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the plot has nothing to do with the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which has of course been repealed since 1933. Rather, the prohibition in Springfield owes to the re-discovery of a long-forgotten municipal law.
Synopsis
A prohibitionist movement emerges in Springfield after Bart accidentally becomes drunk during a St. Patrick's Day celebration. The municipal government discovers alcohol has actually been banned for two centuries, and they move to enforce the law, forcing Moe to hide what remains a bar as a pet shop. The townspeople become impatient with the police's incompetence and corruption, and Chief Wiggum is replaced by Rex Banner, an Eliot Ness-esque federal officer.In the meantime, Homer figures out a way to keep Moe's bar operating. The media realize someone is allowing Springfield's underground alcohol trade to flourish, and they give the still-unknown Homer the nickname "Beer Baron." Rex crosses paths with the Baron, but the Baron gets away. Later the operation derails, and Homer gives himself up to Wiggum, hoping that Wiggum will get his job back. The punishment that awaits Homer is very harsh, but he is spared when it is discovered the two hundred-year-old prohibition law had been repealed by another law one hundred ninety-nine years ago.
Trivia
- 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.
- The name of the shop where Homer purchased the bathtubs was the 'Houseware Warehouse'.
- The scene where Mister Burns tries to beat Homer with a bat is in reference to the famous scene from The Untouchables, where Robert DeNiro, playing Al Capone kills one of his associates with a baseball bat.
Quotes
- 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!!" - 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 follow. 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: "I don't have any. 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 booze."
Homer: "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?"
Lisa: "Huh?"
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 ain't silly, Marge. And look at all the money I'm making!" (flashes some green 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 damn tasting beer in the world!" (takes drink) "You got lucky!" - Homer: "To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."
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