Bart the Murderer
Encyclopedia
"Bart the Murderer" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons
' third season
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 10, 1991. In the episode, Bart
stumbles upon the Mafia
bar, Legitimate Businessman's Social Club, after having a terrible day at school. The owner of the bar, mobster Fat Tony
, hires Bart to work as its permanent bartender. When Principal Skinner goes missing after punishing Bart in school, Bart is immediately accused of murdering him, resulting in his standing trial in court. As Bart is about to get convicted, Skinner shows up and explains that he was accidentally trapped in his garage all week. Bart is therefore cleared of all the charges.
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder
and directed by Rich Moore
. Fat Tony
(voiced by Joe Mantegna
) and his henchmen, Legs and Louie, made their first appearances on The Simpsons. The episode features cultural references to songs such as "Witchcraft
" and "One Fine Day
", and the American television series MacGyver
. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating
of 13.4 and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
gets caught in a downpour and loses control of his skateboard. He crashes down the stairwell of the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club, a Mafia bar owned by the Springfield Mafia. Fat Tony
, the leader of the Mafia, and his henchmen Legs and Louie are initially inhospitable towards Bart, but they are impressed by his ability to pick the winning horse in a horse race on television. When Bart makes up a Manhattan
cocktail for the mobsters, Fat Tony hires him as their bartender and errand boy. As Bart adopts more and more gangster-like traits, his mother Marge
grows anxious and tells her husband Homer
to go and meet the Mafia, but Homer approves of them.
When Fat Tony finds out the Principal Skinner is giving Bart detention after school, the mobsters go to confront Skinner. The next day, Skinner is missing and is presumed to have been murdered. Bart is psychologically tortured by nightmares of Skinner's ghost and his own execution on the chair
. He rushes to confront Fat Tony at the bar. When the police burst in, Fat Tony blames Skinner's disappearance on Bart, who is put on trial. During the trial, Fat Tony, Legs, and Louie lie to the court
, saying that Bart is Skinner's murderer and the leader of the Springfield Mafia.
Judge Snyder is about to convict Bart when Skinner bursts through the doors, disheveled and unshaven, and explains that neither Bart nor the mobsters assaulted him. Rather, when Fat Tony and his henchmen had come to his office meekly, Skinner had yelled at them to not interfere with student discipline, and they left sheepishly. After Skinner returned to his house, he became trapped beneath tons of old newspapers in his garage, and was stuck there for over a week, until he was able to escape. Bart is cleared of all charges. Fat Tony tells Bart that he did not want to get him into any trouble on his behalf, but Bart decides to resign after learning that "crime doesn't pay".
and directed by Rich Moore
. The writers conceived the idea of the episode before the 1990 film GoodFellas
, which has a similar plot, was released. After it was, the writers incorporated references to the film into the episode. The character Fat Tony makes his first appearance on the show in this episode. He was modeled after the physical appearance of Paul Sorvino
's character Paul Cicero in GoodFellas.
The writers originally wanted American actor Sheldon Leonard
to voice Fat Tony, but they were unable to get him, so they went with Joe Mantegna
instead. Mantegna was offered the role during the show's second season, and since he had seen the show before and thought it was "funny", he decided to give it a shot. He felt honored that they asked him to do a voice for the show. In an interview with The A.V. Club
, Mantegna said he thinks the reason he got the role was partly due to his performance in the 1990 Mafia film The Godfather Part III
, which opened just prior to when he received the role. He thought the script was smart and clever and that he enjoyed recording it. Mantegna has since appeared many times on the show as Fat Tony, who became a recurring character; it is Mantegna's longest-running role in his acting career. Mantegna commented: "Who knew that Fat Tony was gonna resonate in the hearts and minds of the [Simpsons fans] out there? Apparently [the writers] got enough feedback as to how the character was liked that they wrote it in again and again, and I was kind of a recurring guy that they’d tap into at least a couple episodes a season."
Legs and Louie, Fat Tony's henchmen, also made their first appearances in this episode. The character of Louie was based on American actor Joe Pesci
, who is known for playing violent Mafia mobsters. Neil Patrick Harris
guest starred in the episode as himself, portraying Bart in Blood on the Blackboard: The Bart Simpson Story, a horribly inaccurate made-for-television film based on Bart's life with the Mafia that the Simpson family watches at the end of the episode.
