THE BIG LEBOWSKI by reginaroadie

TALK STORY

THE BIG LEBOWSKI

POSTED BY: REGINAROADIE
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 09:58
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VIEWED: 2499
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Friday, July 1, 2005 12:02 PM

Are there any fans of THE BIG LEBOWSKI here? Just curious, because I think THE BIG LEBOWSKI is one of the best cult movies of the last ten years, and kinda similar to FIREFLY. Follow up to an auteurs biggest success, didn't mkae the splash it should've made but over the years has accumulated a huge following. I just found out today that they even have their own little convention for it. Below's the link to it.

http://www.lebowskifest.com/#

I personally think that THE BIG LEBOWSKI is the Coen Bros. best work. Ir perfectly sums up what the Coens are all about and is one of those flicks that you can watch on a loop and not get bored with it. To me, this flick should have gotten all the credit and fame that FARGO got. FARGO actually infuriated me. Because while everyone was saying how great of a movie it was (Ebert even said that it's right up there with KANE as one of the best movies ever made), to me it's like the 3-D poster Willam Black keeps staring at in MALLRATS. No matter how many times I watch it, I can't see why it's such a masterpiece. But for LEBOWSKI, it's just so gorram funny and perfect. And it's like FIREFLY where there's more than one great quote. The whole movie is just a two hour quote, actually.

So who likes it and what are your fave moments. My fave moment was the eulogy at the end that degenerates into a memorial for Vietnam. "He died--he died as so many young men of his generation, before his time. In your wisdom Lord you took him. As you took so many bright flowering young men, at Khe San and Lan Doc... ...and Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so'd Donny. Donny who loved bowling."

And of course.."Lemme explain something to you. I'm not Mr. Lebowski. YOU'RE Mr. Lebowski, man. I'm The Dude. I mean, that's just what you call me. I mean, either that, or The Duder, His Dudeness, uhhhh El Duderino, you know if you're not into the whole berevity thing."

I think The Dude would've fit perfectly into the FIREFLY verse.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like ... ow ... ound ... round ... ground! That's it! That's a good name - ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?

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Friday, July 1, 2005 12:50 PM

HKCAVALIER

The Dude abides, indeed! Yeah, best Coen Bros. movie...prolly, but it's a photo finish for sure.

My girlfriend and I have an ongoing conversation about Raymond Chandler's enormous influence on American culture. Not only in the person of Phillip Marlowe, but in the universe of his novels. Most Coen Bros. movies take place in a Chandlerian universe. Marlowe's world explicitely prefigures Lebowski's, but more interestingly the distopian future in Firefly, with its femme fatales, corrupt police, the untouchable and often mentally unstable elite, constantly shifting loyalties leading to "innevitable betrayal," etc. Marlowe and Mal (and in a more ironic/satirical way, his Dudeness) live in worlds where moral clarity itself is understood as something outdated, even quaint. Each hero lives at the margins of society and, in his way, is only trying to "keep flying." Each has an abundance of intuitive powers and each is frequently underestimated, much to the chagrin of their enemies.

Any scene with Walter in that movie is golden, John Goodman's best work for sure. "The marmot." Philip Seymour Hoffman gets better every time I watch it. "Nobody

with the Jesus."

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Friday, July 1, 2005 4:13 PM

MOHRSTOUTBEARD

Saturday, Donny, is Shabbos, the Jewish day of rest. That means I don't work, I don't drive a car, I don't ride in a car, I don't handle money, I don't turn on the oven, and I sure as shit don't fucking roll!

Shomer fucking Shabbos!

PS: The Big Lebowski is my favorite Coen Brothers movie; though to be fair, I'd have to say it is probably tied with Miller's Crossing.

Either way, the Coens never have to worry about having a spot or two in my top 10.

------------------
"You've just gotta go ahead and change the captain of your brainship, because he's drunk at the wheel."

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Friday, July 1, 2005 4:24 PM

SERGEANTX

Ahh yes! Save my place on the bandwagon. My favorite Coen bros work as well. And curiously underrated in my opinion.

I posted a thread on movies in general here awhile ago that was specifically inspired by this movie. My main question was, what makes some movies and TV (TBL and FF for example) play in your ears like poetry after a time? While others, even though they may be fine works, don't hold up to repetition the same way?

