Bart the Murderer
From Simpsons Wiki
| Bart the Murderer | |
| |
| Season 3 Episode 4 | |
| Production Code | 8F03 |
| Original Airdate | October 10, 1991 |
| Written By | John Swartzwelder |
| Directed By | Rich Moore |
| Show Runners | Al Jean & Mike Reiss |
| Special Guests | Phil Hartman as Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz, Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony and himself playing Fat Tony Neil Patrick Harris as himself playing Bart. |
| Blackboard Text | "High explosives and school don't mix" |
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"Bart the Murderer" is the fourth episode of the The Simpsons' third season. The episode aired on October 10, 1991, marking the first appearance of Fat Tony, Legs and Louie. Fat Tony is voiced by Joe Mantegna, who played Fat Tony in Blood on the Blackboard: The Bart Simpson Story. Fat Tony is drawn to look much more like the real Joe Mantegna, and uses a more casual voice than the one he does for Fat Tony. The episode is slightly based off of the movie Goodfellas, which was released about one year prior to the airing of this episode. Bart mirrors Henry Hill who went to work for the Mafia at a very young age and in his later years, testified against his friends.
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Plot
After crashing his skateboard down the stairwell of the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club during a bad day, Bart falls in with a particularly bad crowd: the Springfield Mafia. He befriends Fat Tony, Louie, Joey and other Goodfellas, who take him on as their bartender and errand boy. As Bart adopts more and more gangster-like traits, Marge grws anxious, so she tells Homer to meet the Mafia, but he actually approves of them. Once Principal Skinner catches Bart doing graffiti at school, Bart tucks some money into his pocket and tells him "you didn't see nothin', now beat it!".
However, Skinner refuses to go quietly and sentences Bart to detention, making him late for a meeting with the Mob and he frustratedly tells Fat Tony that Skinner caused it. Fat Tony and his friends leave to confront Skinner who, soon after their "meeting" disappears. Skinner is then presumed to have been murdered. The police strongly suspect that Bart and his new friends are responsible and arrest them. During the sensational trial, Fat Tony turns stool pigeon and rats out Bart as Skinner's killer.
Judge Synder was to convict Bart until Skinner emerges from his hiding place as a disheveled man to explain that neither Bart nor the Mob did anything to him. After talking with the Mob, he became trapped beneath tons of newspaper in his garage, living off nearby rations. As a result, Bart and the Mob are released. Outside, Fat Tony explains that he didn't want Bart to get into any trouble, but Bart decides to resign because "crime doesn't pay". In the end, the Simpsons watch a new show called "Blood on the Blackboard: The Bart Simpson Story", starring Neil Patrick Harris as Bart. Bart seems to like it, but Homer wonders when the producers will send a check to the family for the show, but Marge says that they don't have to. She states: "They've changed it just enough, so they wouldn;t have to pay us"...
Cultural references
All of the horses in the race are named after a famous animated character's quotes. These include:
- "Ain't I a Stinker?" (Bugs Bunny)
- "Yabba Dabba Doo" (Fred Flintstone)
- "Sufferin' Succotash" (Sylvester)
- "That's All Folks" (Porky Pig)
- "I Yam What I Yam" (Popeye)
Bart's quotes "Eat My Shorts" and "Don't Have a Cow" are also horses.
After Bart suffers a nightmare, he wakes up screaming. The camera shots during Bart's scream match those in a scene from The Godfather, when Jack Woltz wakes up with a horse's head in his bed and screams. The Itchy and Scratchy Episode portrayed in this episode starts with Itchy dressed up as a policeman as a variety of cats including Scratchy line up along a brick wall. Itchy then pulls out a Tommy Gun and kills all the cats. Laughing at the show, Fat Tony remarks that "It's funny because it's true", a reference to the St. Valentine's Day Massacre
The scene at the chocolate factory where the kids are watching an old film narrated by Troy McClure, the Aztec who smokes the cocoa bean, mimics the Cleveland Indians' mascot, Chief Wahoo.
Trivia
While Bart is imprisoned while charges are being prepared against him, his cellmate is a seriously pumped-up Sideshow Bob (as is evident by him lifting a dumbbell). Sideshow Bob says nothing in this episode, but is seems apparent he is completating the irony of Bart's self-righteousness in having him arrested in Krusty Gets Busted; now Bart is his cellmate, an accused lawbreaker himself.
Reception
Vanity Fair called "Bart the Murderer" the eighth best episode of The Simpsons in 2007. John Orvted said, "This episode makes the cut because of the inspired Mafia satire (GoodFellas, The Godfather) and because it goes deeper into Bart's ongoing conflict with authority figures." [1]