MOVIE MOMENTS
Compiled by: Matt Skies
***************************************************************************
THERE'S NO DISGRACE LIKE HOME
In a Scene reminiscent of Clockwork Orange (1971), the Simpson family members
are seated in a stark white laboratory, wired with electrodes, fronted by a
bank of buttons. Each has the ability to shock everyone else.
BART THE GENERAL
While Bart trains his platoon, the trumpets blare the theme from Patton.
THE TELLTALE HEAD
The morning after sawing off the head of Jebediah Springfield's statue, Bart
wakes up with the head beside him in bed a las the horse's head in The Godfather
LIFE ON THE FAST LANE
To the strains of "Up Where We Belong" from An Officer and a Gentleman, Marge
walks with a purposeful expression into the nuclear power plant and embraces
Homer. He picks her up and carries her out of the plant announcing, "I'm going
to the back seat of my car with the woman I love and I won't be back for 10
minutes."
SIMPSON AND DELILAH
Homer runs through the streets celebrating his newfound hair, reminiscent of
It's a Wonderful Life.
TREEHOUSE OF HORROR
Maggie turns her head all the way around a la The Exorcist
The haunted house's behavior and the Indian graves in the cellar parody Poltergeist
Blood oozes down the walls and the chimney runs up the center of the wall
a la The Amityville Horror.
The haunted house's shape recalls Psycho.
The Haunted house emplodes a la The Fall of the House of Usher.
The cookbook, How to Cook for Fory Humans, parodies the "Twilight Zone"
episode, "To Serve Man."
The "Ow," heard when the fly hits the bug zapper, parodies the move The Fly.
DANCIN' HOMER
Homer's farewell speech on "Dancin' Homer Appreciation Night," in which he
holds his cap to hes heart, parodies Lou Gehrig in Pride of the Yankees:
"...Today as I leave for Capital City, I consider myself the luckiest mascot
on the face of the Earth!"
BART THE DAREDEVIL
Bart's emergence through the heat and haze with his skateboard to jump
Springfield Gorge is an ode to Lawrence of Arabia.
BART GETS HIT BY A CAR
When Bart regains consciousness in the hospital he points to everyone who
was in his visit to the afterlife a la Dorthy at the end of The Wizard of Oz.
HOMER VS. LISA AND THE 8TH COMMANDMENT
After finding out the cable man does illegal hookups, Homer chases down his
truck and fakes getting hit in order to get him to stop. It is reminiscent
of North by Northwest.
PRINCIPAL CHARMING
Homer's futuristic means of analyzing potential suitors for Selma parodies
The Terminator
Principal Skinner declares that "Tomorrow is another school day!" a la Gone
with the Wind("Tomorrow is another day!")
Skinner carries Patty up the steps to the bell tower a la Quasimodo carrying
Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Skinner's climb up the stair at Springfield Elementary recalls the final
scene from Hitchcock's Vertigo
BART'S DOG GETS AN F
When Lisa finishes the quilt, she and Marge touch sewing fingers a la E.T.
BRUSH WITH GREATNESS
Homer's declaration,"As God as my witness, I'll always be hungry again!"
parodies Scarlett O'Hara's in Gone with the Wind
Over a montage of Homer getting fit is and accompaniment similar to the theme
of Rocky
THE WAR OF THE SIMPSONS
Flanders quickly makes a drink, mimicking moves from Cocktail
THREE MEN AND A COMIC BOOK
The suspicion that develops between the boys, and Bart's subsequent paranoia
is reminiscent of the clasic "Treasure of Sierra Madre."
