CHAPTER FIVE
THE ACHIEVERS. AND PROUD WE ARE OF ALL OF THEM
achiev·er n 1 somebody who succeeds in doing or gaining a particular thing 2 inner-city children of promise, but without the necessary means for a necessary means for a higher education 3 the preferred nomenclature for a fan of The Big Lebowski
am·a·teur n 1 one who has only limited skill in, or knowledge of, an activity 2 one who simply doesn’t “get” The Big Lebowski or why anyone in their right mind would wear a bathrobe to a bowling alley and drink several White Russians with hundreds of other equally zealous fans note: The word fucking can precede the term to add emphasis <What a fucking ~!> antonym = achiever
This is a fan book—written by the fans, for the fans. The following are interviews with fans from around the world. Some you may have heard of, some you may have not. The one thing we all share: We love this fucking movie.
PATTON OSWALT—Los Angeles
Name: Patton Oswalt
Residence: Los Angeles
Are you employed? Comedian, actor (Magnolia, King of Queens), writer (Mad TV, HBO, Borat), appeared on Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Achievement: Coined Internet shorthand LMFAOWIHABFAFIMRAAM-MYAMTTDMRFBNA, which means “Laughing my figurative ass off while I have a Boba Fett action figure in my real ass and my mom yells at me to turn down my Rush Fly by Night album.”
Age: 37
Bums: How many times have you seen The Big Lebowski?
Patton Oswalt: Way too many to count. The first time I saw it was on Friday, March 6, 1998, at a now-defunct theater in Sherman Oaks. And I saw it again at the New Beverly in Los Angeles, and afterwards we had a bowling party at the now-torn-down Hollywood Lanes, which is where I think they filmed it. That must’ve been around 2002. And then countless times on DVD.
Bums: A lot of people say that it took them a few viewings before they really got it. Was that the case with you? Upon which viewing of The Big Lebowski did you realize you were hooked?
PO: I can honestly say I was hooked on the first viewing. But I enjoyed myself too much to think of it as a “great” film, especially in the Coen brothers canon. That spot was reserved for Fargo. But as the years go on, Lebowski holds sway over all.
Bums: Who’s your favorite character, and why?
PO: The Dude. I know I’m supposed to be all cinephile-y and pick the Jesus or Walter, but the Dude is one of the great characters in modern cinema.
Bums: If you were a Big Lebowski character, which one would you be?
PO: I dunno. It might be cool to be the Stranger, just to get to see what it feels like to be omniscient. But Jackie Treehorn seems to be having a good time. As much as I love the Dude, I’d hate to go through some of the stuff he goes through.
Yeah, Jackie Treehorn.
Bums: Do you have a favorite scene? A favorite line?
PO: My favorite scene is where the Dude is in the back of the limousine, trying to explain the “latest shit” to Lebowski. It’s flawless. And my favorite line would have to be, “Fair?! Who’s the nihilist, you bunch of fucking crybabies?”
Bums: What other movies would you consider yourself a huge fan of?
PO: Way too many to list. Off the top of my head, here’s five: Blast of Silence, American Movie, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, and Charley Varrick. There’s about three hundred others.
Bums: Why do you think The Big Lebowski has connected so strongly with so many people?
PO: Because there’s more than twice a week when we feel like the Dude, trying to unravel an already unraveling mystery, with our own chemical past getting in the way.
Bums: What is the most Dude thing you’ve ever done?
PO: Shopped in a bathrobe.
Also, did you take note of the fact that the three musicians who make cameos in the movie suffer increasing incidents of abuse? Jimmie Dale Gilmore is threatened with a gun, Flea gets hit in the nuts with a bowling ball, and Aimee Mann loses a toe.
Also, check out the almanac in the back of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II—one of the Dude’s ancestors is mentioned.
Bums: The movie’s plot is pretty complicated—if you had to sum up the movie in three sentences or less, how would you do it?
PO: Bowling noir.
Bums: As a writer yourself, how do you view the Coen brothers’ writing?
PO: Sometimes it can be a little precious, but it’s always fascinating.
Bums: Has what you love about the movie changed over time?
PO: Well, every time I watch it I notice something new and great, so, yeah.
Bums: If you could ask the Coen brothers one question about The Big Lebowski, what would it be?
PO: What’s Jesus’s day job?
Bums: What’s your highest bowling score?
PO: It’s pretty low. I suck at bowling.
Bums: What day is this?
PO: Uh, a weekday, isn’t it?
Bums: Is it?
OLIVER BENJAMIN—Chiang Mai, Thailand
Name: Oliver Benjamin
Residence: Chiang Mai, Thailand/Los Angeles
Are you employed? Freelance journalist/graphic designer/unprofessional musician
Achievement: Founded Dudeism, “The world’s slowest-growing religion.”
Age: 38
Bums: Upon which viewing of The Big Lebowski did you realize you were hooked?
Oliver Benjamin: I first heard about The Big Lebowski from an English guy on a boat trip in Laos in 1998. He couldn’t stop talking about it, using lines like “not the preferred nomenclature” and “shut the fuck up, Donny” over and over again. I’d never seen someone use lines from a movie in normal conversation, especially apropos of nothing, so naturally I thought he was nuts. When I got back to the States, no one had heard about it. So reluctantly I rented it one day and watched it three times in a row. Immediately hooked. I’d never seen anything like it. It’s sad that the British got it right away and that it took folks in the U.S. so long. I think they respect complicated, over-the-top dialogue, whereas lots of Americans don’t.
