Rolling Stone: "The Decade of the Dude"

[RufusTFirefly]

Naturally, Duck Soup is my favorite movie. But The Big Lebowski is a close second. Imagine my surprise when I saw that 10 years later it was on the cover of Rolling Stone.

The Decade of the Dude

Why has Lebowski become an early- 21st-century phenomenon? The answer may be as complicated as the film's labyrinthine plot, which the Coen brothers loosely based on the L.A.-noir novels of Raymond Chandler. Part of Lebowski mania can surely be attributed to the fact that it's just a very funny premise for a film. Bridges' Dude (real name: Jeffrey Lebowski) is a listless L.A. pothead wiling away the early 1990s playing in a recreational bowling league with friends Walter Sobchak (a mercurial Vietnam vet played by John Goodman) and Donny Kerabatsos (a mild-mannered sidekick played by Steve Buscemi). When a pair of clumsy thugs confuse the Dude with another, wealthier Jeffrey Lebowski — peeing on his prized rug in the process — the Dude is thrown into a screwball escapade that involves a family feud, a gang of nihilists, the avant-garde art world, the SoCal porn scene, lost homework, Tara Reid and a missing toe.

[jobycom]

1. Perhaps the greatest comedy since "Some Like it Hot," or at least "A Fish Called Wanda"

[blm]

10. Some Like it Hot is still my favorite.

Risky stuff, especially for the era.

[jobycom]

11. By the time I saw it, it was so dated I probably missed a lot.

After Tootsie and Mrs Doubtfire and Bosom Buddies...

But it was still funny as hell, and the last line was brilliant. I've developed a real appreciation for Billy Wilder.

[blm]

12. That last scene is one of the funniest moments ever filmed.

.

[qwertyMike]

2. Beats Casablanca n/t

That and Boondock Saints, and any Guy Ritchie movie (What was he thinking of?)

[spanone]

3. shut the fuck up, donnie

[Lex]

4. I saw it for the 1st time only about 2 years ago.

Totally LOVE it.

One of my lame-o photoshops I have used here at DU before:

[d_b]

5. saw this about a week ago

10 years late, i know I know.

"this is what happens when ya F a stranger in the ass!"

[CrownPrinceBandar]

6. The Dude Abides.

[ourbluenation]

7. This aggression will not stand, man.

That and "new shit's come to light, man". Two best movie quotes ever.

[WCGreen]

8. The new one looks good as well...

Jeff Bridges, forever the "The Dude", man...

[RufusTFirefly]

9. Filled with memorable quotes and wonderful homages

Just the other day I was re-watching Robert Altman's obscure gem The Long Goodbye (starring Elliot Gould and including an uncredited Arnold Schwarzenegger) and realized that it -- like Lebowski -- features an early scene in a supermarket, where the store's PA system is playing a version of the movie's theme. (Something the Coens also did in Raising Arizona by the way. Those boys know their movies!)

Of course, the obvious model for The Big Lebowski is The Big Sleep. If you're never seen that classic Bogart film before, you'll be surprised at the similarities.

No bowling though. Or Creedence.

(And speaking of decades. When the Dude buys a carton of cream and writes a 69-cent check for it, the date on his check is September 11, 1991, exactly 10 years before that very un-Dude Osama Bin Laden struck New York and D.C.)

[jobycom]

13. Another film they used was "Murder, My Sweet," 1944.

Also a Chandler "Philip Marlowe" film, based on the novel "Farewell, My Lovely" (they changed the name because of a conflict with another film or play out at the time).

The plot is strikingly similar, even more than "The Big Sleep." Missing girlfriends, seductive rich women, ransoms... There's mistaken identity and random kidnappings, and Marlowe winds up drugged and having hallucinations similar to the dream sequences in "The Big Lebowski." The Coens definitely appreciate film history.

[RufusTFirefly]

14. Also some pretty funny "North by Northwest" nods in it, too

The mysterious "message" on the telephone pad, not to mention the trip to the local police precinct.

[fishwax]

20. and the Busby Berkeley musicals for the dream sequences

seeing synchronized swimming on the tube reminded me of that :)

[spanone]

15. You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude

[Sal Minella]

17. You don't want to know.

[RufusTFirefly]

19. Um, that's just , like, your opinion, man

[martymar64]

16. They're Nihilists?

Holy shit

[Initech]

18. I can get you a toe by 3:00 this afternoon, with nail polish.