Homer vs. the 18th Amendment

Homer vs. the 18th Amendment is a fantastic Simpsons episode with a very well written storyline and a ton of very funny scenes. It's an absolute classic filled with so much memorable dialogue from start to finish, I loved seeing Homer as the main man in this crime, Chief Wiggum had many memorable parts, and Rex Banner is also a really funny once off character. However, I really liked Rex Banner, he had a lot of potential and I'm surprised they never used him for any other episode, I could have seen him making appearances as regularly as Sideshow Bob does, they should bring him back some time. It is also a great satire on alcohol and makes many digs at the drug and its effect on the world throughout, my favourite quote would have to be Homer's line about alcohol at the end. Homer vs. the 18th Amendment is a really enjoyable Simpsons episode.

After Bart is caught drunk at a St. Patrick's Day parade, the town brings back an old prohibition that makes alcohol illegal.

Theoretically speaking, serious Simpsons fans should hate this episode. It's one of the wilder ones to appear in the first eight seasons, featuring Homer becoming a anti-authoritarian bootlegger after a St Patrick's day mishap leads to Springfield embracing prohibition. In the course of the twenty five minute running time, he gets in a car chase that careers through a grave yard, blows up the basement and comes worryingly close to being catapulted out of the town at high velocity by a medieval siege weapon. Its certainly a long way away from the satirical, character-orientated comedy that made the Simpsons so beloved in the first place and by all rights, should be absolutely loathed for arguably, being the episode that proved to the writers that they could get away with the sort of 'wacky adventures' that blighted later series. There's just one problem...it's impossible to hate this episode because it's brilliant.

The reason for this is down to two things; the script and Dave Thomas's guest role as Captain Rex Banner, the police chief drafted into the city to solve the alcohol problem after Chief Wiggum proves...well, proves to be completely useless. The one-liners come thick and fast and the voice acting as ever is spot on, with the writers hitting a peak early on and running with it until the closing credits. It's sharp, magnificently crafted and absolutely hilarious, with the "no you won't" exchange on a hill between Homer and Banner being a memorable classic moment. Banner of course is the star here, a straight laced, humourless police man who has walked straight out of a 1930s book of stereotypes. He's without a shadow of a doubt one of the most memorable guest characters they ever featured, a million miles from the "Hi, I'm *obligatory celebrity*, bye" cameos we would later get. And I defy you not to crack up at the sight of him looking stern and deep in thought with a 'banana kaboom' sat in front of him.

In some respects, you could blame the success of this one for the wealth of ludicrous scenarios that would follow and it'd be very easy to suggest that Homer would never have been able to somersault an articulated lorry through the air (Maximum Homerdrive), wield a motorbike like a fencing sword (Take My Wife, Sleaze) or visit Jockey Land (I've forgotten which episode this was in but it was rubbish) were it not for this episode's paving the way. However, it's just not possible to dislike it, it's too funny, too well written and just...just too damn good.

When I saw this episode and got the DVD with it I watched it a lot of times and looked forward to seeing it. I favor these types of episodes on the show and this one in particular is no exception.

When Springfield Celebrates Saint Patrick's Day Bart is seen drunk by the entire crowd and the News Team. This sends a wake up call to Springfield about Liquor in the town and leads to Chief Wiggum being booted from SPD and replaced by a strict 1940s Cop out to do everything he can to keep Springfield Booze Free. As you can imagine Homer and the good folk's at Moe's Tavern won't let their Precious Duff go without a fight. After a few attempts to get Booze back into Springfield Homer takes it upon himself to make the booze himself in The Simpson's Basement, another father-Son activity for Homer and Bart. Homer supplies Moe's Bar with the Booze and makes a pretty penny even Marge is impressed by.

Filled with Funny Lines and Great Moments this is an episode that will quench anybodies Thirst.

When Bart gets drunk by accident on St. Patrick's Day, the town gets up in arms. A 200 year old prohibition law that was never enforced causes Springfield to go dry. A humorless federal agent shows up to make sure the law works. Meanwhile, Homer has other ideas and becomes a beer baron. It's all hilarious and outrageously preaches that you can do anything but don't take the booze away.

Mayor Quimby enforces alcohol prohibition in Springfield.

This is an excellent episode with great humour and character moments.

The build up and general parody of Irish stereotyping is pretty funny if you have a laidback sense of humour about such things. The most interesting visual gag for me is the terrorism reference that probably seemed hilarious to the writers at the time, but I wonder if they would have been as quick to do it after 9-11-2001 or in a parody of Middle Eastern stereotyping. Wikipedia states it was cut for broadcast in the UK, but this is not true as I remember it clearly on television during my youth.

When the story becomes a parody of prohibition it delivers the best of the humour. All the speakeasy moments are wonderful and Homer's antics are exceptionally funny.

Numerous supporting characters are used superbly by the writers, such as Rex Banner, Chief Wiggum, Mayor Quimby, and Moe.