Bums: How has The Big Lebowski affected your life?
OB: Truth be told, I’m not naturally very Dudeish: I’m not so good at being unoccupied. The Dude’s character reminds me that it’s okay not to work so hard and try to do lots of stuff all the time. I think that very few people can really live the way the Dude does and still be happy, but that’s why he’s someone to inspire us, but not to totally emulate. If everyone were exactly like the Dude, the world would fall apart.
Bums: Who is your favorite character, and why?
OB: Of course the Dude, because there’s never been any character like him before—an antihero not in the sense of being a bad guy, but in the sense of tossing aside the whole concept of heroism. Walter is trying to be a hero and, like many people who really try hard to be a hero, he’s actually an asshole.
Bums: If you were a Big Lebowski character, which one would you be?
OB: I’d probably be a male version of Maude. I hang out with lots of weirdos here in Thailand and enjoy a leisurely, artistic life. My art has been commended as strongly marginal. I also love her dominating mastery of language. And, like her, I also find coitus a natural, zesty enterprise. Where we differ is that I have no problem with porn, no matter how ludicrous the story lines may be.
Bums: What is the most extreme length you’ve gone to express your love of The Big Lebowski?
OB: Starting a religion based around it.
Bums: What is your favorite scene?
OB: The initial scene where the Dude and Walter are screaming at each other, trying to have the most basic of conversations but incapable of communicating anything at all or listening to what the other is saying. It’s the perfect representation of most modern relationships, either personal or political. Then, when Walter stops screaming for a second to gently admonish the agitated Dude for using an unintentionally racist term, it’s as if the entire idiocy of modern morality is illuminated. Everybody thinks they know what’s right and want to force it down your throat. But not the Dude. He sees the gray areas.
Bums: What other movies would you consider yourself a huge fan of?
OB: I prefer dialogue over plot any day. They say there are only like twelve plots anyway, so there can’t be anything new, but a movie with good dialogue can blow your mind, and you can watch it over and over again. Today people quote movies like they used to quote literature and the Bible—it becomes part of who you are. So for me, the best movies are silly but deep comedies with unique, insightful dialogue, like Office Space, Bull Durham, When Harry Met Sally, Grosse Pointe Blank, and TV shows like Arrested Development.
Bums: When did you realize you weren’t alone?
OB: One day in a small café in a small tourist town in Thailand, the movie was playing on TV and people from all over the world were crammed in together, howling with laughter. It was like being at a religious revival meeting.
Bums: How many times have you seen The Big Lebowski?
OB: About fifteen times. I try not to watch it too often, as I’m terrified one day I’ll finally get sick of it.
Bums: Why do you think The Big Lebowski has such an effect on certain people like yourself?
OB: Because it’s not like most other movies, in that it feels totally honest. Even though the characters and situations are totally outrageous, they all feel so familiar and authentic. Moreover, the issues the film brings up (war, heroism, power, individuality, freedom, morality, work) are more important now than ever before. And instead of bashing those issues over your head, it does so with a wink and a chuckle.
Bums: Who do you think Walter is talking to when he says, “Life does not stop and start at your convenience, you miserable piece of shit”?
OB: Some people think he’s talking to Donny. But that’s clearly impossible. Walter may have no patience for Donny, but he does not think he’s a miserable piece of shit, and in fact loves him. Clearly he’s referring to the wealthy Jeffrey Lebowski. Walter’s just worried that the job Lebowski has given the Dude might interfere with their bowling schedule.
Bums: What is the most Dude thing you’ve ever done?
OB: I always forget what day it is, or if it’s even a weekday. As a freelance writer who lives in a country where people work and go out drinking seven days a week, I hardly ever know what day it is. Or even what month.
Bums: Please give your own brief synopsis of The Big Lebowski in one breath.
OB: After being unfairly vandalized, a lazy man is convinced to stop being so passive and to set things straight, but then he’s coerced into setting other things straight, and more things, until in the end he finds out that down deep, the world is fundamentally crooked, and it’s probably better just to say “Fuck it” and go bowling with friends.
Bums: What is your favorite line?
OB: “Well, there isn’t a literal connection.”
Bums: How do you cope with those people in your life who just don’t get it?
OB: I figure that most people have to watch the film about three times before they start to connect with it. It’s like coffee or cigarettes or fine wine or stinky cheese.
Bums: Has what you love about the movie changed over time?
OB: The more I watch it, the more I see in it, so my love has gotten deeper. I’m now in my post-honeymoon, pre-midlife crisis stage.
Bums: If you could ask the Coen brothers one question about The Big Lebowski, what would it be?
OB: No matter what I’d ask them, I think they’re too sly and oblique to ever give a straight answer.
Bums: What’s your highest bowling score?
OB: I suck at bowling. Mostly gutters. I’m dead in the water.
Bums: What day is this?
OB: A good day.
The Stranger Says…
“Fucking dog has fucking papers.” The two prominent animals in the film are mislabeled. The “marmot” is a ferret and the “Pomeranian” is a terrier.
TONY HAWK—Carlsbad, California
Name: Tony Hawk
Residence: Carlsbad, California
Are you employed? Professional skateboarder, video game icon, the first to land a “900” (two and a half rotations before landing on the board)
Achievement: Staging the nail polish/pool scene with his wife as Bunny and friend passed out in the pool for MTV Cribs.