The scene of Mrs. Glick's shadow looming over Bart's quivering shadow and
Bart pleading, "No! Now, not the iodine! Burn the germs off with a torch,
amputate my arm, but not the - YAAAUUUGGGHHH!" is reminiscent of the scene
in Gone With The Wind, in which the soldier gets his leg amputated
WHEN FLANDERS FAILED
Elements of the final scene including the way that Ned and Maude are dressed
and Homer's toast to the sing along are reminiscent of the end of It's a
Wonderful Life
LIKE FATHER LIKE CLOWN
The theme of a rabbi father rejecting his son's choice of entertainment as a
career is reminiscent of the film The Jazz Singer
TREEHOUSE OF HORROR II
The scene in which Homer is caught at the Moroccan airport trying to smuggle
tacky souvenirs by taping them to his chest parodies te heroin-smuggling
opening scene in Midnight Express
The sotryline of a boy who can read minds and wreak havoc with his thoughs
is taken directly from the "It's a Good Life" episode of the "Twilight Zone"
that starred Billy Mumy
Johnny Carson appears on television at the Simpson home in his Karnac the
Great get-up. He holds an envelope to his head and says, "Geraldo Rivera,
Madonna, and a diseased yak." No question is heard
Homer's dream of a transplanted brain parodies the old Frankenstein films.
The end of the story parodies The Thing with Two Heads
LISA'S PONY
In a sci-fi dream, an apefied Homer takes a nap while perching on the
monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. While the other apes are discovering
tools, Homer invents goofing off.
LISA THE GREEK
When Homer says, "I used to hate the smell of your sweaty feet. Now it's the
smell of victory," he is mimicking a line from Apocolypse Now
HOMER AT THE BAT
Homer makes his "WonderBat" from a tree that is struck by lightning, a la Roy
Hobbs' bat in The Natural
Seperate Vocations
When Principal Skinner asks Lisa what she is rebelling against, she answers,
"Whattaya got?" as Marlon Brando did in The Wild One. She even has a
toothpick in her mouth
DOG OF DEATH
Burns brainwashes Santa's Little Helper by restraining him, prying his eyes
open, and forcing him to watch images a dog would find horrifying, a la A
Clockwork Orange
COLONEL HOMER
On entering Spittle County, Homer passes a kid playing a banjo on a porch
a la Deliverance
BART'S FRIEND FALLS IN LOVE
The opening scene of Bart trying to steal Homer's penny jar parodies the
opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE TWO DIMES?
Homer's psychedelic, dreamy rush while in the Spine Melter 2000 chair is
reminiscent of the penultimate scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey
KAMP KRUSTY
Lisa bribes a stranger on horseback with a bottle of booze to smuggle out
her letter home a la Meryl Streep in The French Lieutenant's Woman
The post-overthrow Kamp Krusty is similar to Kurtz's camp in Apocalypse Now
A STREETCAR NAMED MARGE
When the tab breaks off his pudding can, Homer stands outside in the yard
and screams "Marge!" as Marlon Brando did in A Streetcar Named Desire
Maggie and the other children plot to get their pacifiers back in two scenes
borrowed from The Great Escape
Homer picks up Maggie from childcare the night the show opens. The other
toddlers are gathered around. The only sound is the echo of them sucking on
their pacifiers. Homer moves through the children like Rod Taylor in The Birds
HOMER THE HERETIC
While saving Homer, the floor burns out beneath Flanders's feat a la a rescue
scene in Backdraft
Homer dances in his underwear like Tom Cruise in Risky Business
TREEHOUSE OF HORROR III
A Krusty doll that is good to it's child owner but evil to its father
parodies the classic episode,"Living Doll," from "Twilight Zone"("My name
is Talking Tina and I love you very much"), starring Telly Savalas
This entire segment is a parody of the origional King Kong
This story, about zombies who emerge from the grave to devour human flesh
and organs, parodies George Romero's horror classic, Night of the Living Dead
ITCHY & SCRATCHY: THE MOVIE
The first Itchy & Scratchy short, "Steamboat Itchy," parodies the first Mickey
Mouse cartoon,"Steamboat Willie"
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
The courtroom scene in which bailiffs march in with bags and bags of letters
addressed to Santa Claus is a parody of the film, Miracle on 34th Street
MR. PLOW
After Homer averts a possible snow day by plowing a path for the Springfield
Elementary school bus, Bart is ambushed and riddled with snow balls a la
Sonny Corleone in The Godfather
LISA'S FIRST WORD
In the Itchy & Scratchy cartoon "100-Yard Gash," the music is taken from
Chariots of Fire and the Vangelis soundtrack
MARGE VS. THE MONORAIL
Lyle Lanley acts and sounds like traveling salesman Porfessor Harold Hill in
The Music Man, except that Hill goes to River City, Iowa, rather than
Springfield and is interested in starting a boys' band rather than stiffing
the town on a monrail projct. "The Monorail Song" also contains elements of
The Music Man tune "Trouble"
The scene in which Mr. Burns and Smithers prepare to illegally dump nuclear
waste is accompanied by an adaptation of "Axel F (Axel's Theme)" from
Beverly Hills Cop. A similar adaption of the song was used in 8F15,
"Seperate Vocations"
BROTHER FROM THE SAME PLANET
Milhouse writes "Trab pu kcip! Trab pu kcip!" on the wall like the little kid
in The Shining
DUFFLESS
At the end of the episode, Homer rides Marge around on his bicycle handlebars
to the song "Raidrops Keep Falling on My Head" in a takeoff of Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid.
