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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
Distributed byGramercy Pictures
Release dates
March 6, 1998
Running time
117 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15,000,000

The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The movie 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 classic rock soundtrack, is a cult classic.

Set in 1991 in Southern California, the film stars Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (a character the filmmakers based on their associate Jeff Dowd), John Goodman as Walter Sobchak, Steve Buscemi as Donny, Julianne Moore as Maude Lebowski, David Huddleston as Jeffrey "The Big" Lebowski, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Brandt, and Sam Elliott as "The Stranger", a mysterious narrator who begins and ends the movie, and is a casual bowling alley acquaintance of The Dude.

Coen brothers regulars John Turturro, Jon Polito, Peter Stormare and Warren Keith are also featured.

While not directly based on Raymond Chandler's novel The Big Sleep, in an interview on the film, Joel Coen said that "[w]e 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.

Story

Template:Spoiler

Opening

Two thugs surprise Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Bridges) as he returns to his home in Venice, California, after a trip to Ralph's grocery store. The thugs rough up The Dude in an attempt to collect a debt supposedly incurred by Lebowski's wife. The Dude points to his raised toilet seat and modest apartment as proof he is not the married multi-millionaire Jeffrey Lebowski they seek. Despite the error, one of the thugs urinates upon The Dude's living room rug. At the insistence of his bowling teammate, an unstable Vietnam War veteran named Walter Sobchak (Goodman), The Dude unsuccessfully seeks compensation from the other Jeffrey Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire who gruffly replies he "cannot be held accountable everytime a rug is micturated upon in this fair city." When the discussion gets heated, The Dude echoes George H. W. Bush's pre-Gulf War statement: "This aggression will not stand, man", which is seen on a television in the film's first scene. Under false pretenses, The Dude then obtains a replacement rug from the mansion. On his way out, he first encounters the millionaire Lebowski's wife, Bunny (played by Tara Reid), and her Nihilist boyfriend.

Invasion and an offer

After winning the first round of the bowling tournament, thanks in part to Walter brandishing a firearm, The Dude's home is invaded again, his new rug is stolen literally out from under him and he is knocked unconscious, leading to a surreal dream sequence involving the rug as a magic carpet.

The millionaire Lebowski, known to The Dude and his friends as "The Big Lebowski", calls upon The Dude days later with an odd request: He says his trophy wife, Bunny, has been kidnapped — ostensibly by the same people who soiled The Dude's beloved rug — and The Dude is asked to act as a paid courier for the ransom. Against The Dude's wishes 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 invites himself along on the drop and insists on driving. His car chatter proves to be a distraction when The Dude is speaking with the purported kidnappers via a mobile phone. The survivalist ex-military man tosses a soft-sided leather suitcase full of his dirty whites instead of the metal briefcase The Dude was asked to deliver. He instructs The Dude to take control of the steering wheel when the car slows to a speed of 15 M.P.H. and proceeds to drop and roll from the car, ("Let's take that hill!"), inadvertantly firing an Uzi wrapped in cardboard into the taillights of The Dude's car. The kidnappers pick up the fake suitcase and drive off, despite The Dude's attempts to alert them that they have the wrong briefcase. Walter attempts to diffuse the situation with "Fuck it, Dude. Let's go bowling."

The Dude's luck worsens when his Ford Torino[2] and briefcase inside are stolen from the bowling alley parking lot.

Meetings with the police, Maude

During his Los Angeles Police Department stolen car/stolen rug police report interview, The Dude is messaged by The Big Lebowski's daughter, Maude (Julianne Moore), who says she took his rug and would like to arrange a meeting with The Dude. A skeptical officer informs The Dude the likelihood of recovering his belongings from the stolen car, including the briefcase and "the Creedence", is minimal.

At Maude's loft studio, she says the rug was given to her by her late mother, and contained "sentimental value" to her. She confirms what The Dude had pondered earlier, that Bunny had probably kidnapped herself, and asks him to recover the $1,000,000 from the kidnappers for a percentage of the cash. He agrees.

