Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment
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"Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment" is the eighteenth episode in the eighth season of The Simpsons. Despite the episode's title and the prohibition-oriented storyline, the plot has nothing to do with the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was repealed in 1933. Rather, the prohibition in Springfield owes to the re-discovery of a long-forgotten municipal law.
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[edit] Synopsis
It's St. Patrick's Day in Springfield, and every booze-hound (and a few habitual drinkers) in town is waiting for Moe's to open. When it does, the beer flows like water and soon many are drunk and loving it. During the customary parade, which includes Irish police officers marching alongside a float, twirling their billysticks, Bart buys a large novelty horn, which he starts annoying people with. A bunch of people in the crowd climb up to Kent Brockman's announcer booth and act noticeably drunk. Fist-fights start breaking out almost everywhere, but everything quietens down when the Duff float appears. A lady, on top on the float, sprays beer right into Bart's novelty horn, right into his mouth. A thoroughly drunk Bart starts staggering through the place, until he is noticed by an old lady, who calls attention to his drunkenness. Bart is filmed live by the news crew, and seen by Homer, while drinking at Moe's.
The story of Bart drunk is followed by a call for prohibitionary laws. Homer doesn't think much of it, although at City Hall, women (led by Maude Flanders and Helen Lovejoy) demand that alcohol be banned. At that moment, an elderly man discovers an old parchment, which says that alcohol was banned 200 years ago. In light of this new information, Mayor Quimby has no choice but to enforce Prohibition. This leads to many people, including Homer, Moe, Barney Gumble and Dr. Hibbert's wife, fainting on hearing the news.
At the Springfield Dump, many barrels of Duff beer are buried underground. The owner of Duff believes that people will still enjoy the new non-alcoholic Duff, Duff Zero, for its great taste. Half an hour after its release, Duff goes out of business. Moe's Tavern is now Moe's Pet Store, a speakeasy, where the booze is now supplied by Fat Tony's gang, 'running truck loads of smuggled hooch, all the way from Shelbyville' with the mandatory bribes being paid to the cops. However, when the women (the sober ones and teetotalers, that is) find out, they storm the place and are shocked to find Chief Wiggum there, drunk as a skunk. They demand that he be replaced immediately, and due to the upcoming elections, Mayor Quimby is forced to call Rex Banner, an Eliot Ness-esque federal officer, to clean up the town.
Rex goes to work immediately, firing Wiggum and whipping his remaining staff into shape. He blocks the roads, through which Fat Tony supplies his liquor. He is resistant to Fat Tony's bribes, prompting Tony to go back to smuggling heroin. Without beer, Homer is despondent. So is Chief Wiggum because there is no more crime, thanks to the dearth of alcohol. Homer starts to think up a plan of getting beer. He finally gets one, and he and Bart drive to the Dump, and dig up all the barrels of beer that was buried there. They load it on the travelling compartment and drive off. They are almost busted by Rex, but they manage to give him the slip.
They set up a boot-legging operation in their basement. They emerge later, carrying many bowling balls (with corks in them). When questioned by Marge, Homer doesn't want to lie to Marge, so he doesn't and walks out silently. The guys go to the Springfield Bowlarama, where they keep sinking gutter ball after gutter ball, yet they don't feel too unhappy about them, considering they all go through pipes and ducts into Moe's. Moe charges top dollar for the booze and shares the profit with Homer.
Homer is dubbed the "Beer Baron", although no one (besides the booze-hounds) knows who he is. Rex is incensed about this new nemesis and questions a hammered Barney about him. Barney tips him off to Moe's Pet Store. At home, Homer is busted... by Marge and Lisa. But when Marge hears how much money Homer is making, she surprisingly doesn't object and even compliments him. Lisa, the lone voice of objection, is sent to her room.
Rex raids Moe's, while the party is underway. Moe manages to stall Rex long enough to change the facade to that of a pet store, by pulling a lever. Although Rex is suspicious of the fact that the "pet store" is open so late, with loud music and a large clientele, he leaves.
While news of the Beer Baron keeps pouring in, at home, Homer finds out that the beer from the Dump is over. Since Moe needs the beer urgently, he decides to make his own alcohol. He buys 42 bathtubs and starts mixing different kinds of alcohol in them. Again, Moe's gets swinging business, thanks to Homer's bathtub booze.
Rex is even more desperate to find the Beer Baron, even arresting Ned Flanders for appearing drunk (although that's his usual demeanour) and leaning on Comic Book Guy for information and completely ignoring Homer and Bart as they pass by with a wheelbarrow full of sugar, yeast and hops (ingredients for beer). When stills start exploding and Homer catches on fire, he decides it time to quit the boot-legging business. The next day, he is waylaid by Wiggum, who is an absolute pathetic mess. Homer decides to help him out, by letting him arrest the Beer Baron. The next day, while Rex gives a press conference about how supply of illegal liquor has dried up and that the Beer Baron was just a media fabrication, news comes in about the arrest of the Beer Baron.
Homer and Wiggum explain to the press how Homer carried out the operation, and how Wiggum busted him. Homer is sure to get off without much punishment. Unfortunately, he is wrong, as the punishment for boot-legging is "catapult", i.e., he will be fired off one. Marge tries to talk on her husband's behalf, but Rex goes into a tirade of how laws have to be enforced. When he unwittingly steps on the catapult, Wiggum gives the order to fire it. Although Rex is no longer in the picture, Homer's punishment still has to be carried out. Just then, the elderly man finds (on the parchment) that the 200-year-old law banning alcohol was repealed 199 years ago. Homer is released and asked by Quimby how long it would take him to supply booze. When he says that he is out of the business, Fat Tony replies "four minutes".
