The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski (1998)

1:57 (117 min)

Comedy, Crime

United Kingdom, United States

8/10
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All about film

Video 19

Photo 184

Actors and characters

1:10

Photo 184

Production

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Working Title Films, Gramercy Pictures

Release date

6 March 1998

Budget

$15 000 000

Revenue

$47 010 480

Director

Joel Coen

Scenario

Joel Coen

Composer

Carter Burwell

Producer

Ethan Coen

All team (123)

Actors

Jeff Bridges

The Dude

John Goodman

Walter Sobchak

Julianne Moore

Maude Lebowski

Steve Buscemi

Donny

David Huddleston

The Big Lebowski

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Brandt

Tara Reid

Bunny Lebowski

Philip Moon

Treehorn Thug

All actors and roles (10)

• The recipe for the 'White Russian' cocktail is as follows: 2 parts vodka, 1 part coffee liqueur, and 1 part cream.
• Most of The Dude's clothing is actually Jeff Bridges' own clothing.
• Walter was prototyped after John Milius, the director and screenwriter of 'Conan the Barbarian'.
• The Dude was prototyped after independent film promoter Jeff Dowd (Jeff “The Dude” Dowd), who helped the Coen brothers with their first film, 'Blood Simple' (1983). Jeff, like The Dude in the film, was actually a member of the 'Seattle Seven'.
• The man on the poster in the Dude's house throwing a bowling ball is President Richard Nixon.
• The Dude's shirt featuring an Asian man with a baseball bat is the same shirt worn by Jeff Bridges' character in the film The Fisher King.
• The Dude drinks 9 White Russian cocktails throughout the film.
• The Lebowski's car is a 1973 Ford Torino. Two such vehicles were used during filming. One was destroyed during filming, and the second was destroyed in the eighth season of The X-Files (an episode titled Salvage).
• The word "fuck" and its variations are used 281 times throughout the film.
• The Dude's bowling shirt is embroidered with the name Art, and Donnie's shirt with the name Austin, neither of which have any connection to the characters themselves or the film.
• The Dude says the word "man" 147 times in the film, about one and a half times per minute.
• The screenplay was written specifically for Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, and Sam Elliott.
• The bowling scenes were filmed at the former Holly Star Lanes near Santa Monica and the 101 Freeway. That building has since been demolished and an elementary school now stands in its place.
• The house where The Dude met Jackie Treehorn was designed by architect John Lautner. In the film, it appears to be located on the beach, but in reality, it is situated on a hillside overlooking the city of Los Angeles.
• Almost all of the music from the film's soundtrack plays on the radio at various points in the movie. For example, “The Man in Me” plays during the first dream sequence when The Dude wakes up, and the music is still coming from his Walkman. “Hotel California” plays through the sound system throughout the scene with Jesus in the bowling alley, as well as during brief flashbacks. The music playing when The Dude leaves his house is also playing in Da Fino’s car when they are talking. Furthermore, the song that plays at the beginning of the film continues to play in the grocery store.
• John Goodman once did a commercial for the In & Out Burger fast-food restaurant, which is mentioned in the film.
• John Goodman (Walter) constantly tells Steve Buscemi’s character (Donny) to “Shut the fuck up!” because Steve Buscemi’s character in the film *Fargo* (1995) was impossible to quiet down.
• The word “dude” is used 161 times in the film. It is spoken 160 times, and appears once in the subtitles during the second dream sequence.
• Premiere magazine included this film in its list of "50 Greatest Comedies of All Time" in 2006.
• Norwegian posters and VHS tapes of this film featured the inscription "Anbefales av norsk bowling forbund" ("Recommended by the Norwegian Bowling Association").
• An unusual detail for an American film: the villain wields a cricket bat instead of a baseball bat.
• In the Dude's first dream sequence, the man throwing the giant bowling ball is out of focus and upside down. When the rolling ball is shown, it becomes clear that it's Maude.
• The second time the Thornhill thugs are shown, it's evident that they've switched clothes.
