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The Big Lebowski

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The Big Lebowski
File:The.Big.Lebowski.1998.Cover.jpg
Directed byJoel Coen
Written byEthan Coen
Joel Coen
Produced byEthan Coen
StarringJeff Bridges
John Goodman
Steve Buscemi
Julianne Moore
David Huddleston
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Peter Stormare
John Turturro
Tara Reid
Sam Elliott
CinematographyRoger Deakins
Edited byTricia Cooke
Roderick Jaynes
Music byCarter Burwell
Distributed byGramercy Pictures
Release dates
United States March 8, 1998
Running time
117 min.
CountryUS
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15,000,000

The Big Lebowski, a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, chronicles a few days in the life of an unemployed California slacker and recreational bowler after he is mistaken for a millionaire with the same name. The film, known for its characters, surreal dream sequences, dialogue, and eclectic soundtrack, has become a cult classic.

While not directly based on Raymond Chandler's novel The Big Sleep, Joel Coen has said that "[we] wanted to do a Chandler kind of story - how it moves episodically, and deals with the characters trying to unravel a mystery. As well as having a hopelessly complex plot that's ultimately unimportant."[1]. The world of Raymond Chandler has been modernized considerably, in the style of Robert Altman's 1973 film The Long Goodbye.

Origins

After the critical and commercial failure of The Hudsucker Proxy, the Coen brothers wrote The Big Lebowski and decided Jeff Bridges was the perfect actor for the main role. However, Bridges was busy working on Walter Hill's western, Wild Bill, so they had to wait for his schedule to free up. In the meantime, they wrote, filmed, and released Fargo.

According to The Making of The Big Lebowski, the character of The Dude was based partly on the Coens' friend "Uncle" Peter Exline, a Vietnam veteran and film professor at University of Southern California. It was "Uncle Pete" who proudly pointed out to the Coens how the rug in his living room “tied the room together” (although the Coens begged to differ and thought it was a "ratty-assed" rug). However, The Dude is mostly based on Jeff "The Dude" Dowd, whom the Coens met on one of their first trips to Los Angeles in the 1970s. He called himself the Pope of Dope and had been a member of an activist group known as the Seattle Liberation Front during the Vietnam War years. [2]

The Dude's friend Walter Sobchak (played by John Goodman) was an accumulation of characteristics of many people. He was based partly on Peter Exline and partly on a friend of Exline's (a fellow Vietnam War veteran) who featured in many of his colorful stories. Pete had once told the Coens a story about the aforementioned friend, whose car had been stolen by a kid, only for the kid to leave his homework in the abandoned vehicle with his home address written on it. Exline and his friend went to the kid’s house and confronted him with the homework preserved in a 'baggie', like a piece of courtroom evidence. Walter was also based on John Milius, who directed such films as Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn. Ethan commented in Ronald Bergan's book, The Coen Brothers: "We met John Milius when we were in L.A. making Barton Fink. He's a really funny guy, a really good storyteller. He was never actually in the military, although he wears a lot of military paraphernalia. He's a gun enthusiast and survivalist type." The Coens wrote the role of Walter specifically for John Goodman, but had to wait until he was done with Roseanne before making The Big Lebowski.[3]

The bowling motif throughout the movie was based on Milius's softball obsession. Ethan Coen is quoted as saying, in Joel and Ethan Coen: Blood Siblings: "The guy who the Walter character is based on is an avid member of, and consequently obsessed with, an amateur softball league team in L.A. But we changed it to bowling, because it’s more interesting, visually. All of the stuff associated with bowling—y’know, the architecture, the machines, it’s all sort of retro the Fifties and Sixties. Classic bowling design era." [4]

Story

Template:Spoiler

"Sometimes there's a man..."

The film opens with a voice-over from "The Stranger" that introduces Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Bridges) as "The man for his time and place," which is Los Angeles, California, during the time of our conflict "with Saddam and the Iraqis" (the Gulf War). We first see The Dude wearing a bathrobe, T-shirt, shorts and sandals, shopping for half and half at Ralphs late at night.

