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 bowler after he is mistaken for a millionaire with the same name. The film is best known for its lead character, surreal dream sequences and mellow rock 'n' roll soundtrack, becoming a cult film classic.
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
Taglines:
They figured he was a lazy time wasting slacker. They were right.
Her life was in their hands. Now her toe is in the mail.
Times like these call for a Big Lebowski.
It takes guys as simple as the Dude and Walter to make a story this complicated... and they'd really rather be bowling.
(Israel, translated from Hebrew): Lebowski: Not a man, a way of life.
Two thugs invade the Venice, California, home of Jeffrey Lebowski (Bridges), known as "The Dude", and trash it in an attempt to collect on a debt supposedly incurred by Lebowski's wife. The Dude points to his raised toilet seat and modest apartment as proof that he is not the married 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 buddy, a Vietnam War veteran named Walter (Goodman), The Dude unsuccessfully seeks compensation from the other Jeffrey Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire. 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.
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" (Tara Reid) has been kidnapped, and he wants The Dude to act as a paid courier for the ransom. Believing the task to be easy money, The Dude invites Walter along on the drop. The survivalist ex-military man botches the drop, tossing a leather suitcase full of his dirty whites instead of the metallic briefcase The Dude was asked to deliver.
Adding to his woes, 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.
After he is forced into a limousine and confronted by The Big Lebowski about the botched ransom delivery, The Dude mentions the possibility of a kidnapping hoax. But "The Big Lebowski" changes The Dude's mind when the former shows The Dude a severed toe with the nail painted in Bunny's color.
The Dude's luck only gets worse when his car is stolen at the bowling alley, which he reports to the Los Angeles Police Department. His car is eventually found, but moments after The Dude receives the call on where to find his car, the kidnappers invade The Dude's house and threaten to cut off The Dude's "johnson" if he doesn't hand over the money.
The Dude goes to pick up his car the next day, only to find that the briefcase is no longer in the car. While driving his car home, The Dude finds a piece of paper underneath his seat, belonging to a Larry Sellers (Jesse Flanagan). The Dude, Walter and Donnie go to Larry's house and confront him, but Larry refuses to answer them. Walter takes a crowbar and begins to smash up a Corvette out front, believing Larry used the money from the briefcase to buy it, but it actually belongs to Larry's next door neighbor, who takes his revenge out on The Dude's car.
The Dude gets a call from Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara), Bunny's employer and pornographic movie director, who wants to meet with The Dude about Bunny. During the course of the evening, The Dude's White Russian is drugged, and he passes out. After another elaborate dream sequence involving bowling, Saddam Hussein and a dance number, The Dude wakes up running down the street.
After being brought to the police station, The Dude takes a cab home, but after an unfortunate comment on the driver's choice of The Eagles on the radio, The Dude is kicked out. Bunny is seen driving down the street just afterwards, singing along to the radio, all of her toes intact, which means she wasn't kidnapped. Barely making it home, The Dude is greeted by a half-naked Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore), The Big Lebowski's daughter, who demands the return of the rug from the mansion, which had sentimental value to her.
After talking to 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 unveils the whole scheme: The Big Lebowski was hoping the kidnappers would kill Bunny because he was tired of her spending all the money he was getting. The "kidnappers" learned that the Big Lebowski recently got one million dollars from The Little Lebowski Urban Achiever's Center, and wanted the money for themselves. 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.
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, b) there never was any money and c) as there was no kidnapping, there was no ransom, and therefore they have no claim to it anyway. Threateningly, the kidnappers advance on The Dude, Walter and Donnie, but Walter manages to fight them off. However, during the fight, Donnie suffers a heart attack, and eventually dies. After spreading the ashes at a beach, The Dude and Walter return to the bowling alley, to prepare for the upcoming league semifinals.
The Dude (Jeff Bridges), whose real name is Jeffrey Lebowski, is a single, unemployed Venice, California, slacker who enjoys marijunana and spends his days "bowling, driving around, [and having] the occasional acid flashback." He freely uses profanity and is not above post-dating a check for a carton of half and half for his beloved White Russian cocktails. The Dude is a pacifist who gets caught up in a scheme of kidnapping and embezzlement after seeking reparations for his 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. Born a PolishCatholic, 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. Walter often alludes situations to his experiences in Vietnam and is a paranoid, mentally unstable man. The way he deals with situations, aggressively and stubbornly, provide the main impetus for much of the story, 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 rolling on shabbat. He is based loosely on real life filmmaker John Milius.
Donny (Steve Buscemi), born Theodore Donald Kerabatsos, 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 tries to catch up. Even when he is in a situation from the start, however, he still seems to have trouble figuring out what is going on.
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 willnotstand. This... aggressionwill not stand, man..." (echoing the famous President Bush comment before the Gulf War.)
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 another woman. 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."
Bunny (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 person who is an annoyance to her husband because "she owes money all over town, including to known pornographers."
Brandt (Philip Seymour Hoffman), assistant to Mr. Lebowski, is a man who tries to please everyone. Brandt, who is one of the few people that calls The Dude his title besides Walter and Donny, has a habit of echoing his boss as well as forcing out a nervous laugh during awkward moments.
Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore) is Mr. Lebowski's daughter. She is a feminist as well as an avant-garde artist whose work "has been commended as strongly vaginal." She is currently friends with Knox Harrington (David Thewlis), the video artist and is the person who introduced Uli Kunkel to Bunny.
Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) is a 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 "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 Kunkel, known in the "beaver picture" as Karl Hungus, (Peter Stormare), "Franz" (Torsten Voges), "Dieter" (Flea of RHCP) and Aimee Mann, was a Kraftwerkian techno-pop band called "Autobahn" in the mid-'70s. The group is the supposed kidnappers of Bunny.
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 firearm out and threatens Smokey with the famous line "mark that frame an eight and you're entering a world of pain." 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 narrator who sees this story unfold from an outside perspective. He does not see The Dude as a low-life and even goes so far to see him as an ironic tragic figure. The Stranger enjoys a good sarsaparilla, dresses as a cowboy and is always accompanied with "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 trash-talkingWest Hollywood resident is a convicted pederast according to Walter. He refers to himself as "The Jesus".
Liam O'Brien (James G. Hoosier) is Jesus' potbellied 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." 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 a part of a dance quintet and he really enjoys it when The Dude can come and give him notes on his performance afterwards.
Da Fino (Jon Polito) is a private investigator who spends most of the movie mysteriously following the Dude around in a battered blue Volkswagen, during which he gains the mistaken impression that the Dude is a 'brother shamus'. It transpires that he is a private eye 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.
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 "That's 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 "That's what happens 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 Bros. film, in which Buscemi's character would never shut up.
Peter Stormare's character, Karl Hungus, is seen ordering pancakes at a diner, in another reference to Fargo, in which his character anxiously wants to go to a pancake house, but never gets to.
Walter's eulogy to Donny contained the phrase "goodnight sweet prince," 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 Bros. 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' house The Dude exits his car from the damaged left side.
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. Several characters are also heard spouting lines from the film when a "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 Profesor 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.
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The Big Lebowski (1998) 
The Big Lebowski (1998)
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Big Lebowski, The (1998) 