For me it comes down the lyrical nature of the dialog. In Lebowksi I just love the way bits of dialog resurface and are repeated in parallel by different actors in different circumstances. (Shut the f*ck up, Donnie!) In this movie the Coen brothers seem to walk that same magic line that Whedon does so wonderfully, between naturalistic dialog that sounds like you're overhearing a friend's conversation, and high art with the sophistication and depth of Shakespeare.

Some people would scoff at comparing this movie (or Firefly for that matter) to classic works like Shakespeare, but I hear it. I hear it in the cadence and phrasing, and in the playful reverence for language that is so evident in both.

The Dude abides, indeed!

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Friday, July 1, 2005 5:33 PM

STEVETHEPIRATE

"Donnie, you're out of your element."

I felt like I was in some weird alternate dimension last week when I caught a few minutes of Lebowski on Comedy Central. The exchange between the Dude and Walter at the beginning concerning the rug - they just butchered it. "They peed on your valued rug." Almost as memorable and cringeworthy as ABC's hack-job of Mallrats.

----------------------------------------------
"MY APOCALYPTIC TENOR HAS NOT BEEN DISPELLED!" - T-Rex ( www.qwantz.com)

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Friday, July 1, 2005 6:38 PM

SIMONSAYS

Quote:
Originally posted by MohrStoutbeard:
Saturday, Donny, is Shabbos, the Jewish day of rest. That means I don't work, I don't drive a car, I don't ride in a car, I don't handle money, I don't turn on the oven, and I sure as shit don't fucking roll!

Shomer fucking Shabbos!

PS: The Big Lebowski is my favorite Coen Brothers movie; though to be fair, I'd have to say it is probably tied with Miller's Crossing.

Either way, the Coens never have to worry about having a spot or two in my top 10.

This Movie Rocks!
Dude Rules!

------------------
"You've just gotta go ahead and change the captain of your brainship, because he's drunk at the wheel."

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Friday, July 1, 2005 9:27 PM

SERGEANTX

Yeah editing dialog like that is far more offensive than a couple of naughty words, imho

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Saturday, July 2, 2005 8:56 AM

SIMONWHO

I love detective stories and it's so great that you're half way through The Big Lebowski before you realise that this is one. Just like the classics, there's plenty of side characters and misdirections (the scene where he shades the notepad to see what the guy wrote down is priceless in itself) but a detective story is what it is.

There's apparently going to be a new special edition DVD which will find a spot in my collection very soon.

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Saturday, July 2, 2005 9:04 AM

SERGEANTX

The irony for me is that I didn't care for this movie all that much the first time I saw it. Then fell in love with it through rewatching. That happened to me with Joe vs. the Volcano as well.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Saturday, July 2, 2005 10:55 AM

OPPYH

Quote:
Originally posted by reginaroadie:
To me, this flick should have gotten all the credit and fame that FARGO got. FARGO actually infuriated me. Because while everyone was saying how great of a movie it was (Ebert even said that it's right up there with KANE as one of the best movies ever made), to me it's like the 3-D poster Willam Black keeps staring at in MALLRATS. No matter how many times I watch it, I can't see why it's such a masterpiece.

I think the reason Fargo was such a hit with critics,(and myself) is the fact that it was a razor sharp thriller. Add to that the Coen Brothers humor, weirdness, and dialouge that could make screenwriters from all over the world, bow their heads in shame. Every scene in Fargo is fantastic.
The Big Lebowski was also great, but it has a completely different feel. Closer to Raising Arizona. Fargo was more like Blood Simple. If you didn't like Fargo, the you probably loathe Blood Simple.

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Saturday, July 2, 2005 10:59 AM

REGINAROADIE

I actually loved BLOOD SIMPLE. It was a great example of low budget filmmaking at it's finest.

And I can appreciate all the small details about FARGO (the writing, the individual performaces, the pitch black humor, the haunting music and the lush cinematography), but all of them don't add up to make one grand picture that everyone else sees.

To me, FARGO and THE LADYKILLERS are the weakest movies they've made. Everything else, pure gold.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like ... ow ... ound ... round ... ground! That's it! That's a good name - ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?

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Wednesday, August 31, 2005 9:58 AM

OURMRREYNOLDS

"What Lenin said..."
"I am the walrus."
"NOT THAT LENNON DONNY! V.I. LENIN..."
A throwaway joke but Donny bumping in with that line like 3 times had me gasping.

I am planning on growing a big black moustache. I'm a traditionalist.

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