some other reactioner commented: "the movie is trying to form a story around the Dude, but he is so nonchalant it fails" (meant not in a negative way) ... props for the White Russian
(Edit) It was James VS Cinema who said it. Really cool guy and channel. Highly recommend everyone check him out, if you haven’t already. That's the best way I've heard this movie described lol! Props to whoever said that. -Cheers, Matthew
This is so true, I just thought it was okay the first time I saw it, and now it's in my regular rotation of favorites. Just a fantastic comedy with a fantastic cast and crew
I watched this with my ex-wife she hated it! then Im back in town visiting the bar we liked one afternoon and the bar put this movie on and the person laughing the loudest was my ex! I turned around stared at her and just started laughing!
That's the magic of this movie. First time I saw it, was like meh. Gave it a try again, and again, and I got hooked. After about 200 viewings later (over the course of 20 years), it's easily one of my fav movies. Also, the organic relationship between the Dude, Walter, and Donny is the heart of this film.
My favorite bit is when the landlord bugs him about the rent and the Dude blows him off. The landlord invites him to his "dance" show. And The Dude actually shows up! And brings 2 friends with him! As someone who has been forced to attend many friends' shows, that's class.
"Was he in Nam?" "I thought you said you were 100% certain he was not." "Well that was in the past man, so many things have happened since then, so many characters have been introduced." Me: "Yeah you know, some new information, ya know? Has come to light man."
Any time in the last thirty-five years, if Sam Elliott knocked on our door and said "I'd like to go to bed with your wife; how does a million dollars sound?", I'm pretty sure her response would be, "It might take us a little while to get the money together, but we're good for it". Sounds like Emily might say something similar.
Ha. Back in the 80s, my parents had an agreement that they would forgive each other one celebrity free shot: my dad would forgive my mom for sleeping with Tom Selleck, and my mom would forgive my dad for sleeping with Loni Anderson.
All the dude wanted was a new rug man. Also the best description of this movie I've heard was , they were filming something else and the dude just walked into it and did his own thing
There's so much joy in this film. The plot barely matters, overall. It's just a showcase for the insane, wonderful characters, dialogue that is both outrageous and subtly hilarious by turns, and just lovely, warm performances by an incredible ensemble cast. I love the contrast of the extremes of Walter and the Dude, the relentless incompetence of pretty much everyone, and the seemingly inescapable insanity of the situation. It's in my all-time top 3, and now the nostalgia is so strong that I could never replace it. What a film.
But that’s the thing. Walter is not Jewish per said. He’s over masculine but converted to his ex wife religion, and neve left even after divorce, and even took care of her dog. This seems to be part of the emasculation theme in the movie, but in the end, it’s not probably that deep. Is just someone threatening another dude Johnson.
@@Joetorres3 as some very well versed in Jewish law, I feel you are incorrect. Once he converted he is a Jew. You never stop.being Jewish. His amazing speech about 5000 years of beautiful tradition is wrong only in the number of years. One does not get a new license, or library card, or stop being Jewish
Re: emasculation, they cut an interesting bit near the end. After they drop the Big Lebowski on the floor, he pathetically rails against them and “these women” for not “(leaving) a man his f**king balls.”
Is the accuracy/inaccuracy of Walter's idea of observance what makes it funny or is it merely the references being in there in the first place? I'm always interested in whether the stupidity of the reference or the accuracy in the reference that gives it the punch.
@@Theomite I think the main source of the humor for me is the contrast of a mostly accurate explanation of the sabbath as contrasted with most of his other character traits that would not be considered in line with being sabbath observant. He is correct, we don't use money cars turn on or or lights or cook. We don't use any phone of any type and no writing, or bowling. We can violate for an emergency...
I remember the DVD commentary. It was said that Sam Elliot was great, and the mustache made it easier for editing. Like if they had to change the lines, the mustache hid any sync issues with the dialogue.
@@JBjopa8 my thing is people don’t like him because they say he’s just a crazy unhinged violent guy yet they fail to realize, and I don’t know how because it’s obvious, that he is a Vietnam Vet with untreated PTSD. He talks about Vietnam ALL THE TIME. He’s a “classic case” and the performance is fantastic. It’s both hilarious yet heartbreaking at the same time.
Emily: "He (Buscemi) used to scare me a lot as a child". What, like, waited for you behind the corner of the wall and jumped out when you weren't expecting ?
