The five most-referenced movies on ‘The Simpsons’

‘Citizen Kane’ (Orson Welles, 1941)

There’s a good reason why Citizen Kane is a byword for cinematic greatness. Orson Welles’ exceptional directorial debut about the tragic life of a wealthy recluse is influential in ways most people still don’t realise.

The writers on The Simpsons were all clearly fans, as references to Charles Foster Kane are littered throughout the series’ golden age. The biggest nod to the movie is the season five episode ‘Rosebud’, which, as well as taking its name from the media magnate’s beloved sledge, the episode loosely follows the plot of the film, with Mr Burns serving as the rueful billionaire; it’s this writer’s personal favourite Simpsons story.

Burns has been used as an avatar for Welles’ character numerous times. Kane’s iconic election speech, bawdy celebration song, and personal fortress Xanadu have all been transplanted onto Springfield’s oldest and most fearsome resident, with the two even sharing the same first name.

Elsewhere, there’s the ‘Treehouse of Horror VII’ segment ‘Citizen Kang’, a reference to the famous cockatoo scene in ‘Last Exit to Springfield’, and the episode featuring the cane from Citizen Kane!… wait a minute, there was no cane in Citizen Kane…

‘Frankenstein’ (James Whale, 1931)

Much like Citizen Kane, the classic horror story Frankenstein had an entire episode of The Simpsons devoted to it; well, one third of an episode, anyway.

In the segment ‘Homer’s Nightmare’ from ‘Treehouse of Horror II’, our favourite yellow citizen has his brain removed by that dastardly Mr Burns and inserted into a new, stronger robot body. Unfortunately for Burnsie, Homer’s brain is still just as lazy and useless as ever, and while this vignette is a direct homage to Mary Shelley’s novel, but takes heavy inspiration from James Whale’s maiden cinematic interpretation. 

There have been many classic horror movie references on The Simpsons over the years, but Frankie is the one who keeps cropping up time and time again, with ‘Treehouse of Horror’ being where the story continues to find a home.

Going back all the way to the very first Halloween special, Marge’s iconic pre-show disclaimer is a direct homage to a similar speech found at the beginning of Whale’s picture. Both Marge and actor Edward Van Sloan step out in front of a curtain to warn viewers of the terror they are about to witness, and in both cases, this only made the upcoming content sound more appealing.

‘Psycho’ (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

Anyone who has seen the episode ‘Itchy & Scratchy & Marge’ will remember the near note-perfect Simpsons parody of Hitchcock’s most famous scene.

After watching a similar stunt on Itchy and Scratchy, Maggie bludgeons her father with a mallet, and everything, from Homer’s scream to a tin of paint spilling down a drain to a close-up of the victim’s lifeless pupil, is spot on. It’s one of the finest movie parodies in Simpsons history, but far from the only nod to Psycho they’ve provided.

The relationship between Principal Skinner and his overbearing mother, Agnes, is often framed through a Norman Bates-shaped lens. In ‘Brother From the Same Planet’, Skinner rants against Agnes in the shadow of a very familiar-looking house as Marge and Lisa look on with bemused terror. Then, while experiencing a nighttime freak-out in The Springfield Files, Homer thinks he can hear the film’s famous theme tune, which is in fact being played by the town’s philharmonic orchestra, who are driving past him on a bus.

The Simpsons is littered with Hitchcock references in general, see ‘A Streetcar Named Marge’ for a nod to The Birds, but Psycho is the bloody gift that keeps on giving.

‘Star Wars ’ (George Lucas, 1977)

Given that the Simpsons’ staff writers during the golden age were all massive nerds who grew up in the 1970s, this entry should come as no surprise, and technically, this should be an entry about the Star Wars franchise in general, but that wouldn’t have fit in the title, so apologies.

You can really split the Star Wars references on The Simpsons into two distinct eras, where there’s the stuff in the 1990s, with callbacks to famous scenes or lines of dialogue from the original trilogy, and then there’s everything post-Phantom Menace, which boils down to the show ripping into how bad the prequels were.

Homer spoiling the ending of The Empire Strikes Back, Ralph Wiggum’s ‘diorama’, basically everything Comic Book Guy says or does, the list goes on, proving this point; however, I wanted to shout out one of the greatest men to have ever lived. Mark Hamill puts in an absolutely barn-storming performance in season ten’s ‘Mayored to the Mob’ as a self-centred version of himself, insulting fans, selling out to corporations, and performing a beautiful rendition of ‘Luke Be a Jedi’ in a weird mash-up of Guys and Dolls; he’s earned his place up there next to the pepper steak.

‘The Wizard of Oz’ (Victor Fleming, 1939)

This feels like a weird conclusion, because The Wizard of Oz is for sure a great movie, but it doesn’t feel very Simpsons-y, as much as something Star Wars or Psycho does. Hell, even something like The Godfather or It’s a Wonderful Life feels like it would have a bigger presence on the show, so how did this happen?

It’s because Victor Fleming’s adaptation of L Frank Baum’s story is so baked into pop culture, we don’t even recognise it, such that The Simpsons and countless other shows borrow from it all the time, but in ways so subtle they can fly under our radar. 

The show has done numerous versions of the “And you were there…” gag when someone is waking up from a dream, there are a few “Fly, my pretties!” jokes, Mr Burns has guards outside his mansion that mirror the Wicked Witch of the West’s, Patty and Selma get swept up in a tornado, then Homer’s sugar pile melts in ‘Lisa’s Rival’, prompting him to cry “It’s melting!” in a very familiar tone.

The references go on and on, and they might not feel very satisfying, but go back and watch any classic Simpsons episode to see why it’s number one.