A.K.A. “Treehouse of Missed References, Pt. MCLXI” What movie does this parody?
There’s a kind of film noir-ish scene the Simpsons has done on a number of occasions. (Futurama did it once, too.) It has a character, apparently drunk, walking alone, against a black background, frantically searching for some place of refuge. Signs flash by him on either side, floating out of nowhere. The whole thing is kind of nightmarish, and there’s usually a lonely or alarming saxophone playing in the background. The Simpsons has done it at least twice - once during Sunday’s episode, while Homer searches for blue pants but finds only places like “The Blue Pants Cafe we do not sell blue pants” and "Rainbow of Pants any color but blue, and once during the episode “HOMR,” where smarter Homer searches for a place to fit in [finding only “The Dum Dum Club,” “Lunkheadz - A Place for Drooling,” and “Disney Store”]. Futurama had a sober Bender roaming the streets in a similar manner, but walking past booze-less establishments (cuz he needs alcohol, get it?.
Anybody know what’s going on here? Is this a specific scene from a specific film, or are they just spoofing a convention?
Nice to know. Some of the Simpsons references are fairly cryptic, and some are easily recognizeable as something you can’t quite put your finger on, just like the one you pointed out here.
Another one that was like that for me was in Brother From the Same Planet, wherein Homer confronts Bart and asks where he’s been. Bart nonchalantly answers that he’s been playing with Milhouse, and Homer reveals he knows better, and then launches into a mix of accusation and guilt. The whole scene just reeked of some familiar movie plot, which I could never figure out. Then, for Christmas this last year, my girlfriend bought me The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family, in which I discovered it was a reference to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which I haven’t seen but am going to have to now, if for no other reason than just to see the familiar scene.
I think they’ve referenced Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on at least one other occassion as well. I seem to remember them having an older couple named George and Martha (the names of the two primary characters in that movie) arguing about something, but I’m coming up blank on the specific scene or episode.
There is a similar scene in The Band Wagon (1953) and even that is a take off on Film Noir from what I understand. You would have to look for some old 1930’s Crime/detective films for the origin.
There was a similar scene in one of the Naked Gun films, too, although I can’t remember which. I seem to recall Drebbin keeps walking till he finds himself in the middle of the countryside.
It was in the first one. Johnny Dangerously has a similar scene. But I think that was more an “absent-mindedness” joke than a reference to the “temptation” scene that the OP is referring to.
I have a friend like that, he just saw both Citizen Cane and discovered the Twilight Zone in the last few years. He said the Simpsons is making more sense to him now.