Age: 38
Bums: The word on the street is that you’re a big fan of the movie. Is that true?
Tony Hawk: Oh, yeah. Very much.
Bums: Awesome. One of the stories we’ve heard is that when you guys are on tour, you’ll occasionally knock off early and go to a bowling alley and drink some White Russians. Is that stuff true?
TH: We actually went to the bowling alley on tour once.
Bums: The Hollywood Star Lanes?
TH: Yeah, we made sure, because we were in L.A. on tour. We decided that we would do an outing and have it documented.
Bums: So did you pick up on The Big Lebowski pretty early on?
TH: Yeah, when I heard that the Coen brothers had a new movie out, I went and saw it right away. And then, once it came out on video, just watched it repetitively [laughs].
Bums: How many times do you think you’ve seen it?
TH: Well, let’s put it this way: I have one movie that I’ve digitized for my iPod, my video iPod, and it’s that movie.
Bums: So have you ever heard about the Lebowski Festival?
TH: Yeah, when it comes up each year, people always forward me the information. My friends find out about it, and… I think that’s a little too much for me. I don’t want to role-play. I just want to enjoy it.
At my house, when MTV Cribs came here, we set up this whole scene. They didn’t use it—I was so bummed. My friend was in the pool, passed out on a raft. And then my wife was painting her toes. And we did the whole scene for them as if it was impromptu. I mean, she didn’t say, “I’ll suck your cock for a thousand dollars,” but… yeah, we made it short enough that we thought they would actually use it. But they didn’t end up using it. So if you happen to catch my Cribs, there is a scene where I walk by my wife and you can see that she is doing something to her toes, and you can see my friend in the background passed out.
Bums: Well done, sir. Well done. It’s funny, The Big Lebowski shows up all over the place in weird little pop-culture corners. There are some references in The Power Puff Girls, and there are fans everywhere. Do you know any other people who are into the movie?
TH: Shawn White is into it. He guest-deejayed on this radio station, and he played “What Condition My Condition Is In.”
Bums: Do you have a favorite character?
TH: Donny.
TH: Because somehow he’s in, but he’s so clueless. But he’s still part of the crew—they include him on everything. Even though he doesn’t know what’s going on. You know what I mean? There’s something about him that you love just because he’s such an outcast. And, to be honest, it’s really sad that he dies.
Bums: Yeah, didn’t like seeing Donny go. The Coen brothers like to kill Steve Buscemi, though.
TH: Oh, yeah, I didn’t think about that.
Bums: So what do you think it is about the movie that resonates with so many people? Why are people so into it?
TH: I think mainly the originality of the characters. And the extremes at which they are: the slacker Dude, and then there’s the freaky artist, and the pseudo-aristocrat Lebowski. They’re just all so over the top. But they work together. And then the German dudes—that’s a whole ending unto itself.
I got married in January, and my friend, for a wedding gift, got an original print of Jeff Bridges’s photo of when they were taking the Autobahn cover shoot. So he gave this original print, signed by Jeff Bridges, to us.
Bums: What about a favorite scene?
TH: That’s tough. I think one of my favorite scenes, even though it’s short-lived, is when the Dude crashes.
Bums: When he runs into the dumpster?
Autobahn Album Art
The cover for Autobahn’s Nagelbett (which is German for Bed of Nails) was inspired by Kraftwerk’s The Man-Machine.
TH: Yeah. It’s so ridiculous that his roach gets caught under the seat, and he’s freaking out, drinking a beer.
And then the homework. That’s a lot to go through just to find the homework.
Bums: Do you ever find yourself quoting lines from the film?
TH: Phone’s ringin’, Dude.
Bums: Is that the one you quote most often?
TH: That’s the easiest one.
Bums: It seems like they change over time. At first it’s “Mark it 8, Dude” and “Over the line!” But then it becomes the more subtle ones.
TH: I do it all the time: “Nothing is fucked here, Dude,” and “That’s fucking interesting man, that’s fucking interesting” are probably the most common. Sometimes I have to censor them with “effing,” though.
Bums: What do you think about the Dude as a hero? Do you see the character of the Dude as a hero?
TH: In some ways—just by chance, though. It’s not like he necessarily makes the right decisions, but he just happens to weave into wrapping things up. By circumstance. I think, just by the fact that he’s sort of indifferent—not indifferent, but ineffective—is what makes him fix it all.
Bums: Yeah, in a backwards sort of way.
TH: Yeah. You know, one of my favorite lines that I use a lot, and rarely people get it, is if someone hands me a drink or fixes me a drink and it’s really strong, I always tell them, “You make a hell of a Caucasian, Jackie.” Rarely do they ever pick it up.
Bums: But when they do, it’s magic, right?
Bums: There’s some bonding that goes on there.
TH: Exactly.
Bums: When you went to the Hollywood Star Lanes before they tore it down, what was that like?
TH: They had a display of some of the artifacts from the movie. So that was cool to see. I think I was more excited to see the outside, with the stars, than actually being inside. Because inside, when you’re really there, it’s a different perspective on how you pictured it, you know, where the bar is and where the lanes are. Because all that stuff gets distorted with how they shoot it. But getting to see the stars outside, and the parking lot where everything went down, was exciting. I mean, that’s where Donny died.