• Charlize Theron was considered for the role of Bunny Lebowski.
• None of the t-shirts Donny wears during bowling have his name on them.
• Before filming his scenes, Jeff Bridges often asked the Coen brothers, "Was the Dude smoking something on the way here?" If they said yes, he would rub his eyes with his fingers before taking a shot.
• When the Dude picks up Walter before they are supposed to return the briefcase with money, it turns out that Walter works at his own company called Sobchak Security.
• The Dude tells Maude that he was a technician for the band Metallica during their (fictional) 'Speed of Sound' tour and refers to the band members as "a bunch of idiots." The band Metallica itself was flattered to be mentioned in the Coen brothers' film. Guitarist Kirk Hammett once noted in an interview that they even tried to figure out how to use this scene in their performances.
• When The Dude pulls the Mod album by Autobahn from the record sleeve, a real album by Herb Alpert, Whipped Cream & Other Delights, is right behind it in the stack.
• The license plate on Bunny’s red convertible spells “lapin” backwards, which translates to “rabbit” from French (bunny in English).
• An early version of the script revealed the Dude’s source of income. He was the heir to the inventor of the Rubik's Cube. But Joel Coen wanted this omitted from the film.
• The lawyers The Dude mentions (William Kunstler and Ron Kuby) are known for defending various controversial defendants, including suspected terrorist leaders and the daughters of Malcolm X.
• The tracklist from the Autobahn album: “Nagelbett: Saturation”, “Faking It”, “Hit and Run”, “No Way Out”, “Violate U-Blue”, “Beg me”, “Take It In”, “Edelweiss (Club mix).”
• The photograph that the private detective shows The Dude, depicting Bunny Lebowski's farm, is taken from the film "In Cold Blood" (1996), written by Truman Capote. Interestingly, Philip Seymour Hoffman (Brandt) played Truman Capote in the film "Capote" (2005), and Mark Pellegrino (one of Thornhorn's thugs) played Dick Hickock in it (one of the killers of the farm residents).
• John Goodman has said that this is one of his favorite films that he has appeared in.
• In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, John Goodman revealed that the only improvised line in the film was "human herbicide." That's how The Dude addressed The Big Lebowski. Practically all other lines, including every word in the spirit of "man" or "dude," were written in the script.
• When Jesus, The Dude's bowling rival, is first shown, a flamenco version of The Eagles' song "Hotel California" is playing. Later, in the car, The Dude says he hates The Eagles.
• Throughout the film, The Dude encounters many peripheral characters outside of his circle. But only three of them (Brandt, Jackie Treehorn, and Cowboy) call him The Dude.
• The pistol Walter pulls out at the bowling alley is a Colt model 1911, a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol.
• While one of Thornhorn's thugs is urinating on The Dude's rug, another thug says, “Debtors pay debts, Lebowski!” This is a play on the phrase “Sic semper tyrannis!” (Latin for “Thus always to tyrants!”), allegedly uttered by the assassins of Julius Caesar and Abraham Lincoln immediately after the killings.
• The Dude’s walk at the beginning of the “Gutterballs” scene resembles the walk of one of the characters in Robert Crumb’s cartoon “Keep on Truckin’.”
• The initials of Walter Sobchak’s Jewish security firm (Sobchak Security) are SS, which coincide with the name of Nazi armed formations.
• The check for $0.69 that The Dude writes at the store at the beginning of the film is dated September 11, 1991, exactly 10 years before the terrorist attacks. While he is writing the check, you can hear George Bush talking about Saddam Hussein on television.
• And Fino refers to himself as a brother Shamus. This is a common slang term for a private detective in the interwar period. Incidentally, it was then that Raymond Chandler wrote the novel that inspired the Coen brothers to make this film.
• In the film version that was edited for television, the famous lines “This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!” were replaced with “This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps!” This fact is often mentioned as one of the most creative changes made to the film for its television broadcast.
