(USA 1998 117m) DVD1/2
The Dude abides
p Ethan Coen d Joel Coen w Ethan Coen, Joel Coen ph Roger Deakins ed Roderick Jaynes, Tricia Cooke m Carter Burwell art Rick Heinrichs
Jeff Bridges (Jeff Lebowski – The Dude), John Goodman (Walter Sobchak), Julianne Moore (Maude Lebowski), Steve Buscemi (Donny), Peter Stormare (Uli the nihilist), David Huddleston (The Big Lebowski), John Turturro (Jesus Quintana), Sam Elliott (The Stranger), David Thewlis (Knox Harrington), Ben Gazzara (Jackie Treehorn), Tara Reid (Bunny Lebowski), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Brandt), Flea, Aimee Mann,
The very term cult has been so overused there have been times when one wishes the word would be eradicated from the language. One can think of numerous cult films not included in this list – Withnail & I, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, etc – but The Big Lebowski is one of the few exceptions to the rule. It totally split critics ten years ago on release, some finding it a shambling mess, others adoring its quirks and rambling narrative. One can only assume the former didn’t get the joke, for though it may not be the Coens’ best film – see Fargo or No Country for Old Men for that – it’s their most enjoyable, their most beloved.
Jeff Lebowski, known to his friends as The Dude, is the laziest man in Los Angeles County and, perhaps, worldwide. Unemployed, his world of chillin’, smoking pot and bowling is interrupted one evening when two men break into his home in search of a fortune he doesn’t have, and one proceeds to pee on his rug. The crooks then realise they’ve gone to the wrong Lebowski, but the Dude, mortified at the damage done to his rug, goes off in search of the real Lebowski for compensation for a new rug. In doing so, he gets himself and his two bowling friends, the almost anonymous Donnie and the psychotic but loyal Vietnam vet Walter, into a tale that involves porn kingpins, a possible kidnapping, a feminist Jackson Pollock type painter, a nymphomaniac bunny girl wife, and all sorts of other weird and wonderful types.
The pace of the piece is established in the drawling narration of the incomparable Sam Elliott, and in the shot of a tumbleweed rolling wherever the wind doth blow it, aimlessly towards the sea. The narrative follows a similarly sedate course, and relishes its own complications. Some snobbish types dismissed its riff on Chandler’s The Big Sleep, though in truth there are similarities to various Chandler stories – a drugged out dream is straight out of Farewell, My Lovely. Like Howard Hawks’ film of The Big Sleep, the plot takes a back seat to the depiction of the locale and its characters. Only with each repeat viewing the plot comes more into play and one can relish its intricacies.
There are numerous priceless sequences; the marmot in the bath, the scattering of ashes on the cliff side, the argument over nihilism (“say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, but at least it’s an ethos”), Bunny’s offer to the Dude poolside (“I’ll suck your cock for a thousand dollars”), Donnie’s thinking Lenin said “I am the Walrus”, the hilariously naff porn film ‘Logjammin’, the botched money drop off, and, of course, the truly astonishing dream sequence of the porn spoof ‘Gutterballs’, complete with Moore as an ancient warrior queen and Busby Berkeley chorines straddling a bowling lane. The performances are all perfect, but mentions in despatches for Gazzara’s porn kingpin, Hoffman’s oily assistant, Huddleston’s crippled egotist, Moore’s proto-feminist with a liking for coitus, Turturro’s pederast bowler called Jesus (!) and Reid’s bimbo. At the centre, however, there’s Goodman, never better than as the tragic and seriously disturbed Walter and, last but never least, in the role that Mark Cousins and others said he was born for, Jeff Bridges – and his cheap shades – as the Dude. He’s an icon for the ages, a man just seeking retribution because you just don’t pee on a fella’s rug. It’s hard to put into words the joy this gem gives the viewer, but I can only say it’s not too dissimilar to the ecstatic look on Bridges’ face, looking up through the chorines legs to find one of them has gone commando. Welcome to heaven, duderinos!