Philip Seymour Hoffman's reaction when Bunny makes her obscene proposition to the Dude is the funniest thing ever. It's like he goes through three or four distinct phases of reaction in about one and a half seconds and it kills me every time.
This movie is one of the few that I will not have any flexibility about.... It is truly a masterpiece of character development. It is clever and fantastic in every way!
A serious man, fargo, burn after reading, o brother where art thou are my favourite coen movies. True grit, i have never seen it. They have a very sadistic, chalant dark sense of humour. Coens are not writing any movies now, but it is good, since the whole media has become woke. Only caring about representation and not entertainment.
The biggest surprise or even twist in this reaction video was that Matthew is actually not a fan of ''The Big Lebowski'''! Although it is for me personally one of the most funniest movies ever made, I really respect that somebody just admit (even on social media by all means) that he doesn't like ''The Big Lebowski''! Love it!
Sam Elliott being in this makes the movie so much better. The mustache is a force of nature, first off. Second, his voice has been described as rolling thunder dipped in honey, and I couldn't agree more.
He's a great actor, shines when you least expect it. I like his performance in "Fallen" with Denzel Washington for some reason. But he does bring it in this!!
Couple of things: 1. Walter was based off of John Milius, who screenwrote (among other things) Red Dawn and Apocalypse Now 2. Paraquat is a compound used for making herbicides; specifically, Uncle Sam used it to destroy marijuana crops back in Mexico in the 70s.
As soon as I heard John Goodman say I'm perfectly calm dude I realized they pulled that soundbite snippet and put it in Transformers as one of bumblebees little comments
Don't ever be worried about expressing your opinions and feelings about what you watch. That's what reacting is. If you just say that you like something because it's very popular that's dishonest to both the fans and yourself. I believe that a person should never make their significant other watch something they clearly aren't interested in and that person should not pretend to be interested just to get along. Always thought that was stupid.
My grandparents live in California and the first time they took me to In-N-Out, it was on our way to Disneyland. I forced them to stop again on our way back. We ate there like, five more times, haha. It's boss. A lot of people who've always had access to it seem to not see how good it is, but if you've never had it, it'll blow your mind. Only other burger joint to compare is Whataburger.
As an Ordained Dudeist Priest from The Church of the Latter-Day Dude (real org BTW), I congratulate you on your discovery. Also a fun fact: When they shot the bowling dream sequence all the dancers that Jeff Bridges passed under stuffed their underwear with fake hair as a joke--coincidentally it was also the day Bridges family visited the set!
I've always assumed that Walter WAS in Vietnam. Mainly because if a character is faking it, it's usually revealed in some way during the movie. Right until the end Walter is always presumed to be a veteran. I've associated his abrasiveness with his PTSD. This is definitely one of my all time favorite Coen brothers films, but I completely understand that it's not for everyone. Just ask my wife lol.
It's been a while since I saw the movie, but I thought it was obvious he was in 'Nam (and never really got over it). If you are talking about Donny's eulogy scene, it was because *Donny* never went (the character seems younger) and had nothing to do with the military.
Actually in the original script it was going to be revealed at the end by Dude that he was never in Vietnam after he once again brought it up during Donny's eulogy and the Cohen brothers have also said Walter is based off a friend of theirs who was rejected from Vietnam for medical reasons after volunteering. I believe remember reading that they removed it from the script because it was almost too obvious of a joke but it's still a fact about the character. I think it's safe to assume that over the years Walter has been called out on never going to Nam by his friends multiple times but Walter of course, doesn't tend to change his ways so it's never brought up by his friends during the movie as they've long accepted that he's always going to claim it.
So many fun things to point out about this film, but one of my favorite stories is about the Townes Van Zandt cover of Dead Flowers at the very end of the movie. The story goes, the producers of the film already had the song in the film, but needed to obtain permission from the Rolling Stones to use it. When they asked the Stones' rep, he didn't want to mess with it and basically said "nah, find something else". The producers tried to convince him to let them use the song, said it was it was perfect, it was ready to go, but they couldn't release the film without permission to use the song. They really wanted to work it out, so they arranged a screening of the film for the Stones' rep so he could see how the song fit. At the point when the Dude is in the taxi after getting roughed up by the Malibu police, and Peaceful Easy Feeling is playing on the radio and he says "I hate the F!@#ing Eagles, Man!", the Stones' rep jumps up and says "OK, you can have the song". Don't know if it's true or not, but it makes for a good story :-)
2 Fun facts: 1) Both John Goodman and Steve Buscemi were in Monsters Inc. as Sully and Randall, respectively 2) Both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore were in The Hunger Games franchise as Plutarch Heavensbee and President Alma Coin respectively
Its a shame the americans dont know Bud Spencer and terrrence Hill films. They were so big here in europe with their non spaghetti western movies and terrence hill is still acting far into 80 in italy. i wish they would at least look into a few of them. Double trouble is so good
Very (very) loosely based on Raymond Chandler's 40's crime novel, The Big Sleep, with such a ridiculously intricate plot, you could read it 50 times and not figure it out. One of the best Coen brothers movies ever, I could watch it any damn time. Oh please do another of their surreal and hilarious movies, Raising Arizona. Thank you for this, loved it!
