Week 3: The Big Lebowski
---------------------------------The best bowling team ever assembled.
Nine years ago, I spent an afternoon watching movies with my soon-to-be wife. We were both young, and thought a good way of spending an afternoon would be to chill out, watch some movies together, and get to know one another. The movie I brought was The Big Lebowski. I would be lying if I didn’t say it was a litmus test.
The story involves a man named The Dude (Jeff Bridges). The Dude lives a simple, quiet life. He spends most of his day drinking White Russians, bowling, smoking marijuana, taking relaxing bubble baths while smoking marijuana, and dancing to music while drunk and/or high on the Persian rug in the middle of his living room. The rug is where the story begins. On an evening in the early nineties, after coming home from the grocery store, The Dude is attacked in his home by a couple of enforcers. You see, the enforcers think The Dude (whose real name is Jeff Lebowski) is actually The Big Lebowski, a millionaire living in Los Angeles with a wife that owes a group of pornographers some money. Once the enforcers realize that The Dude is not The Big Lebowski, they urinate on his rug out of spite and then leave. This all happens in the first four minutes of the film.
Over the course of the film we will meet the characters that inhabit The Dude’s world. The most important of them is Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) The Dude’s best friend, who is a former Vietnam veteran that has a tendency to become unhinged. Walter spends the majority of the film getting The Dude into trouble, pulling guns on people, causing public scenes, and contemplating his Judaism. There is also Donnie (Steve Buscemi) the quiet tag-along of the group. Donnie normally does not know what is going on and is told to shut up frequently by both Walter and The Dude. There is also The Big Lebowski himself, (David Huddleston) who is the catalyst of much of the plot of the film, and Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore) who wants more than just answers from The Dude.
The plot of the film simply serves as a framing device for The Dude’s adventures with the many bizarre characters in this world. Modeled after the Raymond Chandler novel “The Big Sleep,” The Big Lebowski is a comedic film noir. Money is lost and gained, people die and are betrayed, a mystery unfolds, sacrifices are made, yada, yada, yada.
I just realized that I have spent entirely too much time talking about the plot, when in fact- there is none. The Big Lebowski is a comedy: A very hilarious, offbeat, whimsical and ridiculous one at that. The plot is merely a reason to observe The Dude and his exploits. This is the kind of movie that requires multiple viewings; you will be laughing so hard from one joke you will miss the next. I didn’t take notes while watching the movie before my review, but I am betting there is at least one legitimately funny joke, piece of physical humor, or absurdist bit of dialogue roughly every 90 seconds. Walter in particular says things so absurd that you have to rewind the movie just to make sure you heard what you think you did. “This is not Vietnam, this is bowling, there are rules” is only one of the few pieces of dialogue pulled off brilliantly by Goodman. The entire interrogation scene with Larry Sellers, a high school kid, is another.
I think it is important for me to say that I did not like The Big Lebowski the first time I saw it. I remember sitting on my couch watching the movie trying to figure out what it was all about. I didn’t understand where the plot was going and was confused by the actions of the characters. I re-watched the film with a good friend several months later, and my friend was laughing throughout the entire movie. It was at that point I had the revelation that I was caring far too much about the plot and not actually observing and listening to the characters. These people are bizarre. They say and do ridiculous things. Virtually every single thing they say is funny in one way or another. Listen to the dialogue, repeat it out loud and try not to smile. I have since come to the realization that The Big Lebowski the funniest movie I have ever seen.
The film was written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, two of the best and most important filmmakers working today. This is the film they made directly after Fargo, one of the greatest and most critically acclaimed films in the last thirty years. I am told that The Big Lebowski was written and green-lit before Fargo was released. This is probably a good thing. I cannot even imagine the meeting that these guys would have had with the studio in which they declare The Big Lebowski as their follow up to Fargo. Since then, the Coen Brothers have made a habit of alternating between the absurd and the dramatic. Their Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men (another masterpiece) was followed by Burn after Reading, a film in the same vein as Lebowski, but nowhere near as good.
I think I have figured out why The Big Lebowski resonates with so many people. Look at the characters (or caricatures, if you’d like). Watch the movie. There is not a character in this film that is not fully developed. Every actor with dialogue in the movie is a fully fledged realization of their character. There is Marty: the landlord that needs rent but is too afraid to ask- in fear The Dude will not come to his interpretive dance cycle. There is the cab driver that kicks the Dude out for not liking the Eagles, Knox Harrington (David Thewlis): the gay artist/fashion designer that laughs in an absurd way, the police officers that inform the The Dude that his stolen car may be found, but the Credence in the tape deck may not. There is Brant (Philip Seymour Hoffman) the Big Lebowski’s butler, who never breaks out of the duty to his boss.