Click on names for archives
Writers/Founders
THE FUNNIEST FILM OF THE DECADE! THE COEN’S MASTERPIECE! THE BEST COMEDY SINCE THE PRODUCERS! With this ranking, all my steadfast and unwavering praise and passionate devotion to this film have, finally, BEEN VINDICATED!!!! I’ll have MUCH, MUCH MORE TO SAY ABOUT AS THE DAY PASSES!!!!! GREAT CHOICE, MR. FISH!!!!!!! This film finished in my top 25!!!!!!!
Agreed on EVERY moment you verbally bring to illustration. Included, I say too, the slow-mo dance, psuedo musical number with John Turturro blessing his bowling ball to a Latino versionof HOTEL CALIFORNIA. The Dude crashing his own car into a stray dumpster after being jerked-off by a fertility doctor. Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s priceless reaction to Bunny’s offering of a blow-job for a thousand to The Dude. The Dude’s usual outfit of dollar sandals, gym shorts, a stained T-shirt and Bathrobe. Goodman’s split-second morph from simpleton to psychotic, homicidal referee (with automatic pointed at your head) when poor ole Smokee accidentally puts a toe over the lane-line. This is that rare comedy that is so fucking funny you take 5 hours to watch it due to rewinding the scenes because you missed key lines or actions due to laughing your balls off. Anyone who has ever been stoned will also know that Bridge’s performance is so on-the-money as to be scary-his career best performance.
“It’s like Lenin said: You find the person who’l benefit and, well, you know, ah, you know, ah well, you know what I mean…”
“And you, Pandeho, you pull any of your crazy shit, pull a piece on the lanes, I’ll take that gun away from you and stick it up your ass and pull the fuckin’ trigger till is goes CLICK!”
“If MY ex-wife left me to take care of her Pomerainian whiler her and her boyfriend went to Honolulu; I’d tell her to go fuck herself!”
“No, no, Walter. I don’t think little Larry was getting ready to crack. No I don’t. I understand what yer saying and I also understand that there is an underlying message to all this and that’s GO FUCK YOURSELF! Ah, yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow at practice!”
On a website devoted to THE BIG LEBOWSKI. Did you know that this film has more usages if the word FUCK than any other film in history. 248 to be exact. THE BIG LEBOWSKI beat out SOUTH PARK-THE MOVIE by 21 times exclaimed.
I have to give Dennis all the credit for illuminating the genius of this film to me, which I have overlooked on the first viewing. Quite possibly the most ingeniously laid out stoner-movie of all time. The Coens deserve so much credit for this one, they cashed a huge check after all of the kudos for Fargo to make this absurd cult movie, which was surely not going to achieve the same initial critical and commercial success of Fargo. Movies this insane are not supposed to have the production budget that this one did! I know Sam is not a supporter of this one, but if I ever fulfill my dream of getting him to chomp on some magic brownies, this is the movie I will then force him to watch.
The Dude: It’s like what Lenin said… you look for the person who will benefit, and, uh, uh…
Donny: I am the walrus.
The Dude: You know what I’m trying to say…
Donny:I am the walrus.
Walter: That fucking bitch…
The Dude: Oh yeah!
Donny: I am the walrus.
Walter: Shut the fuck up, Donny! V.I. Lenin. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov!
Donny: What the fuck is he talking about, Dude?
A former drug-user, Jeff Bridges intially turned down the role bvecause he didn’t want his impressionable youngt daughters to get the wrong idea of their father or think their Dad condoned illegal drug use. However, when Bridges wife slipped the screenplay of the film under the noses of their girls to read the two of them came back to their father begging him to take the part saying it wads not only the best script they ever read but the funniest. Bridges freely admitted in an interview for ROLLING STONE that his daughters demanded he take LEBOWSKI asa it was the best role ever offered him. Seems his daughters were usually correct as they also pushed him into STARMAN, THE CONTENDER and SEABISCUIT. Bridges was nominated for Oscars in STARMAN and THE CONTENDER. SEABISCUIT was nominated for the Oscar for BEST PICTURE. Bridges should always have his daughters proof-read his scripts! LOL!