Bums: Does The Big Lebowski get played a lot on the tour bus?
TH: Yeah. It’s always at the front. It’s kind of a common denominator among the crew. But I gotta say, it’s really fun just watching it on airplanes on my iPod, too, all alone.
CRAIG MCCRACKEN—Los Angeles
Name: Craig McCracken
Residence: Los Angeles
Are you employed? Creator of The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends which can be seen on the Cartoon Network.
Achievement: Inserted several Lebowski references in both television shows and The Powerpuff Girls Movie.
Age: 35
Bums: Did you like The Big Lebowski the first time you saw it? If not, how many times did it take?
Craig McCracken: Well, like all Coen brothers’ films I loved the visuals, the writing, and filmmaking right away, but as an overall film experience I was kinda confused. Walking out of the theater, I was like, “What just happened?” I knew I just saw something, but I wasn’t quite sure what that something was. It wasn’t until days later that it really began to sink into my psyche. Then after probably the second or third viewing, I realized it was one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen.
Bums: How has The Big Lebowski affected your life?
CM: Every time I watch the film, it puts me in a really good mood. I just like the vibe of the whole thing. The Dude is a really inspirational character to me.
Bums: You have dropped some Big Lebowski references in your shows The Powerpuff Girls and Fosters Home. Well done, sir. Can you talk a little about your favorite references and what kind of response they have gotten?
CM: There was an episode of Powerpuff Girls where the Mayor’s assistant, Ms. Bellum, was kidnapped and we aped the whole fireside ransom-note sequence. In another Powerpuff Girls episode, the Dude is seen on a bus. In the opening of The Powerpuff Girls movie, the shot of Professor walking through the grocery store is taken directly from the intro scene of the Dude. In Foster’s we did a bowling episode called “The Big Lablooski” that featured a shot of Walter, Donny, and the Dude. The responses are pretty much a thumbs-up from those who pick up on the references. That, and getting to be interviewed for this book.
Bums: If you were a Big Lebowski character, which one would you be? Who is your favorite?
CM: Well, it’s probably gonna be everyone’s answer, but I really love the Dude and his whole perspective on life. He’s like Buddha to me. Whether he knows it or not, he’s achieved some sort of enlightenment. Like the Stranger says, “It’s good knowing he’s out there. The Dude, takin’ ’er easy for all us sinners.” I want to be like that someday.
Life Imitates Lebowski
Once you’ve watched the film a number of times, the world around you begins to change. When you see a bottle of Mr. Bubble you hear the songs of the humpback whale. Seeing a tumbleweed invokes the Stranger’s voice in your head. Every time you see half and half in the grocery store you are tempted to sniff it for freshness instead of just checking the date. If there’s a bowling pin, a ransom note, or a pair of dirty undies in a movie, you think, Is that a reference to The Big Lebowski? Some would say you’re obsessed, and they’d probably be right.
No need to worry: You are not alone. Achievers are everywhere. They are writing for television shows, programming video games, opening restaurants, and forming bands. The following are a few of the places in the world we have seen Lebowski come to light.
The list below isn’t meant to be comprehensive, but we do hope it gives you an idea of the all the different areas in which Achievers work and play. New references are cropping up all the time. Check out the LebowskiFest.com forum or the “Big Lebowski in Popular Culture” article on Wikipedia.org for a more thurrah compilation.
On Television
• The 2006 season of Veronica Mars featured the following lines: “You’re entering a world of pain, Larry!” and “Careful, man, there’s a beverage here!”
• Powerpuff Girls creator Criag McCracken has succeeded in working in many lines of diaialogue and caricatures of the Dude, Walter, and Donny into his cartoons. Many of the scenes he creates are homages to scenes from The Big Lebowski.
• In an episode of the CBS series CSI: NY, a man is accused of murdering his brother, whose body is found rolled up in a rug. The following dialogue is exchanged:
Detective: “We found your brother in that fancy rug of yours.”
The accused: “He probably stole it on his way out.”
Detective: “What's he, a Big Lebowski fan? Just decided to take the rug for the heck of it?”
On the Internet (s)
• The Web site HomestarRunner.com features a character dressed as Walter Sobchak in a cartoon that takes place on Halloween.
• Several film shorts have been created with Lebowski dialogue dubbed over animation or video: He-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Monsters, Inc., Brokeback Mountain, and many others have been Lebowskified.
In Music
• Two bands that have performed at Lebowski Fests in New York and Seattle respectively, include the Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers and the Fucking Eagles.
• A number of other bands have chosen lines of Lebowski dialogue for their names, including Give Us the Money, Lebowski, the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers, and Shut Up, Donny.
In Video Games
• In the 2002 Spider-Man video game, a training section called “Pinhead Bowling” features the voice of Bruce Campbell saying over the PA, “Jesus Quintana, your lane is ready, Jesus Quintana.”
In Food
• Archie McPhee makes Nihilist Chewing Gum, which has absolutely no flavor.
• One of the “stunt rugs” used in filming the movie now hangs on the wall of La’Bowski's Restaurant in Lubbock, Texas.
• Dresden, Germany, is home to a watering hole called the Lebowski-Bar. A giant, hand-painted mural features characters from the film, and they play the movie on a near-continuous loop.
• Oneida Lake, New York, is home to Lebowski’s Sports Bar and Grill. One of their specialty subs is The Big Lebowski, a tasty concoction of steak, cheese, and garlic bread.
