Homer and Apu/References

General

References/Trivia

Appearances

Gags

Credits

Quotes

	Season 5 Episode References
← 093 "Bart Gets Famous"	094 "Homer and Apu"	"Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" 095 →

Cultural references

• Apu exclaims "Jiminy Cricket!" when he smells the expired ham. Jiminy Cricket is a main character from Pinocchio, the famous Disney film.
• When Kent asks Homer if he is willing to go undercover to catch Apu, Homer replies: "No way, man, get yourself another patsy!". This is a reference to several lines in the 1991 epic political thriller JFK in which Lee Harvey Oswald claimed he was a "patsy" and not guilty of killing John F. Kennedy.
• Homer wants Chipwich ice cream sandwich for letting Apu stay with the family.
• Apu is from Rahmatpur, a village in the state of West Bengal, India.
• When James Woods applies as the new Kwik-E-Mart cashier, he mentions films that featured him which are True Believer, Salvador, The Onion Field, The Hard Way, and Chaplin.
• At the Monstromart, Barney talks to a bottle of pancake syrup shaped like a woman, referencing the iconic bottles of Mrs. Butterworth's.
• In the song "Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?", Apu mentions American architect Frank Lloyd Wright as the creator of Marge's tall hair. Frank Lloyd Wright was known for his geometric and futuristic designs.

Homer and Apu stare from a cliff on mules in the same way T.E. Lawrence and Sherif Ali did on camels in Lawrence of Arabia. Several other parodies to the film are seen throughout the episode

• The scene of Homer and Apu riding mules through the sand and reaching the top of a cliff reaching Springfield Airport is a parody of the scene where T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) and Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish (Omar Sharif) ride camels in the desert in the 1962 epic biographical adventure drama film Lawrence of Arabia, also stopping on the top of a cliff. The music is similar to that used in the film.
  • Other scenes are parodied when Homer and Apu are walking to the Kwik-E-Mart Central Office.
• The song "If You're Saved and You Know It" is sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It", a popular children's song.
• Marge mentions Lucky Charms, a brand of breakfast cereal.
• The scene of Apu taking the bullet aimed at James Woods is similar to Clint Eastwood's actions in the film In the Line of Fire.

Trivia

• The undercover news van has "ORDINARY VAN" written on it in huge letters.
• According to the deleted scenes, Apu wears a wig.
• The Kwik-E-Mart does not accept checks from Chief Wiggum, Reverend Lovejoy, Homer J. Simpson, Homer S. Simpson, H. J. Simpson, Homor Simpson, or Homer J. Fong.
• A sign in the world's first convenience store reads: The Master Knows All Except Combination To Safe.
• The slogan of the Monstromart: Where Shopping Is A Baffling Ordeal.
• The license plate of the ambulance reads: SLIP

Goofs

• Apu looks into the dining room window and sees the family room with the couch and TV. This is not possible, because the family room is on the other side of the house. However, Homer could have moved the table and replaced it with the couch and TV.
• At the beginning of the episode, Martin Prince has a purple shirt which in the next shot changes to its usual white.
• At the end of "Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?" when Apu looks at the Kwik-E-Mart from a distance, the store's name is instead written as "Knik-E-Mart".

Continuity

• Apu is also seen employing deceptive marketing tactics (albeit neither as blatantly nor as egregiously as in this episode) in the comic story Kwik-E-Mart Holiday Savings Circular.

← Season 4 Season 5 References Season 6 →

Homer's Barbershop Quartet • Cape Feare • Homer Goes to College • Rosebud • Treehouse of Horror IV • Marge on the Lam • Bart's Inner Child • Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood • The Last Temptation of Homer • $pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) • Homer the Vigilante • Bart Gets Famous • Homer and Apu • Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy • Deep Space Homer • Homer Loves Flanders • Bart Gets an Elephant • Burns' Heir • Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song • The Boy Who Knew Too Much • Lady Bouvier's Lover • Secrets of a Successful Marriage