Upon his return home after buying a quart of half and half with a post dated check for 89 cents, two thugs surprise The Dude in his home in Venice, California. They rough him up in an attempt to collect a debt supposedly incurred by Lebowski's wife. One of the thugs urinates on a living-room rug, which, in the Dude's mind, "really tied the room together." The Dude convinces them he is not the married multimillionaire Jeffrey Lebowski and they leave.

At the insistence of his bowling teammate, an unstable Vietnam War veteran and security-store owner named Walter Sobchak (Goodman), The Dude seeks compensation from the other Jeffrey Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire who gruffly refuses. When the discussion gets heated, the Dude echoes George H.W. Bush's pre-Gulf War statement, seen on a television in the film's first scene: "This aggression will not stand, man." Under false pretenses, The Dude then obtains a replacement rug from the mansion. On his way out, he meets Bunny Lebowski (Tara Reid), the Big Lebowski's trophy wife, who asks him to blow on her drying toenails, identifies the man floating in an inflatable chair in the Big Lebowski's pool as a nihilist, and offers The Dude a sexual favour in exchange for $1,000.

The Dude's home is invaded again, this time by Maude Lebowski and two hired goons, one of whom knocks The Dude unconscious. They reclaim his new rug out from under him.

First Dream

The Dude experiences a surreal dream sequence involving the rug as a magic carpet, upon which Maude is seated. As she soars over Los Angeles, the Dude flies through the sky in an attempt to catch up with her, until he realizes — in a fashion reminiscent of classic Warner Bros. cartoons — that he has a bowling ball in his right hand, the weight of which sends him plummeting toward the Earth.

The Ransom

The millionaire Lebowski (or the "Big Lebowski") calls upon the Dude days later with an odd request: He says Bunny has been kidnapped — ostensibly by the same people who soiled the Dude's beloved rug — and asks him to act as a paid courier for the ransom. Lebowski's assistant, Brandt, repeats an ominous warning: "Her life is in your hands, Dude."

Believing the task to be easy money, the Dude agrees to the drop. Walter, having formulated a plan for keeping the entire ransom, invites himself along and insists on driving. His plan consists of handing the kidnappers a "ringer", a suitcase filled with his dirty underwear, grabbing one of them, and beating Bunny's location out of him. The kidnappers instruct the Dude to throw the briefcase of money from his moving car off a bridge, which negates Walter's plan. He improvises and executes a new plan: Throwing out the "ringer" and rolling out of the car when it slows to 15 MPH. Walter's Uzi damages The Dude's car in a hail of bullets. The car careens into a telephone pole, further damaging it, but The Dude escapes uninjured. The kidnappers pick up the fake suitcase and drive off on motorcycles, foiling Walter's plan. Walter attempts to comfort the distraught Dude with "Fuck it, Dude. Let's go bowling."

The Dude's luck worsens when his Ford Torino[5] is stolen from the bowling alley parking lot, along with the silver briefcase.

Meetings with the police, Maude

The Dude reports his car stolen to the Los Angeles Police Department, and receives a message from the millionaire Lebowski's daughter, Maude (Julianne Moore), who says she took his rug and would like to arrange a meeting with the Dude.

At Maude's studio, where she identifies her art as "strongly vaginal", she explains that she took the rug because it was a gift from her to her late mother, and had "sentimental value" to her. She confirms what the Dude had already suspected, that Bunny had probably kidnapped herself, and asks him to recover the $1,000,000 from the kidnappers as it was withdrawn by her father from a charitable foundation that is supported by both Lebowski and Maude. In return Maude says she will give the Dude 10% of the cash recovered. He agrees. Additionally, she asks the Dude whether he likes sex, shows him Bunny's porn film " Logjammin' " also starring Uli (the nihilist) under the name "Karl Hungus". Further, Maude apologizes for the "crack on the jaw" and offers to have her doctor check him, noting that the doctor is "a good man, and thorough".

