The Big Lebowski (1998)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

In this dark, obscenity-filled, and quirky independent comedy/crime caper-thriller from the inventive, cultish and anarchic Coen Brothers, it involved a complex case of mistaken identity, deception, and double-crosses. The plot was actually a buddy film about an alleged abduction and pay-off scheme (involving a large ransom sum), and was intentionally designed as a film-noirish shaggy dog tale set in 1990s Los Angeles.

In its tale of LA sleaze (with approximately 260 F-bombs) in a post-Vietnam era, there were echoes of writer Raymond Chandler's writings behind the film noir The Big Sleep (1946). [Note: The title of the film, The Big Lebowski, was intentionally derived from the 1946 film.] Both films had a completely undecipherable and ultimately unimportant plot, consisting of a series of unusual sequences as a parade of characters appeared during attempts by a hard-boiled detective (and a wasted LA stoner-deadbeat) to unravel a mystery during a film-long quest that involved mostly red herrings and dead-ends.

As one of the most revered cult films of all time, it threw together (in episodic vignettes) a mismatching set of absurdist pop cultural elements, including a pissed-on rug, a bowling alley competition, nihilism, strange performance art, a severed toe, White Russians ("Caucasians") and doobies, porn, a ferret on a leash, missing money, a crowbar-smashed new Corvette, and much more. The characters were an assorted lot: an unfaithful trophy wife (and porn actress), sinister blackmailing German nihilists, a second set of hired thugs working for an adult film producer, a crippled and devious philanthropist, a feminist femme fatale who only wanted a sperm donor, a shell-shocked Vietnam War veteran, and a Venice Beach ex-hippie and ex-protest era radical (now a dope-smoking slacker). There were many memorable lines of oft-quoted dialogue (with some parroting of key phrases) and memorable but unusual characters.

By the end of the wickedly absurdist noirish tale centering around a bewildered and oft-stoned Messianic archetype known as the "Dude" (not the "Big Lebowski" of the film's title), everyone seemed untrustworthy and deceptive - in actual fact, everything went horribly awry due to multiple misunderstandings. There was no kidnapping, and most of the characters were revealed to either be acting hypocritically, misrepresenting themselves, lying, or pursuing their own self-interested objectives. The film's tagline was very appropriate: "They figured he was a lazy, time-wasting slacker. They were right."

With a budget of 15ドル million, the film was initially a box-office bust, but eventually became a commercial and critical success, with 19ドル.48 million (in domestic revenue) and 48ドル.25 million (worldwide). It was the 96th highest-grossing (domestic) film of 1998.