LAST EXIT TO SPRINGFIELD
Lisa smashes a mirror after looking at her braces in Wolfe's office a la the
Joker in Batman
SO IT'S COME TO THIS: A SIMPSONS CLIP SHOW
Barney's attempt to suffocate Homer(and his subsequent "escape" from the hospital)
parodies the last scene in One flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
CAPE FEARE
The episode parodies the film Cape Fear and contains elements of Psycho(When
Sideshow Bob stays at the Bates Motel in Terror Lake)
HOMER GOES TO COLLEGE
The nerds work out of Room 222, the name of a popular TV show in the 1970's
And Mr. Burns tries to get the nuclear inspectors to take the washer and dryer
where Smithers is standing or trade it for a box, parodying the game show
classic "Let's make a deal"
ROSEBUD
The opening shot of Burns Manor and the scene in which Mr. Burns breaks snow
globes parodies Citizen Kane.
The guards outside Burns Manor march and chant a la the guards in The Wizard
of Oz.
TREEHOUSE OF HORROR IV
The story parodies "The Twilight Zone" episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,"
starring William Shatner, which takes place on a jet instead of a school bus.
The story's title and much of its plot parody Baram Stroker's Dracula and
Francis Ford Coppola's film thereof.
BART'S INNER CHILD
Kids injured in trampoline accidents are lined up in rows like the injured
soldiers in Gone with the Wind.
$PRINGFIELD (OR, HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE LEGALIZED GAMBLING)
The scene at the blackjack table between Homer and an autistic card-counter
spoofs Rain Man
HOMER THE VIGILANTE
Molloy sends Springfield on a hunt for treasure that is buried underneath a
giant letter as in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
The end sequence of the show parodies the star-studded film--style of music,
manic search for the money, recreation of the scene in which Phil Silvers
drives his convertible into a river
LISA VS. MALIBU STACY
The "We Love You, Matlock" song parodies the "We Love You, Conrad" tune from
Bye Bye Birdie
Homer plays obsessibley on the giant keyboard in the toystore a la Big
DEEP SPACE HOMER
Several scenes in the episode spoof The Right Stuff, including Homer and
Barney's training regimen and when the srew sings while sweating out reentry
HOMER LOVES FLANDERS
Where's your messiah now, Flanders?" parodies a line from The Ten Commandments
Homer sprints after Flanders's car with the golf irons a la Terminator 2
BART GETS AN ELEPHANT
A curious Stampy looks directly into the window outside the Simpsons' living
room a la the T-Rex peering into the jeep in Jurassic Park
BURNS' HEIR
A cockney boy says to Burns, "Why, today is Christmas Day, sir," parodying a
scene with Ebeneezer Scrroge in A Christmas Carol
SWEET SEYMOUR SKINNER'S BAADASSSSS SONG
The scene in which Willie looks for Santa's Little Helper in the air ducts as
Skinner watches on a radar monitor parodies a scene from Alien
LADY BOUVIER'S LOVER
Mr. Burns and Mrs. Bouvier get married in the First Church of Springfield
(as Grampa screams from the glassed-in organist's booth) and Grampa and Mrs.
