarious.
Cape Fear, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and for anyone who wants help remembering…
http://www.neenja.com/articles/4/40_movie_references_from_the_simpsons
Also what is the name of the Bart as Alex with cupcakes episode called? And in what episode is Nelson copy The 400 Blows?
can’t remember the episode, but they were doing a “clip” from the latest Death Wish movie…
Charles Bronson, in a hospital bed, looking like ass:
“Boy, I wish I was dead.” in that hilarious Chicago/Midwest accent!
The episode with Bart going through the Ludovico technique for cupcakes is Duffless, drew, from season four. This episode also contains one of my all-time favorite Simpsons moments, when a drunken Barney smashes his car into Chief Wigum while he’s disguised as a giant beer stein, causing the Chief to roll down a hill. He loves the ride, until he smashes into a tree far in the distance, and explodes.
I’ll also add Homer creating a circus tent out of mashed potatoes, after he’s been brainwashed against his will by a billboard to go to Clown College (Close Encounters of the Third Kind being the reference).
when Bart prank calls some bar in Sweden and Ingmar Bergman picks up-says a bunch of stuff about the world and hangs up on Bart
Jonathan Doser
Throughout the years, The Simpsons has referenced/mentioned/parodied so many classic movies. Here are two of my favorites:
Lisa: And there’s the cane from Citizen Kane! . . .Wait, there was no cane in Citizen Kane.
Smithers: There is a man
Chorus: There is a man!
Smithers: A certain man
Chorus: A certain man!
Smithers: A man whose grace and handsome face are known across the land. You know his name
Chorus: You know his name!
Smithers: It’s Mr. Burns
Chorus: It’s Mr. Burns!
Smithers: He loves a smoke, enjoys a joke
Burns & Chorus: Ah ha ha ha!
Smithers: Why he’s worth ten times what he earns.
Chorus: He’s Mr. Burns!
Burns: I’m Mr. Burns!
Smithers: He’s Monty Burns!
Burns: I’m Mr. Burns!
Smithers & Chorus: To friends he’s known as Monty but to you it’s Mr. Burns!
Smithers: Bur-bur-bur-bur-Burns.
Burns: Burns!