# The Big Lebowski: What's the big deal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778 "2008-09-23T01:51:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/81 "2008-09-26T15:45:29Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > … > > Ve believe in nossing, Lebowski! Fucking nihilists. Say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism at least its an ethos. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/82 "2008-09-26T17:14:00Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > One of my favorite things about Walter is that he is quick tempered and prone to yelling, unless he is being yelled at, in which case he’s perfectly calm. calmer than you… ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/83 "2008-09-26T20:02:46Z")
Just for dumb fun—the 30-second animated version of No Country… [http://www.starz.com/promotions/bunnies?src=starz\_mktg&med=email&content=20080926\_nocountryforoldmen&cmp=bunnies](http://www.starz.com/promotions/bunnies?src=starz_mktg&med=email&content=20080926_nocountryforoldmen&cmp=bunnies) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/84 "2008-09-26T23:37:23Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > This thread convinced me to revisit _The Big Lebowski_ again. I’d seen it twice before and thought it mildly amusing, but entirely overrated. This time, however, I found myself laughing more than both of the previous viewings put together! :eek: I can’t remember that ever happening with any movie for me before, so that was pretty cool. That’s fantastic! I guess that’s the way the whole durned human comedy keeps perpetuatin’ itself. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2025, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/85 "2025-10-29T03:01:16Z")
Bumped. Jeff Bridges, and the Dude, abide. Scroll down for his _Jimmy Kimmel Live_ appearance (he channels the Dude starting at 10:04): > **[Jeff Bridges reflects on 'Tron: Ares' underwhelming box office performance:...](https://www.aol.com/articles/jeff-bridges-reacts-tron-ares-221918213.html)** > > Jeff Bridges reflects on the underwhelming box office returns of 'Tron: Ares,' working with Taylor Swift, 'The Big Lebowski,' 'One Battle After Another,' and more in a wide-ranging conversation with EW. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2025, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/86 "2025-10-29T03:23:19Z")
I may need to re-watch this, but I remember seeing it years ago and was not impressed. Perhaps because I had heard so much about it and it sounded like movie I should have loved. I’m sure it’s streaming somewhere, so maybe this weekend I’ll give it another shot. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2025, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/87 "2025-10-29T04:08:21Z")
The more you watch it, the more you get it, and the funnier it gets. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2025, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/88 "2025-10-29T12:39:02Z")
When Lebowski nails a board to the floor (complete with dozens of bent nails) in an effort to prop the door closed, only to realize that it opens in the other direction, gets me every time. The look of dimwitted realization was priceless. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2025, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/89 "2025-10-29T14:18:47Z")
We had a Senior Pastor (straight out of central casting: stately, with greying temples and a Ward Clever demeanor). He snuck a Lebowski quote into every sermon. Sometimes it was just a little wink (“…in the parlance of our times”), but when he quoted a whole scene, he’d recommend the movie. Not as a comedy, but as a window into a lot of truths. . > [@dalej42](#): > > Am I just not cool enough to ‘get it?’ We weren’t going to tell you yet, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/90 "2025-10-29T22:04:29Z")
Ever see “Matinee”? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/91 "2025-10-29T22:10:41Z")
I finally saw it about a month ago assuming I’d not like it - I’m not into stoner comedy. I really enjoyed it. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/92 "2025-10-29T22:24:51Z")
I like it - as I like MOST Coen movies. Tho I don’t think I LOVE it as much as some do. Lots of really interesting characters, situations, and lines. More than a lot of movies can claim. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2025, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/93 "2025-10-29T23:58:12Z")
It’s probably tied with “Dr. Strangelove” for my all-time favorite comedy movie. When the Dude reports his car being stolen, two cops come to take his info. He mentions that the car contained a tape deck, “and some Credence tapes”. The cop taking his info is a young White kid, polite and idealistic. The other is a jaded, middle-age Black man, silent, but obviously full of contempt for this lazy bum (“I’m unemployed”) whose apartment must have reeked of pot smoke. When the White cop informs the Dude that there wasn’t much chance they’d find the tape deck, the Black cop adds, _“Or the Credence”_. I think if they gave an award for the greatest acting performance in a role of no more than three words, it should go to that actor (Richard Gant). Also, I pretty much have to like TBL, since about 10 years ago, it became a prophecy of my life. I was undergoing a reinvestigation for my security clearance. The security division had pulled my name from an online record of a civil suit against a corporation. I informed them that this probably was a guy in Iowa who had the same name as me, first and last, same spellings. He was a multi-millionaire venture capitalist. I provided documentation that he was indeed the person named in the suit, and wrote this up in a memo. I concluded it, “I’m not Mr. Shakespeare. _He’s_ Mr. Shakespeare. I’m the Dude!” ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/94 "2025-10-30T00:38:34Z")
Yeah. That is superslapstick. They put a nice bunch of time and change-of-subject between the setup and the punchline. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2025, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/95 "2025-10-30T02:51:40Z")
“Jackie Treehorn treats _objects_ like _women!_” ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2025, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/96 "2025-10-30T11:35:59Z")
Another fast gag that slays me: the Dude shading in Jackie Treehorn’s doodled-upon napkin only to reveal a pornographic drawing. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2025, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/97 "2025-10-30T17:16:43Z")
Any movie where John Goodman is given free rein is a good one. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/98 "2025-10-30T17:29:16Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Ever see “Matinee”? Ol’ Dio got hisself banned over 14 years ago ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/99 "2025-10-30T17:30:00Z")
If you’ve read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler The Big Lebowski makes more sense and you can see the Coen brother’s mastery. They did this with O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Odyssey as well. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2025, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778/100 "2025-10-30T17:33:49Z")
Also _Miller’s Crossing_ and two Dashiell Hammett novels (_The Glass Key_ and _Red Harvest_). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-lebowski-whats-the-big-deal/464778.md?page=6)