Maude's chauffeur delivers him back to his apartment, where he is strong-armed into another limousine where the Big Lebowski and Brandt confront him about the botched ransom delivery. The Dude raises the possibility of a kidnapping hoax. The Big Lebowski erases the notion of a fake kidnapping from the Dude's mind when the former shows the protagonist a severed pinky toe with a toenail painted in Bunny's color.

At a "family restaurant" where the Dude and Walter enjoy a cup of coffee and discuss the latest developments in the case, Walter asserts again that there is nothing to worry about, reminding the Dude that they are dealing merely with a series of victimless crimes. When the Dude cries exasperatedly, "But what about the toe?" Walter slams the countertop and bellows, "Forget about the FUCKING toe!" At this point, the grandmotherly waitress asks the two men to calm themselves. Enraged by the waitress's audacity, Walter recapitulates the history of First Amendment rights and the Supreme Court's ruling on prior restraint (it "has roundly rejected" it). The Dude is fed up, and, tossing some change onto the counter, heads for the door. Walter pleads with him to stay, lamenting that "these are basic freedoms, man ... this affects all of us" but when the Dude ignores him, Walter resolves to ensure that at least one American enjoys his freedom this afternoon. He looks around the restaurant, lifts his coffee cup daintily, and pronounces with steel reserve, "I'm staying. I'm finishing my coffee."

"Nice marmot."

The Dude seeks respite from his troubles in the bathtub with candles, a tape of "Song of the Whale", and a joint, when he receives a message from the police that his car has been located. The "far out" news is short-lived, as three men who speak with a German accent invade the Dude's apartment, vandalise it with a cricket bat, scare him with a ferret (which the Dude incorrectly refers to as a marmot), and threaten to cut off his "johnson" if he does not hand over the money. The kidnappers also repeatedly trumpet their nihilism ("We believe in nothing, Lebowski!"), confirming for the Dude that the main kidnapper is Bunny's boyfriend he saw passed out in the Big Lebowski's pool.

The Dude goes to pick up his car, and finds the briefcase missing, though his tape deck and Creedence tapes are intact. He askes the Officer if the Police have any "leads" to the people who stole the car, to which the Officer responds sarcastically, "Leads, yeah, sure. I'll just check with the boys down at the crime lab, they've got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts! Leads!"

At this point The Dude is feeling very low, as he tells Walter and Donnie that his only hope is that "The Big Lebowski kills me before the Germans can cut my dick off". After Walter and Donnie go to get a lane, The Stranger sits down at the bar and orders a Sarsaparilla and tells The Dude consolingly that "sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear, well, he eats you", then reminds him to "Take her easy, Dude."

The Dude gets a phone call from Maude and goes to see her. He meets Knox Harrington, the video artist, and learns that Uli was a member of the techno band "Autobahn". Maude again insists that he see the doctor to avoid any "delayed after-effects" of being struck by her hired goon. He sees the doctor and is surprised when asked to "slide his shorts down".

On his way home, the Dude notices a Volkswagen Beetle tailing him. He tries to flick his roach out the window, but drops it in his lap and crashes his car while trying to shake it off. He finally puts it out with a beer, and, relieved, notices a sheet of binder paper with a homework assignment for one Larry Sellers wedged into the car seat.

"This is what happens!"

The Dude, Walter, and Donny (Steve Buscemi) attend the Dude's landlord's dance cycle, where they make plans to visit Larry Sellers at his residence on Radford Avenue ("near the In-N-Out Burger") and attempt to recover the money. They confront the teenager, but Larry is mute for their entire visit. Walter, in an attempt to teach Larry a lesson in "This is what happens Larry, this is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass", uses a crowbar to smash a new Corvette parked outside, which he believes Larry bought with the money from the briefcase. However, the car actually belongs to a neighbor, who takes his revenge on the Dude's car, destroying its windshield.

Trip to Malibu

Upon returning home, the Dude attempts to prevent further intrusions by propping a chair against the front door and nailing it in place with a two-by-four. His efforts are fruitless, however, as the door opens outwards and the thugs from the opening scene invade once again, this time to retrieve the Dude by request of Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara), a pornographic movie director, who cast Bunny Lebowski and Karl Hungus in "Log Jammin'".

At Treehorn's post-modern Malibu, California, beach house he attempts to extract information about the whereabouts of Bunny and the money, but fails, as the Dude has no such information. Treehorn drugs The Dude's White Russian and he passes out, leading to an elaborate dream sequence.

Second Dream

The Dude's dream includes numerous references to events up to this point. It begins as the title sequence of a Jackie Treehorn-produced pornographic movie named "Gutterballs," with suggestively arranged bowling balls and pins. The Dude wears the same cable repairman outfit as Karl Hungus in "Log Jammin'." Saddam Hussein is the bowling alley desk clerk. The bulk of the dream involves fantastical bowling choreography featuring Maude in a Viking outfit, and numerous chorus girls with bowling pins on their heads. At the end the Nihilists appear and chase the Dude. They wear red spandex and are carrying giant scissors (referencing a painting from Maude's apartment, and the threat to cut off his "Johnson"). The Dude wakes up running down a street, being followed by a police car.

Return from Malibu

At the police station, the Dude finds the chief of police to be an angry friend of Treehorn's. The chief inspects the Dude's wallet and finds that a Ralph's supermarket discount card is his only form of identification. Pegging the Dude as a lowlife, the chief throws a coffee mug at the Dude's head and tells him to keep his "ugly fucking goldbricking ass out of my beach community!"

During a cab ride home, the Dude asks the driver to change the radio station because he "hate[s] the fucking Eagles," which offends the driver, who pulls over and unceremoniously ejects the Dude from the taxi. The Dude's disdain for the Eagles is also referenced earlier by a Gypsy Kings version of Hotel California, originally by the Eagles, played while Jesus Quintana is introduced. The viewer (although not the Dude) catches sight of Bunny — 10 toes intact.

Upon returning home (tripping over the plank he nailed to the floor to brace the chair against), the Dude finds that Treehorn's thugs have ransacked his home looking for the missing money. He is also greeted by Maude Lebowski, dressed only in his bathrobe, who offers herself to him quite frankly: "Jeffrey. Love me."

"Lot of ins, lot of outs..."

During post-coital conversation with Maude, whose motive for the rendezvous is procreation, The Dude finds out that the Big Lebowski does not actually have any money of his own, as Maude's late mother was the rich one. Calling Walter to take him to The Big Lebowski's house, the Dude unravels the whole scheme: The "kidnappers" were actually friends of Bunny's, who faked the kidnapping to get a million dollars. The Big Lebowski, himself wanting to keep the money (which he embezzled from the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers organization) and no longer "digging" Bunny, was content to let the kidnappers kill her. The Dude, whom the Big Lebowski had just met, seemed a perfect fall guy, so the Big Lebowski gave him a briefcase filled with phonebooks, hoping the kidnappers would kill the Dude too, letting him keep the cash without anyone knowing.

The Dude and Walter arrive at the Big Lebowski residence, finding Bunny's car crashed into a fountain, and Bunny herself intact and skinnydipping. They confront the Big Lebowski with their version of the events, which he counters but does not deny. Walter, believing that the Big Lebowki is not really paralyzed, picks him up and drops him on the floor, revealing that he is in fact paralyzed.

Though the whole affair finally appears to be over, the two friends (along with Donny), after bowling, are once again confronted by the "nihilists", who have set The Dude's car on fire. They are still demanding the million dollars, despite the fact that the Dude does not have the money, which never even existed, and there never was a kidnapping, which means they have no grounds on which to demand the money. The "nihilists" complain that "this isn't fair" (due to the fact that one of the nihilists' girlfriends had to sacrifice her toe) and attack the three. Walter fights them off, but the aftermath of the clash reveals that Donny has suffered a fatal heart attack.

"Good night, sweet prince."

At the mortuary where Donny's remains have been cremated, Walter reviews the bill and takes exception to the cost of the urn, despite it being the "most modestly priced receptacle", and asks if there is "a Ralph's around here".

