Film_479_mydinnerandre

Films Referenced on The Simpsons

by Narrator

Created 08/18/12

Edit List
74 comments
★ 71

Ah yes, everybody's favorite cartoon family for about 10 years (let's forget years 2000-now, shall we?). Not only were they hilarious, they expanded my film horizons. Here are some Criterion examples.

  • Film_479_mydinnerandre_w160


    My Dinner with André

    Louis Malle

    Forever immortalized as Martin Prince's arcade game of choice, with options like "'Tell Me More,'" "Trenchant Insight," and "Bon Mot."

  • P_w160


    This Is Spinal Tap

    Rob Reiner

    The band was treated like real guest stars on the S3 episode, "The Otto Show," which makes it all the more tragic when their tour bus is crashed into.

  • Film_396w_acehole_w160


    Ace in the Hole

    Billy Wilder

    As "Timmy O'Toole" reminds trapped in a well, a carnival breaks out on the scene, just like in this film. This is certainly one of the obscure references, and it just goes to show how smart the show was at its prime.

  • Film_138w_rashomon_w160


    Rashomon

    Akira Kurosawa

    "You liked Rashomon." "That's not how I remember it."

  • Silencew_w160


    The Silence of the Lambs

    Jonathan Demme

    In one of the greatest episodes the show has ever done ("Marge vs. the Monorail"), Mr. Burns is wheeled out to court muzzled and straight-jacketed, not unlike Hannibal Lector.

  • Film_43w_lordofflies_w160


    Lord of the Flies

    Peter Brook

    The S9 episode "Das Bus" is a riff on the film and the book it's based on, though I don't think William Golding intended to end his story with a deus ex machina.

  • Film_422w_lastemperor_w160


    The Last Emperor

    Bernardo Bertolucci

    When the Stonecutters decide Homer is the "Chosen One," the ceremony reduces him to childlike glee not unlike Puyi's, although Puyi had the defense of being three.

  • Film_615w_goldrush_w160


    The Gold Rush

    Charles Chaplin

    Grampa's breadroll dance might have won the heart of Mrs. Bouvier, but it also earned the wrath of copyright lawyers, who demanded he stop for legal reasons.

  • Film_05w_400blows_a_w160


    The 400 Blows

    François Truffaut

    Of course, not all late-period Simpsons episodes are bad. The episode "Any Given Sundance" (which also has Criterion favorite Jim Jarmusch as a guest star) has Nelson's autobiographical film, which ends on an ambiguous close-up of Nelson's face.

  • Night-of-the-hunter_new-film-still_w160


    The Night of the Hunter

    Charles Laughton

    In the all-time classic "Cape Feare," Sideshow Bob attempts to recreate Robert Mitchum's famous tattoos, though with only three fingers to write on, his read "Luv" and "Hat."

74 comments

  • By Brett Rademaker
    January 09, 2013
    11:11 PM

    truly you are the king of kings
    Reply

  • By Acacia
    January 10, 2013
    01:21 AM

    One of my favourite references is the City of Lost Children in the episode where Bart Sells His Soul. When the children and their souls are all rowing their boats to a mysterious castle off in the distance.
    Reply

  • By Fritz Fassbinder
    January 10, 2013
    03:04 AM

    To the above poster who claimed Barton Fink was the R-rated film the kids snuck into, it was in fact Naked Lunch. I remember this because one of them says after slinking out of the screening: "I can think of two things wrong with that title."
    Reply

    • Or using your Criterion.com account.

      You are logged in to your Criterion.com account as . Log out.

    • By Narrator
      January 10, 2013
      07:42 AM

      Actually, they're both correct. In an earlier episode, Bart can't come with the kids to sneak into Barton Fink (BAR-TON FINK! BAR-TON FINK!), and they do sneak into Naked Lunch when Bart forges a driver's license.

  • By Alexander
    January 10, 2013
    09:14 PM

    Koyaanisqatsi is referenced multiple times.
    Reply

  • By Joel
    January 12, 2013
    01:01 PM

    Not a Criterion title, but last night I saw It's Mad Mad Mad Mad World on TV, and never realized how the entire episode of the "cat burglar" episode (the one with Sam Neill's guest-voice) was an homage to that film.
    Reply

  • By brianoblivion
    January 12, 2013
    10:29 PM

    don't forget the space monsters that appear in every halloween episode were lifted directly from the alien under the arctic ice in "the atomic submarine"...
    Reply

    • Or using your Criterion.com account.

