Sister Cinema Swap
Sisters Kate and Emily have seen a lot of movies, but not as many as they would like. With their differing tastes in genres, they will work through their backlogs of movies they haven't seen yet. Both sisters talk about why they did or didn’t see the movie, the plot, and rate them out of ten at the end.
Sister Cinema Swap
The Big Lebowski (1998)
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This week on Sister Cinema Swap, Emily finally watches The Big Lebowski. Kate and Emily discuss Westerns, Katharine Hepburn, damaging stereotypes, pretentious highbrow humor, Cold Mountain, Mark Wahlberg, weed-scented nostalgia, an evil FDR, and vibes based film-making. Additionally, Emily doesn't know what a nihilist is, Kate attempts to explain "the dude abides," and the sisters disagree the most about a movie thus far.
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Artwork by Jenni Crowley. Music by Nick Heredia.
Welcome to System Silver Swap the Black Classical Team Systems Works in the Blackbox and you still haven't seen my Pokemon.
SPEAKER_02I'm Emily Bateman, and I finally watched the Big Babaski. Finally, after all this time. Nobody's been asking me about it.
SPEAKER_01Everyone's been asking. When will you watch this movie? The talk of the town. Everyone says, Emily, when are you gonna watch this? And we said, Well, just wait.
SPEAKER_02Just blowing up my phone.
SPEAKER_01In episode five, apparently.
SPEAKER_02DMs through the roof. Yeah. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Totally. Hopefully, God, I hope we I hope we have DMs at this point. If four episodes have been out, that'd be nice. If you've DM'd us, hello. Welcome. Or if you haven't, do it. Yeah, please. Um but yeah, so we're we're talking about the big Lebowski from 1998, uh, Joel and Ethan Cohen starring uh Jeff Bridges and oh my god, Jeff Bridges. Jeff Bridges and John Goodman and um Steve Buscemi. Yeah, Steve Buscemi. I like yesterday I was talking to someone about movies and I could not remember Willem Dafoe's name. And that's rough. I got stuck and I guessed like every weird movie guy.
SPEAKER_02Non-traditional looking movie man.
SPEAKER_01I feel like I did Christopher Walken first. I guess Steve Buscemi. I was like, I don't know who is this guy. Then I finally got there. Um, but yeah, Steve Buscemi, um, just a delight in this movie. Julianne Moore, John Totturo, um, a lot of the the usual cast, essentially. Um, a lot of recurring people from Cohen Brothers movies. Do you want me to share why I missed the movie first? Um, yes. I forgot that we do that first. I thought I truly was just like hopping right in. You were ready, and I was excited for it. My girl, can I tell you? I know, I know you're so ready for this movie. Um, but yeah, so Emily, why'd you miss this movie? Why I've been too standard at this point.
SPEAKER_02Well, like you said, it came out in 1998. Listen, that can't be your that can't be your excuse every time. It simply can't. Okay, fine. I'm gonna keep doing it though. That's part of my reason. That's fair. When it originally came out in theaters, it was rated R, and I was not old enough. Um, also, I feel like this is a movie that many people were obsessed with as we were it was on the zeitgeist, it was like pop culture. Like I had heard of it, obviously. Um, but I never had any friends that were like so obsessed with it, they were like, you need to watch it. I knew the Duda Bides, I knew the White Russians, I knew the bathrobe. Yep. Um I mean, that was pretty much it. And I think the one time I was like at a house party late, and it was like, I don't know if it was like 10 or 11, and someone was like, What's watched, you know, the big Lebowski. And I was like, What? So they put it on. I don't remember any of it. Like, we didn't we didn't finish it either. Like, I either we stopped watching it or I left before it finished. And that was in like my 20s. So, but but I've never had like a film friend that was really like that, or if they were, they weren't like that to me. Yeah. None of my girlfriends are like super into film, at least in like the the when I think of this kind of obsession, it's more like college to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, very cult classic movies.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yes. And I mean, we had those in high school, like oh my god, Monty Python. Yes, uh, Holy Grail was huge. I mean, we were weird on the M Brooks movies.
SPEAKER_01I was just gonna say like space balls and stuff. Yeah, like it's yeah, airplane, that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_02Airplane's not, you know, but a similar, weirder comedy, but not not this kind of film stuff. So I just and I and I didn't know enough about it to want to watch it either. And I didn't know a lot about the Cohen brothers either. I think I I I think I have watched only two of their movies previously. It was A Brother Art Thou and I believe Hail Caesar, which I don't remember as much about Hail Caesar.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I saw it once, but it's like I don't know. Like they have so many more for me memorable movies, but also like I'm so much more familiar with the older movies that have that are classics at this point.
SPEAKER_02Um Right. And I don't I don't think that one was entirely well received either. Like it came out because it was star-studded. Yeah. Uh it was about like Hollywood, whatever, but like it was a I remember being at the end and it was a nothing movie. Like there was nothing to it. I remember being angry at the end because if something happened, it was like like it just, it just it was like leading up to something and then nothing, it fell very flat. And so it was just weird.
SPEAKER_01I feel like there are a lot of Cohen Brothers movies that they end and you're like, that's it. Like that's where we're at. And I think, I think because like the way that they the way that they tell stories, like I think I like I really like the Cohen Brothers. I like their movies. I love a lot of Fargo is one of those movies that if it's on, oh I have seen Fargo once. I love Fargo. Like if it's on, I'm gonna watch that movie.
SPEAKER_02I I would need to rewatch it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's beautiful. It's so beautiful.
SPEAKER_02I think I've only watched it as like a teenager or something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's definitely worth a rewatch, but it's like it's heavy, but it's like it's so, it's so good. But a lot of their movies do sort of have that like individual stories like about people, but it's like it's kind of just like slice of life, and then it's like, okay, that's that's it. Like, you know, that's what I said.
SPEAKER_02It's like a weird, it's like an unusual slice of life, though. I was talking to Chase about it last night, and I was like, it's like a nothing, but it's like the weird side of nothing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like, I don't know how to describe it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Did you did you know anything about what this movie was about?
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02No, I didn't know a lot. I read the little sentence description, but right before I watched it, and I was like, huh? And then it started. Yeah. You're like, well, let's see how this goes. Yeah, it was like something, something kidnapping scenario. And I was like, what?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02When did you see this movie? And then we can get into all the the movie stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah, totally. So I saw this movie in grad school. Um, I think this movie, I agree, like I did not see it any sooner because I think it it was something that, like you said, it's part of pop culture. It's just like it's a cult classic. Like I had heard of it. I was kind of aware of like, like it was one of those where I could picture what like the VHS cover looked like. Like Jeff Bridges' face with like the sunglasses with like the the like reflection in it, like, or like the like the Starburst sort of reflection. Like I, you know, I knew what that cover looked like. And I think that this is a movie where especially especially as a woman growing up in the 2000s, this is a movie that you would at some point in your life meet a man who said, You gotta watch the big Lebowski, and you would have to decide whether you needed to watch that movie or not. And sometimes, depending on who that man is, you're like, I'm never fucking watching that movie. I have plenty of movies where I'm like, I don't ever need to see this because some dude told me to watch it. And I'm like, I'm uninterested. I if you if this is your thing, I'm good.
SPEAKER_02Or you watch it and you're like, that explains a lot about you. Yes, yes, I am unhappy right now and we are done. With whatever relationship this is, friendship or otherwise. No.
SPEAKER_01This is my favorite movie. It is. Are you sure? Yeah, yeah. But no, this was um, this was a movie that I, you know, kind of along that vein. This is a movie that I'd watched with the guy that I was dating in grad school. Um, it was a movie that he was really big on. Um, it's very, it's right on that cusp of pretentious, like highbrow humor, but also like kind of dumbed down, like, oh man, it's like, you know, just like ridiculous, like sort of non sequitur, like like the comedy that doesn't make sense, but also like the highbrow comedy. It's like it kind of, it's got elements of both, but also at its heart, it is also a stoner comedy. And I hung out with a lot of stoners in grad school. That was that was the vibe. And I was like, okay, I understand. It's a movie that I especially watching other Cohen Brothers movies, because they do sort of trade off between these like, you know, weird comedies and very serious dramas that have some comedy but are mostly dramatic. And I think for this one, like I I really enjoyed this one. It it's a movie that I keep coming back to, and I really, I really like the script of it. I really there are scenes that I I know word for word. Full disclosure, I didn't take notes while I watched this because I've seen it about 30 times. I literally watched it and I was like, I know everything that happens in this movie. I got it. Um Jesus. Yeah, but it's the fact that I've just seen it so many times and there are so many, and uh partially I'm really excited to talk to you about it because I feel like there are definitely going to be things that I've you know watched in this movie for the past 15 question mark years, and I'm like, oh yeah, that didn't make any sense, or oh yeah, I forgot that that line's in there. Oh yeah. Like they're just you know, like the things where you like you they just wash over you and you sort of take for granted. Yeah, movies. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And also, I feel like the 2026 vibe is real strong for me in this. And I was like, this is hard to get around in so many ways. Yeah. And like with the added level of like, my husband's in the military, and I'm like, oh my god. Um, okay. Like, and we'll get into all of it, but I all of this came to me, came at me, and I was not like prepared for it. Like I had no idea.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that there was so much more going on in this movie. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But I also I didn't really know that it was like a stoner movie either.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Oh, interesting. I feel like that was like the main thing that I knew about it before I'd seen it.
SPEAKER_02I knew more about the white Russians for some reason than the weed. But like, because it was like, you know, someone would order a drink or, you know, like college parties or whatever. You talk about a drink, you're like, oh, yeah, the big Lebowski white Russians. That was like weird. Um and also, um It was like I knew he was chill, but like in my brain, when I I guess first heard about it or knew about it, it's like you can be chill without being a stoner, but I'm like, maybe that always goes together in my movies.
SPEAKER_01Maybe maybe you just like bowling. Did you know bowling was involved at all?
SPEAKER_02I don't know if I did.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02And if I did, I didn't know it was this involved. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I feel like some posters and like move like DVD covers and stuff, some of them like are more bowling forward than others, and some of them are just like, this is Jeff Bridges, and I'm like, hello, Jeff Bridges. That would make sense.
SPEAKER_02I feel like maybe I and maybe that's from when I watched it in the beginning or like in my twenties when they were at the bowling alley. I'm sure at some point when I saw it. So it's like, yeah, I think I feel like maybe that was it. I don't know. But also like there were people talking. It was one, yeah. And I'm sure someone in that party was like, you gotta watch the big Levowski. And I'm gonna do it. I was like, I don't feel like watching a movie, especially when I haven't seen before.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And you're like, right, this is the environment for me to enjoy a movie thing.
SPEAKER_02Like a movie with a lot of words and a lot of talking. And like and you know it's gonna be titled.
SPEAKER_01Nobody used subtitles in the in the the early 2000s.
SPEAKER_02Who does that? And it's like, yeah, I I like the the vocabulary can get so highbrow or seemingly highbrow. Yes. When and then so yeah, it was I was like, no, yeah, there's no noise.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's there's a lot going on with this one. I totally get it. Um with this one, it um, like I said, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen. Um specifically, sometimes I know like with their movies, typically they will like co-write and co-direct. I had heard somewhere, and I I need I meant to look it up, but like I've heard at some point, like even though they are like equally like co-directing, there are some where it's like, okay, well, this one's kind of mine and this one's kind of yours, and they will like sort of trade off a little bit. Um, but I don't, I don't know exactly where this lies on there, but I think it is interesting as far as like the range of Cohen Brothers movies. Like, I think we saw Oh Brother Were Art Thou, I think close to when it came out in like what, 2000?
SPEAKER_02I think so.
SPEAKER_01What year was that? Was that 2001 or something?
SPEAKER_02Probably. I bet Mom and Dad saw it in the theaters and then they rented it when it came out. I feel like we saw it at home because my goodness, do I know that soundtrack like the back of my hand? No, more than the movie. Like I've seen that movie like once.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I need to rewatch that movie. That was a good movie.
SPEAKER_02That's like I feel like I should at this point.