• the opening scene was narrated by the off-screen, drawling cowboy Stranger (Sam Elliott) as the Sons of the Pioneers sang about "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" (sung by Sons of the Pioneers - on a store's Muzak system); during the lengthy voice-over narration, a broken-off tumbleweed plant traveled from the high-desert north of Los Angeles to a view of the grid-pattern of an LA cityscape [from a vantage point in Simi Valley], where it tumbled down; it then rolled along in the middle of the night - crossing a freeway overpass, passing by a Hand Car Wash and a Benitos Taco Shop stand, turning over and over in the center of an LA street, and onward toward the ocean
• in early August of 1990, the main character was introduced: bearded hippie, disheveled, long-haired pot-smoking, laid-back slacker, unemployed slob Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), who was wandering in the aisles of a Los Angeles Ralph's grocery store late at night, and smelling a carton of Half & Half before writing a post-dated check (for September 11, 1991) for $.69 cents
• upon the often-stoned Lebowski's return home to his Venice Beach (California) bungalow, he was assaulted by two debt-collecting Treehorn Thugs: a long-haired, muscle-bound brute (Mark Pellegrino) and Asian-American Woo (Philip Moon); the Dude was given a "whirlie" in the toilet bowl; the two alleged that he owed money to their boss Jackie Treehorn due to his wife Bunny's promiscuous associations around town: ("Bunny says you're good for it....Don't f--k with us! Your wife owes money to Jackie Treehorn. That means you owe money to Jackie Treehorn")
• although the Dude protested, they continued to rough him up anyway and then Woo deliberately peed on the Dude's favorite carpet: ("Ever thus to deadbeats, Lebowski"); the Dude complained to the Treehorn thugs: ("No, no, don't do that! Not on the rug, man") and told them that they had made a mistake and that he wasn't married: "Nobody calls me Lebowski. You got the wrong guy. I'm the Dude, man....My wife? Bunny? Do you see a wedding ring on my finger? Does this place look like I'm f--king married? The toilet seat's up, man!"
• then after finally realizing that it was a case of mistaken identity and the Dude was the wrong individual, the goons took off: ("He looks like a f--kin' loser...F--kin' time-waster. Thanks alot, asshole"); the Dude retorted as they stormed off: "At least I'm housebroken"
• apparently, the Dude had been mistaken for fat, wheelchair-bound, philanthropic Pasadena tycoon-millionaire Jeff Lebowski, the real "Big Lebowski," who was married to Bunny - deep in debt to porn king Jackie Treehorn
• the title and opening credits were presented with close-ups of bowling-related objects at the Dude's favorite local bowling alley, Hollywood Star Lanes, with trademark neon starburst decorations and fixtures - to the tune of Bob Dylan's "The Man in Me" on the soundtrack
• at the bowling alley, the bowling-loving Dude commiserated with his bowling buddies: uptight, racist, PTSD-suffering nutcase Vietnam war veteran Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) and moronic ex-surfer Theodore Donald "Donny" Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi), about his ruined, valued rug that was peeded upon by the Chinaman Woo ("Yeah, man, it really tied the room together"); Walter chastised Donny for not listening and for interrupting: "Forget it, Donny, you're out of your element!"
• Walter figured out that the Dude had been mistaken for a wealthy Pasadena resident with the same last name; the Dude realized he must complain about and demand compensation from his name-sake Lebowski for the mistaken attack by two hoods (due to a mix-up of names/addresses for "Lebowski"); the thugs were really targeting Mr. Lebowski's indebted, promiscuous trophy wife Bunny (Tara Reid), a porn actress who was involved somehow with Jackie Treehorn
• the Dude, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, visited the Pasadena, CA home of wheel-chair bound philanthropist millionaire Jeffrey 'The Big' Lebowski (David Huddleston); inside the mansion, he was shown around by the tycoon's personal assistant and sychophantic yes-man Brandt (Philip Seymour Hoffman); in Lebowski's study, he viewed a collection of commendations, awards, citations, and honorary degrees; during the tour, the Dude's face was mirrored onto a framed 'Man of the Year' Time Magazine cover labeled "ARE YOU A LEBOWSKI ACHIEVER?"
• when the wealthy owner eventually arrived in a wheelchair, the Dude introduced himself to "The Big" Lebowski: ("You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, uh, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or uh, you know, El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing")

