The City of New York Vs. Homer Simpson - Cultural References

Cultural References

The song used during Duffman's first and subsequent appearances is "Oh Yeah" by Yello, popularized in the final scene of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The Original Famous Ray's Pizza shop Homer sees is a parody of independently owned pizza stores that carry the name "Ray" in their name. When the traveling bus passes by Hasidic Jews, Bart mistakes them for ZZ Top, and when Bart visits Mad magazine's offices, he sees Alfred E. Neuman, the Spy vs. Spy characters, and cartoonist Dave Berg. The actor in the musical number "You're Checkin' In" was based on Robert Downey Jr. (à la his character Julian Wells from Less Than Zero), who was battling a cocaine addiction during the time of the episode creation, just as the character in the musical was. The sequence where Homer races alongside the carriage in Central Park was a reference to a similar scene in the film Ben-Hur. The final scene when the family is crossing the George Washington Bridge uses a version of the song "Theme from New York, New York", which continues to play throughout the credits.

Several cultural references are made during Homer's flashback to his previous visit to New York City. During the entire flashback, "The Entertainer", a piece made famous by the film The Sting, is played. Writer Ian Maxtone-Graham had brought the piece to the attention of director Jim Reardon and asked him to try to fit the piece into the flashback. Maxtone-Graham later commented, "It turned out that the music and the visual gags fit each other perfectly." In the beginning of the scene, Homer passes by three pornographic film theaters, which are playing "The Godfather's Parts, II", "Jeremiah's Johnson" and "Five Sleazy Pieces", plays on the names of The Godfather Part II, Jeremiah Johnson and Five Easy Pieces. Woody Allen can be seen during the flashback, pouring trash out of his window onto Homer.