The Dude

I have always been a big fan of the Coen Brothers when it comes to movies. One of my favorite films they made is The Big Lebowski. The Big Lebowski is about a very interesting character, The Dude, who always gets himself in very bizarre and crazy situations. The set up of the film begins with a narration sequence setting up a little of the who, what, where, etc. while “The Dude” shops for milk at a supermarket. We instantly see that the Dude is a low income bum who really doesn’t care about anything. He dresses how he wants, does what he wants, and lives life one step at a time. In the next part of the set up we follow the Dude to his house where he is attacked by two thugs. The two thugs think he is a different Mr. Lebowski, a Lebowski that is rich and has lots of money.

When the thugs realize they have the wrong Lebowski they get upset, trash the house, and pee on the Dude’s rug. This is the event that gets the story going and gives the main character a motive. Since “the carpet really tied the room together, man”, the Dude decides to find the rich Lebowski and get paid back for his damaged rug. To the Dude’s dismay, Mr. Lebowski doesn’t want anything to do with the Dude or his problems. So the Dude takes it upon himself to just take one of Mr. Lebowski’s rugs and calls it even.

Just when the Dude thought his life was back to its peaceful state he gets a call from Mr. Lebowski, who needs his help. This is the first plot point at the end of Act 1. Mr. Lebowski needs a favor of the Dude. His wife has been kidnapped by the German thugs that tore up the Dude’s house. He wants the Dude to give them their demands and fix everything up. Cornered and unable to say no, the Dude finds himself in a very peculiar situation. Something he has no purpose dealing with.

The Dude’s friend Walter ruins the whole plan by trying to give the bad guys the fake briefcase of money. This causes more problems and the thugs continue to demand the money from the Dude. The second plot point comes when we find out that Mr. Lebowski’s wife was never kidnapped, she just ran away with a friend for a few days. The Dude has basically been running around getting mixed up with things and people that he thought were related when they weren’t.

The climax happens when the Dude and his friends Walter and Donnie have a showdown with the Germans because they are still asking for the money. The stupid Germans never quite grasped the concept that there never was any money. Walter beats up the Germans and Donnie has a heart attack in the middle of the fight. In the resolution the Dude and Walter sit at the bowling alley that they always go to and recollect on what happened. For all the times they were in the bowling alley during the movie, this is the first time we actually see them bowl.