"“I’m the Dude! That’s what you call me, you know… That or His Dudeness, Duder, El Dudarino…”
"
Okay, I gotta get away from that generator. The things friggin’ hypnotic.
And why do I suddenly want to go bowling?
I think my favourite bit is how you can trace the catchphrases from characters confrontational moments to totally random earlier sequences, like George Bush’s “line in the sand” speech while he’s standing at Ralph’s in the beginning writing the 69 cent check.
“Walter, this isn’t one of the guys that built the railroads…”
Or like the shrieks from the Dude when the ferret is dropped in the tub,and the similar shrieks when he drops the roach in his lap while driving.
Easily one of the best movies ever made.
“Yeah? Well, you know, that’s just like uh… your opinion, man.”
The thing about the movie that sticks in my head is that very first scene, in the supermarket, which sets the tone for the whole movie. I remember enjoying it when I saw it in the theater, but now I’m going to have to re-watch it to verify that it’s still as good as you all insist it is!
- Alan
“Smokey, this is not Nam, this is bowling. There are rules.”
I saw a link from IMDB to a Christian movie review site. TBL is not popular with Christian bowlers. Here’s a user comment:
I wish I had read your review before I went to see this movie. I love to bowl with my youth group and consider bowling to be a healthy pasttime. I was so disapointed that this movie would take a clean Christian sport like bowling and pervert with the drugs and sex and profanity. I would urge other Christian bowlers to stay away from “The Big Lebowski”.
Heather, age 21
I didn’t realize that bowling was a Christian sport? Did Christ bowl? “Ok Jesus, you want to impress me with a miracle? Pick up that 7-10 split.”
“Nobody fucks with the Jesus.”
She must have loved that line… and it ties into Christianity wonderfully.
She also must have enjoyed the fact that Jesus was a “pederass.”
I recently watched it again (like Barton Fink) and liked it a lot more this time. The biggest difference is that I now “get” noir. Someone probably already mentioned this but, now that I’ve read Chandlerand now that I’ve watched the Bogart films, I now see “The Dude” as an unlikely and inept Phillip Marlowe. He rushes to the capture the doodle the porn king made and finds it’s a penis… not an address (as Bogart would have found). He makes the wise ass comeback to the cop and gets smashed in the face, rather than staring him down. He stumbles across clues rather than making connections. Even the convoluted “who is scamming who” plot would work if you dropped Bogart into to.
It even parallels The Big Sleep in places. The guy who “hires” him is in a wheelchair. He makes speeches about being self-made (in Lebowski he’s a hypocrite). The Dude sleeps with the sultry daughter (but not because he’s irresistably handsome). etc.,
Hell, it even takes place in LA.
Great stuff.
I’m confused – if TBL is goofing on noir, why isn’t the Dude running around using bullet time to shoot everyone in slow-mo?
Christ died on the cross so that man could have the oppurtunity to bowl 300. 
Maybe that deserves its own thread as opposed to Necroing a 17 year old one?
#Marketingforvisibility
I prefer this thread over whatever that other thread would be called! Plus, he did reference the Dude in his announcement tweet.
Get well soon, JB!
Just did a backyard, socially distanced viewing in a friend’s backyard and it was delightful. (We all wore Marmot sweatshirts.) I fucking love this film. Stay well Jeff. Abide, dude, abide.
A local theater used to have anual Big Lebowski showings/parties where anyone who showed up in a bathrobe got to see it for free.
Good news
Yay!!
The Folgers can is made to wait another day.
My local theater had a 25th anniversary showing last night, a friend and I went to see it one more time. There was a dude behind us who was totally stoned (judging by the smell) and giggled through the whole thing, but we felt it kind of fit the mood and weren’t too bothered.