SPEAKER_01I soundtracked fucking rules, man. But that was that was the era of like folk came back, and we were all like, oh hell yeah. So good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Cold Mountain as well. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well then you're gonna love one of the bits of uh trivia that I have later. Um so so yeah, um, written and directed by Jill and Ethan Cohen. The cast, uh, Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Bishemi, um, Dave, David Huddleston is uh Jeffrey, uh the big Lebowski. Um Philip Seymour Hoffman and Tara Reed. Um great random, such great picks for like these characters. Um Sam Elliott is uh the stranger. He was on set for two days, and that's it. That makes sense. Yes. Um, I I love it. I I love Sam Elliott in this movie so much. He's so fun. So this movie, the concept for this movie, um, I found something uh that was uh the the Cohen brothers were loosely inspired by Raymond Chandler detective stories from I think the like four like 30s and 40s. Um it's like noir detective stories. Um there were a few of them, um, double indemnity and the big sleep that actually got adapted into film um a little bit later. Um, but generally it's a lot of these detective stories are they're stories about men trying to solve a crime or mystery that just gets more and more complicated as they go. Quote uh they talk about how it moves episodically and deals with the characters trying to unravel a mystery, as well as having a hopelessly complex plot that's ultimately unimportant. Um, so basically, just like someone who is trying to solve a mystery, but also just kind of having the mystery happen to them. It's almost like the main character and the protagonist, like you're not really like doing the thing. Like it's like in it, especially in this movie. Like once I read that, I was like, that makes sense. Like the dude is trying to trying to be a main character, but it's like so much is just happening to him and around him. It's like, oh, you're just these are just experiences you are having to an extent.
SPEAKER_02He's not making the decisions, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Yeah. Something I found really interesting. Um, there was essentially no improvisation in this script. Every swear word, every like man and dude and and everything is written out in this script specifically. Wow. Um, yeah, and they apparently the Como brothers do not really rewrite any of their like lines or anything. Like they write it and then they're like, here you go, we're good. And and John Goodman at this point had worked with them a couple times. Um, and Jeff Bridges was like, Okay, when, you know, when do I get rewrites? And John Goodman's like, no, no, no, no, this is what it is. And they go, Oh, okay. Um my gosh. Which I thought was fascinating. Um, I did not honestly know that. Um, there is a uh religious group based on um the philosophy of this movie. Um, it is called Dudism or Church of the Latter day Dude. Um, it basically has the tenets of like modern Taoism, um, its themes of mindfulness and taking it easy and just sort of, you know, being more relaxed. And Emily's giving me such a disdainful look, and it's very funny.
SPEAKER_02I'm so disappointed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, you can also get ordained by the Church of the Latter day Dude um and perform uh marriage services. Um I did not get ordained. Legal ones? Yeah, uh, I did not get ordained by that one. Don't worry. But um You didn't marry me. No, yeah, you're fine. You're safe, don't worry. Woo. Yeah, but yeah, so that is that is an established thing. Um Jeff Bridges mostly wore a lot of his own clothes, including the jelly sandals that he wore through most of the movie. Yeah, I noticed that about halfway through.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because it didn't start out with the jelly sandals. No, the first time they zoom out, they're terrible.
SPEAKER_01They're so bad.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's like those can't feel good. What are you doing?
SPEAKER_01No, they apparently they do, and those are his real shoes. I did find something, I didn't dig too much further into it, but basically the Cohen brothers, like they essentially said that everyone else loves this movie a lot more than they do. Like, it's not that they dislike the movie, but it's not like it's not like they're like, yeah, this was our masterpiece. They're like, yeah, a lot of people were really attached to this movie. This is just um this is a movie we made, and it's okay. But it's I I think it's very funny, like the separation between like, oh yeah, this was like the best one. They're just like, yep, we made other ones too. It was fine. Yeah. Exactly. Um, and then my last bit of trivia. Um, so the line specifically when the dude is in the cab um and tells the uh cab driver to change the station because he says he I hate the fucking Eagles. That line is in there because T-Bone Burnett was the music consultant on this movie, and he doesn't like the Eagles. So he added that. He was like, Can you have him hate the Eagles as well? T-Bone Burnett, who we know as the music producer from Oh Brother, where Art Thou and Cold Mountain. Oh my god. Yeah. Okay. Frequent collaborator of the Cohen brothers, but also like one of those lead people that made bluegrass and like a big thing in the early 2000s. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, incredibly influential. But like scrolling through, I was just like, T Bone Brunett, hang on. Wait, what? What do you mean? That's crazy. Yeah. Um, but yeah, because of that line, um, like I said, uh T-Bone Brunette doesn't like the Eagles, so he he asked them to add that line. Um, apparently, uh Glenn Frey, one of the members of the Eagles, um, angrily confronted Jeff Bridges at a party the first time he met him over it. Um yeah, and Jeff Bridges was like, I did not write that. It was a mice crazy. Yeah, I know. And then uh the song at the end, um, Dead Flowers. By the way, also the entire soundtrack rules. I love this soundtrack. It's such a good, like, 70s, 80s vibe. It's beautiful. I love it, honestly. A lot of good ones. But the uh the Rolling Stones, um, typically they charge a licensing fee. They were asking for a licensing fee of $150,000 to play that song, but then they heard the line, I hate the fucking Eagles, and they loved that so much that uh they waived the licensing fee. So they just let them use the song. What? Yeah, which I think is delightful. Um that's crazy. Yeah, I I definitely that is one of those lines that kind of sticks, and it's just like anytime I think about the Eagles, it's like, yeah, I hate the fucking Eagles. And I'm like, I don't, they're fine, but it's it's just it's just the the verbal tick of like this is a line from the movie. Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. But yeah, that's that's my trivia. I did also, we can talk about it later, but I did also talk about some of like the the overarching themes of this movie and like the the when when I was in grad school studying film, um, I did um uh I was in a westerns film class. And one of the things that we talked in talked about in there were things that draw on theme, movies that draw on themes of westerns without being the typical like cowboys, you know, in the desert somewhere. Um and the Cohen brothers absolutely have a lot of movies that are Western inspired or post-Westerns. Um Fargo is definitely one of them. No country for old men, a hundred percent. Um, but the Big Lebowski has a lot of themes of post-Westernism. Um, there's a lot of themes of civilization versus wilderness, the lack of rules and morals. You have the main character who has like the sense of right and wrong and not just like what laws are. They're trying to do the right thing, but the world doesn't necessarily want to help them do the right thing. They're seeking justice, they're feeling bad about things. Um, it's a lot of that conflict between like, you know, older ways and then newer tradition. And basically, like like with the dude, like he's you know, set in his ways, a very traditional. And then it's like being pulled into espionage and you know, high society. Yeah, high society and worlds that he is not necessarily interested in. And it's he just wants to go bowling. That's really what it is. Um, there's also a lot of great film themes in here about the concept of of different types of masculinity, honestly. Every man in this movie is a different type of man. And it honestly, you could write several term papers about it. This movie has been out long enough that so many people have written dissertations about it. Um, searching for just like the general themes of. I think I found like someone's like entire essay on like a WordPress site. I honestly I think it was like like it was like pages and pages and pages. And I was just like, well, I don't have time to read this right now, but I bet it's fascinating. But it's it's one of those movies that like people are like this should be studied, and then they actually have.
SPEAKER_02But yeah. I feel like it was also like that's the way they make movies, though, is they make them to be like in a way to be studied. Yeah. Cause like, I mean, you can watch speed and you can say this is made to be studied. What are you gonna find?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like this one, like this is it's very um conscientious.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was gonna say they're thoughtful about what they're creating. Like they're like, it's it's not like it's not something where you see a movie and you're just like, oh, like, you know, here's I think the theme of da-da-da. It's like, no, they know what the themes are. Like they know what messages they're trying to portray in their movies, which I think is which I think is really cool, and they do a good job of it. So I I don't know. I really like this one. I think it'll be interesting as we move forward and watch more movies. I'm wondering if there will be any that you that I haven't seen that you know backwards and forwards, like I know this one. Because I feel like there are like there are definitely movies that like we've both seen that I could, you know, sure talk forever about. And then I'm sure you could talk forever about, but I don't know. I don't know. That's okay. You don't have to know right now. I just I I was wondering. I'm like, I wonder if there are any movies where you're like, no, I got this.
SPEAKER_02I mean, it'd have to be like most likely like a rom-com or a comedy, but like, especially for comedies, we kind of have the same taste. Yeah. So I I think we might be hard pressed to find that right now.
SPEAKER_01That's okay. No worries.
SPEAKER_02Gosh, unless it's one of those like Disney Channel movies at some point. I know those really well. I need you to explain all of the descendants lore to me. Oh, baby, can I do it? Guess what? There's another one coming this summer. This summer? Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. God, I didn't realize it was so soon.
SPEAKER_02The last one came out two years ago.
SPEAKER_01Two oh, okay. I thought it was last year.
SPEAKER_02No, 2024. Interesting. Like the end of that year is when Evelyn really got into it.
SPEAKER_01So it was like all of yeah, that's that's my that's my backstory. That's my film studies uh spiel about it. Cool, yeah. All your fun trivia. All my fun trivia, all my actors and big names and everything. Yeah. Cool. So shall we?
SPEAKER_02Yes. Um been a while. So number one, I feel like we keep picking movies that are not an hour and a half. And I don't know when movies started being more than two hours, but I thought it was in like the 2000s. So I'm like, why are these movies two hours long? I know. Annoying. So we've got rolling grasslands, old music, narrator, like actual narrator telling a story. And I it took me a bit to figure out to recognize the voice. Yeah. Um, but this is Sam Elliott speaking. Um we we tumbleweed along until suddenly we come to a big city. And it's it explains, because I didn't know. I was like Vegas, it's Los Angeles.
SPEAKER_01It does feel very Vegas, like city in the middle of a desert. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yes, but also for someone who's never really been to the West Coast besides Seattle. Yeah. Uh, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Me neither.
SPEAKER_02So we're setting this story up with the narrator to be weird, I think. And like, yeah, we're following the tumbleweed to the ocean. I think he says the story is in the 90s, or I don't.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he does.
SPEAKER_02And then was it was it at this point? Apparently my notes are not great. Uh is it this point where the narrator No, okay. So, so because he's still talking, we we see the dude. And so he's in a grocery store. He already signature look already.
SPEAKER_01The bathrobe, the khaki shorts, the the sandals, the sandals, the sunglasses inside at night.
SPEAKER_02Yes, all of that. Yes. And uh the narrator eventually loses his train of thought and just stops the intro. Yeah. I was like, where are we going right now? I like I okay. Yeah. So that was already jarring.
SPEAKER_01The narrator also does not have a name, he is just the stranger.
SPEAKER_02I saw that when I paused it once and it pulled up the thing. It was like the stranger. I was like, okay. Uh-huh. Cool. The way out west, there was this fella. So do gets home suddenly attacked by two men, like immediately. Yeah. So many quick cuts to things.
SPEAKER_01So many, no spoiler. I mean, obviously spoilers, but so many quick cuts to him getting assaulted. So many.
SPEAKER_02Also, yeah, probably half of them. Or or cut to a bowling alley. Yeah. That's like the movie, basically.
unknownExactly.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Or waking up to something. Yeah. It's like getting attacked, waking up for in a bowling alley.
SPEAKER_01It is very episodic. It's just like, okay, consciousness, and we're awake now, and we are unconscious, and we're awake now.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah. Which kind of made it easier in some ways to write, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01It does make it feel like scene transitions. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yes. That that part of the plot was easy to figure out. So these two guys attack him. They want money for someone named Bunny. They said that's his wife. And he owes money to Drake Treehorn. Then the guy starts peeing on his rug. And then the dude's like, that's I'm not married. And I was like, oh, oh no. Yeah. And then they realize I thought this guy was supposed to be a millionaire. And then they both leave. And I have like five question marks after that in my notes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. This is immediate, this is immediate conflict. But I I love this scene. This is where it starts of like the scenes where I know every single line and I love them all.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01Like just pulling the bowling ball out of a bag and saying, What the fuck is this? And he says, obviously, you are not a golfer.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01And it's it's perfect. I love it. Like, I just the writing in this movie, I was like, I love this. This is this is so good. But yeah, we get immediately, it's like the the dude's life is not great. So the idea that all of a sudden this like even worse, like not maybe not great, but like it's not, you know, glamorous or or he's not dreaming big, really.
SPEAKER_02No, he's in a shitty apartment, yeah, drinking white Russians that he already started to drink at the grocery store with the half and half.
SPEAKER_01Like a sip in the dairy aisle.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And then all of a sudden it's just like, hey, what if this was somehow worse for you?
