27 Movies References in The Simpsons Put Side-by-Side with the Movie Scenes They Paid Tribute To

If an entire gen­er­a­tion of Amer­i­can adults suf­fers from Cin­e­mat­ic Chick­en Vs. Egg Syn­drome, it’s The Simp­sons’ fault.

Edi­tor Celia Gómez’ side-by-side shot com­par­i­son above makes plain how a 30-year-old Cit­i­zen Kane vir­gin could expe­ri­ence a sense of deja vu on his or her inau­gur­al view­ing. The Simp­sons pulled from it for “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish” when said view­er was but a lit­tle tot. Three years lat­er, they did it again wit 1993’s “Rose­bud.”

Par­ents who would nev­er have allowed their sen­si­tive lit­tle dar­lings in the room while screen­ing Full Met­al Jack­et or Requiem for a Dream relaxed their vig­i­lance where the fam­i­ly from Spring­field was con­cerned.

When The Simp­sons’ kilt­ed Groundskeep­er Willie chaste­ly recross­es his legs in an inter­ro­ga­tion room, no kid is going to fix­ate on what lies beneath. (FYI, it’s a noto­ri­ous­ly com­man­do Sharon Stone in 1992’s NSFW thriller, Basic Instinct.)

What makes these homages so great is the atten­tion to detail. Be it Itchy and Scratchy or Michael Mad­sen and Kirk Baltz as his cop vic­tim in Reser­voir Dogs, count on the cam­era to drift to an emp­ty door­way when the action gets too intense.

Spoil­ers abound. Those who’ve not yet seen Thel­ma and Louise, Psy­cho, or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest can con­sid­er them­selves fore­warned.

Want a crash course in The God­fa­ther? Watch the Simp­sons.

No offense to the human actors who orig­i­nat­ed the roles, but it’s incred­i­ble how the ani­ma­tors can imbue their char­ac­ters with all the rel­e­vant emo­tions. Their eyes are lit­tle more than dots on ping­pong balls! (Check out Homer’s dead expres­sion on 1994’s Ter­mi­na­tor 2  par­o­dy, “Homer Loves Flan­ders.”)

The com­plete list of films fea­tured above:

Bram Stok­er’s Drac­u­la (1992)

A Clock­work Orange (1971)

Pulp Fic­tion (1994)

Requiem for a dream (2000)

The Gold Rush (1925)

Full Met­al Jack­et (1987)

The Fugi­tive (1993)

Ter­mi­na­tor 2 (1991)

Reser­voir Dogs (1992)

The Birds (1963)

Risky Busi­ness (1983)

Cit­i­zen Kane (1941)

Psy­cho (1960)

The silence of the lambs (1991)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Basic Instinct (1992)

Offi­cial and Gen­tle­man (1982)

One flew over the cuck­oo’s nest (1975)

2001: A space Odis­sey (1968)

Trainspot­ting (1996)

Thel­ma and Louise (1991)

The God­fa­ther (1972)

Taxi Dri­ver (1976)

The Shin­ing (1980)

Spi­der­man (2002)

ET the Extra-Ter­res­tri­al (1982)

Dr. Strange Love (1964)

Relat­ed Con­tent:

The Simp­sons Present Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” and Teach­ers Now Use It to Teach Kids the Joys of Lit­er­a­ture

The Simp­sons Pay Won­der­ful Trib­ute to the Ani­me of Hayao Miyaza­ki

Thomas Pyn­chon Edits His Lines on The Simp­sons: “Homer is my role mod­el and I can’t speak ill of him.”

Ayun Hal­l­i­day is an author, illus­tra­tor, and Chief Pri­ma­tol­o­gist of the East Vil­lage Inky zine. Fol­low her @AyunHalliday