Bouvier run out to the minbus to the strains of "Sounds of Silence"-seque
music in a direct parody of The Graduate
BART OF DARKNESS
Numerous elements of the murder plot including the music, parody Hitchcock's
Rear Window
ITCHY & SCRATCHY LAND
The family is surrounded by robots running amok in a theme park a la
Westworld
Frink's comment about chaos theory and the insignia on the park choppers
parody Jurassic Park
Moleman's phone booth bird attack in reminiscent of The Birds.
TREEHOUSE OF HORROR V
The story parodies the Stephen King novel and Stanley Kubrick film, The Shining
-from blood that pours out the elevator to a maniacal Homer, who screams
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeer's Johnny!"
AND MAGGIE MAKES THREE
Reminscent of the opening to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," Homer dances around,
singing, "I'm gonna make it after all!" He finishes off a flourish, throwing
his bowling ball into the air a la Mary's hat. It crashes to the ground
making a crater in the bowling lane.
HOMER THE CLOWN
Homer sculpts a circus tent out of mashed potatoes at the dinner table a la
Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind
LISA'S WEDDING
Lisa and Hugh meet in a library and argue over getting a book, parodying
Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw in Love Story
TWO DOZEN AND ONE GREYHOUNDS
The scene with all of the puppies watching TV and the episode's basic plot
parody 101 Dalmations
WHO SHOT MR. BURNS (PART TWO)
Groundskeeper Willie's interrogation while he wears a kilt recalls Sharon
Stone's in Basic Instinct
Homer's escape at the Krustyburger drive-thru parodies The Fugitive
Chief Wiggum's cream-induced, backward-talking dream is inspiered by "Twin
Peaks."
"Dallas" is honored twice with the 1979 "Who Shot J.R.?" cliffhanger season-
erasing "shower scene" during the 1986 premiere
TREEHOUSE OF HORROR VI
The entire segment is based on the "Little Girl Lost" episode of "The
Twilight Zone"
SIDESHOW BOB's LAST GLEAMING
Colonel Hapablap asks Sideshow Bob "What's your major malfunction?" a la the
Drill Seargeant (also played by R. Lee Ermey) in Full Metal Jacket.
The underground "war room" where Quimby decides what to do parodies Dr.
Strangelove
LISA'S DATE WITH DESTINY
Parts of this episode occur at an observatory that looks a great deal like
the one in Rebel Without A Cause
EL BIAJE MISERIOSO DE NUESTRO JOMER (THE MYSTERIOUS VOYAGE OF HOMER)
The music from The Good, The Bad, and te ugly accompanies the scenes when
Hoemr walks trough the chili festival and when he meets chief Wiggum at the
chili stand
Substituting the man in the lighthouse with a computer spoofs an old episode
from "The Twilight Zone," in which a man in a cave turns out to be a machine
THE SPRINGFIELD FILES
Milhouse puts 40 quarters into "Kevin Costner's Waterworld" videogame,
satarizing the overbudgeting fiasco of Waterworld
The episode also feature references to The Shining, E.T., and Close Encounters
of the Third Kind.
THE TWISTED WORLD OF MARGE SIMPSON
Framk Ormand's speech, "Wherever a young mother is ignorant of what to feed
her baby, you'll be there. Wherever nacho penetration is less than total,
you'll be there. Where a Bavarian is not quite full, you will be there,"
parodies Tom Joad's speech in The Grapes of Wrath
THE OLD MAN AND THE LISA
Mr. Burns chases Lisa down for her assistance in a scene remeniscent of the
opening to "That Girl"
Lisa runs around Springfield revealing the truth about Burns's recycling
center a la Charlton Heston in Soylent Green
(
geocities.com/televisioncity/set) (
geocities.com/televisioncity)