Any room for ‘Cutter’s Way’ in there? ‘The Last Picture Show’, ‘Tucker’, ‘The Fisher King’?
This is one of my top-ten comedies and a film that may outlast all the Oscar winners as the best American film of 1998 — but I say this as a Coens fan who’d probably have not just Fargo and Miller’s Crossing but The Hudsucker Proxy in my own top fifty for the decade. I guess I’m just one of those contemptuous misanthropes who pays ten bucks every year or so so I can sneer vicariously at my fellow human beings. Which reminds me: A Simple Man opened in Albany today!…
It’s late — sorry — I meant A Serious Man, of course.
A film that has truly grown on me and, along with Office Space, might be the funniest film of the decade. Its also one of the, if not the, last time we saw the last of the Coen brother cast of actors like John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, Peter Stormare, and Jon Polito. Its a great film and one that the Coens love to make. The Big Lebowski is in the tradition of great films of theirs like Raising Arizona (a film I love and one that I included on my 80s list), Hudsucker Proxy (a film I don’t think deserves the negative reputation it has) and their last comic outing Burn After Reading (a film I thought was brilliant but I guess I;m in the minority). But The Big Lebowski remains one of their most beloved classics and its hard not to see why. The film doesn’t age…it just gets better with time.
“sometimes, there is a man. There is a man. Hell, he the man for his time. And, that’s THE DUDE in Los Angeles…”
I agree with everything that has been said, only on my own list I am going to take it a step further and ranking this one MUCH higher than in the 40s. I can’t compare comedies from this era to stuff like Sturges and Lubitsch, but in terms of “modern” comedies this is far and away the best that I have ever seen.
Walter Sobchak is one of the best movie characters of all time and John Goodman’s performance is incredible.
“What do I do for fun? Oh, well, ya know, the usual stuff. Drive around, go bowling, the occasional acid flash back. But, this case is very volatile, complicated. That’s why I’m adhering to a very strict drug regimen. To keep my mind limber…”
SAMUEL WILSON-Agreed, this film has out-lasted every film that was touted back in 98. Although the Coen’s themselves cannot understand the attraction for the film, audiences the world over embrace it. Its the warmest of all their work, eventually a film about the power that friendship provides in times of need and confusion. DAVE-Right on man, Goodman’s performance is masterpiece of bipolar outbursts and warped sensibility. Whenevr he’s on screen I brace myself to see where he’ll go next. In tandem with Bridges and Buscemi, they really come across as three friendly jerks that have known and cared for each other for a very long time. Three supreme actors in some of the best work they, individually have ever done. Goodman said the screenplay was so off-the-wall funny that they took it regardless to whether the film was a smash or flop. In essence they all felt they HAD to do it.
Keep an eye out for the moment Walter mentions Turturro’s character being a pedophile. In the flash sequence where Turturro opens the gate to ring the doorbell of the mechanic notice Turturros tight pants. The Coens fitted Turturro with a 9 inch dildo in his underwear to give the illusion that he’s always walking around with a hard-on. Turturros states in the DVD documentary that the Brothers were always looking for off-beat ways to make the characters even more bizarre. He also said that they loved torturing him because he was “a good sport”. Watch the scene in slo-mo. Its absolutely hysterical!
“…that rug really tied the room together. Did it not?”
Upon the release of THE BIG LEBOWSKI, the Coens granted only one publication an interview. The magazine that got the honor? FLOOR COVERINGS WEEKLY.
Bob Dylan loved the film so much in a rough cut private screening with the Brothers that he gave his song, THE MAN IN ME, to them free of charge to be used in the opening credits montage.
The porno film that Maude plays on the VCR for The Dude, entitled LOGJAMMING, stars three people. Peter Stormare plays the cable guy. Tara Reid is the nymphette that let’s him in. But, the third girl, who stops by to take a shower is played by none other than XXX porn-star Asia Carrera, veteran of over 1000 hetero fuck films.
Well, I agree with everything said here, including the comments by Dennis, Jason, Dave, Dennis, AnubhavBist, Dennis, Samuel, Dennis, Dennis, and Dennis. I’m thrilled that not only does everyone agree this is a great comedy, but that it could quite reasonably be ranked even higher. I’ve never seen this high – kind of surprising, given that I became a fan in my college days and would watch it several times a week with my rommates, but the first time I saw it I was drunk. I laughed myself silly and thought it was a hilarious non sequitur of a movie. Only on repeat viewings (sober) did I realize how brilliantly the Coens tied their insanely clever plot together – and how ingeniously they made you FEEL that it was random, as if you were seeing everything through the druggy haze of the Dude’s perpetually stoned perspective. I have no hesitation in calling this not only my favorite Coen (a no-brainer) but perhaps also their best film. It’s certainly one of their warmest and most human, as someone (I think his name was Dennis?) already pointed out.
And of course, fantastic use of pop music which always gets me hook, line, and sinker.
‘Miller’s Crossing’ at 79, ‘Big Lebowski’ at 43… could ‘Fargo’ and ‘Barton Fink’ also be top 50, placing 4 Coen films in the Top 100? That would really be something.
LOLOLOLOL!!!! Right on, MOVIEMAN!!!!! Actually, you should see it, shall we say, “altered”, it heightens the hilarity, and, know it sounds crazy, but makes the plot more, understandable? At least I always thought so. I’m really ecstatic that Allan had it on the list at all. From Sam’s description of Mr. Fish, he seems like a pretty straight forward and straight laced guy. Someone who doesn’t “partake” in mind expanding goodies. That Allan gets the point, gets the jokes and enjoys this film is a testament to how brilliantly the Coen’s constructed a stoner flick for everyone. I still say stoners will appreciate it more, but its themes are for everyone. I LOVE THIS FILM.
JAMIE-I would bet the farm on FARGO making the count. After all, Allan plainly stated that he felt both FARGO and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN were the Brothers best films so far, in this essay. BARTON FINK, could make it as well, but I don’t think its as assured a place in the top 50 as FARGO is. FINK is really bizarre territory for any film-goer, even the most seasoned and lovers of metaphor. I myself, a lover of metaphor, had to see BARTON FINK twice to really “get” what it was all about and I’m usually pretty good at this stuff. I like BARTON FINK immensely. Personally, I wouldn’t put it in the 50. I reserve FARGO and LEBOWSKI those two slots. After LEBOWSKI I revere NO COUNTRY as the Coen’s best film thus far.
Interesting I like the Coen’s when they are in the character study, philosophical mode, so my three favorite films by them are (in order) ‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’, ‘Barton Fink’, and ‘A Serious Man’. From there it’s a dead heat between ‘Fargo’, ‘Big Lebowski’, and ‘A Miller’s Crossing’ (probably though in that order), then ‘No Country for Old Men’.
Placing matters little as I think they are pretty much all masterpieces.
And then there are the little details, both metaphorical and otherwise, that dot this film. Notice the 12 pairs of shoes on the stoop opposite The Dudes apartment when Marty comes to collect the rent. Every bird-bath in The Dudes apartment complex is missing its top (I think The Dude did away with them to stop early morning chirping). The painting of a pair of black-handled scissors dresses Maudes apartment and thos same scissors show up in the porno dream. Or how hysterical are the cops rushing into the bowling alley as Walter rambles on about the tournament just after pulling a gun on Smokee! WhatKs with the gold hair-blower that The Dude where’s in the dream? And I love the picture of Nixon bowling that hangs over The Dude’s wet bar at home not to mention the bowling pin weed pipe the cop finds in his ash-tray. The purple shirts and jump suits Liam and Jesus sport at the lanes are hysterical that they represent an openly gay team. Little details you may miss on the first viewing.
Dennis, I must have seen this film several dozen times and I think the only things you mention which I actively noticed was the cops rushing into the bowling alley and, I guess, the gay vibes of Liam and Jesus. One of the great things about this movie is that I don’t think I’ve ever watched it without noticing something new. One time we even theorized that the movie was a metaphor for WWII, with the German Nazis (“they’re not Nazis, Walter, these men are nihilists!”) and Walter, the Dude both Polish – with Walter being Jewish to boot (what about Donnie?). Of course, that reading never got very far…but I suspect one could fill an entire book with critical theories on The Big Lebowski (actually, I think they already may have; if not, I’m sure one’s on the way). Though it’s more fun just to watch and make up your own or just luxuriate in its splendor.
I love when Walter picks The Dude up to go to the Lebowski mansion and they get in the argument over Walter converting…
“Three thousand years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax…”
Kills me every time.
YES, MOVIEMAN-the little details are abundant. I didn’t pick up on them right away. Repeated viewings unearthed a treasure-trove of sight gags and metaphors that the Brothers are to slick to leave wide open. I always felt, as many critics do, that their sense of humor is for them and them alone and, should we get it as well, the viewer should feel priledged to join them on their ride. I don’t think they make movies for an audience as much as they make them for themselves and I really do think the two of them think we’re pretty stupid for falling for their antics and praising it as art. These are two playful guys just having a blast over people liking what they do with no choice but to do it.
Actually, I think Jason Giampietro hit the nail on the head. The Coen’s, I believe, were so drained by the experience of FARGO that they decided to have fun with their follow-up. FARGO afforded them the kind of critical and commercial status that had alluded them with every film prior. Polygram and Universal were willing to give them anything they needed to keep creating. I think THE BIG LEBOWSKI was a joke concocted by the two to saý to the backers “you just cut your own throat, watch what your confidence gets you.”. Funny thing is, what their confidence got them was something the Brothers didn’t even expect, namely a film that has become their most seen and beloved. Because they really can’t do anything uncreative, they set their own joke upon themselves. Joel and Ethan are still scratching their heads ove the back-fire of THE BIG LEBOWSKI.
Great observation, especially since I think they attempted the same thing with Burn After Reading, though there they succeeded in making an entirely pointless, and self-consciously pointless, endeavor. Here they were too giddy, having too much fun to make this film the throwaway that was intended. I think it’s already in the process of crossing over from cult film to masterpiece – and eventually it may be even more celebrated than Fargo, which is fine by me. Not a bad joke to have played on oneself!
By the way, on television Walter’s threat to the child is turned into, “This is what happens when you feed a stranger a banana!” I’ve heard that the Coens – surprise, surprise – have personal approval over the censored epithets in their TV screenings and they have multiple versions of this particular curse for different airings
MOVIEMAN-Donny’s last name is KARABOTSTOS. Greek, definately Greek.
I finf it funny and interesting that in the scene where Uli and his gang of zombie-like nihilists await to hear from The Dude about there ransom money, they are sitting in a diner ordering pan-cakes. Peter Stormare’s character in FARGO was obsessed with finding a place where he could consume PAN-CAKES. Peter Stormare plays Uli The Nihilist. LOL!
Walter asks Pilar, Arthur Digby Lawrence’s house-maid, if the famous television writer still writes anymore. Lawrence is seen in the back-ground, buried in an immense iron-lung breathing machine that keeps him barely alive and completely comatose. Pilar’s answer: “Oh, no. He hath health problems!”. Cracks me the fuck up everytime.
“…well this is getting us nowhere. Time to move to plan B. The little prick is stonewalling us. Well you asked for it. You might wanna take a look outside Larry. Son, this is what happens WHEN YOU FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS!!!”