Bums: What is the most extreme length you’ve gone to express your love of The Big Lebowski?
CM: I was in a thrift store once and I came across the same sweater the Dude wears in the film. So I started wearing it every day, which led to this period where I sort of became the Dude. I already had the gut and the hair, so it wasn’t long before I was shuffling around the studio in sloppy clothes and slippers and drinking White Russians at night. I stopped as soon as I met my wife. But the White Russian is still my drink of choice.
Bums: What is your favorite scene?
CM: It’s really hard to pick a favorite, but I’ll never forget the first time I saw the film. The last scene, where the Stranger breaks the fourth wall and delivers his monologue, totally blew me away. I couldn’t believe how long it was going on, and the longer it went, the funnier it got. It’s those types of scenes that make me love all the Coens’ films. They push things so far it’s almost cartoony. I’ve actually learned a lot about filmmaking and storytelling for cartoons from watching their films.
Bums: What other movie would you consider yourself a huge fan of?
CM: I typically like more obscure films. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Mon Oncle, and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy are on my desert-island list along with The Big Lebowski.
Bums: When did you realize you weren’t alone?
CM: A few years after the film came out I would end up talking to people who were as into it as I was. My brothers-in-law and my cousin are fans. But I think it was when I first heard about the Lebowski Fest in ’02 that I knew I wasn’t the only one and there was something bigger going on.
Bums: How many times have you seen The Big Lebowski?
CM: Man, I don’t know, probably around like fifteen, twenty times. It’s the kind of film that I’ll just put on for a bit or watch when it happens to be on TV just to get a little fix. I watched it again to prepare for this interview so I could get in that space. Like I mentioned earlier, I like the whole vibe of the thing—it just makes me feel good. I enjoy it whole or in bits.
Bums: Why do you think The Big Lebowski has such an effect on certain people like yourself?
CM: Here’s my theory: The protagonists in most movies are very proactive, they move the story forward, it’s very wish-fulfillment storytelling. In The Big Lebowski, the Dude only actively moves the story forward twice. In the beginning he goes to the the Big Lebowski to get compensated for his rug, and in the end he goes back to the Big Lebowski to call him out. The rest of the film, the Dude is either being told to go somewhere or physically taken somewhere. He’s being bounced around from one plot point to the next without his control, and he tries to do the best he can in each situation. This to me is much more like real life. Most people are not go-getter, A-type heroes. Most people try to do the best in whatever situation they happen to find themselves in, and they ultimately want to do the right thing and get back to doing what makes them happy.
Bums: What is the most Dude thing you’ve ever done?
CM: I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was very Dude in college, if you know what I mean.
Bums: Please give your own brief synopsis of The Big Lebowski in one breath.
CM: Guy who’s found his bliss loses it when he falls facedown in the muck. Does his best to get out of it and gets back to following his bliss.
Bums: What is your favorite line?
CM: “Careful, man, there’s a beverage here!” Though in the TV dub of the film, the way they cleaned up “This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass” is amazing. They translated it to “This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps.” For some reason that line makes Walter seem even more like a nut.
Bums: How do you cope with those people in your life who just don’t get it?
CM: Just smile, nod, and say, “Fuck it.” It’s like you said, some people just don’t get it. It would be very un-Dude of me to force my views on them.
Bums: Has what you love about the movie changed over time?
CM: Not really changed, but definitely grown. I still love all the characters and the film’s total vibe. But lately, as a Southern Californian, I’ve really begun to appreciate the portrayal of the city. It’s not the typical Beverly Hills or East L.A. SoCal, but it’s North Hollywood, Downtown, Venice, Pasadena, and as the opening scene acknowledges, it’s still a desert and a part of the Old West.
Bums: If you could ask the Coen brothers one question about The Big Lebowski, what would it be?
CM: I always saw the scene with the Stranger and the Dude as a sort of passing of the baton. Here’s what I mean: The Stranger is a cowboy, the quintessential symbol of America. In that scene it’s almost as if he’s telling the Dude that now he’s the quintessential symbol of America. Like he says in the beginning, “He’s the man for his time and place, he fits right in there.” I’d like to ask them if I’m crazy.
Bums: What’s your highest bowling score?
CM: I have no idea; I’m so bad I don’t even bother keeping score.
Bums: What day is this?
CM: Sunday, November 5, 2006. I’m not Jewish, but in respect for Shomer Shabbos, I made sure not to do this interview on Saturday.
JOHNNY HICKMAN—Fort Collins, Colorado
Name: Johnny Hickman
Residence: Fort Collins, Colorado
Are you employed? Singer/songwriter/lead guitarist for Cracker
Achievement: Cofounded the band Cracker with David Lowery.
Age: 50
Bums: Upon which viewing of The Big Lebowski did you realize you were hooked?
Johnny Hickman: I believe the third or fourth. I was on our tour bus and watched it every night of that tour after the Cracker shows as we drove to the next town. By the fourth or fifth night I was making Caucasians for anyone who would watch with me.
Bums: How has The Big Lebowski affected your life?
JH: Not a day goes by that I don’t quote a line of dialogue from The Big Lebowski. It’s great sport amongst we Achievers to find new and inventive ways to drop lines from The Big Lebowski into everyday situations to amuse ourselves and one another. Several of my friends and I were doing this almost from the first time we watched the film, and were delighted when we realized that it is common practice with any group of true Achievers.
