The Big Lebowski (1998)Director: Joel Coen
Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tara Reid, John Turturro
Another film that I'd been really keen to revisit was the Coen brothers' The Big Lebowski. I'd been wanting to introduce Kate to it, but I got impatient. She was out today and I felt in a Dude kind of mood.
A couple of stand over men show up at the house of layabout Jeff Lebowski (Bridges), commonly known as 'The Dude', mistaking him for the millionaire of the same name (Huddleston) whose trophy wife Bunny (Reid) has large debts. One of them urinates on The Dude's rug, a rug which really tied the room together, which inspires him to go to the other Jeff Lebowski to seek compensation, without luck. However when Bunny is kidnapped the big Lebowski employs The Dude to act as ransom delivery man. The drop does not go well and The Dude finds himself stuck in the middle of a crazy network that includes a millionaire and his daughter (Moore), a pornography mogul, modern artists and German electronica musician nihilists, when all he really wants to do is bowl.
The films of the Coen brothers tend to fall within two genres; comedies, usually of the darker variety, and film noir inspired thrillers. The Big Lebowski straddles both of these genres to make it the ultimate Coens film. The story is based loosely on Raymond Chandler's famous hard-boiled crime novel The Big Sleep (which spawned a famous film version starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall). The similarity between the two is not strikingly obvious, but if you break it down you see that it is there. There is the southern Californian setting, the millionaire, the young woman getting in trouble due to her unsavoury contacts and the femme-fatale daughter, all standards of the Chandler world.
Jeff Bridges may have won an Oscar this year for his portrayal of Bad Blake in Crazy Heart, but he will never cease to be The Dude. Every now and then an actor lands an iconic role, a role which they will forever be associated with, regardless of whatever else they achieve in their career. Harrison Ford will always be Indiana Jones, Marlon Brando will always be Don Corleone, Arnold Schwarzenegger will always be the Terminator, and Jeff Bridges will always be The Dude. Rather than being your standard ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation, The Dude is no ordinary man. The problem is he is on the complete other side of ordinary to the situation he finds himself in. The Dude is a man in whom casualness runs deep. The Coens have written a great character here, giving him so much more depth than your run-of-the-mill movie stoner, and Jeff Bridges has brought the character to life.
But The Dude is not alone in this story. He is surrounded by what must be one of the cinema's great ensembles of odd-ball supporting characters. You have John Goodman as Walter Sobchak, the short tempered Vietnam veteran who takes his bowling seriously and his religious observances even more so (despite the fact that he only converted to Judaism for the sake of his now ex-wife). Their bowling team is rounded out by Steve Buscemi's Donny, who is constantly present, but only says about five complete sentences in the whole film, an in joke which plays on the fact that in the Coens' previous film, Fargo, Buscemi's character never shut up. You have Julianne Moore as the modern artist who swings from a harness in the nude to paint and who wants The Dude for his semen. You have the butt-kissing assistant Brandt played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. You have the porn star/German electronica musician/nihilist Karl Hungus. But special mention has to go to John Turturro for one of the great scene stealing performances as Jesus Quintana, the convicted paedophile turned purple-bodysuit-wearing bowling opponent, who in about two minutes of screen time leaves a big impression.
The Big Lebowski is hilarious, and incredibly quotable, but what makes it great is the fact that the Coens are filmmakers rather than comedians. Therefore the film is actually visually impressive in a way that comedies aren't usually.
Bridges and the Coens are teaming up again this summer, alas not on a much speculated about Lebowski sequel, but rather on the remake of True Grit (not so much a remake of the original film as a return to the novel upon which the original was based). The first trailer has just been released and I have pretty high hopes for this one.
The Big Lebowksi is the Coen brothers best film. That's a big call given they have made some very good films across a number of different genres, but I'm sticking by it. They may have made more decorated films, but no other film more perfectly sums up the Coens' style than this one. It is an absolute gem that is hard not to love.
Another film that I'd been really keen to revisit was the Coen brothers' The Big Lebowski. I'd been wanting to introduce Kate to it, but I got impatient. She was out today and I felt in a Dude kind of mood.
A couple of stand over men show up at the house of layabout Jeff Lebowski (Bridges), commonly known as 'The Dude', mistaking him for the millionaire of the same name (Huddleston) whose trophy wife Bunny (Reid) has large debts. One of them urinates on The Dude's rug, a rug which really tied the room together, which inspires him to go to the other Jeff Lebowski to seek compensation, without luck. However when Bunny is kidnapped the big Lebowski employs The Dude to act as ransom delivery man. The drop does not go well and The Dude finds himself stuck in the middle of a crazy network that includes a millionaire and his daughter (Moore), a pornography mogul, modern artists and German electronica musician nihilists, when all he really wants to do is bowl.
The films of the Coen brothers tend to fall within two genres; comedies, usually of the darker variety, and film noir inspired thrillers. The Big Lebowski straddles both of these genres to make it the ultimate Coens film. The story is based loosely on Raymond Chandler's famous hard-boiled crime novel The Big Sleep (which spawned a famous film version starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall). The similarity between the two is not strikingly obvious, but if you break it down you see that it is there. There is the southern Californian setting, the millionaire, the young woman getting in trouble due to her unsavoury contacts and the femme-fatale daughter, all standards of the Chandler world.
Jeff Bridges may have won an Oscar this year for his portrayal of Bad Blake in Crazy Heart, but he will never cease to be The Dude. Every now and then an actor lands an iconic role, a role which they will forever be associated with, regardless of whatever else they achieve in their career. Harrison Ford will always be Indiana Jones, Marlon Brando will always be Don Corleone, Arnold Schwarzenegger will always be the Terminator, and Jeff Bridges will always be The Dude. Rather than being your standard ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation, The Dude is no ordinary man. The problem is he is on the complete other side of ordinary to the situation he finds himself in. The Dude is a man in whom casualness runs deep. The Coens have written a great character here, giving him so much more depth than your run-of-the-mill movie stoner, and Jeff Bridges has brought the character to life.
But The Dude is not alone in this story. He is surrounded by what must be one of the cinema's great ensembles of odd-ball supporting characters. You have John Goodman as Walter Sobchak, the short tempered Vietnam veteran who takes his bowling seriously and his religious observances even more so (despite the fact that he only converted to Judaism for the sake of his now ex-wife). Their bowling team is rounded out by Steve Buscemi's Donny, who is constantly present, but only says about five complete sentences in the whole film, an in joke which plays on the fact that in the Coens' previous film, Fargo, Buscemi's character never shut up. You have Julianne Moore as the modern artist who swings from a harness in the nude to paint and who wants The Dude for his semen. You have the butt-kissing assistant Brandt played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. You have the porn star/German electronica musician/nihilist Karl Hungus. But special mention has to go to John Turturro for one of the great scene stealing performances as Jesus Quintana, the convicted paedophile turned purple-bodysuit-wearing bowling opponent, who in about two minutes of screen time leaves a big impression.
The Big Lebowski is hilarious, and incredibly quotable, but what makes it great is the fact that the Coens are filmmakers rather than comedians. Therefore the film is actually visually impressive in a way that comedies aren't usually.
Bridges and the Coens are teaming up again this summer, alas not on a much speculated about Lebowski sequel, but rather on the remake of True Grit (not so much a remake of the original film as a return to the novel upon which the original was based). The first trailer has just been released and I have pretty high hopes for this one.
The Big Lebowksi is the Coen brothers best film. That's a big call given they have made some very good films across a number of different genres, but I'm sticking by it. They may have made more decorated films, but no other film more perfectly sums up the Coens' style than this one. It is an absolute gem that is hard not to love.
No comments:
Post a Comment