"Flying Memphis Belles, Part I"

## Themes and Motifs

* No Smoking Allowed: During the elevator scene Spike attempts to smoke a cigarette but Jet points out that there is "No Smoking Allowed". Spike smoking in non-smoking areas is a recurring theme in *Cowboy Bebop*.

* Handcuffs: Twice in this episode Faye is handcuffed. First she is captured and handcuffed by the criminal casino owner, Gordon, and later on she is captured and handcuffed by Spike and Jet. She will be handcuffed once again in Gateway Shuffle.

* Three Old Men: Antonio, Carlos, and Jobim make another appearance in this episode. They are sitting at a baccarat table and Spike taps their facedown card for good luck. The card comes out a natural nine, winning them a large pot as Spike helps himself to a few chips. Spike otherwise doesn't recognize the three old men from "Asteroid Blues".

* Missed Bounty: Spike and Jet learn that Faye has a 6 million Woolong bounty on her head and attempt to collect by turning her over to the police. They fail to do so and throughout the series they are often unsuccessful at collecting on bounties.

## Homages and References

* Honky Tonk Women is a 1969 hit song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones. The song describes a "honky tonk woman" as a sort of exotic dancer or prostitute.

* This episode, with a group of ploits who trapped in middle of the desert are buoyed with hope by one of the passengers, an airplane designer who plans for them to build a flyable plane from the wreck in middleof dust storm, pays homage to The Flight of the Phoenix, 2004 American survival drama film directed by John Moore and written by Scott Frank and Edward Burns. The film is about a survivors who trapped in middle of the desert as hope to rebuild the weak plane to survive.
	+ The Flight of the Phoenix (Aldrich & Blake, 1965; Aldrich et al., 2004; Dudley-Smith, 1964) is based on a real-life event from World War II in which a twin-engine cargo plane crashed in the desert.

* Lawrence of Arabia 1962 was a 20th-century American jazz saxophonist and composer, and is considered one of the most influential jazz musicians. He is considered one of the primary musicians of the bebop form of jazz that is faster and relies more on improvisation with harmony.
	+ the scene of lauches attack on running supplies train was references to Lawrence of Arabia 1962 raid of the train scene.
		- Ahmed's personality and looks was based on Iranian professional wrestler The Iron Sheik which ironically it was based on Iron Sheik of Arabia from Robot Chicken sketch.

* This beginning of the episode was Tuskegee Avianman USAF in the military base on location on North Africa who battled each against the German in combat was references to ***The Tuskegee Airmen*** is a 1995 HBO television movie based on the exploits of an actual groundbreaking unit, the first African-American combat pilots in the United States Army Air Corps, that fought in World War II.

* When Spike and Jet are in the lift, the lift has a screen that says "Welcome to Spaiders [sic] from Mars". The Spiders from Mars was one of David Bowie's conceptual creations, the backup band of his character and alter ego Ziggy Stardust. "Spiders from Mars" (properly spelled later in the anime) is likely to be the name of the casino.
* Spike's spacesuit is similar to the spacesuit worn by Dr. David Bowman, a central character in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science fiction film, 2001 A Space Odyssey.
* Spike swallowing and then regurgitating his cigarette is possibly a reference to Tom Mullica, a magician whose signature act was cigarette regurgitation.

### Trivia

A honky tonk is a name given to bars in the Southwest and Deep South United States, often featuring piano or live band entertainment, typically cater to a rougher clientèle, and may be centers of prostitution. The history of this term can be traced back to as early as 1894.