Talking Simpsons - Bart the Murderer With Brendan James

Idk how much of a thing missing field trips is these days. Covid certainly robbed my kids of any field trip opportunities in the last couple of years, but prior to that my then 2nd grader might have gone on one that entire school year. I remember them being a much more regular part of K-12. By high school I was the kid that missed permission slips regularly because my mom worked there. If I forgot to get one signed I'd just run by her classroom the period ahead of my field trip and get it taken care of. One teacher finally got fed up with it and told everyone they had to have their slips in no later than the day before the trip. Naturally, I didn't bother and when I showed up on the bus with a signed slip, he kicked me off and sent me back into the school. Joke was on him, tho, cuz I just waited in the eaves for the bus to pull away, then went to my car and was truant the rest of the day. Although Goodfellas got all the love for brining Henry Hill's story to the silver screen, I'm a bigger fan of the oft overlooked, but technically first adaptation My Blue Heaven. It was written by Nora Ephron who worked on the book Wiseguy (the source novel for Goodfellas) with her husband. It's actually my favorite film to star either Steve Martin or Rick Moranis too. I'm surprised it never gained any kind of cult following, but I highly recommend giving it a watch.

Ron Sterling

The histaria over kids and gangs was omnipresent in the 80s and early 90s. It came from real programs trying to get children who lived in inner cities opportunities to do something other than join very real gangs that often were one of the few options for them in those places. But suburban/exurban white parents saw these and suddenly became worried that little jimmy would end up selling crack and doing drive bys for the Crips because nothing is more afraid of the world than a white boomer parent in that era.

twistedmentat

Related to absolutely nothing, I’m catching up on What a Cartoon Movies and just listened and fell in love again with Hunchback. For those fellow lovers like Bob, check out this goodness: https://youtu.be/4GZ5LjwKxPM

As Henry noted, the original MacGruber sketches were much more direct parodies of MacGyver than the movie - in fact, Richard Dean Anderson appears in one set of them as MacGyver and reveals that MacGruber’s name is “MacGruber MacGyver.”

Robert Flaxman

I’ve had SMASH-brain for the last month but Henry saying “ah, fudge” reminded me of Skip’s classic catchphrase “uh, subs?”.

Lockerus

Brendan gets the First Annual MunkY Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellent Audio Quality. seriously so much better to listen to than some recent guests

notsmohqe

I always took the William Williams name as a joke that Fat Tony, being a stereotypical Italian mobster, has a very non-Italian name and may not even be Italian at all. Maybe it was dropped for being too clever, or for being too similar to the Sea Captain who isn't actually a captain which came later. This episode might be the king of impressionable behavior, out all of the other early episodes of The Simpsons. Charles Bronson guy telling Bart he looks cool with a cigarette is one thing, but that Manhattan Bart makes looked so good to me as a child. I think I just assumed it tasted like a cherry Coke since it looks like cola and also had a cherry. To this day though, I've never actually tried a Manhattan. It doesn't sound like my kind of cocktail, so perhaps I'll just stick to cherry cola when the mood strikes.

Joe Hodgson

Also, anytime I hear Willie Nelson's name, my instant reflex is to go "Really, Willie Nelson?" 😄

To Boldy Joe... Moore

Not enough credit is given to the music in this episode. I just love how atmospheric and cinematic it is. It complements the story and animation perfectly. :)

To Boldy Joe... Moore

Brendan is such a great guest! I loved the discussion. When I think of this episode, I always think of the ol’ “No Homers Club” forum days of my youth. We were all eagerly anticipating the Season 3 DVD, and when the first poster to receive theirs chimed in (someone who’s screen name I no longer remember, but had deep respect for because he was clearly an older teen—maybe even an adult!) said “I think I shall start with ‘Bart The Murderer,’” which led me to believe that this was a very sophisticated episode and that liking it is impressive. I am confused at how a Manhattan could be flat, though. Have I been making Manhattans wrong?

Kat Heagberg

Great guest!

Dan Z

IKR? Dude is a great listen (and Peep Show always needs more call-outs)

thatcamjones

Between the Road Games drop and quoting Peep Show, Brendan really rocketed up to one of my favorite guests.

Tyler M.

I'm glad pointed out the added shadows in this and other Season 3 episodes - I picked up on that too, and I love that cinematic atmosphere you don't see in later Simpsons episodes. In terms of factories I've toured, here in New Zealand I did visit a cheese factory at Banks Peninsula, and an actual Cadbury chocolate factory in Dunedin, which is sadly now closed. It was a pretty standard factory tour, but with a big finale involved them taking the tour group to see this chocolate waterfall inside one of those big circular containers. It wasn't very large, so we were so close to the rushing chocolate and it was a really spectacular sight. Something funny about Goodfellas' soundtrack: There's a bizarre amount of overlap with songs also used in the 1987 comedy Adventures in Babysitting - "Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals and "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones. Very rare to find varied film soundtracks that overlap like this, but it's very funny to me.

Harry Thornton

Another recommendation for Road Games. Some good Ozsploitation.

thatcamjones