Before I saw The Birds, I knew every line from The Simpsons‘ “A Streetcar Named Marge.” Before I rewound the interrogation scene in Basic Instinct, over and over again, I watched Groundskeeper Willie uncross his legs in “Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two).” Before The Shining scared the bejesus out of me, I laughed at Homer going a little something something in “Treehouse of Horror V.”
The best parodies work regardless of whether or not you recognize the thing that’s being parodied, and no television show in history has better parodies than The Simpsons. Milhouse jumping off a dam, Barney throwing a water fountain through a window, Bart grabbing cupcakes like they’re breasts — these are independently hilarious scenes even if you’ve never seen The Fugitive (see The Fugitive), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and A Clockwork Orange.
Vimeo user “cgmzz” put together a side-by-side video of the show’s best movie references, with music from the Benny Goodman Orchestra! You probably already know most of them, but it’s still fun to remember the time an episode about Homer getting a snowplow turned into an homage of the bloodiest, most bullet hole-ridden scene from The Godfather.
“That name again is Mr. Corleone…”
