The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a film that has garnered a cult following and is often regarded as a masterpiece, yet it presents a complex dichotomy between its comedic elements and deeper philosophical themes. Kyle, Seth Keys, and JR Robles dive into a spirited discussion about how the film's characters embody various worldviews, particularly focusing on the contrasting philosophies of the Dude and Walter. As they explore the film's legacy and impact over the years, they reflect on how its initial reception differed drastically from its current status in pop culture. The conversation touches on the humor and absurdity woven throughout the narrative, revealing how the Coen Brothers masterfully create a timeless piece of cinema that resonates with audiences in different ways. Ultimately, the episode examines whether The Big Lebowski lives up to its legendary status and how it has influenced the perception of stoner comedies and American filmmaking.
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The podcast dives deep into the cultural phenomenon that is The Big Lebowski, a film that has garnered a unique place in the hearts of many, including co-host Kyle, who ranks it among his top fifty films. Joined by comedian and filmmaker Seth Keys and JR Robles, the co-founder of the Dare To Fail Film Festival, the discussion explores the film's absurdist themes, its memorable characters, and the distinct impact it has had on pop culture since its release. The trio examines how the character of 'The Dude' embodies a laid-back, almost Zen philosophy amidst the chaos of life, contrasting sharply with the aggressive persona of Walter, played by John Goodman. This dynamic not only provides comedic moments but also serves as a commentary on differing approaches to conflict and life itself.
As the conversation unfolds, the hosts reflect on their personal experiences with the film, noting how it resonates differently with various audiences. While Seth expresses a more critical view, feeling that the film doesn't quite hit the mark for him, Kyle passionately defends its charm and depth, illustrating the divide that often accompanies cult classics. JR adds to the discussion by pointing out the film's intricate writing and character development, emphasizing how even minor characters leave a lasting impression. The episode encapsulates the essence of The Big Lebowski, highlighting its exploration of identity, purpose, and the absurdity of existence, all wrapped in a comedic package that continues to attract new fans, even decades after its initial release.
Takeaways:
- The Big Lebowski initially flopped but gained iconic status over the years, becoming a cultural phenomenon.
- The film's absurdist humor and unique characters resonate with audiences, making it a beloved classic.
- The Coen Brothers' distinct filmmaking style effectively blends humor with deeper philosophical themes.
- Walter and the Dude's contrasting worldviews highlight the film's exploration of pacifism versus aggression.
- The supporting characters, while memorable, may not stand out as much as in other Coen films.
- The movie's legacy is evident in its influence on stoner culture and its quotability.
Links referenced in this episode:
- www.audible.com
- www.netflix.com
- www.instagram.com
- www.imdb.com
- www.rottentomatoes.com
- www.daretofailfilmfestival.com
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Floor Coverings Weekly
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Metallica
- Dapper Dan
Mentioned in this episode:
The Greatest Movie Of All-Time Podcast
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Transcript
Movie wars.
Speaker B:Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the mo.
Speaker B:Who is this?
Speaker C:Oh, hey.
Speaker B:Who is this?
Speaker B:The dude is here.
Speaker B:We are abiding.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:This is the first time we've ever had a wardrobe thing and I'm digging it.
Speaker B:I actually think this should be the future.
Speaker A:I love this.
Speaker C:Just pick a different costume for every movie.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:We got our friend J R back.
Speaker B:What's up, buddy?
Speaker A:Hey, what's going on?
Speaker A:I love this movie.
Speaker A:I'm really excited to talk with you guys about it.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:Don't even get me started.
Speaker B:Actually, it's a podcast.
Speaker B:I probably should get started.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well.
Speaker B:Well, I was talking to Seth before and it's really hard.
Speaker B:It's easier for me to nail down like my top 50 movies.
Speaker B:But like nailing down a top director is very hard because they typically have such a wider like, swath of work.
Speaker B:Like, we just got done talking about Tenant Me.
Speaker B:Like you were talking to me.
Speaker B:Like every Nolan movie is in a different genre.
Speaker B:Just like.
Speaker B:And the Cohen are very similar.
Speaker B:But I do have this list of kind of fluctuating directors and it.
Speaker B:Depending on what day it is, the Coen brothers do take that top spot.
Speaker B:Yeah, I love them.
Speaker B:They have.
Speaker B:They have so many things I love.
Speaker B:Like they have a very American approach to film.
Speaker B:First of all, like so many of their movies are just truly American.
Speaker B:Like I feel like no country for Old Men.
Speaker B:There's just elements of those are like very classical.
Speaker B:Go back to the 60s, 70s, that era of kind of American filmmaking.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:I love.
Speaker B:They also have that Wes Anderson thing, which I think Wes actually pulls more from the Cohen's than the other way.
Speaker B:But this, there's this humor and there's this kind of hilarity, but wrapped up in it is real pain.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And they deliver real deep messaging kind of.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But packaged in this kind of funny verbose.
Speaker B:And Wes Anderson does that very well as well.
Speaker B:Like, you ever seen the royal tin and bounds?
Speaker B:Hilarious but wrapped in pain.
Speaker A:Love the royal tenor bombs, man.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So good.
Speaker B:Also, I love.
Speaker B:I talk.
Speaker B:I obsess over this idea.
Speaker B:When we covered no country years ago.
Speaker B:They have memorable side characters, characters that are write offs in most movies.
Speaker B:Like I remember the.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:Remember the Trailer park manager and no country for Old Men.
Speaker B:The what is her famous line?
Speaker B:God, what is it?
Speaker B:She said ain't here or whatever.
Speaker B:Remember that?
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:I don't want to.
Speaker B:I'm going to bash it.
Speaker B:But Anyway, she had 45 seconds on the screen and I remember her like verbatim like, they make these characters that typically are just passive characters, like waiters, waitresses in other movies.
Speaker B:They make them memorable.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:And I found out by researching this movie, they're very intentional about writing dialogue.
Speaker C:Oh.
Speaker B:For side characters.
Speaker C:I mean, they're.
Speaker C:They're such dialogue heavy directors in general that, yeah, it would.
Speaker C:It would make sense for them to be like, no, we're gonna make sure that if someone says something, it's gonna be important.
Speaker A:Well, yeah, the first scene in no country for Old Men, where, like, most.
Speaker A:Most writers probably see that as a chance for sugar to just kill the guy at the.
Speaker A:At the gas station.
Speaker A:But no, like, that's a whole.
Speaker A:It sets the tone for that whole movie.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, that's it.
Speaker A:Maybe that's another one of those types of characters you're talking about.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And they.
Speaker B:They decided to load you up with some tension right off the bat instead of satisfying that tension.
Speaker A:Dude.
Speaker A:One of the most, like, anxiety.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Oh, we.
Speaker B:Let's talk about no Country.
Speaker B:No, we got to talk about.
Speaker C:We're switching movies.
Speaker B:Oh, that's a change.
Speaker A:Your.
Speaker A:Your costume.
Speaker A:Seth, you got to.
Speaker C:God damn it.
Speaker B:Get your.
Speaker B:Get your bar fly.
Speaker C:I got a wig.
Speaker C:Hold on.
Speaker A:Do the bow.
Speaker A:Cut.
Speaker B:Yeah, and also.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And maybe I'm.
Speaker B:I'm.
Speaker B:I'm.
Speaker B:This is a subconscious thing I'm channeling here because.
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker B:Oh, brother.
Speaker B:War.
Speaker B:Arthur was loosely based on the Odyssey, but every one of their movies feels like an odyssey.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Kind of a weird.
Speaker B:Like, very simple stories that almost feel like some kind of weird journey.
Speaker B:And the Big Lebowski definitely exemplifies that, you know, this kind of weird Odyssey.
Speaker B:Odyssey based story.
Speaker B:But lastly, it's kind of crazy that this movie flopped.
Speaker B:I mean, it was a fifteen million dollar budget.
Speaker B:It made five million dollars in theaters.
Speaker B:And like, some of the movies we've covered, you know, it was five or six years before this all of a sudden became this in the zeitgeist, and now it's in the freaking National Congressional Library as a piece of historical American history.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, it's a very iconic looking movie.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:I personally can understand why it wouldn't have hit.
Speaker A:Oh, God.
Speaker C:In theaters.
Speaker C:Look.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:When I say what I'm about to say, I'm not saying this is a bad movie because it's not there for.
Speaker C:For directors like Christopher Nolan or Tarantino or the Coen brothers, there is going to be a baseline where nothing that they've made is bad, quote unquote.