SPEAKER_02Like way worse violently and devaluing your property right in front of you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And then them realizing, wait a second, not the right guy. We should go wild. So then this is when we do the like the the credits? Yeah, the opening credits. We're in a bowling alley, and all the shit happens. And that's when I was like, Philip Seymour Hoffman, I love this guy. Oh yeah, you exactly. When I saw Sam Elliott, yes, I said Sam Elliott, and I was like, got it. Because at first I was like, oh, is this, you know, um Jeff Bridges talking? I was like, no. And then it said flea, like from the Red Hot Chili Pepper screen?
SPEAKER_01Uh huh. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Who is he in the movie?
SPEAKER_01He is one of the nihilists. One of the German guys? Yeah, he's the shorter guy.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. I guess I don't know what he looks like. I should have known that. That's fair. Should have known that I wasn't going to recognize him. But I was like, I know that name.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's one of those like from a band. I'm just like, I can't place him, but it's like, oh, from this band. I'm like, you're in here somewhere.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Random white guy. So this was a stark reminder of this is when you could smoke everywhere, including a bowling alley to me.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02Um, this is when I saw it was a Cohen Brothers film, and my wheels started turning. I was like, wait a second, I what is this gonna be? These guys, yeah. And we've got Walter, Dude, and Donnie, and they're they're bowling. We're gonna say that a million times in this uh episode. And they're just discussing what happened in a very frustrating way to me. And then also doubling down on Chinaman, and then one of them, like, that's not really right. And I was like, Yeah, it's not. It was very jarring to be here. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Um, yeah, there is definitely it's it's dated language, but I think I think also it's not a lot of it. Well, I think especially with this, it's that it's even dated language for 1998. Yeah, like I know, yeah, it's pointed out. Yeah, I think I read something else that was talking about about Walter's character, and basically it's like, no, like he's he's like like a veteran and has his own stuff going on, but he's also like very like neoconservative of like this is like the tenets of being a man, and it's like, okay, Walter, calm down. Unfortunately, I feel like we all know men like Walter now in 2026, and they're they're exhausting.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes, every time he spoke, I it's hard to describe the feeling, and it wasn't a good one. Yeah, it was just like this utter frustration and like some weird type of anger.
SPEAKER_01Like needing to keep like needing to like watch this guy out of the corner of your eye at like a restaurant, just be like, don't don't do anything really stupid.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, yeah, it's just it's like I don't maybe I'll figure it out. But it's like, yeah, already grading on my nerves. I don't like you. Yeah. And everything that you do in this movie is bad.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Waltz Walter's a problem, generally. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02So we find out that there is another Jeff Lebowski who is literally a millionaire. We're very mad about the rug because it tied the room together.
SPEAKER_01We tied the whole room together.
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So dude finds Lebowski. We find out he is in a wheelchair. Philip Seymour Hoffman is there. Yeah. And I was like, oh, that's where you are. Hooray.
SPEAKER_01Brent, his buttload. So young. Yes, Brent. Oh my god, a little baby.
SPEAKER_02Little little man. Yeah. Um, so showing him around. Like, I yeah, I was like, oh, I love Philip Seymour Hoffman playing a character. It's so great. Yeah. Just this like super uptight, like, oh, you're so funny. Like it just like stupidly laughing at all.
SPEAKER_01Like kind of like blustering, like, oh, please don't touch that. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. But also like, you know, amicable and and what yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. He's great in this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was really good. So uh so Lebowski comes out and he is like aggressive to the start. And I did not, I don't know why I didn't expect that. I was like, oh, surely like this all communication will be had. Yeah. No, he doubles down. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's like, okay, you're a Lebowski, I'm a Lebowski. Why does that matter?
SPEAKER_02But yeah, like, doesn't he like, but also what's what's also so frustrating is that the dude never explains himself well ever. No. Can like never complete a whole sentence that is worthwhile to explaining to someone something that could help. Yeah. I like him. I want him to succeed. I want him to get the things that he wants, which is not that much. Like he doesn't want too much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I just so it's just getting in his own way every time. It's like I don't but yeah.
SPEAKER_02Him and him and other people, yes. Yes. Yeah. It's like if you just explain this a little better, instead of either getting frustrated or getting tongue-tied, better things would happen to you. Maybe. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01At this point, it's like he he had already like talked to Brandt over the phone. And it was like, okay, you told him. And what? And it's like, well, I'm here now. And honestly, and to me, I'm just like, yeah, why would you tell me to like come here if this wasn't like this was it? Like, okay, yeah, here we are. That's fair. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. But no, you're right. It it is met with immediately such like, okay, well, what do you want from me? And it's just like, okay, so this is my fault. And there's like, there's no a lot of the things, and I I'd seen that noted in other like trivia and stuff, but like a lot of times, especially when the dude is trying to make a point, what he's doing is just pair like parroting other people. Like in this, he's, you know, the the quoting the like, what is it, George Bush's the this aggression will not stand. Like he's, you know, quoting back these like other things. He's like, I know what I'm supposed to say in this, and it just it never really works. And so it's like, well, this works for someone else, but then it doesn't work in that case.
SPEAKER_02I guess I'm supposed to get that reference.
SPEAKER_01It's um when when he's in the grocery store, it's like uh playing on the little TV in there, but it's like I think it's George Bush like senior talking about um it's like you said he was like parroting things.
SPEAKER_02I thought you were gonna say parroting from like other people in this movie, not like other things that I should know.
SPEAKER_01Oh no, so so later in the movie, like he does he does like parrot like stuff that other people say. Okay, but in this case it's just like like from the news essentially.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah. I I wasn't paying attention to the news thing.
SPEAKER_01No, it's okay. And I it I mean, it is one of those things where I'm like, no, I've just seen this movie 30 times.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, I know, I know where this is from. But so Bunny is brought up, and Bunny is Mr. Lebowski's wife. Um, and we hear that she gets an ample allowance, so she should be fine. There should be no problems with her or whatever. And then we get another Lebowski lost his legs to a Chinaman in Vietnam, and I'm like, so a Vietnamese person? Is that what we're gonna like? What are we we we just being an asshole here? Cool. And my next note is he feels like an angry FDR to me.
SPEAKER_01Um the cadence and everything too. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the glasses, uh-huh, the stout man. Yeah, I was like, ooh, you're uh you're the evil FDR version of this.
SPEAKER_01So I almost added this to my trivia real quick. So they were trying to cast for the the big Lebowski for Jeffrey Lebowski, and they went through the list of people that they were trying to get for this. It was the funniest thing. So they had considered Robert Duvall, who didn't like the script. Um, they their top choice was Marlon Brando, who was not available, um Anthony Hopkins, who didn't want to play in American, Gene Hackman, who wasn't acting at the time, um, Tommy Lee Jones, who was slightly too young, um, Ned Beatty, Michael Caine, James Cogburn, um, uh Richard Mulligan, Peter Boyle, uh Lloyd Lloyd Bridges, which would have been hilarious, actually, uh, George C. Scott, but also they were just like throwing out names for this. They had Andy Griffith on the on the um list of them as well. Jack Nicholson, like just so many people where they were like, what if this was this guy? What if this white guy? Exactly.
SPEAKER_02What if this one?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they were just like, What maybe this guy? What flavor of white guy do we want? And I was like, okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I just landed on is pretty interesting.
SPEAKER_01I think he's he's perfect for this role. I hate him in this role. He's perfect.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01This man sucks so much.
SPEAKER_02Real frustrating. Yeah. Yeah. Because yeah, I totally thought this was gonna go a different way. Yeah. Like, just explain the situation. Very oh no. Oh, oh no. So yeah, so dude leaves, um, tells Brant he's allowed to take any rug he wants. Legit.
SPEAKER_01This could have been a real short movie.
SPEAKER_02I mean, could have been. Dude approaches a very young woman painting her nails. And and when we had said bunny before, I don't know why. I had assumed either they were like separated um when he said allowance, or also that she was not a trophy wife. Oh, okay. I don't know why. Yeah. But because like, because bunny can go two different ways. It can go very young lady or like a like a very old lady.
SPEAKER_01You're yeah, you're right.
SPEAKER_02You know, you're not wrong, yeah. It's like, where are we going? I mean, obviously, this would not fit for an older woman the way that this goes, but yeah. So uh dude approaches. This is Bunny. She flirts with him, asks for money for a blowjob. Brant's very uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01Um Brant can't watch, or else he has to play a pay a thousand. He goes, he he makes the best face, just it's perfect. He's so good.
SPEAKER_02Yes, dude leaves.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh, Backstab.
SPEAKER_01No, but first we also we also see um uh Peter Stormare, um, another guy. Who is that? Um, so that is he he is a staple in a lot of uh other Cohen brothers movies. I don't know what you would know him from. Um Does he come back again like as a character? Yeah, he's who is he? He's the main nihilist, like the the German guy.
SPEAKER_02That was not clear to me at all. Oh, okay. That explains a lot. Got it.
SPEAKER_01Okay, and this is why we talk, it's all good.
SPEAKER_02Um so so why was he in the pool then?
SPEAKER_01Because they're just hanging out, because they just know each other and uh they're just friends? Yeah, they're just friends, and she doesn't want to, you know, spend time with her old husband who just gets her money. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um that kind of ties a few more things together.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02I was like, that's a random guy. Yeah and never thought about him again. Because it's a random white guy.
SPEAKER_01No, it is fair. Yeah. But yeah, we get the it's like, oh, well, well, your boyfriend mind, and it's like, oh no, he doesn't care about anything. He's a nihilist, and and the dude goes, Oh, that must be exhausting. What is a nihilist? Uh it's someone who doesn't believe in anything. They believe in chaos, and it's like, your actions don't have consequences because nothing matters. They're exhausting people, honestly.
SPEAKER_02Um this movie's exhausting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It this this movie does a lot with those, like it makes so many of those philosophy things into kind of buzzwords.
SPEAKER_02And I feel like people use this this stuff to try and make themselves sound smart when the movie really doesn't talk about a lot.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02Cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a lot of it is the extrapolation of but or like people who are just like, I know what nihilism is because I saw the big Lebowski. And it's like, no, you don't. It's like, no, you have to take one philosophy class in college and be insufferable.
SPEAKER_02I took philosophy in college, I wasn't insufferable. Okay, so that I'm sure that will tie in more later because I was a little confused about the plot of this. No worries. Okay, so then we go back to bowling. Walter's got a dog. It's his ex-wife's dog. It's a show dog. Yes. Cool. Walter yells at a guy named Smokey for going over the line, because now I feel like this is the first time we find out they're in a league, and this is like serious bowling, not just like casual bowling. So they start to argue, and then it escalates to Walter pulling out a handgun and threatening. And I was like, oh, this is the ultimate white male privilege. This is so exciting to watch and see. Nobody enjoyed that. I mean, ultimately, Walter wins because he's the guy with the gun.
SPEAKER_01But nobody's happy about how it ends like no one else is in is happy about how it ended up.
SPEAKER_02No. Yeah. And I mean, I don't write down everything, but I'm like, okay, this is when I realized, oh, we're gonna talk about Vietnam a lot.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So we're getting in the car, dude is mad at Walter for doing that. Walter never seems to think he's wrong. No. Um, because he's better than everyone else, and whatever he says is right, and whatever he thinks is right. And then we see the police pull up behind them and run into the bowling alley.
SPEAKER_01They're just missing, missing.
SPEAKER_02But like they're running in like it's urgent. And like, how long were they bowling there? Like, I feel like it was not like immediately after. I was like, did they bowl like the rest of their game? And then the police showed up. Yeah. Like it didn't feel they were just like casually walking out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because because there are no consequences to any of Walter's actions. Like, why would the police be there for him? That's fine. He's, you know, he he fought for the country, so it's fine.
SPEAKER_02He won his, yeah. We definitely, we definitely all wear our dog tags like douches afterwards.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I'm so far removed from the first time I saw this movie that there are things that do not surprise me and that I don't see from a 2026 lens. And I'm like, oh, you're so you're a hundred percent right. But it and then at the same time, my nostalgia brain, anytime that something is like, you know, in my real life is ridiculous, I do automatically think this is not nom, there are rules. And like that is a line that lives in my brain, and I'm like, oh, this is this is very specific, but it's like it there are things where I'm like, it it is sort of just like the mimification of it almost, and just like like breaking it down for parts. I'm like, oh yeah, this is a thing from the thing I like, and then it's just like, no, there are other implications to that. This means other things, and it's like, oh shit, okay, right.
SPEAKER_02This is a funny line I'm gonna use for other things. You're like, what if you break down the rest of that paragraph? Exactly, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I did. Not write a lot of quotes down, and maybe I should have, but a lot of the times when I felt like I should have, I was like, this is too many words, so I'm not gonna.