• Mr. Lebowski offered employment advice to the laid-back Dude - ("My wife is not the issue here! I hope that someday my wife will learn to live on her allowance, which is ample, but if she does not, that is her problem, not mine, just as the rug is your problem, just as every bum's lot in life is his own responsibility, regardless of who he chooses to blame. I didn't blame anyone for the loss of my legs. Some Chinaman took them from me in Korea. But I went out and achieved anyway. I cannot solve your problems, sir, only you can....Yes, that's your answer. That's your answer to everything. Tattoo it on your forehead. Your revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski! Condolences! The bums lost! My advice to you is to do what your parents did! Get a job, sir! The bums will always lose! Do you hear me, Lebowski?! The bums will always lose!"); in response, the Dude briefly answered: "Oh, F--k it!" and left, but facetiously told Brandt that he had been permitted to "take any rug in the house"
• on his way out of the Lebowski estate, the Dude met up with the millionaire's sexy young trophy wife Bunny (Tara Reid), a free-spirited nymphomaniac, and one of the porn stars and bedding partners of sleaze king mobster and pornographer-producer Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara); while painting her toenails an emerald green color, she asked him to "blow" on her toes, and then claimed her German boyfriend (Peter Stormare) sleeping on a flotation raft in the nearby pool wouldn't care: "He's a nihilist"; she also offered the Dude: ("I'll suck your cock for 1,000ドル dollars"); through deceitful means, the Dude was able to exit the premises with a beautiful, rolled-up Persian rug as a replacement
• during a bowling league competition match, the Dude's hot-headed bowling buddy Walter told older, pacifist rival bowler Smokey (Jimmie Dale Gilmore) on the competition's team that he had committed a minor infraction of bowling league rules by fouling over the line - he drew his gun to protest, and brandished it accompanied by scary, gun-wielding threats: "You're entering a world of pain," and "Mark it zero"
• while drinking his favorite beverage - White Russian while lying on his new rug, the Dude was summoned by Brandt to hurriedly return to the Lebowski mansion, but not for the misappropriated rug; he met with the distraught, teary-eyed Lebowski in the West Wing of his manor, who was deep in thought;
• Mr. Lebowski revealed that he had received a ransom note regarding his kidnapped wife - the extortionist message was composed of clipped-together cut-outs from magazines; as he smoked a joint, the Dude reacted "This is a bummer, man," before he was hired (for a promised "generous offer" of 20ドルK) to serve as a "courier" to deliver a ransom sum of 1ドル million to free the young, allegedly-kidnapped wife Bunny ("the light of my life") - possibly from the "carpet-pissers" hired by porn king Treehorn to pressure Mr. Lebowski to pay off his wife's indebtedness
• [Note: Lebowski assumed that the "deadbeat" Dude would screw things up and could be used as a scapegoat; his intention was never to get Bunny back. Instead, he wanted her dead while he embezzled the 'ransom money' derived from his charity program/foundation - the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers.]
• back at the Dude's bowling alley, competitive, flamboyant, lavender-jump-suited Latino bowler Jesus Quintana (John Turturro) was introduced - to the Spanish-tinged tune of "Hotel California" (performed by the Gipsy Kings) on the alley's sound system; Jesus had a long painted pinky fingernail on one of his ring-laden fingers, and seductively licked his pink bowling ball; after rolling a strike, he performed a strange victory dance to the song; then he threatened the Dude about their upcoming semi-finals match: "Let me tell you something, pendejo. You pull any of your crazy s--t with us, you flash a piece out on the lanes, I'll take it away from you, and stick it up your ass and pull the f--kin' trigger 'til it goes click....Nobody f--ks with the Jesus..."

• Walter, Donny and the Dude watched Jesus - Walter criticized 'Jesus' for being a convicted child-molester ('pederast') who served 6 months for exposing himself to a child; when Donny asked: "What's a pederast, Walter?", he was rebuked as usual for his lack of awareness: "Shut the f--k up, Donny"; then, the Dude told Walter about his arrangement with Lebowski, and how he suspected that the abduction had been faked by the gold-digging Bunny who would most likely benefit; he also theorized that those who defiled his rug were blameless (he was proven right later!)
• while in his apartment and happily enjoying the replacement rug he took from Lebowski's mansion (and listening to his Sony Walkman), the Dude was assaulted by two more thugs - a curly-haired white guy (Carlos Leon), and a bald black man (Terrence Burton) who were with red-haired female Maude (Julianne Moore in a small, comic caricaturized role); he was knocked out and the rug was stolen underneath him; after experiencing a disjointed, bowling-themed dream, the disoriented Dude regained consciousness on his bare hardwood floor (the rug had disappeared); his beeper-pager began to flash a red alert with a beeping noise

