The Great Money Caper: Difference between revisions

"**The Great Money Caper**"
"The Great Money Caper"
The Simpsons episode
	File:Cabf03.jpg
Episode no.	Season 12;
Directed by	Michael Polcino
Written by	Carolyn Omine
Original air date	December 10, 2000
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	"The nurse is not dealing"
Couch gag	The Simpsons swim to the couch in deep-sea diving gear. The camera zooms out to reveal that the living room is in a fish bowl.
Commentary	; Mike Scully; Al Jean; Ian Maxtone-Graham; Carolyn Omine; Don Payne; Matt Selman; Tom Gammill; Chuck Sheetz
Episode chronology
	The Simpsons season 12
	List of episodes

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Revision as of 20:48, 31 August 2009

"The Great Money Caper" is the seventh episode of The Simpsons' twelfth season. It originally aired in the United States on December 10, 2000. Homer needs money to pay for damage to his car, so he and Bart decided to con people out of their money to pay for the car repairs. Homer and Bart get coned and end up losing their car. The episode was written by Carolyn Omine and directed by Michael Polcino.

Plot

The family goes to a magic-themed restaurant. While there, Marge gets drunk on Long Island Iced Teas and Bart becomes so fascinated with magic that he buys a magician's kit from the gift shop. On the way home, a sturgeon falls from the sky (implicitly from Mir) onto the family car's hood, which is severely damaged. Homer and Bart start their magic show as a way to make money, but the act becomes a failure, and Homer leaves Bart to do the rest of the act on his own. Bart is left out on the street, and people begin giving him money so he can get a home on public transportation.

As Homer drives home, he sees Bart in a taxi, and when he gets home he sees him eating a steak dinner. They decide they can make money grifting. Grampa says he can help them make a lot of money, but grifting the residents at the Springfield Retirement Castle. While performing the grift, they are "arrested" by an "FBI" agent. When Homer and Bart get to jail, the realize the FBI agent is a con man, and conned them out of their money and the car.

Homer and Bart say the car was stolen. Marge deducts that it was Groundskeeper Willie who stole the car, and he is arrested. Not wanting to admit they were conned, Homer and Bart go along with Marge's theory. At the trial, the Blue Haired Lawyer leads Homer to say that it was Willie who stole the car. Just as Willie is found guilty, the townspeople tell Homer and Bart that they set up the trial to teach them a lesson.

Reception

Cultural references

The title is a spoof on the movie The Great Muppet Caper.
The plot is similar to the 1973 film Paper Moon. This reference is indicated when Homer and Bart attempt to fool Ned Flanders with a presumably false Bible from the recently deceased Maude Flanders, Flanders begins to realize it is a scam and says "Wait a minute, this sounds an awful lot like that movie Paper Moon".
Grandpa's line about being able to afford a "young, crazy stripper wife" now that he's "won" the Publisher's Clearinghouse check is a reference to Anna Nicole Smith (who started out as a stripper) and her marriage to J. Howard Marshall.
Grandpa explains that the con they attempt at the old folks' home was from The Sting II "so nobody knows about it!"
Kent Brockman's farewell "good night and have a pleasant tomorrow" is the same as Chevy Chase's sendoff when he hosted the Weekend Update portion of Saturday Night Live.

External links

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 | episode_no   = 255
 | prod_code    = CABF03
-| airdate      = [[December 10]], [[2000]]
+| airdate      = December 10, 2000
 | show runner  = [[Mike Scully]]
 | writer       = [[Carolyn Omine]]
@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 }}
-"'''The Great Money Caper'''" is the seventh episode of the [[List of The Simpsons episodes#Season 12 (2000-2001)|twelfth season]] of ''[[The Simpsons]]''.
+"'''The Great Money Caper'''" is the seventh episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki> [[List of The Simpsons episodes#Season 12 (2000-2001)|twelfth season]]. It originally aired in the United States on December 10, 2000. [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] needs money to pay for damage to his car, so he and [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] decided to con people out of their money to pay for the car repairs. Homer and Bart get coned and end up losing their car. The episode was written by [[Carolyn Omine]] and directed by [[Michael Polcino]].
 ==Plot==
-The family goes to a magic-themed restaurant. Once there, Marge gets drunk on [[Long Island Iced Tea]]s and [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] becomes so fascinated with magic that he buys a magician's kit from the gift shop. On the way home, a [[sturgeon]] falls from the sky (implicitly from [[Mir]]) onto the family car's hood, which is severely damaged. [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] and Bart start their magic show as a way to make money, but the act becomes a failure, and Homer leaves Bart to do the rest of the act on his own. Bart is left out on the street, and people such as a [[Michael Jackson]] look-a-like begin giving him money so he can get a lift on public transportation.
+The family goes to a magic-themed restaurant. While there, Marge gets drunk on [[Long Island Iced Tea]]s and [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] becomes so fascinated with magic that he buys a magician's kit from the gift shop. On the way home, a [[sturgeon]] falls from the sky (implicitly from [[Mir]]) onto the family car's hood, which is severely damaged. [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] and Bart start their magic show as a way to make money, but the act becomes a failure, and Homer leaves Bart to do the rest of the act on his own. Bart is left out on the street, and people  begin giving him money so he can get a home on public transportation.
-As Homer drives home, he sees Bart in a taxi, and when he gets home he sees him eating a steak dinner. The two find that they can make a lot of money [[Confidence trick|grifting]], and start their grifting business, with help from [[Abraham Simpson|Grampa]] (who was a grifter during The Great Depression and wrote a book on the subject). The grifting business is destroyed when Homer and Bart are arrested, and scam their way out of the problem by using [[Groundskeeper Willie]] as the scapegoat. It is not long, however, before the citizens of [[Springfield (The Simpsons)|Springfield]] reveal themselves to have actually staged this trial to teach Homer and Bart a lesson. Lisa points out that the reason behind this elaborate prank is "crazy" and "insulting to your intelligence," but it's never fully explained as Otto bursts in and invites everyone in town to go surfing.
+As Homer drives home, he sees Bart in a taxi, and when he gets home he sees him eating a steak dinner. They decide they can make  money [[Confidence trick|grifting]]. [[Abraham Simpson|Grampa]] says he can help them make a lot of money, but grifting the residents at the [[Springfield Retirement Castle]]. While performing the grift, they are "arrested" by an "FBI" agent. When Homer and Bart get to jail, the realize the FBI agent is a con man, and conned them out of their money and the car.
+Homer and Bart say the car was stolen. [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] deducts that it was [[Groundskeeper Willie]] who stole the car, and he is arrested. Not wanting to admit they were conned, Homer and Bart go along with Marge's theory. At the trial, the [[Blue Haired Lawyer]] leads Homer to say that it was Willie who stole the car. Just as Willie is found guilty, the townspeople tell Homer and Bart that they set up the trial to teach them a lesson.
 ==Reception==