79. The Big Lebowski

Joel Coen, 1998

“Donny, you are out of your element.”

Let’s face it, this movie really ties the list together, man. As writers and directors, brothers Joel and Ethan Coen are masters at mixing genres. Their favorite genre to play with definitely seems to be the film noir, with its generic elements showing up time and again in the Coens’ various films. The Big Lebowski is one of them. The Big Lebowski is about a lot of things, but, at its core, it is the story of a new sort of American folk hero, the laid back, drug addled, slacker, in this case the Dude. The Dude, also known as Jeffrey Lebowski, is the quintessential former hippie, eking out his life in nineties California. He is no complete slacker or two dimensional hippie, however, but a wise man of high moral fortitude, who would, none the less, rather spend his time on the couch, in the tub, smoking weed, or bowling. As the Dude himself says when asked what he does for recreation, “Oh, the usual. I bowl. Drive around. The occasional acid flashback.” His high moral character, seen throughout in his drive to do the right thing, and his ability to see around the bizarre characters and the convoluted plot so common to noir plotting, recognizing them as bizarre, both mark him as the hero. Yet, the most endearing and forceful way the film marks the Dude as unquestionable hero, even elevating him to the level of folk hero, is through Sam Elliott’s character, the Stranger. The Stranger, a mysterious, cowboy hat wearing Westerner, tells us the story of the Dude, making his adventures into a timeless American ballad, likening him implicitly to the likes of Paul Bunyan and John Henry.

Of course, whether or not the Dude is a hero hardly matters if the Dude is not, in fact likable and the Dude is that. This is, undoubtedly, Jeff Bridges best performance. We immediately love the Dude and his laid back ways. He isn’t a character out for revenge or intent on changing others; he is simply a man who, because he shares a name with a wealthy, older man, who may or may not be a spinal (the Dude’s friend Walter believes he’s goldbricking), gets his rug peed on by a group of nihilists. The Dude just wants his rug replaced, man. Meanwhile, the other Jeffrey Lebowski’s wife, Bunny, goes missing and the Dude gets pulled into an elaborate plot involving the nihilists, the other Mrs. Lebowski, pornography (specifically the movie Logjammin’ featuring Karl Hungus), the gentleman who wrote the bulk of the popular television Western Branded, and drugs. Meanwhile, the Dude has to contend with his friends, the perpetually out of his element Donny, and Walter, a Vietnam veteran who has converted to Judaism. The three friends have a big bowling match coming up and, outside of having to compete with Jesus Quintana (and nobody fucks with the Jesus), a pederast, the boys have to deal with Walter’s refusal to roll on Shabbos. The Big Lebowski is a big, strange movie, blending the traditional slacker comedy and characters with the archetypical film noir plot. The result is a terrific and weird movie, featuring one of the most endearing, honest, and memorable leads to come out of a major motion picture in a long time. And what would the Dude have to say about this? The Dude abides, man. The Dude abides. I don’t know about you, but I take comfort in that. It’s good knowin’ he’s out there. The Dude. Takin’ ‘er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh. I sure hope he makes the finals.