Speaker C:However, to me, at this point in my viewing history, with them.
Speaker C:This is my least favorite Coen Brothers movie I've ever seen.
Speaker C:I do think it's.
Speaker C:It's one of the weaker ones in terms of story and plot.
Speaker C:It makes me now understand why I hated every guy in college who said it was the greatest movie ever made.
Speaker C:But again, I don't think it's a bad movie.
Speaker C:It just.
Speaker C:It clearly resonates with a very particular type of douchebag that I'm just not into.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:Yeah, I don't know, like you said, a lot of very memorable characters.
Speaker C:Some.
Speaker C:Some very memorable, funny moments.
Speaker C:I tended to enjoy it when it went to the extreme kind of.
Speaker C:I guess that.
Speaker C:That dream sort of sequence where he.
Speaker C:He sees Julianne Moore and everyone's dancing and everything, that was one of my favorite parts.
Speaker C:Just because it.
Speaker C:It went 100% into the absurdity of what they were trying to do.
Speaker C:But I think they've made significantly better movies, I think.
Speaker A:Seth, you're kind of summing up like, that experience of when it first came out for a lot of people.
Speaker C:That's what I think.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:Cuz Like.
Speaker A:Like how you said where it did kind of flop, people weren't.
Speaker A:I think a lot of it is because it's such a bizarre and weird story and.
Speaker A:And it kind of goes into all kinds of.
Speaker A:And it's pretty long.
Speaker A:It's a pretty long movie.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's almost two hours that.
Speaker A:That I think people kind of didn't.
Speaker A:Maybe didn't know what to do with it when it came out.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:And I'll tell for.
Speaker A:For me, the first time I saw it, I can't tell you about, because I don't really exactly remember because a lot of movies, I can tell you where I was when I saw it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I saw it in the theater.
Speaker A:I saw it a little closer.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:I got you.
Speaker A:For a lot of movies, I can tell you exactly where I was when I first saw it.
Speaker A:But for this one, I think maybe I was in my college dorm room, but.
Speaker A:Or maybe I'd rented it, but I can't exactly because I've seen it so many times.
Speaker A:So they kind of all just blend together.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But yeah, like, it is one of those, I think that kind of over time just really percolates and marinates for people and maybe because it's so quotable too, and it's.
Speaker A:And it's got set pieces and scenes that are really funny and that really stick out.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But yeah, I mean, it's certainly one of my favorite movies.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But it makes Sense that it would maybe didn't he hit whenever it first came out?
Speaker A:Because it's, it's really.
Speaker A:It's a really bizarre movie.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:But again, I think they've made more bizarre movies that were better done.
Speaker C:Burn After Reading is probably one of the most bizarre comedies I've ever watched, but it's one of my favorites by them.
Speaker C:It is.
Speaker C:And it's.
Speaker C:It's weird because in that movie I still to this day cannot tell you what happened in that movie.
Speaker C:But every time I watch it, I have the greatest time while I watch it.
Speaker B:The status and the security of your probably that quote crushes me.
Speaker C:Probably Brad Pitt's best role.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, to quote Walter, you're out of your element.
Speaker B:Seth.
Speaker B:No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker B:I mean, obviously the guy who hates it looks the part.
Speaker B:He hates it so much.
Speaker C:I didn't hate it, but just.
Speaker C:It's my least favorite of the ones I've seen from them, I think.
Speaker C:And now this might explain why I feel this way.
Speaker C:I do think True Grit is probably my favorite movie that they've done.
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker C:Did love.
Speaker C:Oh brother.
Speaker C:Where Art Thou?
Speaker C:Raising Arizona.
Speaker C:Incredible Burn.
Speaker C:After reading, I even really like the the Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Speaker B:What about Fargo?
Speaker C:I haven't seen it, so I'm holding.
Speaker C:I have no judgment on that one right now because I just have no idea.
Speaker C:But of the ones that I've seen from them, True Grit has definitely been my favorite.
Speaker C:And I think it's because their kind of old school way of writing dialogue fits the best in that world.
Speaker C:Because something I've noticed about westerns, a lot of times people won't get the dialogue to sound correct.
Speaker C:And I think the reason it resonated with me in that one so well is because they wrote the dialogue the way people would have written letters back then.
Speaker C:You, you.
Speaker C:Because most people aren't saying contractions.
Speaker C:They're.
Speaker C:They're whatever accent they're in, I am not going to do that.
Speaker C:Instead of saying I'm not going to do that.
Speaker C:It's like they, they, they.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:It's written in this very formal way that even with the dumbest person sounding accent, like the most redneck person saying it's.
Speaker C:It adds this air of sophistication to it that, that I feel like doesn't work as well in the modern set film.
Speaker A:Sometimes there's a man.
Speaker A:There is a man for a time and place in his generation.
Speaker C:I don't know what you're quoting.
Speaker A:It's from the Big Lebowski.
Speaker C:I watched it three hours ago, and it just.
Speaker B:Are you employed.
Speaker C:That one was fun.
Speaker A:But to what you're saying, like, that is a really great detail.
Speaker A:Detail about True Grit that I love, too.
Speaker A:It reminds me of Deadwood, by the.
Speaker C:Way, like, but way more exciting.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, but.
Speaker A:But, like, I.
Speaker A:That kind of detail in True Grit is really cool.
Speaker A:And I think with Lebowski, I think there's some of that stuff going on, too, like, to.
Speaker A:To the.
Speaker A:The time frame and everything, I think.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:It's such a fun trip for me whenever I see this movie, so.
Speaker C:Well, that's.
Speaker C:My complaint about it is, is I don't think it's as appropriate in the Big Lebowski as it was in True Grit because you.
Speaker C:You compare the dialogue in this to Burn After Reading, and Burn After Reading feels so casual, as.
Speaker C:I think it matches the tone of the film better.
Speaker C:This is technically a stoner comedy.
Speaker C:Like, it's a stoner film, but the dialogue is written as if it's.
Speaker C:It's some high class film.
Speaker C:No, I think it's really strange.
Speaker A:This is more of a detective story than it is like a.
Speaker A:Like a.
Speaker A:Like a noir movie.
Speaker C:I mean, definitely.
Speaker C:Yeah, 100%.
Speaker B:I think it's an odyssey film, but.
Speaker C:I'm just saying subject matter.
Speaker C:It's a stoner comedy.
Speaker C:You have the Big Lebowski, who is just a big stoner.
Speaker C:I mean, literally, this might be one of your randos, but I know that whenever he would show up to a new location, he was.
Speaker C:He would always ask the Cohen, hey, did.
Speaker C:Did the dude burn one on the way over?
Speaker C:Yeah, and so, like, he's just like, always had that in his mind of how he acted.
Speaker C:Did.
Speaker C:So it's like, yeah, sure, it hits the noir elements, it hits the detective elements, it hits the mystery elements, but I think at its core, it is a stoner comedy, but the dialogue feels so much more elevated than, I feel, like a stoner comedy show that it just, for me, didn't hit the same way.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:That you bring up Burn After Reading because I hadn't thought about the comparison before, but I do think these two movies really talk to each other.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And overarching, like, in the way that they're made, but also overarching theme of, like, just an absurdist nonsense.
Speaker A:Like, earlier, Kyle, you were saying, like, none of the.
Speaker A:Like, I don't really understand what happens in Burn After Reading.
Speaker C:That's what I said.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's one of those, like, I love it and I watch it every time and it's a great time, but I could not tell you what it's about.
Speaker A:I do think, like, kind of skipping ahead to kind of what the ending of the Big Lebowski is.
Speaker A:I feel like that's also the effect that the movie has.
Speaker A:Like, they.
Speaker A:They've discovered that this person just went out on the lam for a few weeks and now she's back.
Speaker A:And like, none of this detective work.
Speaker C:The dude did gigantic.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So that's what I.
Speaker A:Kind of.
Speaker A:One of the things I love about it is, is that sort of by the end, there's like, none of this really matters.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, we.
Speaker A:It kind of is a nihilistic movie in that way, kind of.
Speaker A:I wouldn't say it's a nihilistic movie overall, but.
Speaker A:But, like, it does touch on that for me.
Speaker A:And yeah, I think that because I didn't really like Burn after reading that much, I thought it was great, of course, but, like.
Speaker A:But I feel probably the same way that you do about Lebowski, Seth, as is, like, this is fun.
Speaker A:This is cool.
