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The picture of the character on the left in the red jacket in the image at that page reminds me strongly of the lead character in the original version of The Music Man. That film musical concerned a con man who came to a small town and convinced people to buy instruments and uniforms for boys to play in a band. He also charged for music lessons. He intended to take the money and run off, leaving the parents poorer and the youngsters no musicians. That all seems to tie in with the monorail con described in the recap. Pretty closely, really, since Homer took conductor classes but didn't learn anything, like the kids in 5he music classes
The guy in the grey jacket and black turtleneck, I don't know. It's a common "European" look for characters in films from the Sixties and Seventies. Strangely, he reminds me of Carl Sagan, lol.
Found it! According to Conan O'Brien, the character design is based on Max von Sydow. I checked his filmography and the movie that fits it most is Until the End of the World, with its running time of 287 minutes.

In "The Simpsons S4 E12 "Marge vs. the Monorail"", Marge visits North Haverbrook and finds a creepy scientist type called Sebastian Cobb. The character design, accent and personality are apparently a parody of a character from a feature taking place in Europe, where he also has to be taken on a trip, except across multiple countries.
Does anyone know what movie it is? It's probably an Art Film from the seventies, and has a painfully long running time. I'm not sure if the movie is actually an European production, or just takes place in Europe.
Edited by Mac_R