• The film's plot and characters are largely based on Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel and Howard Hawks' film “The Big Sleep” (1946).
• Being a member of the bowling team, The Dude is the only character who doesn't actually bowl throughout the film.
• The phrase “The Dude abides” is a reference to Ecclesiastes 1:4 (“A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever”).
• The diner where the Dude and Walter drink coffee during the finger scene is the same diner that Edward Norton and Edward Furlong enter in the film “American History X” (1998). It’s located near Wilshire and Fairfax in Los Angeles, is called Johnie's Coffee Shop, and is only open for film shoots.
• Despite being credited as Tony the Driver, the Dude still addresses him by the actor’s real name – Dom (Dom Irrera).
• The woman who appears with Bunny Lebowski and the nihilist in the pornographic film that Maude shows the Dude is real porn star Asia Carrera.
• The private detective who is tailing Lebowski states that Bunny’s family lives on a farm in the suburb of Moorhead, Minnesota. Moorhead is Jeff Bridges’ wife’s hometown, and is located directly across the border from Fargo (the 1995 film “Fargo” is a previous film by the Coen brothers). In Bunny’s school photo, she is wearing orange and black – the real colors of the high school in Moorhead.
• When the Dude and Walter bowl after the failed ransom drop, Walter says, “Aitz chaiim he, Dude...” This is the first half of a verse in Hebrew, meaning “This is the tree of life.” The second half is “Lamachazikim ba,” meaning “For those who lay hold of it,” and this verse refers to the Old Testament.
• The only time Donnie doesn't bowl a strike is before their fight with the nihilists at the end of the film.
• The Coen brothers were inspired to create the film by several people and stories. Perhaps the main one was Peter Exline, who came up with the phrase “The rug really tied the room together” when describing one of his rugs. Peter and his friend Lew Abernathy, a private detective unknown to the Coen brothers, were considered a partial basis for the character of Walter. Peter, a Vietnam veteran and college professor, once jokingly, while bumping into a chair, tried to scare students by exclaiming, “First Vietnam, now this?!” This is similar to how Walter (not jokingly) inappropriately compares everything to Vietnam. Peter also told the Coen brothers a story about his stolen car and how Abernathy helped locate it. They found a 14-year-old's homework, and instead of going to the police, they put the sheet in a plastic bag and went to the child's house to expose him (although, unlike in the film, the child hadn’t actually stolen the car, and Abernathy didn’t crash his car at his house). Another story Peter told was about how Abernathy was charged by the Santa Monica sheriff, who, like in the film, insulted him and said, “Stay away from our beach town!”
• Everything Walter says regarding Bunny’s kidnapping turns out to be true: a fake kidnapping, a false severed finger, and no ransom.
• When Walter, the Dude, and Donnie are sitting in the bowling alley bar discussing the kidnappers, you can see that the Slice and Pepsi cans have designs from later years than the film’s setting (1991).
• When Walter and the Dude are drinking coffee at the diner, cars that couldn’t have been present in 1991 are visible in the background. Similarly, in the scene where the Dude is thrown out of the taxi, a black Nissan Maxima drives by.
• In the opening scene, Jesus’s bowling partner throws a Rhino Pro ball, which only appeared in 1993.
• The car in the porn film that Mod shows The Dude is a BMW E36 convertible. Production of this car only began in 1993.
• The joint brace that Jesus wears was only made in 1996.
• The first laws for sex offenders, like the one requiring Jesus to notify all his neighbors about his conviction for pedophilia, were introduced in California only after 1996.
• During the opening scene, where the camera shows several bowling players simultaneously, one of them throws a translucent ball (Ebonite Clear Wolf). It was only released in the mid-1990s.
• At the beginning of the film, Smart Balance products are visible on the shelves of a grocery store. These products would not appear on the market until 1995.
• When Walter breaks the windows of the red car, a man runs out and starts shouting at him, but his lips aren't moving.
• When the Dude asks Walter to pick him up on Shabbat, his facial expressions do not match the spoken text.