“..waywayway wait second. I’m not Mr. Lebowski, You’re Mr. Lebowski. Me? I’m THE DUDE. And that’s what you call me. That or “Duder” or “His Dudeness” or “El Duderino” if you’re not into the whole brevity thing…”
MOVIEMAN-I agree wiyth you on BURN AFTER READING, an entirely pointless endeavor. But, where they might find the whole thing pointless, they are still unable to make a film that’s anything less than really interesting. BURN might be pointless and lersser than a film like NO COUNYRY. But, there pointlessness is still 100% better than most other directors most serious work. In the Brothers canon, only THE LADYKILLERS seems fruitless, tired and wasteful.
Agreed, though I feel Raising Arizona and Intolerable Cruelty were pretty mediocre, too. Hudsucker could have worked if they’d let JJ Leigh really hold centre stage and not Robbins, and if they’d had Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine mode in the Robbins role.
I also love the part after the failed exchange and the debacle or Walter’s wannabe commando raid, when Walter and the Dude go back to the bowling alley. Donnie innocently asks, “How’d the drop go?” and Walter answers: “It went okay… Dude’s car got a little banged up.”
And of course the diner scene about the toe…
Honestly just too many to name and dennis has already highlighted some of my other favorites.
Now that this thread has run outta steam, I’ll leave you with these words of wisdom, little dudes: “See them tumbling down. Pledging their love to the ground. Lonely but free I’ll be found, drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds. Cares of the past are behind. Nowhere to go but I’ll find, just where that trail will wind. Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds. I know when night is gone, that a new world’s starting at dawn. I’ll keep rolling along. Deep in my heart is a song. Here on the range I belong. Drifting along with the tumbling TUM-BULL-WEEEEEEEDS!!!” And, remember, THE DUDE ALWAYS ABIDES!
Dennis, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone more enthused about a movie on these boards. I liked it orginally but after ‘Fargo’ – I found it ambiable but a bit aimless. I’m actually going to have to revisit this one, something I very rarely do. It may be one of the few times that I might actually have missed something. I’ll watch it sober, but I may watch it a third time, not with smokes, but sipping some Gray Goose to get into he mood.
BOBBY J-Not everyone gets it. 6or me, its that rare comedy that’s actually FUNNY.
I am also a big, big fan of this film for many of the reasons stated above. There is just something about the mood and atmosphere of this film that gets me every time. It is so rich in detail and so enjoyable to revisit on a regular basis. In a weird and wacky sort of way if there was a film world I could live in this might be the one… I would just steer clear of the Nihilists.
I also think that there is a wish fulfillment going on in the film that makes it so damn attractive. Many (myself included) would probably enjoy the Dude’s laid-back lifestyle and admire his easy-going nature.
Well, allow me to make this last comment as we put Walter, The Dude, Donny and all our favorite whack-jobs to bed: Allan, I agree with you on INTOREABLE CRUELTY and RAISING ARIZONA but still feel that mediocre by the Coen Bros is still better than FABULOUS by someone like Bryan Singer, Rob Reiner, Nora Ephron, Micheal Bay, Roland Emmerich, and films by a slew more of truly MEDIOCRE directors. I love that you have a taste for some of the quirkiest films of this decade. J.D.-Agreed, if I wasn’t “taken” by someone, I’d probably throw all caution to the wind. The idea of parading aroung in my bathrobe, bowling, and tumbling through life like the metaphoric tumbleweeds is really attractive. Who wouldn’t want to have to not worry about staying in shape, making money and having resposibilities? If anything, naps in the afternoon would be the biggest attraction… And the WHITE RUSSIANS! LOL!!!!
The Stranger (Sam Elliot, dressed like a cowboy): “Dude, do ya have to always use so many dern cuss-words?” THE DUDE (looking back at The Stranger and taking a swig of his White Russian): “Huh, what the fuck are you talking about?”
“Whoa, whoa, take it easy. TAKE IT EASY! There’s a beverage here!”
“Looks like Jeff Bridge’s is likely to play Rooster Cogburn in the Coen’s upcoming adaptation of True Grit…..For Some reason Jeff Bridges never came up. But fans of The Big Lebowski are probably stroking their marmots at the thought of this. “