It’s the 25th year anniversary of “The Big Lebowski.” I’m pretty sure you’ve seen it already, but this noir/stoner comedy/western has the following premise: There are two Jeff Lebowskis living in Los Angeles: First, a wealthy guy in a wheelchair living in a Pasadena mansion (David Huddleston), and the other, the king of slacker heaven, known to friends and acquaintances as “The Dude” (Jeff Bridges, in what may end up being the defining role of his career).
Who’s the dude? He was apparently a roadie for Metallica at one point, and also dabbled in some intellectual pursuits, but mostly he’s a weed-addled beach bum who lives perpetually in a 1970s’ vibe.
The Dude wears bathrobes to the supermarket, surreptitiously opens containers of half-and-half in order to sniff them and ascertain whether they pass non-curdled muster for the enhancement of his drink of choice, a white Russian, to which he assigns the nomenclature: “Caucasian.” And he goes bowling constantly.
The Setback
But suddenly goons invade the Dude’s pad, mistaking him for the other Lebowski, shake him down, dunk his head in the toilet, and wee on his rug. His favorite rug that “ties the whole living room together.”
The 25th Anniversary of ‘The Big Lebowski’
Released 25 years ago this past March 6th, “The Big Lebowski” was considered a disappointing follow-up to “Fargo,” the previous film by co-directors Joel and Ethan Coen, but it’s had a powerful afterlife. It quickly developed a cult following to rival “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” with midnight showings and enthusiastic fans hollering memorized dialogue at the screen.
So, the reason for all this 25 years of Lebowski brouhaha is compliments of the film’s immense quotability; it’s got an endless supply of Dude-quotes that have invaded the American lexicon over the years. It’s jam-packed with lines that sync well with everyday life, my favorite being (in response to getting insulted): “Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.”
A couple more examples: If you get overcharged on a cremation urn at a funeral home, you say, “Just because we’re bereaved doesn’t make us saps!”
Performances
“The Big Lebowski” contains a classic roster of Coen brothers weirdos, but the outlandish character’s common plight is relatable and their reactions are understandable.
As mentioned, the Dude’s funniest lines don’t look like much on the page but are memorable because of how they engage with life’s banalities. It’s Bridges’s thespian mastery that converts them into the universal language of everyday desperation, channeled through the slacker zeitgeist of our time; an ability to be more or less chill and unconcerned in the face of the staggering set-backs of life, like a peed-on rug.
“The Big Lebowski” does resolve the central mystery, but its real lesson is to showcase Dudeism at work, as our hero stumbles around Los Angeles, trying to ascertain, through a pot-haze, who’s speaking truth and who’s playing him for a fool, while seeking only to recover a small measure of justice.
And so “the Dude abides,” (that’s a quote) exuding an aspirational Taoist unflappability in the face of increasing absurdity, expressing himself in perfectly quotable ways, and every so often getting slightly frazzled and hysterical. Because, like all spiritual paths, one can’t be perfect all the time.
In celebration of its 25th anniversary, “The Big Lebowski” screened at various theaters, but you can find it on Amazon Prime Video for $3.99. It'd be interesting to see how many people discovered an actual spiritual path by watching the Dude abide.
