Cult Classics: The Big Lebowski

By Nate Storey

They figured he was a lazy time wasting slacker. They were right.

Written and Directed by
Joel and Ethan Coen

Starring:

Jeff Bridges…Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski
John Goodman …Walter Sobchak
Steve Buscemi …Theodore “Donny” Kerabatsos

Synopsis : The film depicts a few days in the life of The Dude, a slacker in Los Angeles. When a group of thugs mistakes him for another Jeffery Lebowski, beat him up and demand the money the other Lebowski owes them, and piss on his rug, The Dude gets caught up in the kidnapping of the Big Lebowski’s trophy wife bunny and is asked by the Big Lebowski to retrieve her and pay the ransom. Along the way he is alternatively helped and hindered by his friend and bowling mate, Walter.

Why It’s Great : While the movie got a wide release at the time, it has been the repercussions of the film’s release on DVD that makes it such a classic (other than the story and characters, which I will come to shortly). Heralded as the first cult classic of the internet era, The Dude and his attitude have spawned Dudeism, a new religion that celebrate and honor The Dude’s relaxed outlook on life and allow followers to become Ordained Dudeist ministers and priests. Also, there is now an annual Lebowski Fests from Austin, TX and Los Angeles to New York City and Louisville, KY to Edinburgh , Scotland . These fests celebrate bowling, trivia, and White Russians (the drinks, a Dude favorite).

The movie is filled with hilarious, offbeat characters such as Walter, who is a Vietnam vet and tries to relate everything to his time there, is a converted Jew despite being divorced from his wife for whom he converted and is completely convinced in the correctness of his every action and plan, despite being wrong most every time. Donny is the tag along to the Dude and Walter in their bowling team and frequently misses out on the story, and is told constantly to “Shut the fuck up” by Walter when he asks about what he didn’t understand. There’s also the nihilists, who “don’t care about anything,” the Jesus Quintan, a child expositionist and bowling opposition of The Dude, and Maude Lebowski a feminist and avant-garde painter who is very strong of her very “vaginal” artwork, which makes men nervous.

Trivia :
Throughout the movie, “fuck” and variations of “fuck” are said 281 times. To see “The Fucking Short Version” click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU2ZgaQ_H-Y

The Dude says “man” a total of 147 times, which is nearly 1.5 times a minute.

Many of the clothes that The Dude wears actually belonged to Jeff Bridges.

Comedy Central attempted to edit a scene in which Walter yells “Do you see what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass?” They had trouble because to edit that line out would have caused the flow of the scene to be lost. They ended redubbing the line, so it ended up “Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?”

Quotes :
Repeated line by The Dude and others: That rug really tied the room together.

Walter Sobchak: Fuck it, Dude, let’s go bowling.

The Dude: No, you’re not wrong, Walter, you’re just an ASSHOLE!

The Dude: [While being shoved into a limo] Hey! Careful, man, there’s a beverage here!

Walter: If you mark that frame an ’8′, you are entering a world of pain. (Pulls out a gun) A world… of pain.

The Dude: Yeah, well. The Dude abides.

All trivia comes from imdb.com.