The sequence of Bart crashing down the stairwell to the Mafia bar is similar to a scene in the film GoodFellas, in which a young boy is employed by a Mafia as their messenger. All of the horses in the race that Bart bets on are named after a famous animated character's catchphrase: "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
), and Bart's catchphrases "Eat my shorts!" and "Don't have a cow!". The Chiffons
's song "One Fine Day
" is heard when Bart serves drinks to the mobsters during a game of poker. The writers originally wanted to use the song "Be My Baby
" by The Ronettes
for the scene, but they could not clear the copyrights for it. In his room, Bart stores the Springfield Mafia's loot
- a truckload of cartons of Laramie
cigarettes. While strutting around the kitchen, he sings Frank Sinatra
's song "Witchcraft
". The scene in which Bart wakes up screaming after having a nightmare about Skinner is a reference to a scene in the 1972 film The Godfather
, in which Jack Woltz
screams after waking up in bed and finding a decapitated horse head by his side. Skinner frees himself from being trapped under the newspapers in a way similar to the character Angus MacGyver
's escapes in the American television series MacGyver
.
of 13.4, equivalent to approximately 12.5 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. John Orvted of Vanity Fair
named it the eighth best episode of The Simpsons because of the "inspired" Mafia satire and because it "goes deeper into Bart's ongoing conflict with authority figures." The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, praised the scene in which Skinner explains his disappearance to the courtroom, calling it Skinner's "finest hour" on the show. Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed named the episode the best in the third season, and commented that there are "many priceless moments" in it, such as Homer's meeting with the Springfield Mafia. Meyers also praised Schwartzwelder's script. Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict commented that how an episode that starts with Bart having a bad day can lead to him being tried for murder as the head of the local Mafia "is just one of the amazing monuments to this show's superiority."
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought "Bart the Murderer" was season three's first "truly great" episode because it "starts off strong and gets even better as it moves." Even though he thinks Mafia parodies have been overused, Jacobson thought this one brought "a fresh approach and remains consistently amusing. A great guest spot from Mantegna helps. It also feels like the first episode of this season that really moves the series ahead; it seems like something a little more incisive than most of what came before it." Andy Patrizio of IGN
called "Bart the Murderer" his favorite of the season, and praised the episode for its references to The Godfather and MacGyver. The episode's reference to GoodFellas was named the 28th greatest film reference in the history of the show by Total Film
' s Nathan Ditum.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 3)
The Simpsons third season originally aired on the Fox network between September 19, 1991 and May 7, 1992. The show runners for the third production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss who executive produced 22 episodes the season, while two other episodes were produced by James L. Brooks, Matt...
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 10, 1991. In the episode, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
stumbles upon the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
bar, Legitimate Businessman's Social Club, after having a terrible day at school. The owner of the bar, mobster Fat Tony
Fat Tony
Marion Anthony "Fat Tony" D'Amico is a recurring character in the animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Joe Mantegna and first appeared in the third season episode "Bart the Murderer"...
, hires Bart to work as its permanent bartender. When Principal Skinner goes missing after punishing Bart in school, Bart is immediately accused of murdering him, resulting in his standing trial in court. As Bart is about to get convicted, Skinner shows up and explains that he was accidentally trapped in his garage all week. Bart is therefore cleared of all the charges.
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
and directed by Rich Moore
Rich Moore
Rich Moore is an American animation director and a business partner in Rough Draft Studios, Inc., where he serves as Sr. Vice President of creative affairs. He is one of a handful of artists who in the early 90s redefined prime time television animation with his work on The Simpsons...
. Fat Tony
Fat Tony
Marion Anthony "Fat Tony" D'Amico is a recurring character in the animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Joe Mantegna and first appeared in the third season episode "Bart the Murderer"...
(voiced by Joe Mantegna
Joe Mantegna
Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr. is an American actor, producer, writer,director, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos , The Godfather Part III , Forget Paris , and Up Close & Personal...
) and his henchmen, Legs and Louie, made their first appearances on The Simpsons. The episode features cultural references to songs such as "Witchcraft
Witchcraft (song)
"Witchcraft" is a popular song from 1957 composed by Cy Coleman with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. It was released as a single by Frank Sinatra, and reached number twenty in the U.S., spending sixteen weeks on the charts....
" and "One Fine Day
One Fine Day (song)
"One Fine Day" has been recorded by a diverse array of artists including Susie Allanson, the Carpenters as part of the oldies medley on their album Now and Then, Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, Even in Blackouts, Kids Incorporated, David Lasley, Natalie Merchant , the Mountain Goats, Aaron Neville,...
", and the American television series MacGyver
MacGyver
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...
. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 13.4 and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Plot
After having a particularly bad day at school, BartBart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
gets caught in a downpour and loses control of his skateboard. He crashes down the stairwell of the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club, a Mafia bar owned by the Springfield Mafia. Fat Tony
Fat Tony
Marion Anthony "Fat Tony" D'Amico is a recurring character in the animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Joe Mantegna and first appeared in the third season episode "Bart the Murderer"...
, the leader of the Mafia, and his henchmen Legs and Louie are initially inhospitable towards Bart, but they are impressed by his ability to pick the winning horse in a horse race on television. When Bart makes up a Manhattan
Manhattan (cocktail)
A Manhattan is a cocktail made with whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. Commonly used whiskeys include rye , Canadian whisky , bourbon, blended whiskey and Tennessee whiskey. The cocktail is often stirred with ice and strained into a cocktail glass, where it is garnished with a Maraschino cherry...
cocktail for the mobsters, Fat Tony hires him as their bartender and errand boy. As Bart adopts more and more gangster-like traits, his mother Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
grows anxious and tells her husband Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
to go and meet the Mafia, but Homer approves of them.
When Fat Tony finds out the Principal Skinner is giving Bart detention after school, the mobsters go to confront Skinner. The next day, Skinner is missing and is presumed to have been murdered. Bart is psychologically tortured by nightmares of Skinner's ghost and his own execution on the chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
. He rushes to confront Fat Tony at the bar. When the police burst in, Fat Tony blames Skinner's disappearance on Bart, who is put on trial. During the trial, Fat Tony, Legs, and Louie lie to the court
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
, saying that Bart is Skinner's murderer and the leader of the Springfield Mafia.
Judge Snyder is about to convict Bart when Skinner bursts through the doors, disheveled and unshaven, and explains that neither Bart nor the mobsters assaulted him. Rather, when Fat Tony and his henchmen had come to his office meekly, Skinner had yelled at them to not interfere with student discipline, and they left sheepishly. After Skinner returned to his house, he became trapped beneath tons of old newspapers in his garage, and was stuck there for over a week, until he was able to escape. Bart is cleared of all charges. Fat Tony tells Bart that he did not want to get him into any trouble on his behalf, but Bart decides to resign after learning that "crime doesn't pay".
Production
The episode was written by John SwartzwelderJohn Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
and directed by Rich Moore
Rich Moore
Rich Moore is an American animation director and a business partner in Rough Draft Studios, Inc., where he serves as Sr. Vice President of creative affairs. He is one of a handful of artists who in the early 90s redefined prime time television animation with his work on The Simpsons...
. The writers conceived the idea of the episode before the 1990 film GoodFellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
, which has a similar plot, was released. After it was, the writers incorporated references to the film into the episode. The character Fat Tony makes his first appearance on the show in this episode. He was modeled after the physical appearance of Paul Sorvino
Paul Sorvino
Paul Anthony Sorvino is an American actor. He often portrays authority figures on both sides of the law, and is possibly best known for his roles as Paulie Cicero, a portrayal of Paul Vario in the film Goodfellas and Sgt. Phil Cerreta on the police procedural and legal drama television series Law...
's character Paul Cicero in GoodFellas.
The writers originally wanted American actor Sheldon Leonard
Sheldon Leonard
Sheldon Leonard was a pioneering American film and television producer, director, writer, and actor.-Biography:...
to voice Fat Tony, but they were unable to get him, so they went with Joe Mantegna
Joe Mantegna
Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr. is an American actor, producer, writer,director, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos , The Godfather Part III , Forget Paris , and Up Close & Personal...
instead. Mantegna was offered the role during the show's second season, and since he had seen the show before and thought it was "funny", he decided to give it a shot. He felt honored that they asked him to do a voice for the show. In an interview with The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
, Mantegna said he thinks the reason he got the role was partly due to his performance in the 1990 Mafia film The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American gangster film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire...
, which opened just prior to when he received the role. He thought the script was smart and clever and that he enjoyed recording it. Mantegna has since appeared many times on the show as Fat Tony, who became a recurring character; it is Mantegna's longest-running role in his acting career. Mantegna commented: "Who knew that Fat Tony was gonna resonate in the hearts and minds of the [Simpsons fans] out there? Apparently [the writers] got enough feedback as to how the character was liked that they wrote it in again and again, and I was kind of a recurring guy that they’d tap into at least a couple episodes a season."
Legs and Louie, Fat Tony's henchmen, also made their first appearances in this episode. The character of Louie was based on American actor Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci
Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...
, who is known for playing violent Mafia mobsters. Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...
guest starred in the episode as himself, portraying Bart in Blood on the Blackboard: The Bart Simpson Story, a horribly inaccurate made-for-television film based on Bart's life with the Mafia that the Simpson family watches at the end of the episode.