The Dude and Walter go to a beach to scatter Donny's ashes (which they have put into a Folgers coffee can) "in accordance with what we think [his] dying wishes might well have been." Walter offers a lengthy eulogy, in which he cites Donny's love of surfing, compares his untimely death to the untimely deaths of those who died in the Vietnam War, and concludes with "Good night, sweet prince." He scatters Donny's ashes, but a wind blows much of the ashes into The Dude's face. Upset, The Dude lashes out at Walter for, among other things, pointless allusions to the Vietnam War. The Dude proclaims that "Everything is a fucking travesty with you, man!" Walter apologizes and hugs the Dude, before suggesting "Fuck it, Man. Let's go bowling."

"The Dude abides..."

The film closes with a montage of scenes in the bowling alley after which, The Dude orders two beers from the bar, and meets The Stranger again. The Stranger then speaks directly to the audience for the film's denouement, during which he reveals that Maude Lebowski is pregnant with a 'little Lebowski', before realizing that he's "rambling again" and says "Catch you later on down the trail." Template:Spoilerend

Characters and cast

Main characters

File:The.Big.Lebowski.1998.Screenshot.1.jpg
The Dude, Jeff Lebowski, talking to the "Big Lebowski" (Huddleston) about compensation for the rug, which "really tied the room together." Refused, the Dude retorts, "No, this will not stand. This aggression will not stand, man." (echoing the famous President Bush comment before the Gulf War.)
  • Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), a single, unemployed slacker, living in Venice, California, enjoys cannabis and spends his days "bowling, driving around, [and having] the occasional acid flashback." A devoted Creedence Clearwater Revival fan, he actively hates the 1970s soft-rock band, Eagles. He freely uses profanity and is not above postdating a check for $0.69 to buy a carton of half and half for his favorite drink, White Russian cocktails, which he refers to as "Caucasians". He claims to be one of the members of the "Seattle Seven" and a former roadie for Metallica, though he is not fond of the bandmembers (he refers to them as a "bunch of assholes"). The Dude is a laid-back pacifist who gets caught up in a scheme of kidnapping and embezzlement after seeking reparations for his beloved rug — which "really tied the room together" — after it was peed on. He is quite possibly the laziest man in Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the running for laziest world wide. As of the end of the film, according to The Stranger, he has a child coming by Maude Lebowski although he may not know it.
  • Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) is a Vietnam War veteran who "lives in the past"; he is the Dude's best friend and bowling teammate. Born a Polish Roman Catholic, he converted to Judaism when he married his wife Cynthia and is accused of having a "sick Cynthia thing" by The Dude ever since the two were divorced five years prior to the events in the film. Walter is a paranoid, mentally unstable man who often relates situations to his experiences in Vietnam. He often deals with situations aggressively and stubbornly, providing the main impetus for much of the story. He is boisterously confident in his actions, though his plans usually backfire, often ending disastrously for himself and the Dude. Walter runs his own security firm, Sobchak Security, and places bowling second in reverence only to his religion, as evidenced by his proclamation that he is "as Jewish as fucking Tevye" and his strict rule against bowling on Shabbos.
  • Theodore Donald "Donny" Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi) is a member of Walter and The Dude's bowling team. Charmingly naïve, Donny is an avid bowler and was a surfer in his younger days. Following his death and cremation, Walter and The Dude scatter his ashes over the ocean, in accordance with what they believe his final wishes "might well have been." Donny frequently interrupts Walter's diatribes to inquire about the parts of the story he missed, evoking abusive responses.
  • Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore) is the Big Lebowski's daughter. She is a feminist as well as an avant-garde artist whose work "has been commended as strongly vaginal." She is good friends with video artist Knox Harrington (David Thewlis), and is possibly the person who introduced Bunny to Uli Kunkel, the nihilist and would-be kidnapper. Maude strongly disapproves of her father's marriage to Bunny.
  • Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston), "The Big Lebowski" to which the movie's title refers, is a multi-millionare who lost the use of his legs to "some Chinaman [...] in Korea." He is married to Bunny and is the father of Maude by his late wife. He is a very vain man who prides himself on the fact that he has "accomplished more than most men, and without the use of [his] legs."
  • Brandt (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a sycophant and loyal assistant to Mr. Lebowski, tries to please everyone. Brandt, who is one of the few people outside the Dude's circle who calls him by his preferred title, has a habit of echoing his boss as well as forcing out nervous laughter during awkward moments.
  • Bunny Lebowski (Tara Reid), born Fawn Knutsen, is the Big Lebowski's "trophy wife." She ran away from her family in Moorhead, Minnesota and soon found herself making pornographic videos under the name Bunny LaJoya. She is a careless, irresponsible person and an annoyance to her husband, who hopes "she will one day learn to live on her allowance, which is ample."