Five minutes later, everyone is completely drunk, while Homer toasts alcohol as the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
[edit] Trivia
- The name of the shop where Homer purchased the bathtubs was the 'Houseware Warehouse'.
- During the St Patrick's Day parade scene, the Irish Republican Army guerrilla fighter is portrayed with "John Bull's Fish and Chip Shop" exploding due to a planted bomb. This part of the scene is usually cut out on UK television, but is left unedited in Ireland.
- The directors (particularly Matt Groening) were displeased on the DVD comentaries at the appearances of the background characters in this episode. This is most notable in the first scene at the speakeasy when Chief Wiggum and Princess Kashmir are dancing together, as the latter's breasts move in a very bizzarre manner.
- When Marge compliments Homer on his bootlegging scheme, and Lisa objects, Marge, Homer, and Bart tell Lisa to go to her room.
[edit] Cultural references
- The episode parodies the film The Untouchables, with the character of Rex Banner based on Eliot Ness (played by Kevin Costner in the film).
- In addition to prohibition, the episode features other references to life in the 1920s United States.
- The shot of the diner is a spoof of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks painting.
[edit] Goofs
- At the beginning of the show, before he enters the school, Bart is wearing his normal blue pants and shoes, but when he enters the school they both turn grey.
- Duff had a alcohol-free Duff. It was presented in Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming, when Homer downs 6 glasses after mistakenly reading sign advertising "free Duff". However, a crowd of people standing around the sign leaves, revealing the full text of the sign to be "Alcohol-free Duff: $6". This causes Homer to be charged $42. However, he pretends to faint to leave the scene.
[edit] Quotes
- Homer:(wearing a barrel on his head)Look at me! I'm the Prime Minister of Ireland!
- Mayor Quimby: "You can't seriously want to ban alcohol. It tastes great, makes women appear more attractive, and makes a person virtually invulnerable to criticism."
Helen Lovejoy: "Oh, won't somebody please think of the children?." - Police Officer (Eddie): "I don't know why people are always badmouthing the Mafia."
- Rex Banner: "Pet shop, eh? Well, I just have one question. What kind of pet shop is filled with rambunctious yahoos and hot jazz music at one AM?"
Moe: "Um... the best damn pet shop in town!"
All: "Yeah!!" (At this point, everybody charges their glasses, then quickly hide them behind their backs again with a "water drop" sound effect)
Rex Banner: Well you all remember. Baby turtles and alligators may seem like a cute idea for a pet...but they grow up. - Mayor Quimby: "Who are you to demand anything? I run this town. You're just a bunch of low-income nobodies!"
Mayor's Staff: "Uh, election in November. Election in November..."
Mayor Quimby: "What? Again? This stupid country." - Homer: "We're going out, Marge! If we don't come back, avenge our deaths!"
Marge: "All right." - Bart: "Dad! Knocking over gravestones is bad luck!"
Homer: "Really? I heard good." - Rex Banner: "Listen, rummy, I'm gonna say it plain and simple. Where'd you pinch the hooch? Is some blind tiger jerking suds on the side?"
Barney: (lost) "...yes...?" - Barney: (after Moe turns the pet shop back into his bar) "Ow. Those gears down there really hurt."
- Rex Banner: "It's not up to us to decide which laws to obey. If it were, I'd kill anyone who looked at me cock-eyed."
- Homer: (after Springfield has been sober for only .75 days) "Glad to see you're back in business, Moe."
Moe: "Yeah, that was a scary couple of hours." - Rex Banner: "You're out there Baron, and I'm going to find you."
Homer: (in the distance) "No you won't."
Rex Banner: "Yes I will."
Homer: (in the distance) "Won't." - Moe: "Homer, ya gotta get me more beer!"
Homer: "Sorry, I'm all out. How 'bout some Turpentine? Or caulk? Delicious caulk." - Homer: (exits the basement with Bart, pushing a wheelbarrow of his beer-filled bowling balls): "Wait. I forget to check if the coast is clear. Oh, I'm sure it's clear; let's go."
(as they walk, they see Marge and Lisa. Homer screams, dropping the wheelbarrow and revealing the balls' alcohol contents)
Marge: "Beer!"
Homer: "I can explain, Marge. Please let me explain! Oh God, why won't you let me explain!?"
Marge: "You're the one the papers are talking about, the mysterious "Beer Baron" who's supplying Springfield with alcohol. How have you been getting away with this?"
Homer: "Well, and I can explain, remember: I fill the balls with beer that I found at the dump, then I bowl them and some underground pipes carry them and bring them into Moe's."
Marge: "Homer...that's very clever!"
Homer: "Really?"
Bart: "Huh?"
Lisa: "Mom?"
Marge: "Well it is. I've only known your father since high school and this is the cleverest thing he's ever done. Besides, he's only breaking a silly two-hundred year old law."
Homer: "It is silly, Marge. And look at all the money I'm making!" (flashes money at Marge, who makes an impressed sound)
Lisa: "Mom! Prohibition might be unpopular, but it's the law and we must always..."
Homer, Marge, and Bart: "GO TO YOUR ROOM, LISA!!" - Moe: "There ya go, Barn. That'll be forty-five bucks."
Barney: "Forty-five bucks!? Well, this better be the best tasting beer in the world!" (takes drink) "You got lucky!" - Homer: "To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."
- Rex Banner (grabbing Comic Book Guy): "Are you the Beer Baron?"
Comic Book Guy: "Yes, but only by night. By day, I'm a mild mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper."
Rex Banner: "Don't crack wise with me, tubby!"
Comic Book Guy: "Tubby? Oh yes, tubby."
