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The Big Lebowski (1998)
Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, and Steve Buscemi. Cinematography by Roger Deakins. Edited by Roderick Jaynes and Tricia Cooke. Produced by Ethan Coen. Written by Joel and Ethan Coen. Directed by Joel Coen.
Two men, both ironically named Jeffrey Lebowski, come face to face after a case of mistaken identity. The younger Lebowski (played by Jeff Bridges), referred to as The Dude, seeks compensation from the older Lebowski (played by David Huddleston) for damages wrongly inflicted on his now piss stained rug. The tides turn when the older Lebowski’s wife (played by Tara Reid) is kidnapped and the younger Lebowski is called upon to retrieve her.
But this plotline becomes almost irrelevant to The Dude as he and his buddy Walter (played by John Goodman) struggle to keep up with Jesus Quintana (played by John Turturro) at the local bowling alley, Maude Lebowski (played by Julianne Moore) plans to have his child, and German nihilists (played by Peter Stormare, Torsten Voges, and Flea) attack him in the bathtub with a marmot (played by a marmot).
Though the Coen brother’s previous film is said to be a true story, The Big Lebowski is actually based more on reality than Fargo is. The character of The Dude was inspired by a man the Coens met in the 1970’s named Jeff Dowd. Dowd, also known as the Pope of Dope, was a protesting hippie during the Vietnam War and did some jail time for conspiring to destroy federal property.
He is now a producer’s representative working in Los Angeles. Walter Sobchak is partially inspired by Pete Exline, a militant Vietnam vet, and partially by John Milius, co-writer of Apocalypse Now, Conan the Barbarian, and 1941. Maude Lebowski was assembled based on a mixture of the artists Carol Schneeman and Yoko Ono.
And the rug that tied the room together and the homework left in the back seat of a stolen and later recovered car are also true stories from the Coen brother’s network of friends. So there’s a lesson for all you potential screenwriters out there; even a story as intricate and fantastic as The Big Lebowski can be inspired by the world around you.
Many of Joel and Ethan Coen’s films have similar character or thematic elements that run through them. One such trait is that our naïve protagonist needs something that can only be obtained from an older fat man. This can be seen in the interactions between H.I. and Nathan Arizona in Raising Arizona and between Barton Fink and Jack Lipnick in Barton Fink. But in no film is that relationship more intricately played out than in The Big Lebowski.
This brilliant character formula has helped The Big Lebowski quietly become one of the Coen brother’s most popular projects. It is rooted in the dark and nihilistic tones of the film-noir genre, but is interlaced with comedy that is so strange and off the wall that you can never quite take it seriously. It is, in a way, the quintessential Coen brother’s movie as it features a select portion of almost everything that they have become so well known for. Ultimately, it’s easy to see it as Coen brother’s comedy at its very best.
Budget: $15,000,000
Total US Gross: $17,498,804
Genre: Black Comedy
Runtime: 117 Minutes
US Release Date: 3/6/98
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Awards: none
Tagline: Times Like These Call For A Big Lebowski.
Quote: “Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not Mr. Lebowski. You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm The Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.”
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