The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski is a 1998 film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen starring Jeff Bridges as the "The Dude", or Jeff Lebowski. Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliott and Coen regulars John Goodman, John Turturro, and Steve Buscemi are also featured.

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Story

The Dude, Jeff Lebowski (Bridges), has his home invaded and his rug urinated upon by thugs looking for a multi-millionaire Jeff Lebowski (David Huddleston) who is disabled, according to his servant Brandt (Hoffman), and keeps a tidier house. Since the thugs were looking to collect a debt incurred by the wife of the multimillionaire Lebowski, The Dude goes to speak to him to get a new rug, and quickly becomes entangled in a kidnapping scheme.

The storyline, a bizarre twisting of the film noir genre, is interesting in and of itself, but also functions as a frame upon which the humorous situations and characterization can be hung, in particular the bizarre array of characters:

Characters

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

• The Dude (Jeff Bridges) - cannabis-smoking anti-hero, whose ambition is limited to bowling and drinking White Russians.
• Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) - a Jewish convert and Vietnam War vet whose mental instability provides much of the comedy of the film; he is paranoid and his constant interference in the events of the story are the impetus for much of the action. Walter is, in a strict literary sense, the main character of the story, as he is the one that grows and changes as a result of the events.
• Donny (Steve Buscemi) - the third member of Walter and The Dude's bowling team, forever out of touch with events and trying to catch up, and constantly being told to shut up by Walter.
• Jeff Lebowski (David Huddleston) - a wheelchair bound multi-millionaire married to a young pretty woman, Bunny; his motives are perennially unclear.
• Bunny (Tara Reid) - Jeff Lebowski's wife, a young playbunny who has run away from her family in Minnesota; she is supposedly kidnapped, but the end of the film reveals that she has merely disappeared for a weekend without telling anyone.
• Brandt (Philip Seymour Hoffman) - Jeff Lebowski's butler, constantly nervous and echoing his boss.
• Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore)- Jeff Lebowski's daughter, a militant feminist avant-garde artist who believes her father is corrupt, and wants to make sure she gets his money instead of Bunny.
• Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) - a porn film director, who used to direct movies with Bunny.
• The German nihilists - a group of German immigrants who claim belief in nihilism, though their actions belie this; they work for Treehorn (musicians Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Aimee Mann play two of the nihilists). They used to be in a band called 'Autobahn', a reference to the German electronic band Kraftwerk.
• Jesus Quintana (John Turturro) - Actually pronounced "gee-zuss", this character competes with The Dude and Walter at bowling. His inclusion is to emphasize The Dude's role as a "Jesus figure" in the movie, and to provide contrast.
• The Stranger (Sam Elliott) - The narrator of the movie, looking at Los Angeles from an outsiders perspective. He does not see The Dude as a low-life, and even makes reference to him as an ironic tragic figure, "The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners."

The plot is based very loosely on Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep and the Humphrey Bogart film of that book, but has been modernized and revolves around marijuana and ten pin bowling, and makes liberal use of the Gulf War as a backdrop.

Analysis

The Big Lebowski is a cult film, in that it received mediocre or moderately positive reviews, generally, but sales were and remain slim. Perhaps one reason is the anti-hero status of The Dude, whose refusal of gainful employment and makes him difficult to sympathize with, as well as the general eccentricity of all the primary players in the plot. However those that elevate the movie to cult status enjoy and identify with the unusual characters, or appreciate the movie's very clever and quotable dialogue, or some combination of both. The cult status has developed to the point to where fans of the movie have "Lebowski Fest" conventions twice a year, during which people bowl, dress like characters in the movie, and drink White Russians. Some even show off their old and dilapitated automobiles, which resemble the Dude's rusted and discolored 1970s era car.

Many of the characters and plot elements in The Big Lebowski were inspired by people the Coen brothers have known throughout the years. For instance, The Dude's micturated-upon rug was inspired by the Coen Brothers' Uncle Pete, who had a fixation upon an unattractive rug he owned, and how "it tied the room together". Also Uncle Pete spoke of his experiences in Vietnam quite bitterly, much like the character Walter. The Dude is based quite heavily upon Coen Brothers real life friend, Jeff "The Dude" Dowd. According to the Coens, Dowd refers to himself as "the Pope of Dope".