The Dude engages in friendly banter with Maude's chauffeur who delivers him back to his Venice address 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 but accidentally mentions that "We dropped the bag" during a mission he was told to perform alone. The Dude quickly covers by saying he was referring to "the royal we". 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 complete with toenail painted in Bunny's color.

"This is a private residence!"

The Dude seeks respite from his troubles in the tub with candles and a joint when he is messaged by the police that his car has been located and can be retrieved at the police impound lot. The good news is short-lived as three German-accented English-speaking kidnappers invade The Dude's apartment and threaten to cut off The Dude's "johnson" ("and step on it and squish it") if he doesn't 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 met at the pool in the beginning of the film.

The Dude goes to pick up his car only to find the briefcase missing and the driver's door wedged shut. Jamming to Creedence's "Lookin' out My Back Door", The Dude is distracted by a Volkswagen Beetle tailing him. He drops his joint in an attempt to flick it out the window and crashes his car into a Dumpster. He pours beer from a bottle to squelch the smoldering joint. At this point The Dude notices a loose-leaf sheet paper containing Larry Sellers' homework poking out of the seat.

A world of pain

After formulating a plan during The Dude's landlord's dance performance, The Dude, Walter and Donny head over to Radford Avenue to call on Larry Sellers with plans for an In-N-Out Burger meal afterward. Walter's research reveals the teen's decrepit father wrote the bulk of the episodes of Branded. The Dude and Walter confront the teenager, but Larry is mute for their entire visit. Walter takes a crowbar and begins to smash up a Chevrolet Corvette parked in front of the home, believing it procured from the funds in The Big Lebowski's briefcase. Awakened by the ruckus, an across-the-street neighbor who recently had purchased the sports car snatches the crowbar from Walter's hands and takes revenge on The Dude's car, destroying its windshield.

The trio return home without speaking, listening to Carlos Santana, following an apparent stop for burgers.

Trip to Malibu

Following The Dude's failed attempt to safeguard his abode, the thugs from the opening scene invade and retrieve The Dude by request of Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara), a pornographic movie director, who has cast Bunny Lebowski in at least one role.

At Treehorn's post-modern Malibu, California, home, the host spikes The Dude's White Russian and he passes out, leading to an elaborate dream sequence involving the Dude teaching Maude to bowl, Saddam Hussein as the bowling alley desk clerk and Treehorn's topless, buxom partygoers bouncing from a beach blanket, The Dude wakes up running down the street with a police car close behind.

At the police station, The Dude finds the chief of police to be an angry friend of Treehorn's. The chief is nonplussed with The Dude's lack of identification: His wallet contains only a Ralph's discount card and a line drawing sketch of a chubby man with an erect penis, which The Dude had surreptitiously copied from Treehorn's notepad before being drugged. The chief strikes The Dude with an airborne coffee mug and tells him keep his "ugly fucking goldbricking ass out of my beach community!"

During a cab ride home, an unfortunate comment on the driver's choice of The Eagles on the radio leads to The Dude's unceremonious booting from the vehicle. The viewer catches sight of Bunny — toes intact — driving past singing "Viva Las Vegas".

Upon his return, The Dude is greeted by Maude Lebowski, dressed only in The Dude's bathrobe, who offers herself to him quite frankly: "Jeffrey. Love me."

Lot of ins, lot of outs

After sleeping with Maude, The Dude realizes that The Big Lebowski doesn't actually have any money of his own. Calling Walter to take him to The Big Lebowski's house, The Dude unravels the whole scheme: The Big Lebowski was hoping the kidnappers would kill Bunny because he "No longer digs her." The "kidnappers" were actually friends of Bunny's, who were faking the whole scheme to get a million dollars. So The Big Lebowski called The Dude to make a fake drop (the briefcase The Big Lebowski gave The Dude had no money; it was filled with phonebooks), hoping the kidnappers would kill The Dude too, and letting him keep the million dollars. Upon confronting The Big Lebowski, Walter knocks him out of his wheelchair (thinking he's not actually disabled), and The Big Lebowski breaks down crying. It turns out Bunny had just "upped and left to Palm Springs" to see some friends, and didn't tell anyone except her Nihilist porn co-star, who then posed as a kidnapper.