SPEAKER_01I know the good ones, don't worry.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay, cool, cool. So dude gets home. We're listening to all the voicemails from Smokey, who's gonna report him. Uh-huh. Brandt saying he needs to meet up. Uh-huh. And then the guy from the bowling league who's like, hey, we heard about that. We heard a thing happened. We heard something. Somebody rings a doorbell. Marty is at the door who has a venue for a dance routine and wants the dude to come. He's also his landlord. The dude hasn't paid the rent. No. Cool.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02We hear another voicemail from Brand. We really need his help. It's uh very dramatic music going into see Labaski. Yes. And I know I make this note later. Um, but like you mentioned, I can tell that music played a very significant part. And it was very picked very intentionally. Yeah. Um but I knew very few of these songs. Like I could tell they were picked with intention, but I was like, it's not doing a lot for me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I'm sure I think like I think with this one, this is this is when it's it's I think it's lacrimosa or something. It's like the really like the like the dramatic, like like orchestral when he goes to see see Lebowski, the set's right.
SPEAKER_02Right, because he was he was super sad. Yes, yeah. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01This is not a good example, but like like like the set design in this, just buck wild. Like he's in a fucking cathedral in front of the fireplace, just long suffering.
SPEAKER_02The door, the two doors open, so why? Like just again, and then when Evie Britt's like beautiful, yeah, yes. Oh I mean, he's probably my favorite character in this movie.
SPEAKER_01He's so good.
SPEAKER_02Yes, but yeah, later on, with like all the pop songs and especially like the weird parts of the movie, and I'm like, okay, this this is music's a big thing. Yeah. So, yes, Lebowski is being super dramatic, but like, we really don't know what's going on. And oh my god, something happened to Bunny. Bunny was kidnapped and they want a million dollars. And for whatever reason, they want the dude to be the courier for the money. And then Lebowski's like, maybe it was the carpet pissers that did it. And it's like, well, that makes sense because they want your money. Yeah. By all accounts, this makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it adds up.
SPEAKER_02So we're like, okay, cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So we're bowling again.
unknownYeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And we're hearing Hotel California.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02That's one of the very few that I recognize.
SPEAKER_01We're hearing a Spanish version of Hotel California. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Yes, of course.
SPEAKER_01Which I which is on the soundtrack, and I love it's a good one. Okay, that's a good one. It's a good one.
SPEAKER_02So this insanely flashy guy named Jesus is bowling.
SPEAKER_00The Jesus.
SPEAKER_02It's the Jesus. It's the Jesus. Well, it just said Jesus on his name tag. Oh. That's all I was reading.
SPEAKER_01That's fair, yeah. Is this actor Latin? I don't actually know. I don't actually know anything about John Totoro. Um, I I was a little concerned.
SPEAKER_02I was like, did we just tan this man and make him Latin?
SPEAKER_01I think he's Italian, but he definitely he I know he is definitely played ethnically ambiguous.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So he's very um is it Rita Moreno? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's that five. Any sort of weird European. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, so he is um Italian.
SPEAKER_02Um that's better.
SPEAKER_01I think he's half Italian.
SPEAKER_02All right. That makes me feel a little better because I was like, did we just take a white man and make him dance?
SPEAKER_01No, thankfully he's not he's not str like just like a you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay, yeah. That's fine. I was just because it we it was such a caricature and like such a character. I was like, are we like like doing one step over and like making fun of, you know? Um yeah, but um, yeah. So he's very good at bowling, uh-huh. Um, but also apparently it a a sex offender.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02Um, an actual pervert, yeah, not a fake one or whatever.
SPEAKER_01It's like, no, for real.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like oh, like a real, yeah. He had to tell his neighbors and everything. Yeah. So so the dude's telling them, like, we didn't see it, but he took the deal. So he's gonna get $2,000 and get to keep the rug, haha, to do the handoff.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, but this is where dude doesn't think the kidnapping's real. And God, why did I say this? Um, I think it's because, you know, they it's never a straight conversation with these three. No. And Steve Buscemi gets shit on so much.
SPEAKER_01I bless. I love his character so much. He is he's so funny, but no, he is like at its heart, it is he is a tragic character. It's kind of a bummer still. Absolutely, yes. Yeah, seeing Donnie get like fully ignored, but it's or shit on. Yeah, but it's delight. It's so funny, I think. Like it's so it's I think it's funny. Like, I it it's comedy the whole time, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02I I was just trying to remember what was happening because my note is these conversations are very triggering. And I'm trying to think, I think it's because like the misunderstanding, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's when they're not having the same conversation, and then Donnie will like try to answer, and that but then it's also Walter's reactions to it are also very Yeah, just like stopping and just shut the fuck up, yeah, every time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. So it's it's yeah, and then and then it just escalates and escalates, and I'm like, I don't feel comfortable. And like maybe it's the fact that it's like, yeah, if I was there, I'd I would feel very uncomfortable. Like I would just, I would not want to be around these people. Yes. And this, so it's like, yeah. So then the Jesus walks up and threatens Walter because they're playing against each other. They don't know they're playing. Yeah, okay. They do know that they're playing against them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're playing against each other.
SPEAKER_02Okay, because he was like, Oh, I heard you pulled a gun out. Like, that's not gonna work on me. That's just not gonna fly, yeah. Yeah. Um, which valid, honestly. Like, yeah, I don't see anything wrong with this guy, unfortunately. Um maybe maybe the Jesus has some good points. I don't know. Maybe maybe he's you know, one of the better characters in this movie. Who knows?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the yeah, the sex offender who doesn't want to be uh want to be threatened with a gun. Yeah, I mean, listen valid. I mean, honestly, here we are. God. Yeah, everyone in this movie does suck, honestly. Okay, yeah. You said it. Yeah, most most of the people in this movie do absolutely suck a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_02Pretty rough. Yeah. So then dude gets home. Uh, or no, dude is home. Um, doesn't he just he wakes up? Or no, no, this is when he had the headphones.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, when he's listening to the bowling tapes. Bowling. Yeah. Yeah, he's just like laying on the on the ground.
SPEAKER_02That's right. He's laying on the floor on his on his new rug. Right, right. Yes. Um, sees two men and one woman above him, gets punched. Now we have one of multiple weird dream trippy sequences. One of more than one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02More than one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Where he's flying above LA, following a woman on his carpet, then he has bowling balls for hands and falls to the ground. Uh-huh. His beeper wakes him up because that's from Lebowski, and the rug is gone.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02So shit's going down now. It's it's time to do the money thing. So dude gets the money in a briefcase and a portable phone, which is giant because it was 1998. Yes. And I'm surprised it wasn't like a car phone, honestly. Um, and uh, you know, he's supposed to follow all the instructions given, and then we we've told him multiple times that Bunny's life is in your hands. Brandt had to tell him that specifically from Mr.
SPEAKER_01He wanted me to tell you very clearly her life is in your hands. So wild. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_02So the dude pulls up somewhere and gets Walter. And like, I think, no, one of the other the immediate instructions was it's just you.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02And he's like, fuck that. I'm gonna get my friend, and now my friend is driving. Yes.
SPEAKER_01I have an accomplice now.
SPEAKER_02And I'm already, and then yeah, and then Walter's like, I got a plan. Um we're gonna steal the money with a fake. And the dude's like, probably not the best idea, but like not forceful enough.
SPEAKER_01Like, please don't do that, but like not putting his foot down at all. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, not at all. And then dude gets the phone call from the kidnappers, and they spook because they hear another person when literally there was only supposed to be one person. So Walter's plan is to get Bunny back, hand over the money, then beat the guy up, take the money to find out where Bunny is.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's just gonna get the information out of this guy. Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, from the person with and then take the money away.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's it's the toxic masculinity of like I it's this is Mark Wahlberg saying if I was on the plane on 9-11, things would be different. This is the center. Mark Wahlberg said that? Yes.
SPEAKER_02Oh no. Mark Wahlberg, why?
SPEAKER_01It's insane.
SPEAKER_02Um, yeah, I uh but yeah. Which plane is he talking about? Whatever, that doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01I don't know one of them. Never mind. One of them would have gone differently. I don't know. Yeah, I know, I know. I yeah, I I think about that all the time.
SPEAKER_02Um, but yeah, it's it's oh my god, I don't. I don't want to.
SPEAKER_01Well, sorry, welcome. Um but but no, it's it's that energy of just like I got I can solve this problem and it's I'm a white man veteran.
SPEAKER_02I can solve anything with my fist. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That hasn't aged well. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But then we also have like his plan is also here, I have a briefcase that is full of like my dirty clothes. Dirty underwear. Yeah, my dirty underwear. So I'm gonna outsmart them. Because it's it's not enough for him to be physically be better than them. He also is like, I'm mentally better than them too. And he's neither.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So then luckily, because Walter's like, they'll call back, and the dude's like, you just fucked up the phone call. Yeah, they do call back. And the guy's like, okay, the other person's fine, but no more funny business. And he's like, You're gonna drive over a bridge, throw the money over the bridge. That makes sense. So dude's just gonna do it. Walter somehow, while driving, manages to throw the fake bag, then then rolls out of the car because he's gonna get the guys for the information. And then dude's supposed to drive the car. It immediately crashes. The gun that Walter had shoots the car. Three motorcycles drive away. One person, and then dude is waving the money at them trying to get them to come back. Yes. Um, and this is when I was like, it's like that pit of my stomach feeling. I'm like, I'm so upset for him right now.
SPEAKER_01This communication anxiety, the the watching things go wrong, anxiety. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yeah. I was like, this could have been done so easily. Like, and it's it's all these points where it's like this could have been fixed if only this had happened. I mean, we talked about this already, but it's like if he had, but this was just like a like a quicker one, not like a talking yourself out of one. But I mean, literally, like, you know, if you had a better friend, you know, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Donnie Donnie wouldn't have done that to him.
SPEAKER_02Donnie would have just got in the car. Or or don't pick up a friend. Yeah. When you're literally not supposed to be doing that. You don't need that. You you literally disobeyed the immediate instructions they gave you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like. I know. So then they go bowling. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Fuck it. Because that's what you do. Fuck it, dude. Let's go bowling.
SPEAKER_02And the phone is ringing. Walter is says it's fine because he's convinced Bunny kidnapped herself. Dude is freaking out because he's like, well, I don't know that for sure. She's dead now. What do I tell Lebowski? And side subplot. They posted when the games are. Oh no, it's on a Saturday, and Walter doesn't do anything on Saturdays because he's Jewish. And uh they uh walk out to the car, and uh it was parked in a handicapped spot. Yes, but they immediately think it was stolen instead of toad?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Well, this and this is also just the paranoia.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Got it. But it was, it was actually stolen.
SPEAKER_01It was actually stolen, but it's like it's you know right, because the because the money was in there.
SPEAKER_02Like the the briefcase of money was in the car. So yeah, oh my god, it's stolen. So dude walks home. What else are you gonna do? It's his car.
SPEAKER_01Donnie says, Your phone's ringing, dude. Thanks, Donnie.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, oh my god. That just sitting there holding the big phone with it just like ringing and ringing and ringing. God feels like one of those like walkie-talkie survival things.
SPEAKER_01Yes, like the big like GPS ones. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Like like military shit that they would use now to like communicate.
SPEAKER_01Like you're in the jungle or something with no reception. Yeah, like a satellite.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
unknownGosh.
SPEAKER_02So I was a little surprised. He did report the car. So do gets dudes at home reporting the car stolen with two police. The phone is still ringing. He describes a briefcase but says it just had papers in it, and then mentions, oh yeah, someone else stole my rug. Um the guy gets excited.
SPEAKER_01It's like another incident, separate incidences.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but then immediately he gets the voicemail from Maud Lebowski. She's like, I took your rug. And the guy was like, We just saw it. There you go. Close the case on that one. Number one, and we're done.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh, and then she's like, I'll send a car.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So dude's brought to like an art studio where Maud is like in harnesses painting naked, and two guys are helping her.