Speaker A:I feel like they did this better in the big.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But yeah, it's a cool comparison.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it's interesting.
Speaker B:You said the thing about it being a long comedy.
Speaker B:The Cohen's were very concerned about that because that.
Speaker B:I read this book.
Speaker B:There's a two hour audiobook.
Speaker B:It's only on audible.
Speaker B:I don't think there's a physical version, but it was written by the assistant who was the Cohen's assistant on the Big Lebowski, and he developed a really great relationship with them.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And he basically talks about how, like, they were like.
Speaker B:Our rule is that a comedy cannot be longer than 90 minutes.
Speaker B:It can't be.
Speaker B:They were really concerned about its runtime because they were just.
Speaker B:They literally cut everything.
Speaker B:And they went back to recut it and they.
Speaker B:They, like, found four seconds, you know, they just could not cut.
Speaker B:They just didn't think they could cut anything else out.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:And I think for the story they told, they.
Speaker C:They told it in the best way that they could, as short as they could.
Speaker C:Like, nothing felt unnecessarily dragged out.
Speaker C:Like, definitely that.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's.
Speaker C:That's a very high compliment I will give it is.
Speaker C:I do think they really cut it down to the shortest it could actually be without feeling too short.
Speaker A:It does feel long, though.
Speaker A:Like, whenever I put it on, I just like, wow, this is this long.
Speaker C:The first act, I think, feels the longest.
Speaker C:By the time they get halfway through the second act, I think everything really starts to pick up.
Speaker C:But again, it's like everything that they do discuss in the first act, you have to have like.
Speaker C:I don't see another way they could have told the story.
Speaker B:Yeah, my.
Speaker B:Yeah, this.
Speaker B:And this is a top 50 film just to.
Speaker B:For me to.
Speaker B:To talk about that.
Speaker B:It's like on my 37 of.
Speaker B:I can't remember exactly 35 to 45 range.
Speaker B:But my only criticism is that I think the dream sequences drag it out.
Speaker B:I think those are the only things.
Speaker C:And that's the one thing I love.
Speaker B:I like them, but I don't think we need two of them necessarily.
Speaker B:I didn't think we.
Speaker B:And the second one feels a tad long to me.
Speaker B:Those are the only things.
Speaker B:Like, those are my least favorite parts.
Speaker A:There's the bowling one with.
Speaker A:Where he's like with Mod when they're all dancing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then what's the other one?
Speaker B:And then the other one, he's flying with his bowling ball.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I don't know if he's dreaming or hallucinating, but he's.
Speaker B:And he's chasing.
Speaker A:I think it's an acid flashback.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Because he was in the.
Speaker B:What was he, the Peace Corps?
Speaker B:And he.
Speaker B:Oh, no, he's part of the.
Speaker B:What is it?
Speaker B:The Magnificent Seven.
Speaker B:What was it?
Speaker B:The Seven.
Speaker B:He talks about how before he was a roadie for Metallica, he was.
Speaker A:Oh, that's right.
Speaker B:He's part of the Magnificent Seven or whatever.
Speaker B:It's interesting.
Speaker B:I love this.
Speaker B:We all encountered this movie in a different way.
Speaker B:As the resident, like obsessed Coen Brothers fan, I put this off for a long time.
Speaker B:Really.
Speaker B:Because I come from.
Speaker B:And I think you do too.
Speaker B:You're a little younger.
Speaker B:Not to like ageism you.
Speaker B:But I come for.
Speaker B:I feel like I come from a.
Speaker C:General 31 year old man child.
Speaker B:This will not stand, man.
Speaker B:But I.
Speaker B:I feel like I come from a generation and I'm still very much like this.
Speaker B:Where I pick movies based on the.
Speaker B:The box, the COVID and the poster.
Speaker A:Oh, sure.
Speaker B:You know, I remember perusing video stores and that's why I was so obsessed with horror as a kid.
Speaker B:Because those are the boxes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I was not allowed to watch.
Speaker B:But the ones I was obsessed with, like seeing Freddy Krueger's like claw in that 3D box.
Speaker B:I was like, why can watch that?
Speaker B:The box is awesome.
Speaker B:And I go home and I'd think, oh, the boxes were so cool.
Speaker C:I do miss 3D textured boxes.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker C:Like, the steel books are the only thing that comes close to that now.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it's weird because I was thinking about, why did I wait?
Speaker B:Why did I love.
Speaker B:I grew up on Raising Arizona.
Speaker B:Loved it.
Speaker B:No country for old men's top 10 for me.
Speaker B:I put this off so long because I just.
Speaker B:I looked at the box, I was like, what the.
Speaker B:Is.
Speaker B:Yeah, that about.
Speaker B:And I was like, john Goodman.
Speaker B:I hate Roseanne.
Speaker B:Like, you know, there was just so much.
Speaker B:And it was funny because I.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:I wasn't.
Speaker B:I don't know why I was like.
Speaker B:But I love John Goodman and raising Arizon.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:But anyway, so I put it off, and then I remember putting off.
Speaker B:I was so mad at myself because the dialogue, the banter, the relationships, it just hits on every cylinder for me.
Speaker B:Like, every time Walter screams at Donnie, I'm like, that is.
Speaker B:That is right up my alley.
Speaker B:Like, it's absurd.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:And one thing I put in my notes that's really important to know about how the Coen brothers.
Speaker B:Not.
Speaker B:They really focused on this concept.
Speaker B:But I think the reason some of that disconnected kind of feeling dialogue happens because they coach every actor in most of their movies to live in their own universe and act as if their universe is the most important thing.
Speaker C:And so, in other words, be a person.
Speaker B:Well, yeah, but almost to the point of, like, you are colliding.
Speaker B:Like, your world view is always going to be in some sort of collision.
Speaker B:And that's why it's interesting.
Speaker B:They have, like.
Speaker B:They call them the nihilist.
Speaker B:And what.
Speaker B:What the Big Lebowski, what the dude represents is pacifism.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, that is what he embodies, is the philosophy.
Speaker B:The philosophy of pacifism.
Speaker B:Talk, Kyle Passy Fism.
Speaker B:But anyway, so this idea.
Speaker C:Get you a pacifier.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:Geez.
Speaker B:Just shut me up for the rest of this.
Speaker B:Hit me with a bowling ball in the face.
Speaker B:But almost like there is this, like, these colliding world views.
Speaker B:And that's why I think Sam Elliott's character is interesting, because he kind of like, I love what he says.
Speaker B:Like, why do you have to cuss so much?
Speaker B:And it's just so simple.
Speaker B:But, like, that's his world view kind of like, you know, kind of stepping on his toes.
Speaker B:And so everyone kind of feels, especially Julianne Moore's character, like they are in their own.
Speaker B:Almost like Gerbil ball.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Well.
Speaker A:Well, like, so I.
Speaker A:I've kind of.
Speaker A:I'm kind of really intrigued by la.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:They're in la.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And I'm always.
Speaker A:I'm also intrigued by, like, mid-90s sort of what was going.
Speaker A:How that was.
Speaker A:But I don't know if.
Speaker A:I don't know if we're the third.
Speaker C:Or fourth LA specific movie we've covered.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:LA's played a big part in this podcast.
Speaker A:Actually, they're early 90s, because I believe it's.
Speaker A:Was it George Bush senior on the TV at the beginning?
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker C:This came out in 98, but it was very specifically narration.
Speaker C:It was said in the.
Speaker B:Because he's the one that says this.
Speaker A:Aggression will not stand.
Speaker A:Yeah, It's.
Speaker A:It's actually a George.
Speaker A:George Bush, not George W.
Speaker A:Bush, but.
Speaker A:Yeah, but.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:So I'm.
Speaker A:I'm fascinated by movies like that, and I.
Speaker A:It really is kind of an odyssey.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because the dude kind of finds himself entering into all of these different social contexts where he's, like, trying to navigate this.
Speaker A:You know, trying to navigate sort of some of the politics.
Speaker A:Not like, you know, politics, capital P, but like, just the power dynamics in these relationships and the.
Speaker A:In these social arenas.
Speaker A:You know, like, he's.
Speaker A:He.
Speaker A:He has to be interviewed by a police officer.
Speaker A:He's, like, with sort of higher, like, highfalutin artist types, businessman.
Speaker A:Like, you know, the Big.
Speaker A:The actual Big Lebowski.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And so, like, when you follow his track in this movie, it.
Speaker A:There's a lot of hilarious, to me, commentary about how silly it all is.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, it's definitely.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's.