Bums: Who is your favorite character, and why?
JH: It’s a close tie with the Dude, but I have to go with Walter. He’s a loose cannon and an insufferable know-it-all, yet he has a big, sensitive heart and really means well. And he is often right, isn’t he? He is sentimental to a fault, which is also kind of endearing. Walter’s got his friends’ backs and they know it. He is as complex and aggro as the Dude is simple and laid-back, which makes their dynamic as a pair so wonderful. If I were in trouble I would want Walter by my side.
Bums: If you were a Big Lebowski character, which one would you be?
JH: I’m a slightly lazy man with an occasionally explosive temper, so perhaps that makes me sort of a cross between the Dude and Walter.
Bums: What is the most extreme length you’ve gone to express your love of The Big Lebowski?
JH: My wife deserves that honor for throwing me a Big Lebowski party for my fiftieth birthday. It was held in a bowling alley complete with constantly flowing Caucasians, a case of Sioux City sarsaparilla, and even a rug-pissers cake that she helped design. She had a wide-screen brought in for viewing The Big Lebowski. My favorite moment was having my teenaged nephews and bandmates quote the dialogue right with me. I was so proud it brought me to tears. I also have a framed Big Lebowski movie poster that my nineteen-year-old son bought me a few years ago. It hangs in a place of honor right by my gold records and… what-have-you.
Bums: What is your favorite scene?
JH: The Dude’s first meeting with the millionaire Lebowski. The dialogue, the polarity between the two characters, the gestures, the body language, the way it’s shot, is pure genius.
Bums: What other movies would you consider yourself a huge fan of?
JH: My other favorite movie is The Elephant Man, directed by David Lynch. It’s as opposite as you could get from The Big Lebowski in terms of mood. I watch The Big Lebowski to laugh and The Elephant Man to cry. I consider them both nearly perfect films. They are the only two films I own that I constantly implore others to watch with me. First runner-up would be Fargo.
Bums: When did you realize you weren’t alone?
JH: When I remember a former roadie of Cracker named Jeff Mayes watching The Big Lebowski over and over in the back lounge of the tour bus. Jeff soon moved into a California bungalow and then realized it was in the complex the Dude lived in! Curvy sidewalk and all! After the tour I found his copy of the film and began my own addiction. My finest moment of The Big Lebowski camaraderie came when my band played in Louisville, Kentucky, and you guys introduced yourselves to me. We had dinner together, and you allowed me a peek into your madness at the office later. It was a day that changed my life forever.
Bums: How many times have you seen The Big Lebowski?
JH: At least one hundred, probably more. I own two copies of the DVD so that I am never far from it at home or on tour.
Bums: Why do you think The Big Lebowski has such an effect on certain people like yourself?
JH: I consider it the definitive buddy movie for our times. It really has it all. A great story line, brilliantly conceived characters, mystery, thrills, high drama, and, above and beyond all else, it’s one of the funniest movies ever made, in my opinion.
Bums: What is the most Dude thing you’ve ever done?
JH: My post-tour ritual is very Dude. When I get off the road the very first thing I do is put on my robe. Then I wander around the house sipping Caucasians, listening to and largely ignoring phone messages. I also light candles and listen to brainless New Agey music in the tub. Of course no one has ever tossed a ferret, or “marmot,” in there with me. Aside from the Caucasians, I’ve done these things for years, even pre–The Big Lebowski. The Dude taught me the wonder of White Russians as medication from everyday stress.
Bums: Please give your own brief synopsis of The Big Lebowski in one breath.
JH: This film is a side-achingly funny tale of mistaken identity and the subsequent chain of events that occurs. Some viewers will simply enjoy it as that and move on with their lives. For others it becomes a way of life. I am one of those, and I make no apologies for it.
Bums: What’s your favorite line?
JH: “Yes! Fuck it! That’s your answer. That’s your answer for everything! Tattoo it on your forehead!”
Bums: How do you cope with those people in your life who just don’t get it?
JH: I don’t have many close friends who don’t get it. If someone does not get The Big Lebowski then they probably don’t have much of a sense of humor, and life is too short to spend it around those people.
Bums: Has what you love about the movie changed over time?
JH: Yes. That’s part of the beauty of being an Achiever. You find new things to love. Of course, nothing beats those first few moments when I take my first sip of Caucasian and hear the first notes of “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.” At that moment, all is right in the world.
Bums: If you could ask the Coen brothers one question about The Big Lebowski what would it be?
JH: Gentlemen, will you please consider coming to one of the Lebowski Fests for a question-and-answer session? Don’t be afraid, we are harmless. Like Trekkies, only slightly hipper and more relaxed.
Bums: What’s your highest bowling score?
JH: 149. I’m no Donny.
Bums: What day is this?
JH: I have not checked my calendar, so I have no frame of reference.
ALYSHA NAPLES—San Francisco
Name: Alysha Naples
Residence: San Francisco
Are you employed? Graphic designer/university professor
Achievement: Trivia champion at the Fifth Annual Lebowski Fest in 2006.
Age: 31
Bums: Looking back: How would you say that The Big Lebowski has affected your life?
Alysha Naples: Well, it’s definitely changed my vocabulary.
Bums: For better or for worse?