      You are logged in to your Criterion.com account as . Log out.

    • By Narrator
      January 13, 2013
      12:15 AM

      Wow, I never caught that Kang and Kodos were Atomic Submarine references. Thanks a bunch!

  • By Jonathan Brito
    January 13, 2013
    03:43 PM

    So far my favorite list on this site.
    Reply

  • By ctzalman
    January 15, 2013
    03:17 PM

    saw a reference to 'sweet smell of success' on a recent episode
    Reply

  • By Mims G.
    January 17, 2013
    12:19 PM

    One of the more recent episodes featured an igloo styled motel called "The Nook of the North", my bet a reference to Nanook. Also, same season, the Simpsons make friends with "hipsters" and their son has what is obviously a Tishiro Mifune poster on his wall. Yeah, the humor is lacking since 2000, but at least the references are still there. Good list.
    Reply

  • By Thomas Ronson
    January 22, 2013
    01:49 PM

    http://moviesimpsons.tumblr.com/ - With gifs of movies and references in Simpson's :-)
    Reply

    • Or using your Criterion.com account.

      You are logged in to your Criterion.com account as . Log out.

    • By Narrator
      January 22, 2013
      08:01 PM

      Well, that would have made my job a lot easier. And far more comprehensive.

  • By Marcus Hambright
    January 24, 2013
    07:35 PM

    I know it isn't a Criterion movie, but Homer is humming the song from La Dolce Vita in the Babysitter Bandit episode. A pretty cool reference, I think.
    Reply

  • By Sigh
    February 13, 2013
    12:16 AM

    There is a reference to Soylent Green in at least two different episodes.
    Reply

    • Or using your Criterion.com account.

      You are logged in to your Criterion.com account as . Log out.

    • By Sigh
      February 14, 2013
      09:45 PM

      Though, we could call those literary references instead.

  • By TouristOnEarth
    February 26, 2013
    10:02 PM

    Ah, the criterion for the most outstanding reference is the non-Criterion season seven musical "Stop The Planet Of The Apes I Want To Get Off." [humming: 'Dr. Zaius! Dr. Zaius!] [remembering: I hate every ape I see From chimpan-a to chimpan-z] Hmm, you know Heston is nowhere to be found here on Criterion.
    Reply

    • Or using your Criterion.com account.

      You are logged in to your Criterion.com account as . Log out.

    • By Narrator
      February 26, 2013
      10:10 PM

      Oh my god, I was wrong, it was Earth all along! I guess you've finally made a monkey out of me! I love you, Dr. Zaius!

  • By Natedogg
    March 14, 2013
    09:19 PM

    White Dog by Sam Fuller is referenced in The Lastest Gun in the West. It is the twelfth episode of Season 13. It was first aired on February 24, 2002.
    Reply

  • By Tyler D.
    March 21, 2013
    02:12 PM

    After going through all fourteen pages on the aforementioned post about the Movie/Simpsons blog, I'm sort of surprised that Seventh Seal hasn't been referenced.
    Reply

  • By Mark T.
    March 23, 2013
    09:56 AM

    Don't forget Omega Man and the Terminator!
    Reply

  • By William Creswell
    March 27, 2013
    05:55 PM

    Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas gets referenced in the episode "Viva Ned Flanders." However it has more to do with Steadman's illustrations from the book, than the movie.
    Reply

  • By futurestar
    April 02, 2013
    05:49 PM

    a wonderful and vast collection of well viewed. thanks for sharing and inviting us in.
    Reply

  • By gj123
    April 14, 2013
    09:46 PM

    I'm surprised no one has mentioned the multiple Gilbert & Sullivan (the Mikado, topsy-turvy) references featured in Sideshow Bob episodes
    Reply

  • By SureShot
    May 23, 2013
    12:10 PM

    I've always assumed that "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" was a parody of "Ikiru". The plot is essentially the same as Kurosawa's film, but I thought that the Japanese restaurant at the beginning was a joking wink.
    Reply

Or using your Criterion.com account.

You are logged in to your Criterion.com account as . Log out.