Minor characters

  • Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) is a bigtime pornographic film producer who lives in Malibu. His credits include Logjammin' starring Bunny and "Karl Hungus". He employs the two thugs who ambush The Dude in his home at the beginning of the movie. In spite of this apparent disrespect, he does call Lebowski "The Dude".
  • The Nihilists are a group of ethnic Germans who claim to be nihilists. The group, composed of leader Uli Kunkel, stage name Karl Hungus (Peter Stormare), Franz (Torsten Voges), and Dieter (Flea) comprised a Kraftwerkian techno-pop band called "Autobahn" during the late '70s. The group, along with Kunkel's ex-girlfriend, Lu Ahkrugns (played by Aimee Mann), are the supposed kidnappers of Bunny Lebowski.
File:The.Big.Lebowski.1998.Screenshot.2.jpg
The Dude, Donny and Walter listen to Jesus' bowling-related braggadocio.
  • "Smokey" (Jimmie Dale Gilmore) is on a bowling team that the Dude and Walter play in order to qualify for the semifinals. When Walter claims that Smokey goes over the line, constituting a foul, Smokey opposes him and goes to mark the frame an eight. At this point, Walter takes a pistol out of his bowling bag and threatens Smokey with the famous line "mark that frame an eight and you're entering a world of pain." As the Dude explains to Walter, Smokey is a "fragile" person who was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War and remains a pacifist to this day.
  • The Stranger (Sam Elliott) is the mysterious narrator who sees this story unfold from an unbiased perspective. He does not see the Dude as a low-life, but rather as an ironic tragic figure. The Stranger enjoys a good sarsaparilla, dresses as a cowboy, and is accompanied by the song "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" each time he speaks except the last time.
  • Jesus "Da Jesus" Quintana (John Turturro) is one of The Dude and Walter's opponents in the bowling league semifinals match. This eccentric, Latino trash-talking North Hollywood resident served "6 months in Chino for exposing himself to an 8-year-old". He speaks with a thick Hispanic accent, wears a uniform which matches his purple bowling ball in the first scene (in the second scene, he wears a blue jumpsuit), and refers to himself as "Da Jesus". Although he only appears in two scenes, his line "You said it man! Nobody fucks with Da Jesus!" is one of the most oft-quoted lines in the film. Jeff Bridges has stated that he doesn't usually watch his own movies, but that he is "hooked" on watching The Big Lebowski because he has "got to see Turturro lick the bowling ball" [6].
  • Larry Sellers (Jesse Flanagan) is the son of Arthur Digby Sellers (Harry Bugin), a former television writer who wrote the bulk of the series Branded, a show loved by The Dude and Walter. His homework assignment is found in the Dude's recovered car.
  • Marty Pfeiffer (Jack Kehler) is The Dude's landlord. Marty is an aspiring interpretive dancer and values the Dude's opinion, inviting him to his performance.
  • Da Fino (Jon Polito) is a private investigator hired by Bunny's parents, the Knutsens, to entice their daughter back to their Midwestern farm. He drives a battered blue Volkswagen Beetle (in reference to the Coen Brothers' first film, Blood Simple), mistakes the Dude for a "brother Shamus" (a fellow P.I.), and offends the Dude by referring to Maude as his "special lady" and not the Dude's preferred term, "lady friend".
  • Knox Harrington, (David Thewlis) The Video Artist is a rather camp associate of Maude's who manages to aggravate the generally laid-back Dude with his intrusive questions, e.g. "So, what do you do Lebowski?", and his incessant over-the-top laughter. At one point Knox offers the Dude a drink, then waits for the Dude to take a seat before adding that "The bar's over there".
  • Tony the Chauffeur, (Dom Irrera) is Maude Lebowski's personal limo driver who drives The Dude home after his first meeting with her. During the ride, Tony engages The Dude in a lighthearted conversation with about his own personal shortcomings, specifically that his wife is "a pain in the ass", his daughter is "married to a jadrool loser bastard", and he's got a "rash so bad on his ass [he] can't even sit down." After The Dude laments about his own shortcomings, Tony tells him to "fuggedaboutit". Upon arrival at The Dude's home, Tony also points out that they were followed there by a blue Volkswagen Beetle (see Da Fino above).
  • Frances Donnelly, (Warren Keith) is a funeral director encountered by The Dude and Walter when they come to the mortuary to pick up Donnie's remains. His fee is met by some confrontation by Walter and The Dude who resist the notion of paying $180 for an urn since they are scattering the ashes. He remains calm and soft spoken and describes the urn as his "most modestly priced receptacle". His calm demeanor is disturbed when Walter responds, screaming "Goddamnit!"

