Bart the Murderer

"Bart the Murderer" is the fourth episode of the third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 10, 1991. In the episode, Bart stumbles upon a Mafia bar after having bad luck at school. The owner of the bar, mobster Fat Tony, hires Bart as a bartender. When Principal Skinner goes missing after punishing him at school, Bart is put on trial for his murder.

The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Rich Moore. This episode marks the first appearances of Fat Tony (voiced by Joe Mantegna) and his henchmen, Legs and Louie. The episode features cultural references to songs such as "Witchcraft" and " One Fine Day", and the American television series ''MacGyver''.

Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 13.4 and was the highest-rated show on Fox the week it aired.

Plot

After having an unlucky day, Bart loses control of his skateboard during a downpour. He crashes down the stairwell of the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club, a Mob bar owned by the Springfield Mafia.

At the club, mob boss Fat Tony and his henchmen, Legs and Louie, are inhospitable towards Bart at first. They are soon impressed by his ability to pick winning horses and make excellent Manhattans. After Fat Tony hires him as the club's bartender and errand boy, Bart starts wearing Rat Pack suits and allows the Mob to store a truckload of stolen cigarettes in his bedroom until they can be fenced.

After Bart is given detention for trying to bribe Principal Skinner, resulting in him being late to serve Manhattan cocktails to a rival gang, the mobsters confront Skinner and the next day, he is announced as missing. As it becomes apparent that Skinner has been murdered, Bart rushes to confront Fat Tony at the bar after a nightmare about Skinner's ghost and his own execution. While Bart is there, the police raid the bar and arrest the mobsters. Bart is subsequently placed on trial for Skinner's murder.

At the trial, Fat Tony, Legs and Louie lie to the court, saying Bart killed Skinner and claim that he is the ringleader of the mafia, even Homer falls for their lies when he is called to testify. Bart is found guilty and Judge Snyder is about to give Bart a certain death sentence when Skinner, unshaven and disheveled, bursts in the courtroom, and he explains to everyone what happened to him. Fat Tony and his henchmen visited Skinner's office and left sheepishly after Skinner scolded them for interfering in student discipline. When he returned home that day, Skinner became trapped beneath stacks of old newspapers in his garage and lay stuck there for a week before finally realising he had to get out himself when nobody came to his aid.

Bart is cleared of all charges, despite the prosecution's unsuccessful attempt to have Skinner's speech stricken from the record. Bart quits Fat Tony's gang after learning that the bromide is true: crime does not pay.

Production

The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Rich Moore. The writers conceived the idea of the episode before the 1990 film ''Goodfellas'', which has a similar plot, was released. After it was, the writers incorporated references to the film into the episode. The character Fat Tony makes his first appearance on the show in this episode. He was modeled after the physical appearance of Paul Sorvino's character Paul Cicero in ''GoodFellas''.

The writers originally wanted American actor Sheldon Leonard to voice Fat Tony, but they were unable to get him, so they went with Joe Mantegna instead. Mantegna was offered the role during the show's second season, and since he had seen the show before and thought it was "funny", he decided to give it a shot. He felt honored they had asked him. In an interview with ''The A.V. Club'', Mantegna said he thinks the reason he got the role was partly due to his performance in the 1990 Mafia film ''The Godfather Part III'', which had opened just prior to the offer. He thought the script was smart and clever, and he enjoyed recording it. Mantegna has since appeared many times on the show as Fat Tony, who became a recurring character; it is Mantegna's longest-running role in his acting career. Mantegna commented: "Who knew that Fat Tony was gonna resonate in the hearts and minds of the 'Simpsons'' fansout there? Apparently he writersgot enough feedback as to how the character was liked that they wrote it in again and again, and I was kind of a recurring guy that they'd tap into at least a couple episodes a season."

Legs and Louie, Fat Tony's henchmen, also made their first appearances in this episode. The character of Louie was based on American actor Joe Pesci, who is known for playing violent Mafia mobsters. Neil Patrick Harris guest starred in the episode as himself, portraying Bart in ''Blood on the Blackboard: The Bart Simpson Story'', a horribly inaccurate made-for-television film based on Bart's life with the Mafia, which the Simpson family watches at the end of the episode.

Cultural references

At the very beginning the scene where Lisa waves at Bart as he can't get on the bus is a reference to The French Connection. The sequence of Bart crashing down the stairwell to the Mafia bar is similar to a scene in the film ''Goodfellas'' and "A Bronx Tale", in which a young boy is employed by a Mafia as their messenger. All the horses in the race that Bart bets on are named after a famous animated character's catchphrase: "Ain't I a Stinker?" (Bugs Bunny), "Yabba Dabba Doo" (Fred Flintstone), "Sufferin' Succotash" (Sylvester the Cat), "That's All Folks" (Porky Pig), "I Yam What I Yam" (Popeye

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