Since its release nearly ten years ago, The Big Lebowski has become a cult classic with a worldwide following, having survived the baffled reaction of many mainstream critics. Its fans tend to be fanatical, congregating at 'Lebowski Conventions' in bowling alleys across American and Britain, and even dressing up as characters from the film. Among the funniest films of the last twenty-five years, and one of the high-water marks of 1990s genre recycling and pastiche, The Big Lebowski is also littered with playful and subversive references to film history, especially to Raymond Chandler's world of hardboiled detective classics and the world of film noir. The Big Lebowski is the rarest kind of film, a comedy whose jokes become funnier with repetition. The same goes for its multitudinous jukebox-like references to other films, many of which open up vistas for intertextual interpretation. Underneath the film's breakneck pacing and foul-mouthed characters, a farcical collection of flakes, losers, and phonies, is a surprisingly humane account of what fools we mortals be. It is one of the oddest buddy films ever made, with extraordinary performances by Jeff Bridges and John Goodman. In this study, The Big Lebowski is set into the context of 1990s Hollywood cinema, anatomised for its witty relationship with the classics which it satirises, and discussed in terms of its key theme: the hopeless flailing of ridiculously unmanly men in the world of discombobulated, mixed-up, or put-on identities that is Los Angeles.
Overall quite good Overall, this is quite a nice book. If you are at least a casual fan of the movie (i.e., have seen it more than twice) you will probably enjoy it. If you are an avid fan of the movie you MUST read it. The authors make several great observations of the film's props, dialogue, double entendres, et al. that even an avid fan surely missed, even after multiple viewings. They also make a lot of interesting comparisons of The Big Lebowski to film history (including past Coen Brothers' films). The text is ripe with full-frame stills from this film and those that it is compared to.
At times the prose can be a bit verbose (e.g., the comparison to Philip Marlowe) and lofty, but that's to be expected from this series of books.
Let's put it this way: you're on Amazon reading a review of a book about a specific movie. You've come this far for a reason. Buy it and read it. You'll love it...
"Sometimes there's a man..." Sometimes there's a man who just fits in to his time and place. And of course, it is the Dude, the Little Lebowski, we are talking about here. Although it was a flop at the box office, The Big Lebowski is now deservedly a cult classic, with a following to match that of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Just in my hometown of Cleveland recently there was a Lebowski bowl-a-thon preceding a midnight showing of the movie.
It is not surprising then that the British Film Institute would publish one of its monographs on the movie. It is pretty good, too. THE BIG LEBOWSKI (and I am talking about the book here) is broken down into four sections. The first explores the incongruities within the movie that make it a bit confusing the first time around. Such incongruities are both large (just how did a laid back dude from the '60s get to be such good friends with the uptight, everything-is-about-'Nam Walter?) and small (a picture of Richard Nixon in the Dude's apartment). Such juxtapositions are tied into the Coen brothers' overall catalogue and tied together for the reader, just like the Dude's rug (which got the whole story rolling) tied his room together.
The second section looks at The Big Lebowski in the context of older film noir, including The Big Sleep based on the Raymond Chandler movie. As the authors point out, The Big Lebowski is also a crime movie, similar to though different from such classic noir. Despite its humor, The Big Lebowski is not merely a spoof. Nor is it an homage. Rather, it is a pastiche, with modern characters laid over the classic ones. The Dude is quite different from Philip Marlowe, Chandler's famous detective. Whereas Marlowe was smooth, the Dude has difficulty completing a sentence even when no one is interrupting him. Yet similarites are recognizable below the surface.
The authors miss a bit in the third chapter, discussing the concept of masculinity in the movie as well as the Coen brothers' other works. A clumsy attempt to tie the movie into the presidency of Ronald Reagan comes off as more of an amateur's attempt to take a sucker punch at the former president. Further, underneath some otherwise good points, there is a slight undertone of misandry (hatred or belittlement of men), such as when the authors state that the Dude, rather than trying to be a man, can focus instead on being a human being. Just the nice type of false dichotomy used to denigrate a class of people while giving the persons making it some type of plausible deniability as to their doing so.
This is especially noteworthy given that the character Maude Lebowski is basically begging for such an analysis herself. Self important, arrogant, clear issues with men, patronizing attitude towards those she thinks are not as smart as herself (which is almost everyone), with not the slightest insight into her own personality defects, she is a walking bullseye of the gender theories of feminists. Yet the authors do not touch this. No doubt criticizing women, let alone feminists, does not win one accolades in the academy or the media, where our two authors live their lives. Denigrating men is so much better for the career and the ego.
The book wraps up with a chapter on laughter and what the important things in life really are. Bowling plays such a large part in the movie because it is a place where people can go, be themselves and have a good time. The Coen brothers often have movies with characters who enjoy their lives and characters who do not. This plays especially large in The Big Lebowski, with the laid back Dude on one side and the nihilists and the Big Jeffrey Lebowski himself on the other.
Overall, THE BIG LEBOWSKI is a solid contribution to the BFI series. It is especially so for any fan of the movie. Any political missteps by the authors are not serious enough to detract from the larger analysis provided. Add it to your collection. Then go bowling.
Not Just About Lebowski This is a very quick read with simple straight forward insights, mostly on The Big Lebowski, but also other Coen Brother movies (up until The Ladykillers, and one reference to the yet to be release No Country For Old Men). The book gives great ideas and theories surrrounding plot, loaction and characters, with "The Dude" at the center. Unfortunatley, if you are not familiar with details of the film noir genre, Raymond Chandler, William Faulkner, Cain, etc., then this book isnt for you. I am a fim student and have had access to thorough details about these filmic icons and found great pleasre in relating them to the Coen Brothers. Even you havent heard of any of those people, the Humphrey Bogart film The Big Sleep is a must see to comprehend some of the material, the book uses dialogoue and photos heavily from the film. All and all it is a good, light informative read about the biggest bum in movie history and the odd style of his directors.
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