Big Lebowski in pop culture

Main article: The Big Lebowski in popular culture

Soundtrack

Untitled

The original score is composed by Carter Burwell, who has scored all the Coen brothers' films. T-Bone Burnett, who also worked with the Coen brothers on O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Ladykillers, is credited as music bibliographer.

Soundtrack album

  1. "The Man In Me" — written and performed by Bob Dylan
  2. "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles" — written and performed by Captain Beefheart
  3. "My Mood Swings" — written by Elvis Costello and Cait O'Riordan; performed by Elvis Costello
  4. "Ataypura" — written by Moises Vivanco; performed by Yma Sumac
  5. "Traffic Boom" — written and performed by Piero Piccioni
  6. "I Got It Bad & That Ain't Good" — written by Duke Ellington and Paul Francis Webster; performed by Nina Simone
  7. "Stamping Ground" — written by Louis T. Hardin; performed by Moondog with orchestra
  8. "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" — written by Mickey Newbury; performed by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition
  9. "Walking Song" — written and performed by Meredith Monk
  10. "Glück das mir verblieb" from Die tote Stadt — written and conducted by Erich Wolfgang Korngold; performed by Ilona Steingruber, Anton Dermota and the Austrian State Radio Orchestra
  11. "Lujon" — written and performed by Henry Mancini.
  12. "Hotel California" — written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Don Felder; performed by The Gipsy Kings
  13. "Technopop" — written and performed by Carter Burwell
  14. "Dead Flowers" — written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards; performed by Townes Van Zandt

Other music in the film

References and footnotes

  1. ^ An Interview with The Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan about "The Big Lebowski"
  2. ^ Cooke, Tricia and Robertson, William (1998). The Making of "The Big Lebowski". Faber and Faber Ltd. ISBN 0-571-19334-X
  3. ^ Bergan Ronald (2000). The Coen Brothers. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-254-5
  4. ^ (2004) Joel & Ethan Coen: Blood Siblings. Edited by Paul A. Woods. United Kingdom: Plexus Publishing. ISBN 0-85965-339-0
  5. ^ The Big Lebowski, (1998) at Internet Movie Cars Database
  6. ^ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 2003

Further reading

  • The Big Lebowski: The Making of a Coen Brothers Film, by William Preston Robertson, Tricia Cooke, John Todd Anderson and Rafael Sanudo (1998, W.W. Norton & Company), ISBN 0-393-31750-1.
  • The Big Lebowski, by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen (May 1998, Faber and Faber Ltd.), ISBN 0-571-19335-8.
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