SPEAKER_01So apparently, uh, during this scene um where she's up in like the harnesses, like throwing paint, um, she was, she had just like not too long before found out that she was pregnant, but she didn't, but she didn't tell anybody because she still wanted to do this dunt.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01And she was um I think she only did like, I think she only did like maybe like five weeks of filming. Like she was not, I mean, she's not in a ton of the movie, but like she's she was like very much like, okay, so I'm gonna do these things, and then I gotta go have a baby. Goodbye.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's crazy. So oh, so we f so, so yes, this, these were the three people that you know punched about and then took the rug. Maud says, you know, that was my rug. It was left to me by my late mother. And I'm like, okay, this is where we're figuring out like the the Lebowski relationship.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So there was a previous wife. This is the daughter. Um, Bunny's the new wife. Maud, I don't know, like just the way that she talks, it was like another caricature of like the fast talking woman. I liked her. Yeah. Yeah. I liked her. I honestly I don't really feel like I have a many, I don't think I say a bad thing about her. Yeah. But it's like, it was very much like it's very reminiscent.
SPEAKER_01This isn't a real person. It's yeah, she's 100% like a caricature, but it is very it's funny, like finding out that it's that this movie, like, you know, the Cohen brothers like were inspired by, you know, like 40s and 50s detective stories. Because she very much is like the Catherine Hepburn, like the the very like that the the you know, like her speech patterns and like very like fake European almost, but like very like matter-of-fact and flippant. Matter of fact, but also high class and just you know, sort of like it just very brazen. Yeah, yeah. Like she, I I love her in this. I think she's so fun.
SPEAKER_02Um, this was it was fun. Yeah. So she's explaining more of the story that uh Bunny's a nymphomaniac and has a career in porn and is having sex with Jackie Treehorn, who is the porn producer. Uh-huh. Okay, got it. And then the reason Maud knows about the kidnapping thing is that the $1 million is from the foundation fund that she and her father are a part of. Um, so it's not his money. Um, and and Maud also doesn't get along with Mr. Lebowski either. She's like, hey, I want you, dude, to recover the million dollars, and I'll give you 10%. I feel like at some point I'm gonna get confused and you're gonna help me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um that's partially what I'm listening for. I'm just like making sure. Is this this isn't the scene where she plays like the the porn that Bunny was in, was it? She does. Okay, yes. And the German guy is in it. Yes, that's Uli, who's the the German nihilist who was in the pool. So that's okay. So that's I put that together, but nothing else. That's okay. Yeah, no, but that's like yeah, that is that is another scene and lines that I just I love. It's like, like, you know, this this is such it's like this is such a stupid premise, and she's like, you can only imagine what happens next. And he goes, he fixes the cable.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, that was funny.
SPEAKER_01I I love that.
SPEAKER_02So then dude's back in the car listening to the driver complain about stuff. Yes. Yeah. Like his life or something. And the dude's like, oh yeah, I'm I'm I'm feeling great now.
SPEAKER_01It's gonna be fine.
SPEAKER_02I've got all this figured out. Is his plan to just get the money and give it to Maud then?
SPEAKER_01It's yes, it sounds like it at this point. Yeah, and it sounds pretty easy. Like this is like, okay, problem solved. All I have to do is wait for the cops to find my car, and then I'm okay. And we think Bunny has kidnapped herself still. Yes. We still think that Bunny has kidnapped herself. The the signs are still pointing to that.
SPEAKER_02Because Walter was so sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Walter was so sure, but also talking to Maud, it also confirms because that's also where um where the dude points out, it's like, oh hey, I know that guy. And then Maud points out, yeah, it would be really stupid for you for you to know who your kidnapper is.
SPEAKER_02So So dude gets home, the driver's like, Hey, did you notice that a Volkswagen has been following you home? And then dude's like, what? And then immediately gets taken out of this car and then pulled into a limo with Brandt and Lebowski. Uh-huh. Uh, and they're like, hey, the kidnappers didn't get their money. And dude's like, I totally did it. Like, whatever, man. And then it's like, but I have new information has come to light. So then he's like, she's kidnapping herself. And then that's when he brings up the pornography and says, you know, maybe she says, Oh, or no, he's saying, Well, maybe they're saying they didn't get the money, so they can get more.
SPEAKER_01And this is one of those scenes where the dude starts parroting things that other people have said, where he's saying a lot of the exact same stuff that Maud has said. It's like, you know, in in the parlance of our time, and it's like, you don't say that. That's not you. But like, put it like using it's like, I need to stabilize, and so I'm going to use something that someone else said and using that.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah. But that's why, like, I feel like it just confused me even more, and then was also nothing. So I'm like, oh man.
SPEAKER_01Which I also think is just I I think I think that's kind of how you're supposed to feel because I think that's by him, like, not he's just like like cut and pasting like what he's saying. I think it's like it's supposed to be kind of confusing.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. No, that makes sense. So they don't really believe any of this because they're like, We we we have more information. So Brent hands dude an envelope, and like immediately without even seeing this movie Vapor, I'm like, there's something, there's a I thought a finger. I was like, there's a finger in there. Like immediately, yeah, like he's unrolling something. Like, I'm like, it's a fucking finger. Like we all know what it is. Uh-huh. Um, it's Bunny's toe because we saw her painting her nails, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And Lebowski is like, Well, I told the kidnappers that you had the money, so now it's on you. Um, they're gonna get the money from you. Yeah. So I feel like that still doesn't solve bunny.
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_02But the kidnappers are not asking Lebowski for money anymore. So he's like, I'm out, kind of.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like, well, I well, I what else can I do? Are my hands are tied?
SPEAKER_02I'm guild tripping you because this is my wife's tub.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_02And And they're gonna get the money from you. Yes. So we're at like a diner. We go to a diner. Clearly, like, and and another thing is like cutting into conversations midway. Yeah. It works, but it's also very jarring, like to to do it so much. Yeah. Like, and it and I like that it does help move the plot along and explain the plot because sometimes you don't hear the decision being made until the conversation after. Yeah. But I've I've never seen it done so much. It's like every time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think a lot of times with with this movie, what those cuts are are basically like, hey, that last scene, I just took like the dude just filled them in, basically. And so it's basically sort of like like you're picking up at the end of like, and that's what happened, kind of.
SPEAKER_02They're like what do you think about that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So Walter doesn't believe it because he says he can get toes or fingers from anyone anywhere. So basically.
SPEAKER_01So unfortunately, this is this is one of those scenes that I think is hilarious and quote all the time, and would also be a full fucking nightmare in real life, especially in 2026. I the amount of times that literally Mark and I will say, You want a toe? I can get you a toe with nail polish, just immediately. Like that, like I just I don't know. It's but it is that one sentence is fine. I think, yeah. It's more just you know overall. Most of it is exhausting, but then the at the very end when he says, I'm staying, I'm finishing my coffee. I do think about that a lot. Um sure. Yeah, sure. But no, Walter's a nightmare. Um, yeah, Walter, Walter should be arrested a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like just oh my god. Um yeah, he's arguing with the dude. Server gets mad at Walter for getting loud, you know, but like politely, you know, kind of asked him to leave, and then he brings up like First Amendment rights, and it's like the fucking awful veteran that he is, and like I just I can't, I can't because it's too real. It it is, and it's like I've seen too many things, I've known too many people, I've heard too many stories, like I j I hate it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And it's like, and I and and also I think because of like it's a stereotype for a reason, but also and I know this is like what a 30, 30 something year old baby, it makes me like I don't want people to see people in the military that way. Like, like I don't want them to think of them that way. Yes. Because they're not all like that.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02And so part of me, it's like I don't know how to, I don't know the right word for that feeling, but it's like, well, not everybody's like this. Like why like putting that stereotype into a movie make reinforces the stereotype. Yes.
SPEAKER_01And that makes me worry for the damage that that does for the entire group, like group of for everyone. A hundred percent. Yes. So I think maybe maybe that's it at its core. Like the sensitivity to like, ooh, like would someone assume, like, oh, this is what maybe this is what a this is a veteran attitude, like this is the trade for yes, yeah. I I think that's I think that's a hundred percent fair. And I think for me, like I don't, I mean, when I was watching it, I didn't I didn't have like any kind of military connection. But also I think I don't know in 1998, I don't know what I don't know how close this is to other portrayals of veterans, you know what I mean? Sure. Like I don't know if other of that era were happening. I don't know, like if this is the kind of thing where it's like, oh yeah, this is like you know, a vibe that we've seen a lot in movies. But I think it also does help that one, Walter is not our protagonist. Like Walter is like he's one of the main guys, but he's not our hero. And I think that helps. And I think it also helps that it Walter disagrees, yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, excuse me, the dude disagrees.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, that the dude is is the one sort of like provide like as the voice of reason who's like, what like what the fuck are you saying?
SPEAKER_02Is like that doesn't I'm embarrassed about leaving.
SPEAKER_01Exactly, yeah, yeah. And I think it's being portrayed that like that this character is like this, but it's also not saying this is what it is. It's saying, no, we don't love this. Like we don't, you know, we don't approve of this. And I no, yeah, yeah. And I I think, you know, seeing seeing Walter not as like not as a representation of all veterans of that era, but I think just as a like a bad example, like a bad actor in that sense. But I think I think it's also like this specific guy sucks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And also, you know, when this movie was made, the Vietnam War was 30-ish years past, maybe probably a little less. I don't know. Um, but and then now I'm looking at this 30 years later. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01In in a hard to know in a fucking like post-9-11, post everything that we've fucking been through in however long. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It just just so happened to be a military spouse. Like it's it's very, very this is my reactions are very, very specific to me.
SPEAKER_01No, and so and can I say I think that is this is why you and I talking about movies, I think is interesting. And oh yeah, like I it's it's having different perspectives. Like it's not if if we had the exact same experiences and said, yes, I also agree on this, this would be a really boring fucking podcast.
SPEAKER_02I know, I just don't want to be like that stick in the mud, you know, like, oh, but yeah, I just it's it's too too close to home in a few ways where it's just like, but like the gross parts, not like the the I don't love this, yeah, you know. Um so yeah. No, I think and like and also but also the way that those those veterans were treated. Like it, I mean, like it's yeah, and I I'm not a great history person. This would be my husband talking about this instead, but like those those veterans were not treated well. So maybe this people watching it then could see, well, this is the flip reaction to it. I deserve this, I did this, and the country didn't love me for it, you know, whatever. Um but still the 2026 lens is unfortunate.
SPEAKER_01And I and when I was looking at like things about like themes and like you know, messages within the movie and like like lenses through which to view it, like there are a lot that are talking about like it in relation to world wars and especially and specifically like Vietnam and Desert Storm and stuff like that. And just like the things that were like what this movie in a lot of ways was a reaction to, and especially the character of Walter is a reaction to. Even, you know, the Big Lebowski is a reaction to, you know, the veteran perspective. Um, and so I and I think it's and it's definitely something that like I don't I don't remember enough about film studies to like, you know, know like all of those like roots and stuff. But like you're not wrong to pick up on that as like a persistent thread of like, oh, this is a thing that comes up a lot. And I think not having that on my radar, it's part of the dialogue, but it is not something that flags us, oh, we're talking about Vietnam a lot. Like, I don't, I don't think it's and also like granted, I've seen this movie 30 fucking times. Like, I I, you know, it's it's one of those, like it washes over me to an extent. But I think, you know, I think you're right. Like it is something that it's definitely not you being overly sensitive to it. I think it's just that it is there and viewing it for the first time in 2026 with your perspective, it's it's there and it is glaringly obvious. And I and I I don't think there's anything inaccurate or like nitpicky or anything. Like I wouldn't worry about being like, you know, overly critical because it is, you know, yeah. Like I think it's I think it's the difference between like criticism and analysis. I think it's saying, like, ooh, this exists in this movie, and here's you know the effect of this, and here's how I feel about this part being in the movie versus this is bad.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay, okay, cool. I was like, I don't, I don't want to be like, you know, Debbie Downers.
SPEAKER_01No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02A lot about this movie is a lot. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, just surprise anxiety triggers, totally.
SPEAKER_02A little sometimes, yes. That's fair. Okay. So then, dude's in the bath at home. He hears a voicemail, the police found his car. Amazing. He's so excited. Then someone starts randomly breaking into his house and breaking stuff. He doesn't get out. No, he just stays in the bath, which I feel like a normal person would have gotten out.
SPEAKER_01Here's the thing. If I don't know what I would do. Like, I feel like if you're like submerged and like covered, I think, I think at a point I would just be like, if there is not a towel handy, I'm like, I'm no.
SPEAKER_02That's what I mean. Like, grab a towel. Like, did he just not have one in there? Just walks around. I mean, you can.
