The Big Lebowski is one of the most popular comedies of all time, amassing a huge cult fanbase, but what's not as well known is that the story is a spoof of some iconic novels.
"3000 years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax, you're goddamn right I'm living in the f***in' past!" has got to be the most overlooked great line in a film of numerous quotable lines.
I love that The Big Lebowski is an homage to Noir detective stories, the absurdity of putting the half-baked Dude into situations designed for the hard boiled Philip Marlowe is hilarious. In the same way that Airplane! is an almost shot-for-shot remake of Zero Hour, but with ridiculously out of place characters
If Hollywood did remakes or reboots in this way, I wouldn’t mind that much. Recognisable own contribution is the magic words. You’ve chewed and digested it.
I always knew Lebowski was a noir movie - the Stranger is the narrator, the locations are pretty much the same as Marlowe’s, LA and its surroundings - but I never noticed so many connections. Thank you for this excellent video-essay!
Extraordinary introduction to Raymond Chandler and the Hard Boiled Genre, I love the modern adaptations of Chandler's work, especially the Long Goodbye. Great analysis of the Big Lebowski
The short stories are amazing, too. "Red Wind" is my favorite... And follows the formula impeccably. Or, perhaps, establishes the Phillip Marlowe formula... The first version had 'John Dalmas' as the detective, later retconned to Marlowe.
an adjacent point - I feel like the killing of a chinese bookie, saint jack, and big lebowski could be a trilogy when looked at through the character(s) of ben gazzara. great job tho--ever since I got into the classics, I've wanted to go in-depth on all the noir etc films that are referenced in Lebowski, both on the page and behind the camera
Have you ever watched Cutter's Way? This movie is very specifically a satire of that movie. Cutter's Way even starred Jeff Bridges. Watch that movie and you will have a very different take on this flick.
It’s not a hard boiled or a spoof of hard boiled. It’s a noire. Or a spoof of a noire if you want to go there. A hard boiled is a detective. A noire is not a detective getting absorbed into a mystery. A noire the character doesn’t change or learn anything at the end. Just like Lebowski.
How else would they have had the whole 'scatter the ashes' shtick showing some reverence for Donny after all the nasty, scornful epithets directed at him?
