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.
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.Written by
ahmetkozan
For the film's look, the Coens wanted to avoid the usual retro 1960s clichés like lava lamps, Day-Glo posters, and Grateful Dead music and for it to be "consistent with the whole bowling thing, we wanted to keep the movie pretty bright and poppy", Joel said in an interview. For example, the star motif featured predominantly throughout the film, started with Production Designer Richard Heinrichs' design for the bowling alley. According to Joel Coen, he "came up with the idea of just laying free-form neon stars on top of it and doing a similar free-form star thing on the interior." This carried over to the film's dream sequences. "Both dream sequences involve star patterns and are about lines radiating to a point. In the first dream sequence, The Dude gets knocked out and you see stars and they all coalesce into the overhead nightscape of Los Angeles. The second dream sequence is an astral environment with a backdrop of stars", remembers Heinrichs. For Jackie Treehorn's Malibu beach house, he was inspired by late 1950s and early 1960s bachelor pad furniture. See more »
Goofs
In Lebowski's limo, Lebowski and Brandt confront the Dude about his failure to deliver the ransom money. When Brandt hands over the envelope with the toe, the Dude is seen reaching for it with his right hand. When the angle changes, the hand taking the envelope is a left hand. What's more, it has a wedding band on the ring finger. (After the "toilet" attack, the Dude shows his ringless ring finger as evidence that he is not married.) See more »
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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The version which premiered on USA Network in September, 2000 has been severely cut (aside from the usual edits for content). Among the story lines excised are virtually all the scenes involving Jesus Quintana (John Turturro), the private eye from Minnesota (Jon Polito) looking for Bunny Lebowski and the scene where Maud is trying to conceive The Dude's child. See more »
I'd heard a lot of bad press about this movie. Not as good as Fargo, was a much used phrase. I wasn't overly impressed with Fargo, the atmosphere just didn't click for me, but anyway, that made me a little apprehensive about this.
It's easily better than Fargo, IMHO, and it's right up there with Barton Fink or Miller's Crossing. A true comedy classic with so many memorable lines and characters, but it's the movie's atmosphere which is so truly joyous, a wonderful celebration of basically doing nothing. Achieving one's goals is important, yes, but it's okay to set them low, is what I perceived this movie to be saying. As long as one is basically a good guy, then that's enough. Well, that's what it seemed like to me, and it was expressed so beautifully in the stunning cast of grotesques, lovely music ( although more Burwell would have been nice ), and the trippiest, funniest, most absurd dream sequences you've ever seen. Great stuff.
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I'd heard a lot of bad press about this movie. Not as good as Fargo, was a much used phrase. I wasn't overly impressed with Fargo, the atmosphere just didn't click for me, but anyway, that made me a little apprehensive about this.
It's easily better than Fargo, IMHO, and it's right up there with Barton Fink or Miller's Crossing. A true comedy classic with so many memorable lines and characters, but it's the movie's atmosphere which is so truly joyous, a wonderful celebration of basically doing nothing. Achieving one's goals is important, yes, but it's okay to set them low, is what I perceived this movie to be saying. As long as one is basically a good guy, then that's enough. Well, that's what it seemed like to me, and it was expressed so beautifully in the stunning cast of grotesques, lovely music ( although more Burwell would have been nice ), and the trippiest, funniest, most absurd dream sequences you've ever seen. Great stuff.