AN: I don’t know. Not necessarily for better, but I definitely find that I tend to use a lot of Lebowski phrases, especially in the classroom, and it’s always really interesting to me to see which of my students laugh and which don’t. And then, of course, they start misquoting it at me, and then I have to cringe.
Bums: Do you think there are any characteristics that distinguish the Lebowski fans from your other friends?
AN: I think that we drink more than they do. All of my friends, part of the community or not, are at least people who enjoy the movie. Nobody takes it quite to the level that I do within my friends that I haven’t met through the Lebowski Fest forum. I would just say on the whole that Achievers are a bit of a drunker group.
Bums: Who is your favorite character and why?
AN: This is tough. I hated Walter the first time I saw it, but now I think he’s totally genius. Although he’s such an asshole that I don’t think I could say that he’s my favorite. And then the Dude, of course, but I don’t really relate, because I think I’m probably the only Achiever who doesn’t smoke pot.
But for some reason, as great as the main characters are, I think the real genius of the movie is in the supporting cast. Is it Jesus, Brandt, the Stranger, Jackie Treehorn, her costar in the beaver picture? I don’t know. Brandt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, is so brilliant, and his performance is so nuanced, that even though I’ve seen it maybe about a hundred times, Brandt still gets me. Every time.
Bums: What’s the most extreme length you’ve gone to to express your love for The Big Lebowski?
AN: Well, I would say that three thousand miles that I have gone each way to Louisville to the Lebowski Fest. Three times. With flash cards. And custom-made bowling coveralls. I’ve knitted probably thirty wristbands for forum Achievers. And in my basement I have a bench from the Hollywood Star Lanes.
Bums: What about a favorite scene from the movie?
AN: Um, I’d have to think the opening bowling scene, where the Dude is talking about his rug. It really ties the movie together. There is something about that scene that—while there are others that I think are equally well put together—there is something about that scene and how it really establishes so much about the characters and the relationships between them, while having a completely nonsensical discussion in so many ways, that I think is just fantastic.
Bums: What is it about the movie that has such a huge effect on certain people like yourself?
AN: It’s smart and funny. But I think the smart part is the really important part. It’s subtle. There is something in the humor that I think to some extent we’re kind of like the same people that like the bands that nobody else has heard of.
And there is something about knowing that everyone isn’t going to get this joke that I think makes us appreciate it all the more. There’s something about working for the laugh that I think we appreciate.
Bums: Final question: What day is this?
AN: Is it already the tenth?
The Stranger Says…
“Dude!” The word dude and its variations (Duder, His Dudeness, et cetera) are said 160 times.
The Academic Symposium—Louisville, Kentucky
In conjunction with the 2006 Lebowski Fest in Louisville, Kentucky, two professors/ friends/Coen brothers fanatics were inspired to hold an academic symposium focusing on The Big Lebowski. Edward Comentale, an associate professor of English at Indiana University, and Aaron Jaffe, an assistant professor of English at the University of Louisville, put out a call for papers to their academic brethren with the aim of “inventing a critical program equal to the tasks of interpreting The Big Lebowski and addressing the fan cult that has quickly grown in its wake.”
In response, they received more than eighty submissions from cultural commentators, critics, theorists, and scholars of all stripes. Among the two dozen papers selected were “Dudespeak,” “Figurin’ the Fuckin’ Carpet,” and “I Hate the Eagles: The Big Lebowski Meditates on Musical Genre.” (A full list of papers is included at the end of this section.)
When Comentale and Jaffe put out their call for papers, they included the following “Letter to Donny” by way of explanation. With their permission, we’ve included it here. They’d love it if you would read it and give them notes.
To: Donald Kerabatsos
From: Edward Comentale and Aaron Jaffe
Re: A Frame of Reference
Date: September 11, 2006
Sorry we missed you at our meeting with the creators of Lebowski Fest at Lynn’s Paradise Cafe in Louisville, Kentucky.
The order of the day was how to bring brainpower to their annual celebration of all things Lebowski.
On the one hand, amidst all the White Russians, sarsaparillas, and bowling, Lebowski fans, aka “Achievers,” love nothing better than to spout all manner of high-falutin’ theory about the movie we all admire.
On the other hand, we like to spout high-falutin’ theory all the time, but all too rarely get to do it while we drink oat sodas and bowl.
A symbiosis was born.
In a bowling alley, we said.
Like, what’s a symposium, they said?
Don’t worry about it, we said.
And yet we worried anyway, as is our nature…
The Coen brothers have drawn together an unusual cult. Walking the line between brainy French philosophy and Tinseltown schmaltz, they taunt and tantalize a legion of overeducated and underemployed slackers. Heidegger avec Hula Hoop. Ulysses in hair pomade. Saddam Hussein in bowling shoes. The Big Lebowski, the Big Other—sprinkle in loads of ins ’n’ outs to confuse the theory and the amusement. Each movie, a cosmic thingamajig, urging us westward ho, spinning the best and worst of twentieth-century Americana into its great, glorious pinwheel!
Somewhere in this, a new kind of fan culture is born: dark post-postmodern dopamine—part mental, part visceral, always dark, and always hysterical. Fans too smart, too dumb, too lazy, too snobby, too T-shirted, too sullen, too partial to road food for their own good—known to pontificate wildly about Heisenberg and then micturate (Is that even a word? Yes, it is.) on the Technicolor carpets. For us, the “Achievers,” any difference between fans and scholars is strictly academic.