My personal favorite character is Jesus (John Turturro) who is The Dude and Walter’s bowling arch-nemesis. Jesus is a former pedophile that dances when he hits a strike, licks his ball for good luck, and has a coke pinky-nail. He may dig eight year olds, but he sure can roll.
I have not even mentioned Jackie Treehorn, Wu and Blondie, Smokey, Liam, De Pino, Bunny Lebowski, Arthur Digby Sellers and his matron, Pilar, or The Stranger (Sam Elliot, who narrates the story). All of these characters live and inhabit the world of The Dude, and the city of Los Angle’es. The only characters that are not fully realized, Donnie and the Nihilists, are not realized for a reason. Donnie is never given the chance, and the Nihilists just don’t care. This is what the movie is about, not the plot, but the characters. The film was made several years after Pulp Fiction, another great film in which the plot is really irrelevant.
Above all of the rest are The Dude and Walter. If comedy is truly harder than drama, then both Jeff Bridges and John Goodman could have received Academy Awards for their performances here. There is not a moment in the film where The Dude is Jeff Bridges, or Walter is John Goodman. They are always their characters, even when they only inhabit the screen. This is not only a great compliment to the actors, but to the Coen brothers for writing the script. Every use of the word “dude,” “man,” and “umm” was scripted by the Coen brothers. This is not improvisation. Every single word was meticulously directed to fit the Coen’s vision.
When I watch this movie I have a smile on my face. I have seen it so many times I know when most of the jokes are coming, and only laugh at the most outrageous ones, but I am still smiling the entire experience. Beginning several years after the film opened, a group of fans (“Achievers,” they prefer to be called) decided to start up an annual celebration in honor of The Big Lebowski. Beginning in 2002, Lebowskifest has been held each year in Louisville, KY. People come, drink White Russians, bowl, watch the movie, and experience the fun together. In 2012 the festival will entire its tenth year, and has expanded to New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Portland and Boston. The Achievers know what is going on; this is the kind of movie that inspires community and fellowship. People band together and share their love for the film. What a glorious movie.
--------------------------------------------John Turturro as the dancing Jesus
A Viewers Guide to The Big Lebowski
- The word “fuck” is used 281 times in the movie. The word “man” is used 174 times and the word “dude” is used 160. Virtually all of these uses are scripted.
- In the scene where Jesus is going door to door, telling people he is a registered sex offender, John Turturro has a bag of birdseed in his pants, to emphasize his manhood.
- The Dude never actually bowls in the movie.
- The band Autobahn is an homage to the 80’s techno band Kraftwerk.
- The best piece of physical comedy I have ever seen in any movie is the scene in which The Dude gets hit in the head by a full cup of hot coffee, thrown at him by an interrogating police officer. I typically have to rewind the movie and watch the clip several times. It is brilliant.
- The character Donnie, played by Steve Buscemi, is told to shut up throughout the entire movie, and never finishes a complete sentence. This is because Buscemi’s kidnapper character in Fargo never shuts up. The scene where Uli (Peter Stormare, the other kidnapper in Fargo) is eating pancakes in the diner is also an homage to Fargo. Stormare’s character in that film always wants to eat at the International House of Pancakes.
- Maude Lebowski does not have a British accent, but a pretentious “rich person’s” accent, according to Julianne Moore.
- Tara Reid, the actress who plays Bunny Lebowski, is frequently asked to repeat her most famous line in the film.
- I have heard from a variety of people that do not like the dream sequences in the film. My wife, in particular, thinks they make the film disjointed and make little sense. I disagree. With The Dude’s rampant alcoholism, former drug use, and lifestyle, I am quite certain that these are the images that The Dude would experience if he was unconscious. The “Gutterballs” musical sequence is my personal favorite musical scene in any film.
- The trailer for the film is one of the best trailers I have ever seen. It intrigues the viewer by showing the movies bizarre characters, while saying little about the plot.
Review and Analysis by Shaun Henisey
Cast and Credits:
The Dude: Jeff Bridges
Walter: John Goodman
Donnie: Steve Buscemi
Jeffrey Lebowski: David Huddleston
Brant: Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Bunny: Tara Reid
Maude: Julianne Moore
Jesus: John Turtturo
Bunny: Tara Reid
Karl: Peter Storemare
Gramercy Pictures and Polygram Filmed Entertainment presents a film directed by Joel Coen. Written by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Running Time: 117 Minutes. Rated R (For Pervasive Strong Language, Drug Content, Sexuality, Nudity and Brief Violence.)
Return Wednesday, October 7th, to preview next weeks film.
CLICK HERE to Discuss The Big Lebowski
COMING SOON TO A MOVIE A WEEK: