The Big Lebowski (1998)

Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.

Directors:

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (uncredited)

Writers:

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Stars:

Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore

Top Rated Movies #196 | 5 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeff Bridges	...	The Dude
John Goodman	...	Walter Sobchak
Julianne Moore	...	Maude Lebowski
Steve Buscemi	...	Theodore Donald 'Donny' Kerabatsos
David Huddleston	...	The Big Lebowski
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	Brandt
Tara Reid	...	Bunny Lebowski
Philip Moon	...	Woo, Treehorn Thug
Mark Pellegrino	...	Blond Treehorn Thug
Peter Stormare	...	Nihilist #1, Uli Kunkel / 'Karl Hungus'
Flea	...	Nihilist #2, Kieffer
Torsten Voges	...	Nihilist #3, Franz
Jimmie Dale Gilmore	...	Smokey
Jack Kehler	...	Marty
John Turturro	...	Jesus Quintana

Storyline

When "the dude" Lebowski is mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, two thugs urinate on his rug to coerce him into paying a debt he knows nothing about. While attempting to gain recompense for the ruined rug from his wealthy counterpart, he accepts a one-time job with high pay-off. He enlists the help of his bowling buddy, Walter, a gun-toting Jewish-convert with anger issues. Deception leads to more trouble, and it soon seems that everyone from porn empire tycoons to nihilists want something from The Dude.

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Plot Keywords:

rug | nihilism | pornographer | bowling alley | death | 

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Taglines:

It takes guys as simple as the Dude and Walter to make a story this complicated... and they'd really rather be bowling.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Sport

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Certificate:

R16

Did You Know?

Trivia

The screenplay was written with Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, and Sam Elliott in mind.

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Goofs

When Walter yells at Smoky that he was over the line, Smoky had just thrown a ball on lane 22. Walter, The Dude and Donny are sitting at and behind the scorer's table on lanes 23 and 24. I don't know of any leagues where two teams competing against each other are on different sets of lanes.

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Quotes

[first lines]
The Stranger: [voiceover] Way out west there was this fella... fella I wanna tell ya about. Fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least that was the handle his loving parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. Mr. Lebowski, he called himself "The Dude". Now, "Dude" - that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I ...

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Crazy Credits

Left Behind ... Margareth Hayes

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Alternate Versions

When Comedy Central, in removing the 200+ "fucks" from the movie, was attempting to edit the scene where Walter is smashing the car, they didn't know how to cut Walter saying "do you see what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass" without having to do severe, overly obvious editing which would look fake. To solve this they decided just to re-dub it, and the phrase they chose? "Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?".

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Connections

References Life Stinks (1991)

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Soundtracks

I Got It Bad & That Ain't Good
Written by Duke Ellington and Paul Francis Webster
Performed by Nina Simone
Published by Webster Music Co. / EMI Robbins Catalog, Inc. (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Rhino Records
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products
Nina Simone appears by special arrangement with Nina Simone and Steven Ames Brown

User Reviews

You can watch it a million times, and yet, it will never get old

The Big Lebowski is the type of movie that is so funny, and so clever, you want nothing more but to meet the Coen brothers, congratulate them personally for their unique talent, and get inside their heads and find out what makes these two geniuses "tick". The main characters are Jeff Bridges (who plays such broad roles like The Muse, The Contender, and Sea Biscuit), John Goodman (who should have won an oscar for best supporting actor for his character, Walter Sobchak)Juliane Moore (Maude Lebowski)and Steve Buscemi (who is unique in every Coen Brother movie).

The first time I saw this movie, I will admit that I enjoyed it, but did not fully appreciate its level of humor and raw talent. I thought the middle section was a bit too depressing and long. But trust me, this is a movie that gets more funny every time you see it, even if it's your thousandth time seeing it. Its level of comedy, action, brutality, and vulgarity become that much more evident and important.

The characters are brilliantly written by the coen brothers, and, likewise, are brilliantly portrayed by the actors. The Big Lebowski is like no other film. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. There is no other film such as TBL that is sharp and witty all the way through. One of the Joel and Ethan Coen's best, and one of the movie industry's best comedic film of all time. You want to go see this flick.

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English German Hebrew Spanish

Release Date:

27 August 1998 (New Zealand)

Also Known As:

Big Lebowski

Filming Locations:

10231 Charing Cross Road, Beverly Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,533,844, 8 March 1998

Gross USA:

$18,034,458

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$46,739,566

Company Credits

Production Co:

Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Working Title Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS DTS (DTS: X)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1