SPEAKER_01I mean, and also imagining like being like stoned in a bath, and it's just like, I'm sure I'm not getting up. I don't know. How do you get up? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Also, this is the third time it's happened in a week question mark. It's like, this might as well happen. That's true. I don't even know what the timeline of this movie is. I really think I really think it's like four days or something. It's crazy. It's gotta be, right? It's fast. Yeah. You don't hang out waiting for like kidnapping money and shit. That's no.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's the whole point. Yeah. So it's three guys. They have, I thought it was a ferret. It is. Is it not a ferret?
SPEAKER_01It's a ferret. Okay. It's a ferret. He just calls it a mark.
SPEAKER_02It's so cute. It's a little ferret on a leash, and they're asking for money. So these are new guys asking for money. And we are assuming these are the kidnappers.
SPEAKER_01Yes. We are assuming that. The shorter guy is Flea from the Red Hat Chili Peppers. Um, the main guy is Uli, the German guy.
SPEAKER_02Were they weren't wearing masks? Were they wearing masks? They weren't.
SPEAKER_01No, they were not.
SPEAKER_02Okay, cool. So just full out. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's he's the one with the ferret.
SPEAKER_02He is. Okay. I think I was more focused on the ferret, maybe. I don't know. Yeah, like I don't know how fast it happens, but my next note is they they drop it in the back, which is wild. Absolutely wild. And then they're like, we're gonna come back for the money the next day, or we're gonna chop your penis off. And it's like they're you hear enough of them that they're German, basically.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And like then they leave. Wild. Yeah. So then we're at the car lost car lot.
SPEAKER_01The impound lot or whatever. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So police shows dude his car. It is all broken. It's fucked up. The briefcase is gone. And then he asks him, like, oh, you know, are you gonna go catch those guys or whatever? And like the policeman just laughs at him.
SPEAKER_01Another line I love. It's like, do you have any leads? It's like, oh yeah, they called in four more guys, just laughing at him, going, leads. I I love it. That's that's one of the lines that I'm just I I laugh every time at this scene. I love it.
SPEAKER_02So we we're back bowling, right?
SPEAKER_01I believe so.
SPEAKER_02Because my next note is, you know, dude's worried. He's either gonna get his penis cut off or Lebowski's gonna kill him.
SPEAKER_01So it's like either way I'm this is the one where they're sitting at the bar.
SPEAKER_02That's right. They're at the bar. Okay, that's why I didn't write it down. Um so uh so he's like, well, you know, between a rock and a hard place and I don't have the money, like what are we gonna do? Basically, Walter calls the Germans Nazis. I was like, oh, this is great. Uh dude's upset, so he says, fuck the tournament. And then Walter's like, that's where I'm driving. That's it. And then Donnie goes with it. And I'm like, okay. So then Sam Elliott appears and asks for a sass barella, knows who the dude is.
SPEAKER_01We get this great like it's the three of them, and then it zooms closer in on the dude, and then it pans back out, and instead of where where uh Walter and Donnie were sitting, the stranger is there. And it's just it's a good, it's a good transition. I like it. It's fun. But yeah, the stranger knows everything that's going on. He's like, Well, what's going on? What how how's that going?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, knows about the tournament, asks him why he says so many cuss words.
SPEAKER_01Want another another incredible line. Do you have to use so many cuss words? What the fuck are you talking about?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I love it. And then he's like, okay, take it easy. Yeah. My next note is what in all caps? Because that did absolutely nothing. No. Why does he know any of that?
SPEAKER_01Sam Elliott is is basically the omniscient narrator, and it basically just let it lend to that concept of of the Western and the post-western, where it's like the the omniscient narrator, but it's also like the voiceover in the beginning. It's like someone telling the story, but also it's just like the mysterious like spirit of the West, essentially, which is truly just what Sam Elliott is as a human, I think.
SPEAKER_02I clearly haven't seen any Westerns.
SPEAKER_01That's okay.
SPEAKER_02I don't know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01Not all of them are great, some of them are real fun.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So he has a point.
SPEAKER_01He mostly thematic. It's it's mostly vibes-based.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Yeah. It's like, I don't know what I'm supposed to get out of that.
SPEAKER_01Sam Elliott, the stranger is there for ambiance and to move the story along sometimes. He didn't no, no, he didn't move it at all. Sometimes. I said not this time. He didn't move it last time. This time. Yeah. Well, no, the first the first time he did the whole exposition.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. You couldn't. The rambling exposition that he cuts off for himself.
SPEAKER_01Well, and well, I don't remember a word that he said. Emily, some sometimes there's a man. I wouldn't say a hero, because what's a hero? But sometimes there's a man.
SPEAKER_02We didn't need any of that. We didn't need any of that for the movie to start.
SPEAKER_01I I don't know. Cool. Listen, so we didn't need all the dream sequences either, but sometimes, you know. I know. I didn't like them. No, I mean I don't know. I'm a big fan of vibes-based filmmaking. So uh this is just not my vibe. Okay. I like certain vibes. But but you cannot deny that it is a vibe.
SPEAKER_02Maybe not your vibe. I'm not saying it's not. There you go. It's just not your vibe. No. Absolutely not. I don't think it ever was. Don't vibe shame the Cohen brothers. I'm not. You're the one who said it's a vibe and I'm a vibes person. Like, yeah, you're different vibes than I am. I could still be a vibe person.
SPEAKER_00All right.
SPEAKER_02That's fair. The vibes are off.
unknownOh God.
SPEAKER_02Oh. What the fuck? I think for the episode notes, I'm just gonna write vibes. Vibes.
SPEAKER_01That's gonna be the review of the movie. Vibes question mark?
SPEAKER_02I need to write that down. I have not, I have not decided my reading, so that's a good point.
SPEAKER_01Questionable vibes.
SPEAKER_02The vibes were off.
SPEAKER_01The vibes were off.
SPEAKER_02Zero stars. No, no. No, you're fine.
SPEAKER_00You're fine.
SPEAKER_02Um okay. So then Du gets a phone call at the bowling alley, right? From Maud. Oh, right. About going to the doctor. I didn't write it down previously. She had asked it, like, go see my doctor, because they like she punched you in the face. She punched you in the face. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. So he needs he needs to go see the doctor. You need to go see him now. But then he he goes back to see Maud and there's a guy waiting.
SPEAKER_01Did you recognize his actor?
SPEAKER_02Yes. He's Lupin. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02He's like waiting for Maud. I don't know what his deal was. Nobody knows what his deal. He's just there.
SPEAKER_01He simply is, and he's having a great time.
SPEAKER_02He is, and dude is not. It's very, yeah, it's antagonizing him a little bit. He wants to resign. And this is again where he says Bunny was kidnapped. Yeah. Oh, no, no. This is when he's dudes decided, oh, she is kidnapped because of the toe.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And this is where Maud says, Ouly's the main guy. They're an old pop band. Right. Bunny knows them. And he is the guy from the porn video.
SPEAKER_01Right. Okay. I forgot that there was that third, that third connection of of the album.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, three guys in a German pop band. It's like, those are the guys. Yeah. I still don't understand why they decided to do this when Bunny was just out of town with friends.
SPEAKER_01Because they could get money out of it and make it look like a kidnapping. They thought it was going to work. Okay. Yeah. Okay. But they knew she had left. Yes. Because because she and Uli are friends. Like he was cast out in the pool. So the element of she wasn't kidnapped is true. The she kidnapped herself is not true. Not true.
SPEAKER_02I did get that at the end.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Yeah. Like it's spoilers, but like, yeah, basically, this is where we're like, okay, so there's there is something going on, but it's not Yeah, it's not normal. Yeah. Like it's still not a hundred percent adding up any at any point in time.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah. Okay, cool. All right, yeah, because because yeah, dude's like, I this guy was in my bathroom. Like, I know this guy. Oh, I remember him. Yeah. Um, yeah. So then dude admits he doesn't know where the money is. And then Maud like still tells him to go see the doctor. Like, I don't feel like she was that worried or anything. No. So he goes to see the doctor. Doctor asks him to pull his shorts down. So it was a a thorough doctor's appointment. Cut to dude in his car smoking a joint, being followed by the Volkswagen again. He tries to be cool and throw the joint out, but it like dings off the window.
SPEAKER_01Out of the window that's not open. That's right. That's what it was. Okay. Straight against the window.
SPEAKER_02Yes. And then, you know, in his seat, and then he literally crashes the car. By the time he gets everything straightened out, the Volkswagen is gone. But then he finds a piece of paper about the Louisiana purchase. Uh-huh. And I was confused, but I understand it now. I was like, that, I don't know. That didn't make sense. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Just like someone's someone's homework where they did a really shitty job, but homework that had no business being in his car.
SPEAKER_02Right. Um, but they like zoomed in on a name that I couldn't read. Yeah. So I was frustrated. Yeah. So I was like, this is bad cursive, and I can't read. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Luckily, it's one of those where I'm like, you'll probably explain this later. And thank God.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yes. Um, so then we're at the dance thing, uh, which is supposed to be avant-garde and weird.
SPEAKER_01And it is.
SPEAKER_02Dude and Donnie are in the audience. Walter shows up, has found out about the person who wrote this paper.
SPEAKER_01Don't know how, because it's 1998. I don't you don't have Google. I don't know how the fuck you're finding anything out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's very weird.
SPEAKER_01Also, also, I love that we see that one invitation of the landlord saying, Hey, I've got this show coming up, and the dude going, Okay, cool. I like that he just this is this is like that understated evidence of like the dude is a good guy. Like he showed he showed up to support his landlord in this weird avant-garde dance thing. I'm like, that's he's a good dude. Yeah. That's why it's more frustrating. Like he's he's not awful, and he's trying, and it's like, this is a nice thing. Like, I've I've definitely not gone to people's things before and been like, I feel bad that I'm not going, but I really don't want to go. And then I have also gone to things where I'm like, I don't give a single shit about this, but I want to support you, so I'm gonna go.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah. So yeah, he he found out uh the the kid's in ninth grade. What's his name? Larry. Uh Larry Sellers. I wrote down he's Arthur Digby Sellers' son. Yes. Who is a TV show writer. Yes. Walter wants to go get the money back from this kid. My next note is this is not going to go well.
SPEAKER_01Oh, wow. Good guess.
SPEAKER_02Wow, I'm amazing. Anything that Walter's involved in goes to shit. So they immediately go to the house that they also found somehow, and they're like, Oh, there's a new Corvette in front of the house. They think the kid spent the money, but Donnie has to wait in the car for some reason. Walter and dude go in. Uh let in by the maid, I guess. Yeah. Because the dad is in one of those breathing machine things like iron one. Yeah. Makes me think of Crybaby. Oh God.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But yeah, so the show that they're talking about branded is a real show. Like it was an older? Yeah. It was an older Western show from I think the sixties, maybe. Um, yeah, 60s. Um, this guy, though, is imaginary. Like the actual right, like this, this guy is not real. Um, but the show is yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Yeah. So Larry comes down, they show him the paper. They don't go about this the right way. They just immediately get loud and accuse Larry of everything.
SPEAKER_01Larry is silent the entire time.
SPEAKER_02Who's yeah, stonewalls them. Then Walter doesn't appreciate that. So he uh goes and uh beats the shit out of the Corvette. Uh neighbor's lights are turning on. And oh yeah, guess what? It's one of the neighbor's cars. It's not this kid's car, because why? Why would it be? So the neighbor comes out and busts all of the windows in the dude's car. And then we cut to them driving the car eating in and out because they were arguing about the location of the house and if it was near and in and out.
SPEAKER_01They were so close to it. Yeah, but they uh they don't have a windshield. And so it's no windows at all. I really love the shot of them driving, and then slowly they all pull up food that they're eating. It's yeah, it's it's a good shot. Um, this is also Walter beating the shit out of the car. The repeated phrase of this is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass. That is one of the one of the best like censored replacement phrases when this movie plays on on TV when they have to censor it. Um they replace it with uh this is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps. It makes no sense. But it's like it's it's right up there with the snakes on the plane. Um monkey fighting snakes on this Monday to Friday plane.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Monkey fighting. Yeah, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02Nice. I hadn't thought about that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Also, this movie is basically essentially useless watching edited, like there's no, there's no fucking point. There's like half of the words are half of the words are square words. It's like that there, no, there's no point. Why?
SPEAKER_02Why about that? That's not that's not gonna work. Yeah. Let's see. Uh dude's home on the phone with, we're assuming it's Walter who was apologizing, but then seems like it wasn't a real apology, because dude's like, I want to handle this alone, and then he gets mad. No, and then at the end he's like, Yeah, I'll be at practice.