• in the next scene later that evening, the Dude had been summoned to return to Lebowski's mansion to retrieve a large cellular phone and a metal suitcase - allegedly filled with the money from a locked safe for the ransom-payoff and exchange; although the Dude was instructed to drive alone to a location and await the kidnappers' call, he picked up Walter from his business store location in Hollywood - SOBCHAK SECURITY; the Dude and Walter went on a nighttime drive to try and attempt to double-cross the kidnappers with a fake or decoy case (a "ringer") - Walter's briefcase that held his underwear ("My dirty undies, Dude. Laundry, the whites"); their plan was to hand off a fake case (the "ringer") to the extortionists so they could keep the 1ドル million for themselves
• to their utter surprise, their plan actually succeeded - the three kidnappers (nihilists) fled on motorcross bikes with the duplicate case; Walter and the Dude were amazed that they had succeeded: Dude: "We have it!" Walter: "Aw, f--k it, Dude. Let's go bowling"
• afterwards, at the bowling alley, the Dude remained worried that the culprits might harm Bunny: ("They're gonna kill that poor woman, man. What am I gonna tell Lebowski?...Walter, we didn't make the f--kin' hand-off, man! They didn't get the f--kin' money! And they're gonna, they're gonna..."); Walter tried to convince the Dude of their newfound riches: "Really, Dude, you surprise me. They're not gonna kill s--t. They're not gonna do s--t. What can they do to her? They're a bunch of f--kin' amateurs, and meanwhile, look at the bottom line. Who's sittin' on a million f--kin' dollars? Am I wrong?...Who's got a f--kin' million f--kin' dollars..."
• outside in the bowling alley parking lot, they discovered that the Dude's car was missing and presumably stolen (towed because it was parked in a handicapped spot?) - with the 1ドル million dollars of ransom money (in Lebowski's metal case) in the backseat; the Dude walked home and reported his car theft (and his rug theft) to two uniformed police officers; during their visit as they took the Dude's statement, he listened to his home phone's answering machine as a call came in from the red-haired female Maude Lebowski - Lebowski's estranged daughter and also the woman involved in the rug theft during the second assault on his bungalow: "Mr. Lebowski, I'd like to see you. Call when you get home and I'll send a car for you. My name is Maude Lebowski. I'm the one who took your rug"
• the Dude was picked up and driven to meet Lebowski's idiosyncratic, eccentric daughter in her art studio loft; he first experienced her as an erotic, avant garde feminist artist who was exhibiting her living art by soaring nude in a flying trapeze (or zip-line) harness with paintbrushes in both hands, and splattering paint onto the canvas below her
• after dismounting and putting on a robe, the free-thinking, super-stoic Maude also delivered a "vagina monologue" ("Does the female form make you uncomfortable, Mr. Lebowski?...My art has been commended as being strongly vaginal, which bothers some men. The word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Vagina....Yes, they don't like hearing it and find it difficult to say, whereas without batting an eye, a man will refer to his dick or his rod or his Johnson")
• during the Dude's visit with Maude, he realized that she was Mr. Lebowski's estranged, sophisticated and idiosyncratic daughter; she explained why she had stolen the rug back: "My father told me he's agreed to let you have the rug, but it was a gift from me to my late mother, and so was not his to give"; she confessed that she knew that the Dude had been hired as her father's courier and was disgusted: "The whole thing stinks to high heaven"
• while the Dude fixed himself a White Russian drink, Maude also revealed that Bunny (her "stepmother") was her father's unfaithful, promiscuous, sex-crazed and gold-digging wife, who was seen in a smutty VHS porn film titled Logjammin' - a Jackie Treehorn Presentation, with her co-star - "Karl Hungus" - her opportunistic, German nihilist boyfriend Uli Kunkel; Maude confirmed the Dude's earlier hypothesis that Bunny had kidnapped herself (and was conning her rich husband Mr. Lebowski with ransom demands, in order to pay off Treehorn), and had also found time to engage in "banging" pornographer Treehorn: ("This compulsive fornicator is taking my father for the proverbial ride")
• Maude also denounced her philanthropist father as crooked, who had improperly taken the ransom money out of the children's fund; as a co-trustee of the Lebowski Foundation, she proposed hiring the Dude (for 100,000,ドル 10% of the recovered sum) to reacquire the 1ドル million dollars taken from the family's personal foundation (before police learned of her dishonest father's embezzlement) that swindler and "fornicator" Bunny claimed was 'ransom'
• after being chauffeured back to his bungalow, the Dude was grabbed and dragged into the back seat of Mr. Lebowski's 1988 Lincoln Town Car Stretch Limousine, where he was viciously questioned by Brandt and Lebowski - asking why the kidnappers never received the ransom money; with floundering words and excuses, the Dude attempted to explain both Walter's (and Maude's) viewpoint on Bunny's self-imposed kidnapping; in order to pressure the Dude to save his ransomed, victimized wife Bunny, he pulled out an envelope containing a severed toe (with green nail polish), presumed to be one of Bunny's