Speaker B:It's the Divine comedy.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:It's almost allegorical as well.
Speaker B:When you think about going through the different rings of hell.
Speaker B:It's like he's.
Speaker B:He's almost a commentary on these weird social groups and these power structures and hierarchies.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:It's such a cool movie structure.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:And it.
Speaker A:And it does hit on that.
Speaker A:Those, like, archetypes of different people that.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:I don't know what.
Speaker A:What's his name, Joseph Campbell, kind of talks about in.
Speaker A:In the Hero of A Thousand Faces.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, you have just all of these moments with the dude where he kind of like what we talked about in.
Speaker A:In Tenet, where the protagonist gets to be somebody we project ourselves onto.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think it's even more true with the dude because we get to see him react to, like, that first scene where he's with the actual Big Lebowski.
Speaker A:I forget the guy's name that plays that character.
Speaker A:Like Jeffrey Lebowski.
Speaker A:Yeah, but, like, he just rips him a new asshole.
Speaker A:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker A:Rips him a new asshole in that scene.
Speaker A:And, like, the Dude, I feel like.
Speaker A:I don't know about you guys, but for me, I'm just like, what?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, I don't know.
Speaker B:You employed Mr.
Speaker B:Lebowski?
Speaker C:I mean.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:How ridiculous would it be, though, for.
Speaker C:For someone dressed up like me to show up at a multimillionaire's house and just be like, hey, someone else pissed on my rug because they were looking for you.
Speaker C:I need you to give me a new rug.
Speaker A:You know, that's funny because, like, every time I watch the movie, I'm, like, totally on the Dude's side.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:You put it in those terms, it's really ridiculous.
Speaker B:I'm so on the dude side.
Speaker B:I want to be the Dude.
Speaker B:I wish I had.
Speaker B:I'm such an anxious, like, obsessed with rules person.
Speaker B:I just wish I had the fortitude to not care.
Speaker B:And just my rug being the biggest deal in my life that day.
Speaker C:It's a nice rug.
Speaker A:I love that he has no concept of social mores where he just shows up to this guy's house and he's, hey, man, somebody was pissing on my rug, and they mentioned you thought it was your rug, so they meant to piss on your rug.
Speaker A:So can I get one of your rugs?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So good.
Speaker C:Again, there's stuff I like about the movie.
Speaker C:It just.
Speaker C:The.
Speaker C:The.
Speaker C:The sum of the parts didn't hit for me.
Speaker C:There were some parts that did, and.
Speaker C:And some things I thoroughly enjoyed, but I don't know, for whatever reason, the entire combination of all of the things just wasn't working for me.
Speaker A:Seth's gonna love the movie by the end of the podcast.
Speaker B:Yeah, I feel.
Speaker B:I feel you're.
Speaker B:I'm not an energy or vibe guy, but if that's a thing, I feel them increasing.
Speaker A:I do.
Speaker B:This couches.
Speaker B:This couch is levitating.
Speaker B:Like the car.
Speaker B:The rug in the hallucination over here.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I know for a fact that you got a big Lebowski fan.
Speaker B:Maybe you got a little Lebowski fan at home.
Speaker B:Whatever you got in your life.
Speaker C:I call my penis.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:The little Lebowski.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's amazing.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:I'm like a gps.
Speaker B:Like an old GPS that took a wrong turn.
Speaker B:Recalibrating.
Speaker B:Recalibrating.
Speaker B:But send us over to a Lebowski friend, to a Cohen friend, to a Bridges friend.
Speaker B:Thank you for tuning in.
Speaker B:We love y'all.
Speaker B:The question, am I missing Something about bowling.
Speaker B:Watching this makes me think, is this the cornerstone of society?
Speaker B:And I just didn't know it all along.
Speaker B:I mean, this makes bowling look like the.
Speaker B:It's not golf.
Speaker A:It's definitely a real subculture, man.
Speaker A:There's a lot of serious bowlers out there.
Speaker C:I mean, remember, topgolf is the new bowling alley.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C: s through the early: Speaker C:Either you're just the casual fan and it's somewhere you want to go because they also have an arcade because you're a kid or you're like, no, I'm very serious about this.
Speaker C:I'm going to go and bowl.
Speaker C:Like, that was a thing.
Speaker C:That was a, a huge thing.
Speaker C:My, my dad was telling me that his mom actually back in the 50s and 60s was like an avid bowler and, and had her own, like, balls and everything and would go every single weekend to go bowling.
Speaker C:Like, that was just the thing to do.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And now we just have Snapchat.
Speaker C:Yeah, Snapchat, topgolf and Putt Shack.
Speaker A:Well, you know, there is something about that.
Speaker A:Like, you know, if you want to look into any commentary that this movie might be doing, like, hey, here's like workingclass, middle class kind of people.
Speaker A:Like, here's some stuff that.
Speaker A:Here's what, here's sort of a, a peek into like, sort of what that life is like.
Speaker A:But I, I don't know, like the, I don't bowl like that, you know, I've been bowling, of course, but I, I have like kind of been in poker leagues before, you know, and, and so like when he, whenever he gets the call from the, the president of the bowling association, he's like, hey, Walter pulled out a gun during one of the league play games.
Speaker A:Yeah, like, I could see how, like, you know, like, I, I think it is a really nice touch to me, like that just kind of commenting on that culture and stuff.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:That was a fun scene because it.
Speaker B:Wasn'T about the gun.
Speaker A:No, like, you disrupted league play, bro.
Speaker B:That's a league rule.
Speaker B:I don't care that you threaten to shoot somebody.
Speaker B:We are clear about the rules.
Speaker A:Over the line.
Speaker A:Smokey.
Speaker A:Smokey, by the way, he's another one of those guys that you were talking about.
Speaker A:Yeah, like, he's one of those characters that like, maybe in any other sort of context doesn't really seem significant.
Speaker A:But dude, the guy who plays Smokey the.
Speaker A:In this is so funny to me.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:See that tall guy with a ponytail.
Speaker B:No, you're thinking about the John Turturro's character.
Speaker B:Jesus.
Speaker A:But the guy who, before that scene where, like, he's kind of like the.
Speaker A:I don't know, he reminds me of somebody who might like, listen to.
Speaker A:I don't know, I have no clue.
Speaker A:But he's like really, like, easy listening, 70s music.
Speaker A:He's got like a bowling shirt on.
Speaker C:He's like yacht rock.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, well, maybe, but.
Speaker A:But anyway, like, he's gray hair.
Speaker C:Okay, I know who you're talking about.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Come on, dude, man.
Speaker A:Like, he's really just like that.
Speaker A:But I.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:Sort of like they're taking him out of this and then they're putting him into this whole la.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Seedy underbelly.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And I don't have a rando about this.
Speaker B:What's funny about the bowling stuff, too.
Speaker B:This was in the book.
Speaker B:Like, the, the movie never shows Walter or the dude bowling.
Speaker B:Like, they never roll a ball.
Speaker B:There is a scene of it, though, and the Cohens, it was like one of the biggest disagreements apparently on set.
Speaker B:The Cohens do not.
Speaker B:Like, they're brothers, but they do not argue.
Speaker B:Like, and when they.
Speaker B:They have.
Speaker B:There was only one disagreement they had in front of the crew.
Speaker B:And it was very much like, I don't think we should do that.
Speaker B:And the other one was like, I think we should.
Speaker B:And that's like the tone it got.
Speaker B:Like, they're apparently just like, they're.
Speaker B:They're literally one mind.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:But behind the scenes, they really toiled and they actually worked with their assistant to make the decision because he also was in the editing room.
Speaker B:Like, do we put.
Speaker B:They felt like this was a game breaking decision to put the footage of them bowling in the movie.
Speaker B:Because for them it was not about the actual characters bowling.
Speaker B:It was about this almost like old married couple dynamic they have.
Speaker B:And so I'm glad they didn't put it in because I think it's perfect.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker A:Yeah, I honestly didn't really notice it that much, but I do like that it's not in there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, I think.
Speaker A:Because it also adds to Donnie's bowling, the significance of it, because we know.
Speaker A:I think we see him bowling three times.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And he's the first two.
Speaker A:He hits strikes and strikes.
Speaker A:And then the last time he doesn't hit the strike.
Speaker A:And then basically the next scene is when he taps out, he dies.
Speaker B:Small illusion.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, which I don't know.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:And I like how every time Donnie's bowling.
Speaker A:It's the beginning of, like, a new beat in a.
Speaker A:The story.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:The first time is like kind of the very beginning when, you know, Dude's trying to figure out, hey, what do I do about my rug?
Speaker A:And then we have this hilarious conversation between Walter and the dude that does kind of have social commentary vibes, if you want to read into it, but also is just about sort of Walter's whole philosophy.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:This aggression will not stand, man.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:Like all that stuff.
Speaker A:And like.
Speaker A:And he really lays it out for the.
Speaker A:And like, the.
Speaker A:That is the heart of this movie where the relationship between Walter and the Dude.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It drives the whole movie forward.
Speaker A:The dude wanting to not be involved.
Speaker A:Not.
Speaker A:And then Walter believing his belief system is what propels the dude forward.
Speaker A:Because the dude kind of agrees with him.
Speaker A:Yeah, on a certain level.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But that's just not him.
Speaker A:But without.
Speaker A:I wonder that.
Speaker A:It just kind of occurs to me.
Speaker A:Is this a parallel for Joel and Ethan, the way that they approach movies?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:This is totally just speculating, but, like, could be.
Speaker C:Welcome to Movie Wars.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Welcome.
Speaker A:But, like.
Speaker A:But that dynamic you're talking about, about between Joel and Ethan kind of having the one mind thing, maybe that's what it's like simmering underneath for these guys where, like, there's one who just kind of wants to let things go and one who wants to really push.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, I mean.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And one of the.
Speaker B:Something that speaks to what you say in the book is that, like, the big question about the movie, about the progression of this movie is, do.
Speaker B:Does the nature of the dude and Walter's relationship change?
Speaker B:And the answer is no.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, they have one emotional flare up when they're.
Speaker B:They're trying to.
Speaker B:They suck at spreading Donnie's ashes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:But that's like the one moment.
Speaker B:And like, that hug is just the most reluctant.
Speaker B:Like.
Speaker B:But it's emotional to us because we love these characters.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:But to them, it's just this mo.
Speaker B:The weirdest awkward hug.
Speaker B:But the truth is, is that their relationship does not change.
Speaker B:Like, it's the same dynamic.
Speaker B:And I like what you said.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:I don't necessarily think that.
Speaker B:That the dude agrees with Walter.
Speaker B:I think it's that he's almost like a broken rudder on his boat.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker B:Like, he.
Speaker B:He just.
Speaker B:By.
Speaker B:He just propels him forward whether he likes it or not.
Speaker B:And then because he's a pacifist, he.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The negative side of being a pacifist is, you get pushed around.
Speaker B:And he's not going to.
Speaker B:He's not.
Speaker B:You also can't be an objector if you're a pacifist.
Speaker B:So he's not going to object to Walter's forces.
Speaker B:He can speak into it, but it doesn't matter.
Speaker B:He's going to.
Speaker B:Walter is going to move him by force.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And that is their relationship.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's really well played by these guys.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:But I think it's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:These two characters, I think, are kind of at the.
Speaker A:The heart of the absurdism of what the movie is.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Like, the movie is.
Speaker A:Is.
Speaker A:Is to me.
Speaker A:I'm like, man, this is just silly.
Speaker A:It's constant juxtapositions of silly things together.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:You know, and.
Speaker A:Yeah, those two guys kind of hold it all together.
Speaker C:Well, that's just kind of your opinion, man.
Speaker B:Oh, so there's so many great quotes.
Speaker B:If.
Speaker B:Even if you don't like this movie, the quotes.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, no, I can.
Speaker C:I can see how.
Speaker C:How all those guys in college would.
Speaker C:Would not stop quoting it.
Speaker B:Speaking of quotes, next question.
Speaker B:Is Donnie truly out of his element?
Speaker B:Walter seems.
Speaker B:Walter seems to think he's out of his element.
Speaker B:Gosh, I was.
Speaker B:By the way, that's when I was instantly hooked.
Speaker B:The first five minutes of movie, when.
Speaker B:When John Goodman screaming at Steve Buscemi.
Speaker A:And then having the conversation.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So unexpected and out of nowhere because, like I said, I.
Speaker B:I put this movie off.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I was like, you're out of your element, Donnie.
Speaker B:And he's, like, screaming at him for interrupting.
Speaker B:I'm like, I'm in.
Speaker B:This is my movie.
Speaker B:I'm good.
Speaker A:I mean, I.
Speaker A:I think we're all out of our element in this movie.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:Like, it's so bizarre.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But it's funny because I do think that sometimes Donnie has, like, weird insights and he just gets, like, shouted down by Walter.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then sometimes he is totally.
Speaker A:Like when he starts, when he says, I am the walrus Lennon.
Speaker A:Like, is he confusing Vladimir Lenin with John Lennon?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so, like.
Speaker A:So, yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, sometimes yes, sometimes no, but definitely out of his element when he's trying to fight the nihilists.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, Donnie is definitely that.
Speaker C:That kind of guy that you're like, why does he still hang out with these guys?
Speaker C:Yeah, they treat him like.
Speaker C:And they're still like, how.
Speaker C:How are they Best friends squad, man.
Speaker A:Yeah, they.
Speaker A:They're squatted up, I think.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, a lot of what Steve Busami did off.
Speaker B:Off script.
Speaker B:What I mean by off script is that a lot of his acting was non verbal.
Speaker B:Yeah, go back and watch it.
Speaker B:You may have noticed this already, but, like when Walter's waving the gun around, each time it cuts back to Walter.
Speaker B:Steve Buscemi has moved down the bench farther.
Speaker B:He's moving farther and farther away.
Speaker B:And it's just little things they did like that with Donnie and his facial.
Speaker B:Like the big thing he did was facial expressions and like he's reacting, but he's also blurred a lot and he's in the background a lot.
Speaker B:But he was purposely almost changing his facial expressions and his body positions in response to Walter.
Speaker B:And so in a way, he is almost this.
Speaker B:If he's a pacifist and.
Speaker B:And Walter is the.
Speaker B:The aggressor.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Busami's almost this.
Speaker B:What's the country that we always joke about being neutral.
Speaker B:Yeah, he's Switzerland.
Speaker B:He's kind of just like.
Speaker B:He's just waving.
Speaker C:Kind of basically is the Libertarians.
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:Or he's like the kid with like, in the dysfunctional house, you know?
Speaker A:Yeah, like.
Speaker B:Oh, Larry the peacekeeper.
Speaker B:Oh, sorry, you mean the.
Speaker B:Really?
Speaker B:I thought you're talking about Larry.
Speaker A:No, not Larry.
Speaker B:You're killing your father, Larry.
Speaker A:See what happens, Larry.
Speaker B:But you met.
Speaker B:Really?
Speaker A:No, like.
Speaker A:Like you talked earlier about the dynamic between Walter and the dude as being like a married couple.
Speaker A:And he's kind of like their.
Speaker A:Their kid that they don't really raise very well.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Damn, you just nailed that.
Speaker B:Because that's who I am.
Speaker B:That's literally who I am.
Speaker B:And you just.
Speaker B:Actually, no wonder I like this movie.
Speaker B:No wonder I felt so guarded with Donnie.
Speaker B:I was like, I feel bad for Donnie.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's a.
Speaker B:That was amazing, dude.
Speaker B:If we had a scoring system.
Speaker B:10 points.
Speaker B:Write it down.
Speaker B:Last question.
Speaker B:Shouldn't we strive for a friend group like the Dude, Walter and Donnie?
Speaker B:I mean, isn't that just what we all.
Speaker C:Yeah, we should all have a hate a friend group where we all just.
Speaker A:Hate each other, but then go bowling.
Speaker B:Yeah, let's try to who's who right now.
Speaker B:Just off top of your head, who's who?
Speaker B:I mean, you're dressed like the Dude.
Speaker C:But no, in.
Speaker C:In this podcast, I'm gonna be Donnie.
Speaker C:Because you guys are gonna have some very strong opinions about this movie.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Be like, I don't know, I kind.
Speaker A:Of feel like I'm Donnie, kind of just floating in and out, and you guys have this sort of lockdown.
Speaker A:I'M over here bowling, and then you guys call me in.
Speaker A:Whatever.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, I want to be the dude, but.
Speaker B:Or I.
Speaker B:I feel like I'm the Dude, but I want to be Walter.
Speaker B:Like, I want to be a crap.
Speaker B:I wish I was confrontational.