Cultural references
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
), "Yabba Dabba Doo" (Fred Flintstone
Fred Flintstone
Frederick Joseph “Fred” Flintstone, also known as Fred W. Flintstone or Frederick J. Flintstone, is the protagonist of the animated sitcom The Flintstones, which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960-66. He is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles...
), "Sufferin' Succotash" (Sylvester
Sylvester (Looney Tunes)
Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...
), "That's All Folks" (Porky Pig
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
), "I Yam What I Yam" (Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
), and Bart's catchphrases "Eat my shorts!" and "Don't have a cow!". The Chiffons
The Chiffons
The Chiffons was an all girl group originating from the Bronx area of New York in 1960.-Biography:The Chiffons were one of the top girl groups of the early 1960s...
's song "One Fine Day
One Fine Day (song)
"One Fine Day" has been recorded by a diverse array of artists including Susie Allanson, the Carpenters as part of the oldies medley on their album Now and Then, Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, Even in Blackouts, Kids Incorporated, David Lasley, Natalie Merchant , the Mountain Goats, Aaron Neville,...
" is heard when Bart serves drinks to the mobsters during a game of poker. The writers originally wanted to use the song "Be My Baby
Be My Baby
"Be My Baby" is a 1963 single written by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich, performed by The Ronettes and produced by Spector. When released as a single, the song reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles Chart and #4 on the UK's Record Retailer...
" by The Ronettes
The Ronettes
The Ronettes were a 1960s girl group from New York City, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett ; her older sister, Estelle Bennett; and their cousin Nedra Talley...
for the scene, but they could not clear the copyrights for it. In his room, Bart stores the Springfield Mafia's loot
Looting
Looting —also referred to as sacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging—is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...
- a truckload of cartons of Laramie
Laramie (cigarette)
Laramie was a brand of cigarettes extant in the United States from the 1930s into the 1950s.Later, the name was used for a cigarette rolling system ....
cigarettes. While strutting around the kitchen, he sings Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
's song "Witchcraft
Witchcraft (song)
"Witchcraft" is a popular song from 1957 composed by Cy Coleman with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. It was released as a single by Frank Sinatra, and reached number twenty in the U.S., spending sixteen weeks on the charts....
". The scene in which Bart wakes up screaming after having a nightmare about Skinner is a reference to a scene in the 1972 film The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
, in which Jack Woltz
Jack Woltz
Jack Woltz is a fictional character from the Mario Puzo novel The Godfather and the 1972 film adaptation. In the film, he is portrayed by John Marley.-In the film:...
screams after waking up in bed and finding a decapitated horse head by his side. Skinner frees himself from being trapped under the newspapers in a way similar to the character Angus MacGyver
Angus MacGyver
Angus MacGyver, known as just MacGyver or Mac until the final season of the American spy television series MacGyver, is the highly intelligent, optimistic action hero played by Richard Dean Anderson. He prefers non-violent conflict resolution wherever possible and refuses to carry or use a gun...
's escapes in the American television series MacGyver
MacGyver
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...
.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Bart the Murderer" finished 31st in the ratings for the week of October 7–13, 1991, with a Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 13.4, equivalent to approximately 12.5 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. John Orvted of Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
named it the eighth best episode of The Simpsons because of the "inspired" Mafia satire and because it "goes deeper into Bart's ongoing conflict with authority figures." The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, praised the scene in which Skinner explains his disappearance to the courtroom, calling it Skinner's "finest hour" on the show. Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed named the episode the best in the third season, and commented that there are "many priceless moments" in it, such as Homer's meeting with the Springfield Mafia. Meyers also praised Schwartzwelder's script. Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict commented that how an episode that starts with Bart having a bad day can lead to him being tried for murder as the head of the local Mafia "is just one of the amazing monuments to this show's superiority."
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought "Bart the Murderer" was season three's first "truly great" episode because it "starts off strong and gets even better as it moves." Even though he thinks Mafia parodies have been overused, Jacobson thought this one brought "a fresh approach and remains consistently amusing. A great guest spot from Mantegna helps. It also feels like the first episode of this season that really moves the series ahead; it seems like something a little more incisive than most of what came before it." Andy Patrizio of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
called "Bart the Murderer" his favorite of the season, and praised the episode for its references to The Godfather and MacGyver. The episode's reference to GoodFellas was named the 28th greatest film reference in the history of the show by Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
External links
- "Bart the Murderer" at The Simpsons.com