Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), an unemployed, pot-smoking, avid bowler, is known to his friends as The Dude. And he's a pacifist. When The Dude is mistaken for another Lebowski, his world is flourished, as he is dragged into the treacherous schemes of various criminals.
The Story and Outset
The Big Lebowski in mention is a multi-millionaire whose wife is in dept. The criminals after her mistakenly find The Dude Lebowski at his home. After roughing him up (the scene is actually very funny), the thugs agree they’ve got the wrong guy, and leave. But not before one of them urinates on The Dude’s rug.
The Dude is convinced by his bowling buddies (John Goodman and Steve Buscemi) that justice for his rug must be pursued. ‘They pissed on your rug, man.’ 'They pissed on my rug.' 'They pissed on your f***ing rug.'
The Dude then agrees (for a sum) to help the Big Lebowski find his kidnapped wife. Walter (Goodman) invites himself into the deal to try to make them more money. Soon everything is not what it seems and the plot thickens as The Dude is under attack from all sides, with big money to grab, and secrets revealed at every turn.
Characters
The Dude tries to float his way through the whole mess, without wanting to commit to much. The film, although suspenceful and unnerving in its plot-twists and sudden turns and revelations, remains at a calm and easily accessible pace, because of The Dude's precence and his pacifistic aura.
Walter (John Goodman) is an ex-Vietnam veteran obsessed with the past, with war, soldiers, and casualties. Walter is slightly unstable, but enthusiastic, with good reasoning behind his perilous behaviour. He’s a likeable guy, who provides a lot of laughs (and danger).
The Dude and Walter are a contrastingly comical pair. Steve Buscemi is the more innocent of the three - still funny - standing by his comrades...
Origins & Ray Chandler Novels
The character of The Dude is loosely based on Jeff Dowd, a man the Coen’s met in the early 80s, pre-Blood Simple. Dowd was also known as The Dude, and liked to drink white-Russians, like The Dude Lebowski in the film.
The narrative flow of The Big Lebowski was inspired by the writings of Ray Chandler, especially his novel The Big Sleep. ‘We wanted a certain feeling,’ said Ethan Coen. ‘A story that moves like a Chandler book through different parts of town and different social classes.’
The screenplay for The Big Lebowski was actually written in the early 90s, around the time the Coens wrote Barton Fink (1991). But due to the busy schedules of John Goodman (starring in the US sitcom Roseanne) and Jeff Bridges (working on Wild Bill), the Coens kept the Lebowski project on ice, first producing The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) and Fargo (1996).
Coenesque
The Big Lebowski is a film of strange, surreal nature, with twisted story-telling and unforgetable characters.
For a Coen Brothers fan, The Big Lebowski is a good example of the masters at work. For those yet to discover the works of the Coens, this should be high on the list.
A funny, quirky, enjoyable ride, and the reason the cinema experience was invented.
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