This is the 20th anniversary of “The Big Lebowski”, the Coen Brothers famous, now cult-like classic starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Steve Buschemi.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I have been, and always will be, an Abider. And if you’ve never seen the movie, well, poor poor pitiful you. I’m proud to list it on my top ten films of all time that I would take with me if stranded on a deserted island. Although without power I don’t know what we’d do with the disc, use it to dig for clams I suppose.
It’s the kind of movie that either you will get right away or scratch your head and say, “What? Is Duffy on drugs?” No, the Dude is on drugs, that is, when he’s not downing a White Russian.
Unforgettable supporting performances from John Turturro, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliott and many others makes this a cannot miss film.
Even though the Misses and I have never attended Lebowski Fest, we are there in spirit year after year. For my 55th birthday party a few years back we had a Lebowski-themed event. Unforgettable…or totally forgettable, depending on which table you sat at.
Where else can you hear lines like, “I’m a brother shamus, man”. “A brother shamus…what’s that like an Irish monk?” Or the Dude, being physically forced into the back of a limo while holding a drink, exclaiming, “Take it easy man, there’s a beverage here”. Plus, a killer soundtrack, dream (or drug haze) sequences and an XXX actress who was a member of MENSA (I kid you not).
Bridges, Goodman and Buschemi have often admitting during interviews that their characters in this movie have been their career favorites and when you watch it, it’s easy to understand. Goodman steals the movie. Every scene he is in is a classic. Forcing an opponent to change a bowling score at gunpoint…where else can you get that? I’ll tell you where, no where Dude. But only watch the DVD, or on cable. Goodman’s memorable line of, “This is what happens when you BLEEP a stranger in the BLEEP”, well, on non-cable television it has been reduced to ashes as, “This is what happens when you meet a stranger in the Alps”. Enough said. Or not said, apparently.
The movie has everything from a Big Lebowski to a Little Lebowski to a Bunny Lebowski, a trio of kidnapping Nihilists, a cowboy in the middle of present day Los Angeles, a suitcase full of dirty underwear, a severed toe with green nail polish, a perverted bowler in a purple jumpsuit and a ferret in a bathtub wreaking havoc on a naked man. It’s something you can’t explain. It has to be seen. Over and over and over again.
But not with the kiddies. The movie drops the F bomb a whopping 260 times, and every one used in perfect context. That’s 260 times in 117 minutes, so once every 2.2 seconds. It’s actually a great right of passage movie, for when they turn 17. Like taking your kids out for their first beer.
I am quite happy with myself that I’m one of the fans that gets it. And when someone else doesn’t, it makes me feel good…about myself (please excuse the Melvin Udall reference).
If you watch it and don’t like it, well, let’s face it, you’re being very undude. I’m looking at my Dude Bobble Head for inspiration as I’m writing this, and well, he agrees.
And it’s okay to refer to him as “El Duderino”…if you’re not into the whole brevity thing.
Trapped in a Happy Life 