• When the Dude is talking to Da Fino, who is sitting in the car, music playing inside can be heard through the open side window. When Da Fino gets out of the car and closes the door, the volume of the music decreases, as if the windows had been closed.
• When Walter and the Dude are watching the performance of the Dude’s landlord, they talk about the old Western Branded (1965–1966). Walter asks the Dude if he remembers it, and he replies that he remembers the show with Mike Connors. In reality, Chuck Connors starred in it. Furthermore, Walter mentions that the series had 156 episodes, but there were only 48.
• When the nihilists order pancakes at the restaurant, the woman orders heidelbeer pfannkuchen (blueberry pancakes), which one of the other nihilists mistakenly translates to the waitress as "cranberry pancakes".
• After Walter falls out of the car, he limps on his left leg. Later that night, after bowling, he is limping on the other leg.
• When Marty invites The Dude to come see his performance, he says it will be on a Tuesday evening. But that same evening, The Dude asks Walter to pick him up before the performance, to which Walter points out that it will be the evening before Shabbat (Friday evening).
• At the bowling alley, immediately after the scene of the money exchange on the bridge, two people are playing next to Walter and The Dude, each wearing one light-colored shoe and one dark-colored shoe.
• The amount of White Russian in The Dude’s glass changes between shots, as does the number of drops running down his mustache.
• When the Dude is attacked in the bathroom, two toilet brushes are visible to the left of the toilet itself. During the subsequent scene, the position of the blue brush changes.
• The rug in front of the toilet in the Dude's house appears and disappears in different shots.
• When the Dude reads the ransom note, a joint is in his hand. When the camera cuts to his face, it's in his mouth. This happens twice.
• When the Dude is taking a bath, four candles are standing on its edge. When a ferret is thrown into the tub, he thrashes and douses three of the candles with water, leaving only one burning. In the next shot, the three candles he doused are burning again, and the one that was previously burning is extinguished.
• When Walter jumps out of the car, his "Uzi" shoots out the Dude's car's left rear taillight. Later, when the Dude gets the car back from the police, the same taillight appears completely undamaged.
• While The Dude is at the Malibu police station, the position of the coffee cup on the table changes between shots. The Dude's bowling league card and other small items that the police officer takes out of his wallet and places on the table also change position.
• At the beginning of the film, when the bandit drops the bowling ball, the tiles on the floor are different from those in the previous scene.
• At the beginning of the film, in the scene with many people playing bowling, a large African American man throws an orange ball, but a blue ball breaks the pins. This also repeats with several other players.
• In the scene where The Dude notices a blue Volkswagen following him, a thick layer of dirt is visible on the rear window of The Dude’s car. When the camera switches to the rearview mirror, all the dirt disappears.
• After Walter jumps out of The Dude's car, he climbs over to the driver’s seat, and in the next shot, the door through which Walter jumped is already closed.
• The Dude's answering machine says for the first time: "Leave a message after the tone." Then there's a long pause before the beep. While the Dude is smoking in the bathroom, he gets a call from the police. The answering machine says the same thing, but there's no delay before the tone this time.
• After Walter points a gun at Smokey in the bowling alley, he, the Dude, and the dog walk to the car together. When they get in the car, the dog disappears.
• After the Dude leaves Lebowski's house with Maude Lebowski’s rug, he first encounters Bunny Lebowski. She is painting her toenails. Before she asks the Dude to blow on her toes, only her big toe is painted. When he lifts her leg, all her toes are painted.
• When Walter jumps out of the moving car, it’s visible that his “Uzi” shoots out the left rear tire of the Dude's car. In the next scene, when the car crashes into a lamppost, the tire is intact.