Speaker B:Like, I dream about, like, telling people off and, like, tell them to go themselves, but I'm like, oh, yeah, sure, I'll do that.
Speaker C:I'm probably, Walter, I will fight you.
Speaker A:It's funny.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'd like to sometimes think that I have that Walter in me, but I definitely.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I don't know, man.
Speaker A:Like, I.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I think.
Speaker A:I think we're all a little bit of each of these guys, too.
Speaker B:Yeah, I love that rando.
Speaker B:A lot of good ones here.
Speaker B:This is one of those where I had to limit myself.
Speaker B:Let's go.
Speaker B:The dude is based on a friend of Joel and Joel and Ethan Cohen's, and they called him the Dude.
Speaker B:And Jeff Bridges met him one time, and his big takeaway was he noticed he was overweight, and I guess Bridges was more in shape at the time, so he started overeating and let his waistline go on purpose.
Speaker A:Yeah, I saw that.
Speaker A:I saw him talk about that in the special features one time, and I thought it was a cool choice.
Speaker B:Really great choice.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, yeah, I do really appreciate when actors take on a character versus just like, oh, I'm going to play a character.
Speaker C:I'm like, no.
Speaker C:The reason we all love Christian Bale, the reason some of us love Jared Leto, is because when they do take a character on, they fully bring on that character.
Speaker C:No one else other than the two of them have I seen Go to Extreme, you know, fat people to, like, the skinniest they could possibly get.
Speaker C:So it's like, yeah, we.
Speaker C:We love watching people become another person.
Speaker A:This movie kicks off a new era for Jeff Bridges, too, because, like, in the 70s and 80s, he was, like, definitely a leading man.
Speaker A:Kind of in the same sort of vein as, like, a Gosling or, like, Brad Pitt kind of guy.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know, I mean, definitely kind of the action hero, because especially starting with Tron, like, that really was the beginning of him getting into the action movies.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:And then when this movie happens, like, you can see a definite change.
Speaker A:I think Blown Away was right before this.
Speaker A:I think.
Speaker A:Okay, and.
Speaker A:And did you guys see Blown Away?
Speaker B:I haven't seen it.
Speaker A:Really, really cool movie.
Speaker A:Tommy Lee Jones is the villain, and he's like, an Irish guy, and but, but Jeff Bridges is a bomb expert and he like, like, it's basically the two of them having to kind of.
Speaker A:He has to find out where he's, Where Tommy Lee Jones is putting bombs all across Boston.
Speaker A:I think he said in.
Speaker A:I think.
Speaker A:But, but anyway.
Speaker A:So, like, I think Blown Away was right before this, and correct me, I'm sure you will if I'm wrong, but, but then, but then it was like Big Lebowski.
Speaker A:And then after that, I mean, I don't, I think a lot of his guys were the kind of long hair, bearded guy he won the Oscar for.
Speaker A:Oh, what's that movie he won the Oscar for where he played Bad Bob or Bad Bill or something.
Speaker A:The country music singer.
Speaker B:Oh, God.
Speaker B:Anyway, I just realized how, how my, my depth on Jeff Bridges isn't very good.
Speaker A:Yeah, but like, but after this movie, he definitely kind of dipped into these roles where he's older, he's maybe a little more weathered.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, I mean, well, True Grit, right?
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, he definitely made like an auteur turn in the, in the late 90s after this one.
Speaker B:Now I want to see Blown Away.
Speaker B:That sounds incredible.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:I watched it when I was like 11 years old.
Speaker A:Maybe not so it could have sucked, but.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I remember, I seem to remember it didn't get a lot of great reviews, but I loved it.
Speaker A:I was fascinated by, I watched it several times when I was a kid.
Speaker B:Did it.
Speaker B:Blew Away.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:I'm wonderful.
Speaker B:This was my favorite thing I uncovered in the special features.
Speaker B:Maybe you saw this if you watched.
Speaker B:I think you, you said something earlier that made me think you watched the special features.
Speaker C:I have not seen any special features.
Speaker C:I literally watched this starting at 10am today.
Speaker B:Oh, you said something earlier.
Speaker B:I thought I was like, that sounds like you watch the special features.
Speaker B:Whatever.
Speaker C:Nope.
Speaker B:Because the rug was so central to the plot of the film, the Cohen got a call from Floor Coverings Weekly.
Speaker B:It was a magazine about rugs, carpets going not just modern, but history.
Speaker A:I'm a subscriber.
Speaker A:I'm familiar.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:And he's a co author.
Speaker B:And they said that they would send them a copy after the interview was published, but they never got a copy.
Speaker B:And I, I, this part was a little blurry, but they, they said they never saw it out in the wild or anything.
Speaker B:And they still to this day don't know if it was a hoax.
Speaker B:If someone they knew called and conducted a long two hour interview about floor, the rug and the Big Lebowski and Floor Coverings Weekly.
Speaker C:Incredible.
Speaker A:I like that it's, it sounds right that they would be a little salty that they didn't get their issue that they.
Speaker C:Yeah, I hope that was a prank.
Speaker B:And it's just after real, just getting to know the Cohen's.
Speaker B:Like I said, not personally obviously, but just after being a fan and researching them.
Speaker B:This feels like a Cohen thing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like this would happen to them.
Speaker B:This would not happen to Martin Scorsese.
Speaker A:It feels like a scene from a Coen Brothers movie.
Speaker A:Like, where is my copy of yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah, Scorsese, like you want blood on your floor covering?
Speaker B:Is that what you want?
Speaker B:Chill, Marty Copa would be like, let's go to the Philippines.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And let's, let's spend all my life savings for three years to do this interview to the jungle.
Speaker A:Let's get Adam Driver.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then my main star is going to have a whole heart attack.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, Adam Driver.
Speaker B:Oh, I, I, I see.
Speaker B:O I still haven't seen it yet.
Speaker A:Yeah, I haven't either.
Speaker B:I'm worried.
Speaker B:I'm saving it for this podcast, but Megalopolis.
Speaker A:What did somebody call it?
Speaker A:Mega Cropolis or something?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I think it was Adam Driver who said that.
Speaker B:No, he actually says he loves it, but I think he has to say that possibly.
Speaker A:I haven't seen it, so I don't know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Anyway, I'm sure it's beautiful.
Speaker C:It looks like it's a, it's at least a well shot film.
Speaker C:Film.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'll see it for sure.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And John Turturro was embarrassed of his role as.
Speaker B:Hey.
Speaker B:As Jesus.
Speaker B:And did he call himself Jesus?
Speaker A:Jesus.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:He actually says Jesus.
Speaker B:I forget.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:I forgot.
Speaker B:And he actually said it took him four times to, to like the movie.
Speaker B:He did not like really like it or understand it the first three times he saw it, but now he thinks it's one of his favorite films.
Speaker B:But he didn't.
Speaker C:Maybe that's what I needed.
Speaker C:Just like this guy more times.
Speaker A:You're gonna love this movie by the end of the podcast, I'm telling you.
Speaker C:I don't think I will.
Speaker B:Which is funny because at this point he is a frequent collaborator.
Speaker A:Well, didn't he make a, a, a Jesus movie or am I, am I tripping?
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker A:I'm going to look it up real quick.
Speaker C:There was no DMT in that pen.
Speaker B:They actually did think about doing a spin off for him too.
Speaker C:Interesting.
Speaker A: Yeah, The Jesus rolls: Speaker B:Really?
Speaker B:He was also in 20% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Oh, he Also starred in Nicholas Winning, Refn's second movie after the Pusher, which I can't remember if it was after the whole trilogy, but it was called Fear X.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:He was in that too.
Speaker C:Nice.
Speaker A:I missed that one.
Speaker B:Yeah, I did too.
Speaker B:That's the one.
Speaker B:The only Refn movie I haven't seen.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Big fan.
Speaker B:It's probably no surprise, man.
Speaker B:Why do I write down stuff like I'm a talk show host?
Speaker B:This is hilarious.
Speaker B:What did I say here?
Speaker B:Oh, this is interesting.
Speaker B:So this movie is considered to be top five for several famous people.
Speaker B:People that in that think this is a top five movie for them is Jennifer Lawrence, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen.
Speaker B:Wow, you're a hero.
Speaker B:I don't know how you're gonna handle that.
Speaker A:You're.
Speaker B:You're at an odds with your hero.
Speaker C:I mean, the first two people you listed were.
Speaker C:Are total douchebags.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:I mean.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Well, now, Jonah Hill didn't used to be, but man, over the years he's gotten sour, man.