Though the whole affair finally appears to be over, the "kidnappers" show up in the parking lot of the bowling alley, having set The Dude's car on fire (thus "finally killing" it, as The Dude puts it). They demand the million dollars, despite the Dude pointing out to them that: a) he doesn't have the money, and b) there never was any money. Walter points out that, as there was no kidnapping, there was no ransom, and therefore they have no claim to it anyway. When the kidnappers advance on The Dude, Walter and Donny, Walter retaliates by bludgeoning one with a boom box, pitching his bowling ball at another's mid-section, and biting the other's ear off. However, during the fight, Donny suffers a heart attack, and dies.

"Good night, sweet prince."

At the mortuary, Walter is outraged at the $180 urn he must buy to simply scatter Donny's ashes. He raises his voice in a mini-rant, ending with "Goddamn it! Is there a Ralph's around here?".

Walter offers a lengthy eulogy on a SoCal beach beginning with "Donny was a good bowler ... and a good man," concluding with "Good night, sweet prince" and in between poignantly noting Donny's surfboard explorations and the freedom and protections allowed by the United States military. He scatters Donny's ashes from a Folgers can, which the wind blows into The Dude's face. Upset, The Dude yells angrily at Walter for making allusions to the Vietnam War during the eulogy, but Walter comforts him with "Fuck it, Dude. Let's go bowling."

Characters

  • Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is a single, unemployed Venice, California, slacker who 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 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. He claims to be one of the members of the "Seattle Seven" and a former roadie for Metallica during the "Speed of Sound" tour, though he isn't very 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 — one that "really tied the room together" — after it was micturated upon.
  • 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 Catholic, he converted to Judaism when he married his wife Cynthia and is accused of having a "sick Cynthia fetish" 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 alludes situations to his experiences in the Vietnam War. He often deals with situations aggressively and stubbornly, providing the main impetus for much of the story. He is boisterously confident in his actions, and his plans usually backfire, often ending disastrously for himself and The Dude. Walter runs his own security firm, Sobchak Security, and places bowling second to only his reverence to his religion, as evidenced by the memorable line "I'm as Jewish as the fucking Tevye" and his strict rule against bowling on Shabbos. He is based loosely on real life filmmaker John Milius.
  • Theodore Donald "Donny" Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi) is a member of Walter and The Dude's bowling team. He constantly walks into the middle of conversations between The Dude and Walter, invoking responses such as "you're out of your element" and "shut the fuck up" from Walter when he attempts to catch up. Even when he is in a situation from the start, however, he still seems to have trouble figuring out what is actually going on. Despite his naivety, Donny appears to be a well-to-do person. He is an avid bowler, and according to Walter, was also a surfer in his younger days. Following his death, Walter and The Dude had him cremated and dusted over the ocean, in accordance with what his final wishes "might well have been."
File:The.Big.Lebowski.1998.Screenshot.1.jpg
The Dude, Jeff Lebowski, talking to the "other 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.)
  • 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 she is also the person who introduced Bunny to Uli Kunkle. 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 wheelchair-bound multi-millionare. He is a Korean War veteran who 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), loyal assistant to Mr. Lebowski, is a man who tries to please everyone. Brandt, who is one of the few people that calls The Dude by his preferred title besides Walter, Donny, and Jackie Treehorn, 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 young, playboy "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 who is an annoyance to her husband because "she owes money all over town, including to known pornographers."

Minor Characters

  • Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) is a bigtime pornographic film producer who lives in Malibu, California. His credits include Logjammin' starring Bunny and "Karl Hungus." He employs the two thugs who ambushed The Dude in his home as the movie began, prodding the story into motion when one of the thugs, Woo, micturates on The Dude's rug. He does call Lebowski "The Dude".
  • The German Nihilists were a group of ethnic Germans who claimed to be nihilists, although they don't seem to completely grasp the tenets of nihilism. The group, composed of leader Uli Kunkle, known in the "beaver picture", Logjammin', as Karl Hungus, (Peter Stormare), Franz (Torsten Voges), and Dieter (Flea of RHCP) was a Kraftwerkian techno-pop band called "Autobahn" in the mid-'70s. The group, along with Kunkle's girlfriend (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 omniscient 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 always accompanied with the song "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" in the background.
  • Jesus Quintana (John Turturro) is one of The Dude and Walter's opponents in the bowling league semifinals match. This eccentric, Latino trash-talking West Hollywood resident is a convicted pederast according to Walter. He speaks in a thick Spanish accent, color-coordinates his bowling uniform with his bowling ball (purple), and refers to himself as "The Jesus". Although he is a minor character he has one line that is considered the most memorable of the film, after having threatend Walter, The Dude replies by saying, "Jesus, man", tho which Jesus replies, "You said it man! Nobody fucks with The Jesus!".
  • Liam O'Brien (James G. Hoosier) is Jesus' potbellied, silent bowling partner.
  • 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. Larry's poorly-completed homework assignment was wedged in the seat of The Dude's car, leading The Dude and Walter to believe Larry was the thief.
  • Marty (Jack Kehler) is The Dude's landlord. Marty is seen performing part of a dance cycle which he calls his "dance quintet". He asks The Dude to come and give him notes to which the Dude replies "I'll be there, man". Walter joins the Dude and Donny at the performance with the news about Larry Sellers. Marty nervously reminds The Dude that his rent is past due, telling him "tomorrow's already the 10th", to which The Dude obliviously responds, "Far out."
  • Da Fino (Jon Polito) is a private investigator who spends most of his time mysteriously following the Dude around in a battered blue Volkswagen Beetle, during which he gains the mistaken impression that the Dude is a "brother shamus" (a private detective like himself). It transpires that he was hired by Bunny's parents to entice their daughter back to their Midwestern farm, and has played no other part in the entangled web of intrigue that has been playing around The Dude.

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 working on Walter Hill's western, Wild Bill (1995), and so they had to wait for his schedule to free up. In the meantime, they wrote and released Fargo.

According to William Preston Robertson's The Making of The Big Lebowski book, the Dude was based partly on the Coens' Uncle Peter, a bitter Vietnam veteran who told the brothers about how the rug in his living room “tied the room together” and how he once had his rug stolen. However, The Dude is mostly based on Jeff "The Dude" Dowd, whom the Coens met on one of their first trips to L.A. in the 1970s. He called himself the Pope of Dope and had been a member of an activist group known as the Seattle Seven during the Vietnam War years.

Walter was based on someone that Uncle Peter knew. He told the Coens a story about a friend of his, another vet, whose car was stolen by a kid who left his homework in it with his address. Pete and Walter went to the kid’s house and confronted him. Walter was also based on John Milius who directed such films as Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Red Dawn (1984). 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 the Roseanne TV show before making The Big Lebowski.

The origins of the bowling motif that runs throughout the movie was initially going to be softball with The Dude and his friends being part of an amateur league. Ethan Coen is quoted as saying, in Andy Lowe's book, 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.”

