Scoop's notes on The Big Lebowski (1998)

Imagine one of those noir detective movies like The Big Sleep where every character is lying, everybody is double crossing everyone else, and the plot is so muddled that even the author couldn't remember who did what. Now imagine if the guy trying to solve the crime was not Marlowe or Sam Spade, but Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, now 50 years old and known as The Dude.

That'll give you the general idea of what The Big Lebowski is about. Apparently "Lebowski" is the Polish word for "sleep".

Strangely enough, I didn't like the movie that much when I first saw it in the theater, but over the years it has crept into my head and become one of my favorites, and I've now watched it at least a half dozen times. What can ya say? The Dude abides, man. This film has now attained cult status at a level where its aficionados gather every year for a "Dudefest" (or an "Annual Lebowski Fest," if you're not into the whole brevity thing).

Jeffrey Lebowski is the laziest man in LA according to the narrator. Lebowski is known as The Dude, or "el duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing", and is played by Jeff Bridges as an unkempt, pony-tailed, physically sloppy man with a potbelly to match his pot head. (Bridges did a great job, as always, and is barely recognizable.) Ol' Duder basically sits in his untidy apartment, smokes dope, drinks White Russians, and meditates, interrupting his reveries only for an occasional sojourn to the bowling alley, or to replenish his supply of Kahlua.

 ... because ... well, because that rug really brought the room together.

Now we're getting to the noir section of our plot:

• Did Big really put the money in the suitcase, or is he working his own swindle? (Turns out his supposed wealth is really his daughter's)
• Did Dude's crazy friend Walter switch suitcases? Ol' Walter has some issues. For example, he pulled out his gun and was going to shoot an opposing bowler for failing to report a foot fault. (Say, how many movies has Goodman bowled in? Lebowski, Flintstones, King Ralph ... Goodman is to bowling as Billy Zane is to sinking ships.)
• Is the wife really missing at all?
• Who the hell are these kidnappers?

Who knows? Certainly not the Dude, who is stoned 24/7 and can't figure it out. Since we are mostly inside his POV, it's all pretty messy to us as well. And it doesn't make any difference at all.

The cast is astounding, not just for the talent assembled, but for their appropriateness to the roles they were assigned. How did it all happen that way? The Coen Brothers wrote many parts with specific actors in mind, then hired them: John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, Sam Elliott. They created a customized piece for Sam Elliott even though they didn't even know the guy. They liked his style, and they liked his basso voice, so they imagined a character like him narrating the entire story. Also, they liked the fact that he had a big moustache and you couldn't see his lips, thus making it easy to post-dub dialogue! Elliott had no idea how he fit into the film, but he was a good sport, and the Coens told him that his character didn't make that much sense to them either - they just thought it was amusing.

They were right.

If I were a writer/director, I would have Sam Elliott and Samuel L Jackson in every movie. Even if it took place in the court of Louis XIV.

Are the Coen Brothers geniuses at picking their sound track, or what? Talk about eclectic. Talk about offbeat. From Mussorgsky to a Spanish language version of Hotel California, and everything in between.

To the right is a picture of The Dude fixing a White Russian in the shadow of his main man. After all, The Dude is working as an amateur dick, and he's seen here with the Trickiest Dick of them all. The Dude's sportin' life consists entirely of bowling, so a picture of Nixon bowling was virtually of religious significance.

Without really knowing, you just somehow sensed that Nixon used a red bowling ball.

My favorite part of the movie is the little rock video dreamt by the Dude when he passed out stoned. I think I can best give you the idea by mentioning that it involves Saddam Hussein's bowling shoes and Julianne Moore in a horned Viking helmet. Oh, and that part of it is in the bowling ball's POV.

The film is filled with offbeat characters just for the hell of it, and it really makes almost no sense at all. The narrator (Sam Eliot) even admits that he's lost his train of thought, and anyway, concedes that he's just a guy in a cowboy suit at the bowling alley bar, but he tells us that we should be grateful that the Dude is out there, "takin' 'er easy fer all us sinners". 

Amen to that, brother.  Amen to that.