• In Lebowski’s limousine, while the Dude is being scolded for failing to deliver the ransom, Brandt hands over an envelope with a toe, and the Dude reaches for it with his right hand. When the camera changes angle, it's his left hand. Moreover, he’s visibly wearing a wedding ring on his ring finger (earlier in the scene where the Dude is attacked in his home, he demonstrates he doesn't have a ring on that finger as proof he’s not married).
• When The Dude drops a joint in his car, he pours a bottle of beer on his legs to put it out. In the next scene, you can see his seat is completely dry.
• When The Dude is driving in his car and first notices the blue Volkswagen following him, the camera operator is reflected in his glasses.
• When The Dude and Walter drive over the bridge where they're supposed to drop off the ransom, and then The Dude runs out of the wrecked car shouting, “We have the money,” police lights are visible in the background, which were deliberately used to block the road for filming.
• When the Germans are having dinner, before they show the girl’s finger being cut off, the reflection of the camera assistant can be seen in the glass.
• After the first scene with Jesus, when the camera pans to Walter, the camera operator's reflection can be seen in the left lens of his glasses.
• In the dream sequence, as The Dude slides down through the legs of the dancers, a harness is visible under his shirt, holding him in a horizontal position.
• When The Dude, Walter, and Donnie are eating hamburgers, they are supposed to be in an In-n-Out diner, but the coloring of their cups does not match the chain's signature colors.
• When The Dude makes himself a White Russian during his second visit to Maude, he adds powdered milk to the glass, then picks up a glass with a completely different (pre-mixed) White Russian.
• The bowling ball thrown by Jesus rolls down lane 23, and in the next shot, the lane number is already 24.
• When the blond thug drags The Dude towards the toilet, it's visible that The Dude’s hair is already wet before his head is dunked in the water.
• At the end of the 'Keglebitz Strength' scene, when the bowling pins are knocked down, the cables used to move them are visible.
• Larry Sellers' handwriting on his homework is identical to that of the teacher who graded it.
• When The Dude is thrown into the back of the limousine, it's visible that his White Russian is covered with plastic wrap to prevent spillage.
• Throughout the film, Walter is consistently shown with a pack of red Marlboros, but in all the scenes where he smokes, the filter reveals that they are not red Marlboros, but light cigarettes.
• When The Dude is at home and rubbing a notepad with a pencil, an image of a naked man appears, and he quickly crumples the paper with the drawing and puts it in his pocket. Later, when the Malibu police chief searches The Dude's wallet, the drawing is there, neatly folded.
• As The Dude and Walter scatter Donnie's ashes, the time of day changes throughout the scene, as does the direction of the waves.
• In the scene where Walter and The Dude scatter Donnie's ashes, a microphone cable is visible under The Dude's shirt. Furthermore, one of the crew members can be seen standing on top of another cliff, observing the filming.
• When The Dude returns from Malibu to his home in Venice and is thrown out of the car, Bunny drives by in her red convertible. However, if she was actually in Palm Springs, as Brandt later claims, she could not have been driving along that route to Pasadena.
• When Walter throws The Big Lebowski onto the floor, the latter, who is paralyzed in the lower extremities, moves his leg.
• When Walter and The Dude are standing on the cliff with Donnie’s ashes, ash from previous takes is visible on their heads as Walter delivers his speech.
• The photograph that the private detective shows The Dude, depicting Bunny Lebowski’s farm, is taken from the film “In Cold Blood,” written by Truman Capote. Philip Seymour Hoffman (Brandt) played Truman Capote in the film “Capote,” and Mark Pellegrino (one of Thornhorn’s thugs) played Dick Hickock in it (one of the killers of the farm residents).
• The fictional band Autobahn is a parody of Kraftwerk. The album cover seen in the film almost exactly replicates one of Kraftwerk’s covers – "Die Mensch-Maschine" (The Man-Machine). Furthermore, Kraftwerk has a song and album both titled "Autobahn."

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