Soundtrack

All the original music for this film was composed by Carter Burwell

  1. "The Man In Me" — written and performed by Bob Dylan
  2. "My Mood Swings" — written by Elvis Costello/Cait O'Riordan-performed by Elvis Costello
  3. "Walking Song" — written and performed by Meredith Monk
  4. "Ataypura" — written by Moises Vivanco, performed by Yma Sumac
  5. "Branded Theme Song" — written by Alan Alch and Dominic Frontiere
  6. "Requiem in D Minor: Lachrymosa" — written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by The Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir
  7. "Hotel California" — written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Don Felder, performed by The Gipsy Kings
  8. "Run Through The Jungle" — written by John Fogerty and performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival
  9. "Behave Yourself" — written by Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr. and Lewie Steinberg, performed by Booker T. & the MG's
  10. "Dead Flowers" — written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, performed by Townes Van Zandt
  11. "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles" — written and performed by Don Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart
  12. "I Got It Bad & That Ain't Good" — written by Duke Ellington and Paul Francis Webster, performed by Nina Simone
  13. "I Hate You" — written by Gary Burger, David Havlicek, Roger Johnston, Thomas E. Shaw and Larry Spangler, performed by The Monks
  14. Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) — written by Mickey Newbury, performed by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition
  15. "Lookin' Out My Back Door" — written by John Fogerty and performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival
  16. "Gnomus" — written by Modest Mussorgsky; from Pictures at an Exhibition

Trivia

  • Variants of the word "fuck" are uttered 251 times, putting "The Big Lebowski" at No. 12 on the list of films ordered by uses of the word "fuck".
  • The word "man" is said 174 times during the film.
  • "Dude", including variations, is said 139 times.
  • The rug that "tied the room together" now hangs on the wall of La'Bowski's Restaurant in Lubbock, Texas.
  • On both the DVD and VHS cover of the movie, the synopsis incorrectly quotes The Dude as saying the "carpet" really made the room "hang together."
  • Jeff Bridges' father, Lloyd Bridges, died March 10, 1998, only four days after this film was first released.
  • The Dude is never seen actually bowling, only stretching before a game. Conversely, Donny bowls a strike each time he is seen rolling, with the exception of the night he has a heart attack.
  • The clothes that The Dude wears are Jeff Bridges' own.
  • The Dude never wears socks with his footwear.
  • When Treehorn's thugs return to The Dude's home, each is wearing clothes the other was wearing in their first appearance.
  • Walter repeats "This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass" (or "Do you see what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass?") many times while smashing a Corvette. In the edited-for-television version it is dubbed "when you find a stranger in the Alps" and "when you fix a stranger scrambled eggs".
  • The Jesus character is absent from some televised versions of the film.
  • In the film, Jesus Quintana is a convicted sex offender, according to Walter. A man with the same name was an actual sex offender, convicted only a few years before the film's release. [1]
  • Adult-film star Asia Carrera appears in Logjammin', the Bunny LaJoya-Karl Hungus "beaver picture."
  • Steve Buscemi's character is constantly being told to "shut the fuck up!" by Walter, in a possible reference to Fargo, the previous Coen Brothers' film, in which Buscemi's character would never shut up.
  • Peter Stormare's character, Uli Kunkel, is seen ordering pancakes at a diner. This could be a reference to Fargo, in which his character anxiously wants to eat at a pancake house, but never gets to.
  • Walter's eulogy to Donny concluded with the phrase "Good night, sweet prince". This is the same phrase Horatio used after the death of Hamlet in Shakespeare's Hamlet. [2]
  • Donny's body is cremated, keeping with the tradition that with each successive Coen Brothers' film in which the Steve Buscemi character dies, his remains get smaller. (See Miller's Crossing and Fargo.)
  • Readers of Total Film magazine voted The Big Lebowski the 20th greatest comedy film of all time. [3]
  • The date on The Dude's check he writes at the beginning of the movie is Sept. the 11th. Interestingly later in the movie, (and one would assume at a later date), The Dude's landlord states that "tomorrow is already the 10th". This is known as postdating a check, and is likely meant to establish the Lebowski character's "slacker" bonafides early in the film. This is amplified by the fact that the check in question was for less than a dollar.
  • After The Dude's car is found by the police, The Dude has to enter and exit the car by the right side due to damage caused by the car thief yet later at Larry Sellers's house, The Dude exits his car from the damaged left side.
  • Whilst onscreen during the film, the Dude drinks nine White Russians (or ten if you believe he is drinking a refill in Maude's limo), four beers ("oat sodas") and one coffee; smokes four joints; and eats a handful of pistachio nuts at the bar, and two mints at the funeral parlour.
  • The Dude is in every scene in the movie except one: the restaurant scene where the German nihilists are ordering pancakes.
  • Bunny's convertible's license plate reads lapin, which is french for bunny.
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Big Lebowski in pop culture