SPEAKER_01No, Larry was not about to crack.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yeah. So it's like, you know, it's the half apology where I'm sorry, but you're like, no.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. This is also a great scene where he is nailing the the board to prop a chair against his door to to to like wedge it shut so no one can open it.
SPEAKER_02But also to like let him know that something happens, right? Like move.
SPEAKER_01No, it's supposed to be like barring the door so no one can open it. Oh, which is why it's so stupid because the door opens out.
SPEAKER_02Oh.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I didn't notice that. Um, yeah, so he sets up traps, and then the two original guys from the beginning come to get due to see Jackie Treehorn.
SPEAKER_01So apparently, in this second scene, the second time you see these guys, they've traded outfits for no reason. They just they just happened to. That's just that's amazing. Yeah, just like a fun little IMDb trivia. I love that. I love it, honestly. That's fun. That's a fun little thing.
SPEAKER_02I like that. It's like this this one's just for us. I like that. So we're at a strange beach party.
SPEAKER_01Like Hugh Hefner-esque beach sex party thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. We meet Jackie Treehorn. He like wants to talk to dude by himself, like in the house, not near the party. I like where he says the way of the feature is 100% electronic. I'm like, oh wow, look at that. Yeah, that actually works.
SPEAKER_01This is a prescient movie.
SPEAKER_02So Jackie's basically like, I want to know where Bunny is, because he doesn't know. Uh, then the phone rings, Jackie takes it, you like, and you focus on like the note, and then he like takes the note and leaves, and then dude tries to figure out what he wrote by doing the pencil thing, and it's just a dirty picture.
SPEAKER_01It's just like a weird cartoon of a guy with a giant dick. Yeah. Yeah. Just yeah. All right. I know. This is this is truly like this is one of those things that it feels like you would see in like a very serious detective movie. And then it's just like, oh, that didn't yield anything. That was just stupid.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Oh, like the note or something.
SPEAKER_01It's like, I got the person's name off of this. And it's just like, oh, okay. This was nothing.
SPEAKER_02So so Jackie's offering dude a 10% finder's fee to find Bunny. And dude's like, Well, I know who has the money. It's this kid named Larry. I'll give him your address. Or I'll give you his address. This doesn't yield anything because then he's drugged.
SPEAKER_01So at this point, as he is, before the stranger gets there, you get like as the dude is saying, like, well, you know, like I basically just sort of like rambling as he's like losing consciousness. And you get you get this really good line that's all the dude ever wanted was his rug back. And it just it's that's the heart of the whole fucking movie, where it's just like, I've done all this bullshit and I just wanted one thing to work out for me. And here and this, and this is where it's gotten me. And it's like, as he's like been escalated so high, it's like, hey, I am at this guy's house where I have no business being. I am doing espionage, which is not my thing. It's like I just wanted my fucking rug back. And just and just boiling it down to that. Like, I just I watching this movie this many times, and like I like that it comes back to that line where it's just like I didn't, I didn't ask for any of this. Like, all I wanted was my fucking rug. Yeah, yeah. And then it still just stays weird for however long.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It is frustrating.
SPEAKER_02Because that is the intention. Yes, it's frustrated. Yeah, because it's like that's all no, no bigger, bigger wants or need. Yeah. So I was just calling the narrator, but yeah, The Stranger's Back. Darkness war should be talking.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yes. We get another trippy scene. We got a porn starring Maud and the dude. We've got Saddam Hussein, who's the shoe guy at the Okay, cool, cool. Yeah. Um we get a dance bowling sequence.
SPEAKER_00And then we've got synergy.
SPEAKER_02Yes, very much so. Um, and then we've got the German guys here uh with giant scissors to cut his penis off. This is when I wrote music is very big for this movie. Yeah, because it was just like the me, like it's just the music and nothing else. And you're like, okay, this is this is what you want. Yes. So the dude wakes up running in the street, gets picked up by the police and brought to the station. Jackie apparently called the police on him and said he had to eject him from his party. The policeman, again, so aggressive, so fast.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so aggressive. It's just like, I hate you. I hate you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I was like, where did what? So, and he's like, You gotta leave because Jackie makes a lot of money for this town and he pays everyone. And then like throws a mug at him and attacks him. Yeah. I'm like, oh my god.
SPEAKER_01It is just this this officer, like lists, it's like, I, it's like, I hate everything about you, and the dude just going, I'm sorry, I wasn't listening, and then him th throwing a mug at his head. I'm like, I mug. It is it is beautiful physical comedy on Jeff Bridges' part. That part was funny. I think it's like it no, it it sucks and it's a bad vibe. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I don't know. Like, I don't know. Like in a in a I would I hate to say in a real comedy because this is clearly, you know, a comedy, but it's like in a in a different in a less serious comedy, yeah. I guess. I don't know. I don't know what I want from this movie.
SPEAKER_01That's fair. I don't know. That's okay. It's irredeemable, though.
SPEAKER_02No, I'm not saying that. We have different opinions. So this is when dude somehow gets a cab. Like, I don't know how he gets around, like how he pays for things. He doesn't have a job, like whatever.
SPEAKER_01We've established he has like no money, like he has like a checkbook. Yeah. Like, yeah, like he will write checks, but he's like, okay.
SPEAKER_02So he complains about the music of the cub.
SPEAKER_01Oh, this is the I hate the fucking eagles line. Yes. Yeah. Yes. This guy kicks him out of his cab.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. The driver kicks him out. Then we see, unbeknownst to anyone or anything, we see a little red convertible drive by with Bunny singing with all her toes. Aha. So the wheels start to turn. So dude's been away from his house for a while. He gets home and his house is wrecked. Um, because somebody was looking for the money. We don't really know who at this point. Oh, uh, oh, but Maud's in the house, and then she wants to have sex with him. And he's like, okay. We don't even get that. It's just we cut two afterwards.
SPEAKER_01He goes, that's my robe.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Um, we get a little backstory. Yeah. Dude was a writer briefly in the music, but a roadie for Metallica. Oh. And then just dabbled.
SPEAKER_01Apparently, Metallica loves that they are mentioned in this, in this uh movie.
SPEAKER_02Nice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, little trivia. Also, uh, apparently at one point um the Coven brothers decided that they um they wanted the reason that he has any money at all. They wanted him to be the inventor of the Rubik's Cube. They just couldn't, they were just like, we're never gonna mention it. And I don't know if it's really gonna work in. But that was like the concept of like, yeah, he just invented the Rubik's Cube, and here we are. And that's why he has any money.
SPEAKER_02So he has money.
SPEAKER_01Oh like that's like basically it. It's like, okay, I am living off of whatever royalties, and at this point it's like nothing, but not that much.
SPEAKER_02Okay, cool. But yeah. Oh, so Maud is like, what happened to your house? And he's like, Oh, uh I can't remember who he says was looking for it, but then he he talks about Larry again. Larry's got the money. Like, Larry doesn't have the money. I don't know why we're going to that. Um and then we find out that uh Lebowski has no money of his own. He's not good at running companies. And all the while they're talking, Maud is doing these weird yoga positions. And I was like, there's something there. And I could not pinpoint it. And then he finally asked her, and she's like, Oh, I'm doing these positions so I can get pregnant. And I was like, there it is. Um and he's like, Oh, that's why you wanted the doctor to check me. Um, but she's like, Don't worry, like it's just for me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like, I don't need anything to do with you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I just want something. Yeah. Um, so then, oh God, I don't remember what happened. Uh dude has some sort of like breakthrough of like the case, solving the case. And then he wants Walter to pick him up. Yeah. Oh, but then when he goes outside, the Volkswagen is there. Yeah. And dude's like, what are you what are you doing? What is this? Yeah. And the guy, Dafino, he's a private investigator. Thinks dude is tins. Dafino, he's like, I'm working for the Canute's. And it's like, who are they? Oh, they're Bunny's parents because she ran away a year ago. And he's like, Oh, maybe we can pool our resources. And dude's like, no. But also, how old is Bunny if she left a year ago?
SPEAKER_01No idea. I especially thinking about like the entire deal with Bunny. I'm like, I just want a separate, like, I want to know her deal, you know? A TV C. Yes. Yeah, I just I just want like, I just want like a little feature of just like, okay, here's my deal. Like, here's here's my side of the story. I'm like, thank you, Bunny. Let's go.
SPEAKER_02Because I don't feel like it makes sense. Like, how long have they been married?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that and that's the thing, like, especially looking at like the timeline. Yeah, the time, I mean, the timeline, I'm just like, I don't know how long you have been married, especially to like already like not have enough money. Not care. Yeah, like not care and not have enough money. Like, it's I don't know, it it's weird. Like, it seems like the kind of thing where it'd be like, oh, we were married for like three years, and then I was like, oh, I'm bored, I have to do something else. But I don't know, it's it's crazy.
SPEAKER_02So weird.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, but yeah, with this, I love just this like the exchange with the private investigator because he's like, oh, you know, you're you're doing a great job, like pitting everyone against each other. Playing every single one. Yeah, the dude's like, what the fuck are you talking about? But I love the I love the um uh it's like stay, oh god, what is it? It's like stay away from my lady friends. Like, I'm I don't want anything to do with your special my special lady. It's like it's not she's not my special lady, she's my fucking lady friend. And I like I just I don't know, it's it's one of those things where I like the I like the arbitrary definition of it's like, oh, it's my it's my special lady. I'm like, okay, I love it.
SPEAKER_02So weird. So next we we do a quick cut to the uh the German guys at a diner with I said a lady friend um who is missing a toe. We're like, okay, it's cut it's all coming together.
SPEAKER_01So then we are at This is when uh the dude and Walter are driving to Lebowski's, right? To that's right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I was like, I didn't know where they were going at first because it didn't really explain it. So dude's figuring it out. He's like, Lebowski doesn't want anything from me, questioning if the suitcase even had the money. Oh, but we're also saying that Walter is living in the past about his marriage because of the dog, and he can't do anything on Saturdays because he's he converted to Judaism and for his ex-wife, which is a failed relationship anyways, but he's clinging to it.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yes, it's going to the same synagogue. And um so so they pull up to the house and they find the red convertible crashed into the house.
SPEAKER_01Straight in there.
SPEAKER_02Yes. And then we walk inside the house and Bunny's running around naked, yeah, pretty much. Or like, yeah, okay. And Brant's like picking up her shit. Yeah. And he's like, oh, and dude's mad because he's like, What is this? What happened? And Brant's like, oh, she didn't tell anyone. She went to visit her friends in Palm Springs. So, uh, so dude and Walter go in to see Lebowski. They confront him, and it seems like Dude was right, but I don't even know in what.
SPEAKER_01So, like that that they didn't think she was gone, or I I think it's that they didn't know for a fact that she was gone, but also like the that the ransom was not real. Okay. But also that like I think we're pretty much supposed to assume that it is true. Like they that, you know, maybe he didn't have any of the money.
SPEAKER_02That's right. He didn't have any money. So yeah, there wasn't any money on the wheel.
SPEAKER_01So there was no money in the briefcase. Yeah. And that's the thing. Like, we we get this, like the dude putting together all of the pieces and actually, and like, you know, once again, pulling, you know, pulling phrases from like what other people have said, but getting to the point and saying, here's what you did, and you planned this, and then you wanted to pin it on me, someone who nobody gave. It's like, you know, referring to himself as a deadbeat. It's like, you know, just pin it on me, someone who doesn't care about that, you know, no one cares about. And then, yeah, and then it's like, Well, aren't you? And the dude goes, Well, yeah. Yeah, just invalidates his entire arg his entire argument. But it's like, I'm not a hero here. Like, you're right. It just I'm still, you know, I'm still right too.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. But then everything gets worse because Walter gets mad and he's like, Oh, he can totally walk. I I know this, and then like pulls him out of his chair, and yeah, not right. So we're back to bowling, we're discussing more warshit. Donnie misses his pin and looks at his hand or something, and I was like, Oh, that was weird. So uh their tournament game was changed after all. Uh, the Jesus was pissed. Um, but he said, you know, I'll I'll still play you on Wednesday. Still kick your ass. Yeah, it's still happening. Um, so they walk out of the alley, and the Germans have burned the car, lit it on like fire. Finally killed the car. Yeah. Yeah, it's finally done. And they're like, we want the money. And dude's like, I know you don't have money. Yeah. And you just see it like this part was because you just see them all like like faltering. Yeah. Yeah. And they're like, well, we still want the money. We still want the money. Yeah. Yeah. Then they're uh, oh, and then and then I think he says, is this is when he says the big Lebowski never gave the money. Um, and then the Germans are like, Well, what what do you have on you? Dude and Donnie are still trying to like be like, fine, whatever, like giving the cash. And Walter's like, of course, he says fuck no.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, is it Uli pulls out the sword? Yes, insane. Um Walter hits one of them with the um the bowling ball.
