The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski is a 1998 film about an amiable unemployed slacker, The Dude, and his close friends, all fond of their nights at the local bowling alley, who are drawn into a Chandleresque plot involving the missing younger wife of a millionaire namesake.

Directed by Joel Coen. Written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.

They figured he was a lazy, time wasting slacker. They were right.taglines

Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski

• Look, let me explain something to you. I'm not Mr. Lebowski. You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. That or His Dudeness... Duder... or El Duderino, if, you know, you're not into the whole brevity thing.

• Well, sir, it's this rug I have. It really tied the room together.

• This is a very complicated case, Maude. You know, a lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous. And, uh, lotta strands to keep in my head, man. Lotta strands in old Duder's head. Luckily I'm adhering to a pretty strict, uh, drug regimen to keep my mind limber.

• The Dude abides.

Walter Sobchak

• What the fuck are you talking about? The Chinaman is not the issue here, Dude. I'm talking about drawing a line in the sand, Dude. Across this line, you DO NOT... Also, Dude, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. "Asian-American", please.

• Do you see what happens, Larry, WHEN YOU FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS? [proceeds to smash up what he believes is Larry's new Corvette] THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS, LARRY! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS!

• Of course they were Nazis, Donny; they were threatening castration! Are we gonna split hairs here? Am I wrong?

• Say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.

• This isn't 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.

The Stranger

• Sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause what's a hero? But sometimes, there's a man – and I'm talkin' about the Dude here – sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude. In Los Angeles. And even if he's a lazy man – and the Dude was most certainly that, quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide – Sometimes there's a man... Sometimes, there's a man. Ah, I lost my train of thought here. But... aw, hell. I done introduced him enough.

Taglines

• They figured he was a lazy, time-wasting slacker. They were right.

• Her life was in their hands. Now her toe is in the mail.

• Times like these call for a Big Lebowski.

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

• Lebowski: Not a man, a way of life.

Cast

• Jeff Bridges - Jeffrey Lebowski - "The Dude"
• John Goodman - Walter Sobchak
• Julianne Moore - Maude Lebowski
• Steve Buscemi - Theodore Donald 'Donny' Kerabatsos
• David Huddleston - Jeffrey Lebowski - "The Big Lebowski"
• Philip Seymour Hoffman - Brandt
• Tara Reid - 'Bunny' Lebowski AKA Bunny LaJoya AKA Fawn Knudsen
• Philip Moon - Woo (aka/"The Chinaman")
• Mark Pellegrino - Blond
• Peter Stormare - Nihilist #1, Uli Kunkel, AKA "Karl Hungus"
• Flea - Nihilist #2, Kieffer
• Torsten Voges - Nihilist #3, Franz
• John Turturro - Jesus Quintana
• Dom Irrera - Tony
• Jon Polito - Da Fino
• Ben Gazzara - Jackie Treehorn
• Sam Elliott - The Stranger