  • The first annual Lebowski Fest was held Oct. 12, 2002. The event has its roots in Louisville, Kentucky, but has become so popular that it has spawned several other annual Lebowski Fests including those located in Austin, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York City.
  • In episode 37, "O-Ed Eleven", of Ed, Edd and Eddy, Double D uses Walter Sobchak as an alias.
  • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends spoofed the series twice. In the pilot movie, "House of Bloo's", Bloo recites a variation of The Dude's speech when he meets the vandals, saying "Right, right, or Blooey, Bloo the Blue Dude, El Blooderino, or hey, how about just plain Bloo?" after Mac's older brother calls him a "bloofus." Later, an episode called "The Big Leblooski" was set in a bowling alley, and featured uncanny caricatures of Walter, Donny and The Dude as they were depicted waiting in line for bowling shoes.
  • In 2005 the cartoon website Homestar Runner dressed the character Pom Pom up as Walter Sobchak for a Halloween short. Several characters are also heard spouting lines from the film when an "Easter egg" is clicked on Pom Pom after the cartoon is shown.
  • The Alan Moore comic The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2, features an extensive almanac on the world of the comic. In the chapter detailing North America, a naiad known as "Lebowsky" is heard to have settled in the Los Angeles area, but is "unknown if he continued his habits of smoking and playing nine pins or if he in fact sired any descendants of note."
  • In an episode of Lizzie McGuire, Gordo is seen reading "The Dude Abides, The Big Lebowski's Guide to Bowling."
  • In the 1998 Powerpuff Girls episode, "Something's a Ms.", the mayor, sitting in a great room before a fireplace and lamenting the kidnapping of his faithful assistant Sara Bellum, gives the girls the same speech that the Big Lebowski gives the Dude when it's thought that Bunny has been kidnapped.
  • In the 2000 Powerpuff Girls episode, "Bought and Scold", Princess Morbucks buys the city of Townsville and decrees that all crime is legal. In the ensuing mass crime spree, the home of Professor Utonium and the Powerpuff Girls is looted. As a looter walks past Professor Utonium carrying a rolled-up rug, the Professor remarks, "That really tied the room together!"
  • The television series Veronica Mars makes repeated references to the movie; one episode features characters watching the movie.
  • On the menus of the McMenamins chain of brewpubs in the Pacific Northwest, the name of the white russian drink has been replaced with 'The Dude'.
  • In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Episode "The Little Belowski", the titular character and the title itself parody The Big Lebowski.
  • In 2005, Marvel released a comic series following the X-man 'Gambit'. The first story arc was called 'House of Cards'. Walter and Donny can be seen in issue 3 of 'House of Cards', where Gambit steals Walter's bowling ball 'Lucille'.
  • An episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch Miles tutors Roxy in bowling. Miles wears a suit and wrist guard similar to the outfit Jesus Quintana wears when he first appears in the bowling alley.
  • The film is screened annually on April 20 at the Red Vic movie theatre in San Francisco, California's Haight-Ashbury district. Although the moviehouse owners don't publicly endorse it, marijuana smoking by patrons during the movie is not uncommon.
Wikiquote has quotations related to The Big Lebowski.

References and footnotes

  1. ^ An Interview with The Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan about "The Big Lebowski"
  2. ^ The Big Lebowski, (1998) at Internet Movie Cars Database
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