Speaker B:He got skinny and he turned into a major meanie head.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:John Hawks, Jane Lynch, Martin Starr, Eva Mendez, Nick Offerman, all as Sam Raimi, Richard Kelly.
Speaker B:These are all people that have been documented to say that this is one of their top five favorite films.
Speaker C:Interesting.
Speaker A:Seth hates them all.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, Seth, you're allowed to be wrong once.
Speaker B:Oh, he's at odds.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You need to return the marble block over there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I'm bringing your.
Speaker C:Your table lighter back.
Speaker C:Your car lighter.
Speaker B:And then lastly, this is wild.
Speaker B:And you.
Speaker B:You have to pay a lot of attention to pick up on this.
Speaker B:But the dude is in every scene of the movie.
Speaker B:Yeah, every scene.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:The one time he.
Speaker B:You don't think he is.
Speaker B:He's in the van.
Speaker B:Like you see him through the diner window, but he's in the van.
Speaker B:He's technically in.
Speaker B:And that is.
Speaker B:That's actually hard to achieve.
Speaker B:One character in every scene of a movie.
Speaker C:Very hard to achieve.
Speaker A:I'm curious it.
Speaker A:Was he in the scene where like the.
Speaker A:They're looking at the toe like the nihilists in the cafe?
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:I think that's the one where he's in the van, but in the diner or he's in a car.
Speaker B:I can't remember.
Speaker A:But that would be the one that.
Speaker A:That comes to mind, though, that maybe he wouldn't be in.
Speaker A:But I'm gonna check it out.
Speaker B:Actually.
Speaker B:That's what it says right here.
Speaker B:This includes the scene where Peter Storm Stormare and the rest of the nihilist crew are ordering pancakes in the diner where Walter and the Dude's van can be seen through the diner window.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's wild.
Speaker C:Dope.
Speaker C:That's really cool.
Speaker B:That's wild.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Again, the Cohen are incredible directors.
Speaker C:They pay because their scripts are written very meticulously.
Speaker C:Like, the dialogue is very meticulous.
Speaker C:I'm not surprised.
Speaker C:Surprised that their setting and pre production would be as.
Speaker C:As meticulous as that.
Speaker C:So that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker A:We just have.
Speaker A:People have, like, standards for these.
Speaker A:Great.
Speaker A:We just did the Tenant one where people talked about how.
Speaker A:Or one of the conversations was how people didn't like Tenet.
Speaker A:But, like, the standard that we have for these great filmmakers I think is just different.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, because, like, you know, some rando makes this movie the Big Lebowski.
Speaker A:It's probably really good, and people are like, oh, who's the next?
Speaker A:He.
Speaker A:This guy's the next great, or this director is the next great director.
Speaker A:You know, like, it's.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Or like, you know, but.
Speaker A:But, like, you know, when this movie came out, not super well received.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I don't know how.
Speaker A:How did it do critically?
Speaker B:Like, I did not do well.
Speaker B:No, really, it was mediocre at best.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Wild.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It wasn't.
Speaker B:And it flopped.
Speaker B:And critics didn't love it.
Speaker C:I mean, from what I've heard about Fargo, which came out before this, Right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:A couple movies.
Speaker C:Fargo came out before this.
Speaker C:Raising Arizona came up before for this.
Speaker C:I'm not surprised that this one just was off for everybody.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because even though I haven't seen Fargo, I've been told it's their best one.
Speaker B:They had a big flop in between, though, Fargo.
Speaker B:So they.
Speaker B:They were riding high.
Speaker B:Like, Fargo was a movie that people, like, were telling them not to make, and it ended up being huge.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm trying to find it, though.
Speaker B:The flop they had before.
Speaker B:Flop?
Speaker B:Oh, the Hudsucker proxy.
Speaker B:Oh, Barton Fink.
Speaker C:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Barton was a flop.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Dude, it's incredible.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know what I found very interesting?
Speaker C:I don't know if any of y'all listened to Josh Brolin's interview with Joe Rogan.
Speaker B:Oh, it's incredible.
Speaker C:Great interview.
Speaker C:I didn't realize that everyone thought it was gonna be, like, a big risk for him to be in no country for Old Men like that.
Speaker C:I didn't realize that there had been, like, two major flops between, I think, Burn After Reading and no country for Old Men, that.
Speaker C:That everyone looked at it as kind of a bad idea for people to get involved with that one because he said no one on set thought it was going to be anything special.
Speaker C:And so I wonder if that.
Speaker C:Like, you have the Cohen's.
Speaker C:They do an incredible movie.
Speaker C:And then the next two are just kind of meh.
Speaker C:Because everyone is like hoping that it's another Raising Arizona, another Fargo, another Burn after reading another whatever.
Speaker C:And then it's like two movies later, they're just like, we'll just treat it casually again.
Speaker C:And then boom, it blows up.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Honestly, wild to me because given the source material for that movie and how it's, you know, Cormac McCarthy one of the greatest great American novelists to live and it's one of his best books, you know, that's crazy to think about how that's not.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:For me, I.
Speaker A:There was a lot of hype that I experienced with that movie.
Speaker A:So it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Shall we bowl?
Speaker C:Let's do it.
Speaker B:Shall we abide?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Are those the.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Well, yeah.
Speaker B:So for good.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:For positive on the war score.
Speaker B:The dude abides.
Speaker B:Okay, that's a positive.
Speaker B:I almost said nice marmot.
Speaker B:I like that.
Speaker B:Almost better.
Speaker B:But I feel like we have to go to the classic here.
Speaker C:Please tell me the negative is pissing on a rug.
Speaker B:No, it's actually.
Speaker B:You're out of your element.
Speaker C:All right, fine.
Speaker A:At least your house broken.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I just love the you're out of your element, Donnie quote.
Speaker B:Way too much now.
Speaker C:That's fair.
Speaker A:New ink, bro.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:This one and this one.
Speaker A:That's great.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That was his Christmas shout out.
Speaker C:Brother Son tattoos on Instagram.
Speaker C:Avery Miller, please, good buddy of mine.
Speaker B:Please sponsor the pot.
Speaker B:I'm just kidding.
Speaker C:I think we would need to sponsor him.
Speaker B:Tattoo shop top, Bill cast.
Speaker B:And before I get into it, I was curious about this because they are such frequent collaborators.
Speaker B:I wanted to document their frequent collaborations.
Speaker B:Francis McDormand eight times.
Speaker B:John Goodman six times.
Speaker B:Steve Buscemi five times.
Speaker B:George Clooney four.
Speaker B:Richard Jenkins three.
Speaker B:Tilda Swinton twice.
Speaker B:Holly Hunter twice.
Speaker B:And then down and John Pido three times.
Speaker B:That's crazy.
Speaker B:My favorite role from him is in the Crow, but he's nothing like that in any of these movies.
Speaker B:But anyway, they love to collaborate times is Jeff Bridges and going movies twice.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:Only twice.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Only two.
Speaker B:I think this and True Grit.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Interesting.
Speaker C:I would have thought he would have been in more so.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But anyway, Jeff Bridges and John Goodman.
Speaker C:I think they both did a really good job.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I.
Speaker C:I abide on this one as the dude.
Speaker B:As the dude, you're abiding.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Iconic performances from both.
Speaker A:I abide.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:I do too.
Speaker B:I agree.
Speaker B:And as much as I love Bridges here, I love Goodman more.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:The line.
Speaker C:No, I agree with that.
Speaker B:One of the things I loved learning in research is that Goodman was very self critical.
Speaker B:He had just gotten wrapped up.
Speaker B:Roseanne.
Speaker B:Roseanne wrapped up in 97, I think.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:And even though he was a good actor and the Cohen's had liked collaborating with him before, he had a lot of insecurity.
Speaker B:He felt like maybe he had fallen into the sitcom actor thing that.
Speaker C:I mean, that was a big thing back then.
Speaker C:If you got stuck on tv, you would get stuck on tv.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:You could not get into film if you were too big on.
Speaker C:On tv.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so he was quoted saying, and this is in the book, he was quoted saying to the Cohen into his fellows actors.
Speaker B:Fellow actors.
Speaker B:That he felt like he just kept ruining scenes.
Speaker A:Oh, wow, that's crazy.
Speaker B:Which is hilarious because every scene that I love is where he's being Walter.
Speaker A:Screaming, you know, underrated Goodman performance.
Speaker A:It was the Babe.