SPEAKER_01That's Flea. Flea gets taken out real quick. Yeah. And then he he like bites Oli's ear.
SPEAKER_02Yes. And then while the other one is like attacking or getting towards dude, he hits the other guy with his like bowling back. So like all three, boom, boom, boom, done.
SPEAKER_01I I do think all the time about the dude just going, here, take the four dollars. I'll just try to want it. Yeah, it's just like, here, just take it. Yeah. Just not wanting anything to do with it.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So so after that, I guess we turn around and Donnie's fallen. And I don't know how we know so quickly, but he's having a heart attack. Um, and then the dude uh runs to go get help from people inside the bowling alley. Um, then we cut to Walter and dude in a place. Donnie died. Yep. Okay. Cool. So they're at I guess a crematory island. Mortuary, there we go. Um, so they want the remains, but wait, they have to pay for them. So we're we're arguing about the price of the least expensive urn, which is $180.
SPEAKER_01It's like, can we rent one?
SPEAKER_02Because they're like, we're gonna spread them anyway. You know, why do we need a thing? So they get a Folder's coffee can to put the ashes in so they can spread them in the water off a cliff. They tell us that Donnie used to be a surfer. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We get we get this little microcosm of Donnie's life.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02And they're like, oh, no, not they. Walter is saying all this, and he's like, we assume this is what your dying wish would be.
SPEAKER_01I love that.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that was what we assume your last wishes would be.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02With your remains. And then as he's pouring them, dude gets like all of the ashes over him. Yeah. And then Walter turns around and he's like, oh shit. Yeah. I didn't know. And then, you know, they get mad at each other.
SPEAKER_01Well, specifically because Walter hijacks the the eulogy and makes it a bit like you're right. It's like, and just just like, you know, all like the other just like all of these fallen veterans, and meanwhile, the dude is just standing back, just listening, just stone faced, but also it's like, this is of course this is Walter. Like, this is typical Walter. It's like you can't, you can't like it started out so strong, and then it's like, no, you can't just you can't just let anything, you know, be not be about yeah, you can't just let it be what it is. And then, like, uh, you know, after and this, and this this scene with the two of them is where we sort of get that little bit of shift in like what Walter's masculinity is, where it's like, you know, he's like giving this like genuine, like kind of nice eulogy, drags in the Vietnam stuff, and then you know, Scouches the Ashes looks back at the dude and he's like, Oh, really poorly. Oh fuck, I'm sorry. And like goes to dust him off. And then, you know, the dude like lashes back out at him. It's like, what the fuck was all that Vietnam shit? And And then yeah, and then Walter apologizes, doesn't make an excuse, just apologizes, and then like pulls him in and hugs him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they finally because it is. I mean, at this point, it's a very understandable release of all of the like all the shit that they've gone through and everything, and that they just lost their friend as well. Like that, yeah, the first genuine sorry in this entire movie.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is like it's wild that it's like Walter is such a an important and prevalent like part of this movie. This is like the biggest like characterization that we get from him. Like this is like the biggest, like something happening to him as a character, basically. Like everything else, he's just been kind of like there to throw a wrench in things, but this is like Walter actually experiencing things and like actually changing at all. I don't know, like it's like at the very end, it's like, oh okay, this is like you have changed a little bit, you have become slightly less shitty. Like this is progress, like the two of them kind of meeting in the middle there.
SPEAKER_02Yes, or at least like an acknowledgement of like, yeah, I'm not always right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like I I like showing vulnerability, which he's not shown in the rest of this movie. Yeah, no, no, but then but then fuck it, fuck it.
SPEAKER_02Let's go bowling. Let's go bowling. We're back bowling. Um, dude is ordering beers. Sam the stranger's back at the bar. This is where we get the dude abides. We're breaking the fourth wall here. What does it say? Is it taking her easy for all us sinners? I wrote that down because grammatically it didn't make sense.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01Uh like taking it easy, like taking what easy? Um uh life. Life. It's abiding, Emily. Who's taking dude? What does that even mean? The dude abides, Emily.
SPEAKER_02What does abide mean in this sense?
SPEAKER_01I think in this case, it's that he oh gosh, how do I say this? I feel like in this case, what they're trying to say with the dude abides is that he is sort of cognizant of the you know, stresses and turmoil and conflict of the world, and yet he goes with the flow. And you know, but he doesn't. Well, if he had just gone with the flow, he wouldn't have had to deal with all this bullshit. So much of this movie, yeah, so yeah, so much of this movie is about him not going not going with the flow or other people redirecting that flow. And so if the dude is just following his own natural path, he would have just not had a rug or kept the rug or just complained to his friends about it and then moved on, you know? Right.
SPEAKER_02It's so we're saying that's what he should have done the whole time. Or now he's doing this.
SPEAKER_01We're saying that the dude's nature is just existing, essentially. Emily is rubbing her temples. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But I feel like it's Okay, go ahead. No, I just feel like this sentence contradicts the entirety of the movie. It's like you don't. You don't abide because none of that, all of this happened because you didn't do that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So okay. But going forward. So he's saying, like, going forward, I will do this.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. The dude, the dude, the dude will henceforth abide. That's that should have been said.
SPEAKER_02He should have said his catchphrase more often if he was gonna stick with it. Come on. No, I'm not saying that. I said it should like from now on, not just like, oh yeah, forever and always. It's like henceforth the dude abides. The whole two hours of not that happening. No, that's fair.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I yeah, but I think I think in this case it's like it's good to know that, you know, the the dude is is, you know, a a steady constant of going with the flow while you know everyone else in the world is is you know struggling and and you know, experiencing turmoil and conflict and chaos. It's nice to know that there's at least one that there's one person who is not experiencing that and and that we can find find solace in in someone else not going through the bullshit that we're going through.
SPEAKER_02But this entire movie contradicts that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but now the movie's over.
SPEAKER_02And then yeah, he breaks the fourth wall. I comment, oh man, I hated when Donnie died. But don't worry, there's a little Lebowski on the way. Well, that about wraps her up. The end.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. Oh gosh. Yeah. Yeah. That's the end of that movie.
SPEAKER_01It sure is. So um guess that about sums her up. Um so yeah, like on a scale of one to ten, how much is this movie what you expected it to be? One being absolutely nothing, ten being I I knew this was gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02Like I feel like I feel like a one.
SPEAKER_01Like I feel like you don't you didn't have as many expectations going in either. So I think I had no. Yeah, I think like even if you were like there's bowling in here, it'd be like, what the fuck? That wouldn't be. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, I'm thinking about like anything that I do like vaguely like had known about the movie. It's like, oh yeah, there's bowling, you know, he's a stoner, and that the rug really tied the room together, and white Russians, like that, nothing, those are all non-sequiters, those are just like islands of like aesthetic. Like they do not help. Yeah. Nope, you're right. I love this movie. It has been so long since I thought about this movie, other than, oh yeah, I love this movie, that this I think was interesting and helpful. Like I think like this sort of like slightly removed perspective. Like, I think, I don't know. Like, I think it's I think it's it is healthy every now and then to like take a step back from the things that you love and go, oh, actually, yeah. It's like it's like when you introduce someone to something and it's just like, oh, you will love this movie. And then you're like, I forgot about that part. Oh no. And it's just like, oh, you will love this album. And then it's like, oh, actually these are these suck, actually. Oh no. And it's like, well, telling someone about a TV show, and it's like, well, you just gotta skip the first three seasons. I'm not watching that show. Oh my god. No. It's interesting getting new perspectives on things that I, you know, have been watching for you know 10 plus years and enjoying. So do you want me to read it first? I mean, I feel like I'm supposed to. Oh yeah. I'm supposed to.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes, yes. We've we've been doing it right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_02I don't want to be too hard, but like Well here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01Your your rating is not whether or not this is a good movie. This can't Did I like this? Yeah, did you did you enjoy it? Not whether it's I mean, you can you can hate, you know, technically good movies. That's fine. Sure. God. I don't know what I gave cats. I don't remember. Did I God? I don't I wish I'd written it down.
SPEAKER_02I didn't write it down. Oh, yes, I did. Ha ha. I wrote mine. Um because I I came up with an idea um of like what it was, you know, the out of so No, it's okay.
SPEAKER_01What's your gut saying?
SPEAKER_02I'm struggling because like I'm trying to figure out anything that I actually enjoyed about this movie. Okay. Um and I feel like I'm coming up with very little. Like occasional lines, Maude was cool, I like seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman. The soundtrack's good. I did not care for the soundtrack. It was fine. None of that music I particularly made me want to listen to it again.
SPEAKER_01Sounds fine. Obviously, this is this does not have to happen. Do you think watching it a second time, now that you know what happens and you wouldn't be like deciphering untangling the plot, do you think it would be more enjoyable, or do you think that it would still stress you out in the same ways?
SPEAKER_02Um maybe not the plot of the movie, but probably all the discussion still. Like the characters, like the argument. A lot of the stuff with Walter, I think, would still stress me out.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02Um I uh I okay. I think I'm gonna give it three out of ten ferrets in the back.
SPEAKER_01Oh no. Ferrets! What are you doing?
SPEAKER_02That's what I get. I feel like I can't give it anything lower than cats. That's just your boy.
SPEAKER_01Um, that's fair.
SPEAKER_02So that and cats, unfortunately, are given the series.
SPEAKER_01It just needs to be Walter is a menace to society.
SPEAKER_02I mean, the vibes were off with Walter. Yeah, we need to talk about Walter. We don't talk about Walter. We sure do not. Um That's Walter. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's me. That's and honestly, that is totally fair. They're not all hey man, they can't all be bangers. That's all right. They can't all they can't all have the weed-sented nostalgia of grad school. They can't all be like that. They also they can't they can't please everyone. They're the cone brothers. Yeah, exactly. Um yeah, if you didn't like I was gonna say, like, you know, Fargo is nowhere near less stressful, but it's you know, not stressful in the same ways.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's been so long since I've watched that. Like I remember very vague bits of it, and one of them is a wood chipper.
SPEAKER_01So that's true. Yeah, it's true. I need to watch O'Brother Wear Out though again. Yeah, that reminded me of this. Um, I I in my rose-colored nostalgia glasses, I I'm gonna have, I mean, this is a seven out of ten white Russians for me. Um seven white Russians I'm gonna end up on the floor somewhere. Watching this. Yeah, I I might end up, you know, hopefully not sprinting down the road in Malibu. Um in the bathtub. Oh god. I'm laying on the floor hoping that no one actually breaks into my apartment. That's probably it.
SPEAKER_02Listening to my head too. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, listening to the soothing sounds of bowling or whale noises, depending on where I am. Well, that was it.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02I think you kind of covered did it hold up? Is it as good as you remember? I feel like it is. I looked at that.
SPEAKER_01I think I think I kind of peppered that in throughout. Like it is a lot of nostalgia. It is a lot, I mean, it is it, it was not a brand new movie when I first saw it either. So like it had age, but I think it also, you know, you viewing it from a different perspective and also a more modern lens. I think it's I think there's definitely stuff in this movie that still holds up. And especially if you are going in knowing what to expect, I think that it definitely holds up. I think that there's it's such a fascinating movie. I think that there's like there's so much like interesting, you know, themes and and symbols and stuff, like the you know, the details and analysis and stuff. Like there's so much in here. Like it's such a rich movie that on its surface is a weird stoner comedy slash detective movie. I don't know. Slash Western. Yeah, slash postwestern. Yeah. Well, that about wraps her up. That's not my sign-off, don't worry. I won't, I won't. It can be, it's up to you. You still have more to say. You have more screen. I sure do. I need to scroll down. Well, if you have a lot of thoughts and feelings about the Big Lebowski, um, you can let us know. You can follow the show on so many different places. We are Sister CinemaSwap on Facebook, Instagram, Blue Sky, and Letterboxed.
SPEAKER_02And we want to thank Jenny Crowley for our amazing artwork. Nick Heretia for our awesome theme music. And to thank you all so much for listening.
SPEAKER_01We appreciate you so much. Um, and we will uh see you at the movies. Get more tickets now. It's free. It's free.
SPEAKER_02Podcasts are free. Podcasts are free. Our podcasts are free. Oh, right, not all podcasts are free.