• later inside his bungalow, the Dude was relaxing while smoking a joint in his bathtub and listening to whale sounds on tape; he listened to a phone message - a notification from the police that his stolen car had been located at the Auto-Circus impound yard; he found himself the victim of an attack as the three German-accented nihilists (the three kidnappers on motorcycles) involved in the plot (who had thought up the ransom plot with Bunny) assaulted the Dude inside his apartment; one of them deposited his leashed pet ferret into the bath tub, causing the Dude to splash around and avoid being bitten by the animal; the threesome threatened the Dude with castration if he didn't have their ransom money by the next day; meanwhile, as the Dude reclaimed and picked up his damaged car (after a car thief had gone on a joyride and crashed it), he saw that smelled of urine, and that it was missing the money case in the back seat
• through some deductive reasoning (based upon "homework" evidence found by the Dude in his car identifying the young joy-rider as a school student), he and Walter suspected that the stolen Lebowski attache case with the 1ドル million ransom money might be at the North Hollywood home of a 9th grader named Larry Sellers; they confronted the young, sullen boy: ("You are entering a world of pain, son. We know that this is your homework. We know that you stole the car. And the f--king money. And the f--king money! And we know that this is your homework! We're gonna cut your dick off, Larry. You're killing your father, Larry")

• their visit to the home was a disastrous failure, resulting in Walter's misguided "Plan B" strategy - his wanton and mistaken destruction of a neighbor's new red Corvette sports car, and more retaliatory damage to the Dude's car
• Treehorn's two tough goons from the first assault visited the Dude again and transported him to the posh Malibu beach home of suave porn kingpin Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara), where a beach party was in progress; revelers were tossing a half-naked women in a trampoline on the beach; the porn king asked the Dude questions about Bunny's whereabouts and his unpaid debts, and made assumptions that Bunny faked her kidnapping and then ran off with his money; the Dude was offered a ten percent finder's fee of a half million dollars ("5 Grand") if he discovered where the money was located

• in one of the film's most unique sequences ("Gutterballs") with highly-sexualized images (bowling balls, phallic-shaped bowling pins, etc.) the Dude experienced a fanciful Busby-Berkeley inspired musical dream about bowling and porn co-starring Maude; he had been slipped a mickey in his White Russian cocktail; the Dude's dream was filled with asynchronous images including the Viking Queen, Saddam Hussein, the Dude as a bowling ball thrown down an alley, and the nihilists chasing him with giant scissors

• after awakening from his dream, the Dude was found by Malibu police staggering down the PCH highway, reportedly after being ejected from Treehorn's party for disorderly conduct; after abusive questioning by the Malibu Police Chief (Leon Russom), the Dude was taken by taxi back to his place; during the trip, the hostile black cab driver (Ajgie Kirkland) threw the Dude out in the middle of the highway after he complained about the Eagles playing on the cab's radio station; standing there stranded, the Dude observed Bunny driving by in a red Jaguar sports car, singing to the radio's "Viva Las Vegas!"; a close-up of her two feet (on the clutch and accelerator) wearing open-toed red sandals revealed that all of her painted digits were intact - clear evidence that she hadn't been kidnapped

• the Dude finally arrived back home but found his bungalow trashed; he entered and tripped on his own makeshift wooden plank at the doorway, and then looked up - noticing Maude upside-down from his POV; he obliged a fully-nude Maude who had dropped her robe and propositioned him to make love: ("Jeffrey...Love me") - with child-bearing intentions; afterwards, she again reiterated that her father was a fraud and phony who was actually poorer than he claimed, and that all of his wealth had come from Maude's mother who had left everything to the family's charity foundation; she insisted that her father was raiding the Foundation's money
• outside his bungalow, the Dude noticed a bald, fat, mustached PI named Da Fino (Jon Polito) who had been following him sporadically in a blue VW beetle; the PI had been hired by Bunny's family - the Knudsens from Minnesota - after she had run away from home a year earlier - her real name was Fawn Knudsen; upon her arrival in LA, she hooked up with Treehorn to shoot porno videos