No degree required, but can’t it all be a little enhanced with some knowledge of film history, literary theory, Southern radio, nihilism, and Jewish mysticism? You should have to watch Coen stuff to earn your degree, we thought. And to prove it, we’ve taught college classes on the Coens to teach our students that, paraphrasing Socrates now, sometimes stupid is just another name for smart. How can something so pretentious be so puerile? One “Achiever” put it best: “Thinking about Coen movies is impossible—you’d have to think of something that they’re not already thinking, and they’re thinking about everything.”
For the “over-Achiever,” then, the question is not what we can do for The Big Lebowski, but what The Big Lebowski can do for us. How can Coen-style genre-scrambling, style-swaggering, kinetotheorizing, mouth-breathing stupidity help us invent a new way of doing a scholarly conference, fostering quick ’n’ dirty intellectual exchange and community accompanied by cracking kingpins? Can we bring fans and academics (who are, after all, fans of fans) back together again?
The symposium bull pen included a shocking range of perspectives from “Achievers” across the U.S. and Canada, both inside and out of the university, joining together to discuss potential frames of reference for a movie and all its cultural baggage. Some thirty professors and movie critics—academic and nonacademic layabouts of all stripes— hunkered down to talk Lebowski in a bowling alley meeting room for two days before Lebowski Fest ’06.
With the Dude’s addled attention span as our guide, the program departed from the usual format of academic conferences: papers were shorter, approaches more varied, leaving lots more time for the greasy lane food and wild-eyed discussion we love. Panelists spoke on a host of topics related to the movie (interior design, silent film, industrial chemicals, Brunswick, Raymond Chandler, Rip Van Winkle, etc.) and show off a ridiculous range of approaches (linguistics, history, psychoanalysis, rhetorical analysis, cultural studies, media studies, informatics, library science, anthropology, etc.). One professor just talked about why he looked like the Dude.
In the end, we all remembered to take comfort in the Dude’s immortal words: “Hey, man, why don’t you fucking listen occasionally? You might learn something.”
We remain, like you, Donny, children who wander into the middle of a movie. Abidingly …
IS THIS YOUR HOMEWORK, LARRY? SYMPOSIUM PAPERS
• Dennis Allen, West Virginia University: “Logjammin’ and Gutterballs: Masculinities in The Big Lebowski”
• Fred Ashe, Birmingham-Southern College: “Love and Death and the Dude Van Winkle”
• Matthew Biberman, University of Louisville: “Lebowski avec Lacan: Rethinking Freud’s Comic Logic”
• Tom Byers, University of Louisville: “He’s the Man for His Time…: Lebowski Generations”
• Bradley Clissold, Memorial University, St. Johns, Canada: “Fuck It, Dude, Let’s Go Bowling: The Antecedent Cultural Connotations of Bowling in The Big Lebowski”
• Ed Comentale, Indiana University: “Where the Pavement Ends and the West Begins: Some Notes on Frontiers and Gestures in The Big Lebowski”
• Todd Comer, Defiance College: “You’re Like a Child Who Wanders into the Middle of a Movie: Birth and Representational Violence in Fargo and The Big Lebowski”
• Alan Dale, Independent Scholar: “The Coen Brothers: A World of Irony”
• Steve Davis, Indiana University: “The Noir That Wasn’t There: The Big Lebowski, Film Noir, and Postmodern Cinema”
• Emily Dill and Karen Janke, Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis: “New Shit Has Come to Light: The Information-Seeking Behavior of the Dude”
• Jonathan Elmer, Indiana University: “Abiding and Enduring”
• Richard Gaughran, James Madison University: “Professor Dude: An Inquiry into the Appeal of His Dudeness for Contemporary College Students”
• Thomas Giannotti, California State University, Dominguez Hills: “Lebowski/Mnemosyne: Cultural Memory, Cultural Authority, and Forgetfulness”
• Dennis Hall, University of Louisville: “Figurin’ the Fuckin’ Carpet”
• Aaron Jaffe, University of Louisville: “Brunswick/Fluxus”
• Josh Kates, Indiana University: “What’s the Difference? The Dude or Paul de Man as True Heir to the Sixties”
• Justus Nieland, Michigan State University: “Dudespeak”
• Marc Ouellette, McMaster University: “Don’t Fuck with the Jesus: The Big Lebowski, Ritual and (Imposed) Narratives of the Self”
• Diane Pecknold, University of Louisville: “I Hate the Eagles: The Big Lebowski Meditates on Musical Genre”
• Chris Raczkowski, University of South Alabama: “The Competing Noir Daddies of the Coen Brothers”
• Andrew Rabin, University of Louisville: “Well, It’s Not a Literal Connection, Dude: History, Allegory and the Medieval Grail Quest in The Big Lebowski”
• William Preston Robertson, Writer and Filmmaker: “Chuckleheaded Beacon in an Existential Night: A Brief History of the Bowling Noir Film Genre with Some Post Modernist Neo-Noir Afterthoughts”
• Judith Roof, Michigan State University: “Size Matters”
• Stacy Thompson, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire: “Obscene Enjoyment and the Port Huron Statement”
• Steve Wender, Independent Scholar: “What Condition the Postmodern Condition Is In: Collecting Culture in The Big Lebowski”
• Alisha Wheatley, Independent Scholar: “Lebowski Fest Through the Looking Glass: Electronic Media and Live Performance”