Love Raymond Chandler. Or any of those hard-boiled detective novels by guys like Jim Thompson, Mickey Spillane etc. Those Black Lizard reprints were really great.
Pretty much everyone is confused by it at first. It took me several times before I realised just how perfect this movie is, and now, I consider it my all-time favourite American comedy. I've seen it over 60 times, and every time, I notice something new.
"Are they supposed to be German?" "No, nihilists." That one got me. 😊 Peter Stormare is of course Swedish, but I think he's played German a few times. One accent is much like another to Hollywood, I guess.
I am SO GLAD you guys did this one, it's my favorite! The jelly sandals actually were Jeff Bridges, as was much of the Dude's wardrobe. Such an iconic role.
My personal favorite Coen Bros. movie is Burn After Reading. Very much a similar plot to Fargo, but more so on the comedic end of the spectrum. (Plus I love The Ladykillers, which most people hate; but it's so darn funny.)
@27:47_I have three jokes for this. #1) Remember the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup, #2) Looks like Donnie should’ve switched to decaf, and #3) I’ll bet you’ll never look at a cup of coffee the same way again, LOL.
Emily's actually right, at least as far as the original script goes. In the original script, it's noted that Walter wasn't ever actually in the war. It's never actually confirmed in the movie so it's not canon per se, but that IS what they were going for when they first wrote him.
The random stream of consciousness plot line probably turns some people off but this is part of the appeal for me. Coen Brothers fans are often divided on movies. I love Serious Man, Llewyn Davis and Man Who Wasn’t There but didn’t really care for No Country for Old Men. Fargo tends to be the one most people agree on.
Emily's reactions *during* the movie was almost identical to mine the first time I saw this movie in the theater my senior year in college. This is one of my favorite movies of all time. (Also, how amazing that Flea and Aimee Mann were two of the nihilists.)
It tickles me in just the right way that I always enjoy watching. I think the setup for sincere, meaningful events and having the rug pulled-out instead (it did tie the room together) sells it for me. I'm also a big fan of "Two Gentlemen of Lebowski" as presented in the style of William Shakespeare.
You guy's cut out one of the funniest lines as they have the porno on. "Lord, you can only imagine where it goes from here..." The Dude: "He fixes the Cable?"
There is a theory out there that Donnie never existed within the film. Allegedly, he was one of Walter's friends from Nam that died back in the day. The Coen bros haven't confirmed nor denied this claim. But watch this a few more times and you'll pick stuff up that could lead to your own conspiracies. Great fucking movie! 😂
I love these reactions, and Emily's rollercoaster of emotions especially! But I particularly enjoy that we know instinctively what Matthew is typing into his phone when she becomes just a tad confused. Great job guys!
I LOVE the gentleman's comment at the end about the Dude being in the wrong movie. Picking him up & inserting him into a crime not movie. That's EXACTLY what the Coen brothers said about the movie. They decided to pick some extremely unlikely characters & insert them into a straight up confusing intrigue which they were completely unable to cope with. The Dude was based on a friend of theirs named Jeff I think.
The "gathering" is called LebowskiFest, and it occurred in Louisville, KY. There are others around the country, but the Louisville one was the premiere, and is considered the "home city." I live in Louisville.
I used to live a matter of blocks from the bungalow that was used as The Dude's house. It was surreal to live in a place where so many movies have been made, an experience I'll never forget. The bitch about this movie for first-timers is they spend most of the time thinking that Walter is an asshole. By the end, you realize he's the only one who has been right the entire time about almost everything (except for the car's owner and Lebowski's war injury). Viewer submission for another Matthew Moniker: Impressario of Entertainment.
