"Sideshow Bob Roberts," the fifth episode of the sixth season of "The Simpsons," mocks quite a few different films, but it sticks mostly to a few majors.

Most notably, and obviously, it's riffing on the Tim Robbins film "Bob Roberts" (released in 1992, two years before this episode aired), but not just in the title.

Several plot points also reference the satirical political comedy, as well as the memorable image of Sideshow Bob draped in nothing but an American flag -- Robbins is also wrapped in only the flag on the "Bob Roberts" movie poster and subsequent DVD cover.

Almost as obvious, for film buffs anyway, are the references to the 1976 classic "All the President's Men," the true-life film that arguably set the bar for the political-thriller genre.

In the episode, Bart and Lisa meet Smithers in an abandoned parking garage, drawing a direct reference to Woodward and Bernstein's meetings with their source who eventually brought down the Nixon administration. As well, there's the scene of Lisa going through voter records in the Springfield Library that recalls a similar scene in the film.

"Simpsons" writer Bill Oakley says in the DVD commentary track for the episode that the two men who follow Sideshow Bob around in the episode were based on real-life politicos H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, two of Nixon's closest advisers during the Watergate scandal.

In another toss to a cinematic classic, Bob gives one of his speeches below a huge poster of his own face, which of course echoes one of the most iconic images from 1941's "Citizen Kane."

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