Before the New ‘Cape Fear,’ A Look Back on ‘The Simpsons’ Parody – 5 Things You Should Know
In 1993, The Simpsons gleefully steered its family station wagon into much darker waters, delivering a wickedly inspired parody of Martin Scorsese’s 1991 thriller Cape Fear, starring Robert De Niro, which itself was a glossy, teeth-bared remake of the 1962 suspense classic starring Robert Mitchum, which was in turn based on John D. MacDonald’s 1957 novel, The Executioners
The episode, cheekily titled “Cape Feare,” transformed the horror tale of stalking and vengeance into a carnival ride of ill-placed rakes, delightful show tunes, and courtroom absurdity, with Sideshow Bob stepping in as Springfield’s answer to Max Cady. What could have been a simple spoof became something far stranger and smarter: a note-perfect collision of prestige cinema and cartoon chaos, where high art, low blows, and slapstick dread all shared the same houseboat.
Available to watch on Disney+, here are five fascinating facts you should know when you rewatch the classic episode, a must-do before gearing up for the new Apple TV show starring Javier Bardem in the Max Cady role.
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1. The infamous rake scene meant to fill in time
Now regarded as one of the show’s most famous gags, the rake sequence featuring Sideshow Bob stepping on what seems like an infinite trail of scattered rakes and letting out the same disgruntled moan was looped simply to pad out the episode’s runtime.
“There’s the famous Sideshow Bob joke in ‘Cape Feare’ that involves him stepping on an endless series of rakes,” wrote Simpsons writer Mike Reiss in a story for the New Yorker. “That alone was creative padding. But the show was still seven seconds short, so Al Jean said, ‘Let’s do it again.’ We repeated the sequence exactly, and somehow turned a slapstick joke into a surreal classic.”
According to Cracked, Kelsey Grammer was quite surprised as he had only ever recorded one take of Sideshow Bob’s reaction to getting hit in the face, which was then reused multiple times.
2. The episode marks the first time Bob tries to kill Bart
In his first spotlight episode, Bob attempts to frame Krusty for robbery at the Kwik-E-Mart in his first appearance. Then, in his second appearance, he tries to kill his wife, Selma. After this, Bob if firmly an enemy of Bart.
3. Sideshow Bob’s prisoner number is a joke for animation nerds
On Bob’s parole documents, his inmate number is A113, which is a famous running gag appearing in nearly every Pixar film, as well as many Disney and other animated productions. It refers to a specific classroom at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) used by graphic design and character animation students. Prominent animators like John Lasseter, Brad Bird, and Tim Burton studied there.
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4. Meet the Thompsons
When the Simpsons go into witness protection, they are given the pseudonym of “The Thompsons.” This is a reference to J. Lee Thompson, who is the director of the original Cape Fear.
5. There was a sequel episode based on an alternate ending
In 2023, The Simpsons revisited “Cape Feare” with a segment in Treehouse of Horror XXXIV titled “Ei8ht,” a riff on the film Se7en. The story opens with an alternate ending to “Cape Feare” in which Bob succeeds in killing Bart in front of Lisa, an event that drives her to become a criminal psychologist and eventually sends her spiraling into madness. She spends years plotting a calculated killing spree to avenge her brother’s murder, ultimately cornering Sideshow Bob at last. With the kid killer exactly where she wants him, Lisa puts on a vinyl recording of “He is an Englishman” from H.M.S. Pinafore and brutally murders Bob in a moment of vengeance.
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