Best Movie Ever: The Big Lebowski

Even when The Dude is getting his ass handed to him by the thugs of known pornographers (and that's cool, that's cool) he still has his wits about him.

When a conspicuous bag doesn't hold money, but a bowling ball, the question of "the fu*k is this?" is too sweet of an opening to pass up.

"Obviously you're not a golfer" is the first full belly laugh in the movie.  Part of "abiding," one might argue, is being sure to get your zingers in.

Bob Dylan's 1970 album New Morning, from which the titles and dream sequence song "The Man In Me" is taken, is the perfect soundtrack for The Dude.  It isn't an "important" album and it isn't one of the colossal failures from that period, either.  It rolls right down the middle of the lane, tuneful and singular.

"The Man In Me" is about an honest individual a breath away from danger, up for anything, looking for no particular compensation other than (preferably female) companionship.  It also has a fantastic Al Kooper organ solo.

As The Dude surrenders to Walter's idea of tracking down the other Jeffrey Lebowski (to pay for the peed-on rug that really tied the room together) he is either stretching out his back or receiving a divine spark.

If the latter, could we then say that he is extending his arms in a Christ-like pose?  Is this what "The Stranger" means by "takin' 'er easy for all us sinners?"

Even ex-German techno rockers/porno actors who believe in nothing like to get wasted and float in a pool once in a while.

Walter Sobchak has a moral code.  He believes in rules.

He doesn't want to pull a Colt M1911a1 on Smokey.  He likes Smokey.  But this a league game, and if Smokey goes over the line, it will be marked zero.  Defy him, and you'll enter a world of pain.

Now you know how a pederast charms a bowling ball.

What's a pederast, Donny?  I'll let you look that one up yourself, but here's a little tidbit.  In earlier versions of the screenplay, the character of Jesus Quintana played a much larger part.  Indeed, he joined Dude and Walter on some of their adventures.

I think we all prefer him in the finished version, teamed with Liam as an eternal enemy ready to best someone at bowling be it on Shabbos or on Wednesday.

Who is to say what is music?  Isn't all music just sound, vibrating in a specific way.  Sure, Bob Dylan is cool, but why not the recorded sounds of a bowling championship?

The fact that the sounds of bowling then segues into Bob Dylan's "The Man in Me," which, as you can see, is labelled on Side B, leads me to believe that this is one of those Sony Walkmen that could automatically switch sides.

I like your style, dude.

While the Coen Brothers' script certainly takes a jaundiced view of Maude Lebowski the character, it's hard not to be wowed by the methodology of her artwork.

Taking the post-modernist approach that the act of creating a work is part of the work itself, Maude adds colors to her commendably vaginal paintings by zipping across the canvas, naked, in a hoist.

I'm not 100% sure what's vaginal about that, but I never claimed to be a total expert about what's going on down there.

As The Dude and Tony the Driver discuss the importance of optimism (as well as rashes on the ass) Dean Martin's "Standing on the Corner" is playing.

Have you ever bothered listening to the lyrics to this tune?  I don't know what Jesus Quintana was actually indicted for, but it couldn't be any worse than what ol' Dino was doing.

"Brother, you can't go to jail for what you're thinkin'. . ."