How Gene Hackman Inspired One of ‘The Simpsons’ Most Iconic Moments
Despite winning the 1971 Academy Award for Best Picture, defining the late Gene Hackman’s career and producing one of the most badass car-chase sequences in movie history, The French Connection isn’t only famed for its Hollywood hardware and pedestrian endangerment; it also inspired one of The Simpsons’ greatest early gags.
In Season Three’s “Bart the Murderer,” the eldest Simpson child found himself eating his own shorts, taking L after L during what may be the worst morning in the show’s canon. Stepping on a spiky dinosaur toy, losing out on his cereal prize to Homer and discovering Santa’s Little Helper had eaten his homework — “I didn’t know dogs really did that” — were just the beginning. After glancing up from his shredded assignment, Bart realized he’d fumbled the bag yet again — the school bus was just about to take off without him.
“Wait, wait!” Bart yelled to bus driver Otto, scrambling to put on his signature orange T-shirt as he dashed across his lawn, Lisa calmly boarding ahead of him. His mad dash was all in vain, though, as he was left running as the door slammed in his face, Lisa offering only a smug smile and wave from her comfortable window seat.
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As several eagle-eyed fans noticed, the whole bus debacle was nothing new, the frustrating exchange parodying the snarky wave Fernando Rey’s Charnier gives Hackman’s Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection as he narrowly misses him on the subway.
“I honestly never connected this. Or should I say… never French connected this,” wrote Redditor DemagogDog in a post honoring Hackman’s legacy on The Simpsons’ subreddit.
Meanwhile, AlphaDag13 applauded the show’s clever nod to the beloved film. “The Simpsons used to be so good at working references like this into their episodes,” they added.
It also brought some much-needed vindication to Lisa. “Oh cool!” observed Cityplanner1. “I just thought it was a rare instance of Lisa being a dick!”