• in a side sequence set at a Stacks of Pancakes House restaurant, the three nihilists were ordering breakfast pancakes with a pale blonde woman - Franz's German-speaking girlfriend (LA singer/songwriter Aimee Mann); she was the one whose right foot's little toe had been amputated for the cause - the camera descended down the leg of the female, with a close-up of the front of her ripped-open black boot with a bloodied bandage on her toes
• as the Dude was driven by Walter to Mr. Lebowski's mansion to settle the score, they conjectured that there was no ransom money in the briefcase: ("You threw a ringer out for a ringer!"), so that's why Mr. Lebowski never asked for the Dude to return the money in it, even though he knew there was no payoff-exchange; in fact, Lebowski had actually hoped that his detestable wife Bunny would never be found or ever return, since he had absconded with the ransom money himself
• upon their arrival, they found Bunny alive and well after telling no one that she was going to visit with friends in Palm Springs; obviously, she hadn't ever been kidnapped; her sports car was crashed in front of the entrance, and she was cavorting around naked outside as Brandt picked up her discarded clothes
• the two confronted Mr. Lebowski in his study about lying to them and embezzling his own foundation's money: "We know the briefcase was f--kin' empty, We know you kept the million bucks for yourself"; the Dude was miffed that he had been treated as a deadbeat slacker and had served as Lebowski's exploited "sap"; Walter assumed that Mr. Lebowski was faking being a cripple, and lifted him up out of his wheelchair - he crumpled to the floor and laid them whimpering
• later in the bowling alley, Jesus argued with the three-man team, with sexual overtones, about Walter's psych-out strategy against their opposing team by demanding that the competition needed to be rescheduled (from Saturday to Wednesday) due to Jewish Sabbath restrictions; as the trio left the bowling alley and entered the parking lot, they saw the three nihilists torching the Dude's car: ("They killed my f--kin' car") and demanding the ransom money or otherwise Bunny would be threatened; the Dude refused, since he claimed it was all a fake, extortion-kidnapping plot (without a hostage); as Walter refused to be intimidated and give the three nihilists any money, he viciously attacked them, but noticed that Donny was lying on the ground after suffering a fatal heart attack

• after Donny's death, Walter and the Dude met with the Funeral Director Francis Donnelly (Warren Keith) in a mortuary; Walter complained about the price for an expensive urn to transport Donny's ashes for scattering; off-screen, they visited a Ralph's grocery store to purchase a cheap, red Folgers Coffee can
• Walter delivered a rambling eulogy and the 'Dude' prepared to scatter Donny's cremated ashes from the coffee can on a windy cliff-side: ("Donny was a good bowler and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors and bowling. And as a surfer, he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Jolla to Leo Carrillo and up to Pismo. He died, he died, as so many men of his generation, before his time. In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright, flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Lan Doc, and Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. So did Donny. Donny who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabatsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince")
• however, as Walter removed the lid and tossed the ashes toward the ocean, he had misjudged the direction of the wind, and the strong breezes blew the ashes back - and all over the Dude's face; the two decided to make up by going bowling: (Walter: "Let's go bowlin'")
• the concluding scene, on Tuesday evening before the league rivalry, was set at the bar in the bowling alley; it was prefaced by the playing of Townes Van Zandt's 1993 version of "Dead Flowers" during a montage of various bowling-related images; afterwards, the Dude noticed the friendly Stranger seated in the bar area; the Dude responded to his question about his life - using bowling terminology: "Oh, you know, strikes and gutters, ups and downs"; as the Dude wandered off with two beers, the Stranger urged him: "Take it easy"; the Dude responded: "Yeah, well, the Dude abides" as he returned to the lanes where he was bowling with Walter
• the Stranger expressed his hope that the Dude and Walter would win their upcoming, bowling tournament, and stated that Maude was pregnant with a "little Lebowski" - not with Maude's surname but with the Dude's surname!