Speaker A:I don't know if you saw, but he did a biopic of Babe Ruth.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker B:I haven't seen that.
Speaker B:I did hear about it, but for.
Speaker C:Me, his most underrated performance is Speed Racer.
Speaker A:He was in Speed Racer.
Speaker C:He's the dad.
Speaker C:And Speed Racer.
Speaker C:He's so good.
Speaker A:Oh, I missed Speed.
Speaker C:One of the.
Speaker C:Oh, man.
Speaker C:It's one of my favorite movies.
Speaker A:Oh, wow.
Speaker C:My number two or three.
Speaker C:Like, it's insane.
Speaker A:Of all movies.
Speaker C:Of all movies.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Speed Racer.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:Wachowski's Speed Racer.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:We're gonna cover it at some point.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's incredible.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'll put the bow on it.
Speaker B:One last thing I'll say is like, just.
Speaker B:I love.
Speaker B:I love triangular dynamics in films where like there's a group of three people and.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:They just.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The sending and the returning.
Speaker B:If you want to put a tennis term to it, like just the.
Speaker B:The volley.
Speaker B:It's just.
Speaker B:This is expert level.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, yeah, one to zero.
Speaker B:We are abiding.
Speaker B:Hopefully though, nihilism creeps in.
Speaker B:Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi.
Speaker B:Love Steve Buscemi.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:David Huddleston as the Big Lebowski.
Speaker B:Technically the Big Lebowski.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Speaker B:RIP Miss you as Brandt.
Speaker B:Tara Reid making.
Speaker C:Which is fun for us because we covered.
Speaker C:What was it?
Speaker C:The Crow.
Speaker B:Wicked Prayer.
Speaker C:And he sent me a text the other day.
Speaker C:He was just like, how did Tara Reid go from being in The Big Lebowski to Crow Wicked prayer in under 10 years.
Speaker C:And I was like, you've got to remember, American Pie happened in between those.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Like that kind of just set her aside as.
Speaker C:Okay, you're just.
Speaker C:You're.
Speaker C:We'll put your tits on, and we'll see what you can do with anything other than that.
Speaker C:But I think it really pigeonholed her, unfortunately.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Big call out.
Speaker B:You have to go down the list, though.
Speaker B:Flea, the Red Hot Chili Peppers as nihilist number two.
Speaker B:Peter Stormare, nihilist number one.
Speaker B:God, Flea just pops up in movies all the time.
Speaker B:Uli, Coco, and then you got to go all the way down.
Speaker B:John Turturro as Jesus.
Speaker C:I'm gonna let you go first on this one.
Speaker A:And what am I doing?
Speaker B:This is supporting cast.
Speaker A:Oh, I have.
Speaker A:Everybody's awesome.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:Like, I think Jesus is one of the.
Speaker A:Probably the most, like, quoted guys, you know, and one that sticks out the most, you know?
Speaker A:But from every.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:Every scene has one of these characters that you were talking about to the.
Speaker A:Oh, who was it?
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The cab driver.
Speaker A:Yep, the cab driver scene.
Speaker A:Who was that?
Speaker A:Davitel.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:God, I had that name.
Speaker B:Dom.
Speaker B:Ira Dom.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah, I get those two confused a lot.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But, like.
Speaker A:Yeah, Like, I don't know what else.
Speaker A:What else to say.
Speaker B:The cop in the junkyard.
Speaker A:The cop in the junkyard.
Speaker A:The cop.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The Venice beach cop.
Speaker A:The one that throws the mug at his face.
Speaker B:Do you do, like, a investigation, man?
Speaker B:He's like, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:He's like, yeah, we.
Speaker B:We get a whole team together.
Speaker B:Yeah, he's just chuckling leads.
Speaker B:Yes, exactly.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker A:Just impeccable cast, I think.
Speaker A:Oh, and I also did, like, Tara Reed in this.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think she.
Speaker A:She really hits the mark with what the.
Speaker A:What she needs to do in the movie.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And I do want to talk about Philip Seymour Hoffman I was trying to look up earlier.
Speaker A:So he did.
Speaker A:Does this movie, and I think it's right around this is.
Speaker A:What year is this?
Speaker B:98.
Speaker A:98.
Speaker A:So, like, his.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's done Magnolia at this or around this time.
Speaker A:Like, he has a run here, dude.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Where.
Speaker A:Like, he does.
Speaker A:He does Along Came Polly a couple years after this.
Speaker A:I think, like, he was Doubt around this time.
Speaker A:Doubt is a couple years later.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:He does Magnolia the year after.
Speaker A:And, like, so.
Speaker A:So you go from.
Speaker A:And I think he does another.
Speaker B:And did Boogie Nights the year before.
Speaker A:That's the movie I was thinking about the year before.
Speaker B:This before this had a solid.
Speaker A:I mean, this is a crazy run.
Speaker B:It is.
Speaker C:That four or five year period is really what solidified.
Speaker A:Twister is in there somewhere.
Speaker B:Talented Mr.
Speaker B:Ripley.
Speaker A:Jesus.
Speaker B:In the same year as Magnolia.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B: rk, and then Almost famous in: Speaker C:Just banger after banger.
Speaker B:I did.
Speaker B:I forgot that run.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Like, And.
Speaker A:And it's wild because, like, not many of these are, like, leading roles or like, even, like, high level secondary.
Speaker A:Like, a lot of them are just, like, character little pieces.
Speaker A:But, yeah, he sticks out and I.
Speaker C:Mean, that's kind of when he was in his element, though, was when he wasn't necessarily carrying the movie, so he was able to just go balls to the wall with whatever character he was playing.
Speaker A:And, dude, he's so funny as Brandt.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Like the collegiate.
Speaker B:Yeah, he's like an Ivy League guy that couldn't quite find a job at his dad's investment firm.
Speaker B:So the next best thing was he's like, now the.
Speaker B:This is how I envision him.
Speaker C:Yeah, he's.
Speaker B:And so he's the assistant to one of his dad's rich buddies, but making the same salary as an investment banker.
Speaker A:One of my favorite lines is when he says about the little Lebowski Urban Achievers, where he says, therefore, kids who don't have the necessary means for.
Speaker A:Unnecessary means for an education.
Speaker A:I don't know if that line is written that way or if he just stumbled it or if it was a choice, but I just love the way it works there.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And then, like, right later, whenever he.
Speaker A:Whenever there's the scene with Bunny and.
Speaker A:And she says, I'll suck your For a thousand dollars.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And he's like, yeah, so funny.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:On the tarot read thing, it's wild.
Speaker B:The assistant who wrote the book said that Heather Graham had.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:He thought that they had.
Speaker B:She had locked down that role.
Speaker B:And she talked about how striking she was walking through the office, the Coen Brothers office.
Speaker B:But what happened was, is they wanted Terry Reed because Tara Reid looked Midwestern, which meant she looked out of place.
Speaker B:They wanted her to feel like someone like an outsider who only penetrated this world through being married to a rich guy or being.
Speaker B:Or being with a rich guy.
Speaker A:And Bunny is Midwestern, I think.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because.
Speaker C:Yeah, he's got the picture of the.
Speaker C:The farm in Kansas or whatever.
Speaker B:And who looks more California than Heather Graham?
Speaker A:Nobody.
Speaker B:You're abiding.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker C:Unfortunately, I'm gonna have to.
Speaker C:To.
Speaker C:To go out of the element here.
Speaker C:Here's the thing.
Speaker C:A lot of great actors.
Speaker C:I just watched this movie this morning.
Speaker C:I'd say only three or four of them were truly memorable for me, and mostly because the actors are the ones that I love.
Speaker C:Like Steve Buscemi's character.
Speaker C:Wonderful.
Speaker C:Love him.
Speaker C:Julianne Moore's character.
Speaker C:Fantastic.
Speaker C:Love her.
Speaker C:Terror Reid, she's fine.
Speaker C:But I mean, again, doesn't really stand out.
Speaker C:Philip Seymour Hoffman, while he does a great job, his character doesn't really stand out to me that much.
Speaker C:The one Russian guy that, like.
Speaker C:What was his name?
Speaker C:He's one of the nihilists.
Speaker B:Oh, Peter Stormare.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Love him so much.
Speaker C:He's one of my favorite actors, even though I don't fucking know his name.
Speaker C:But he stands out to me just because of who he is as an actor, though.
Speaker C:So it's like, I don't know, compared to other Coen Brothers movies, I just don't feel like most of these side characters stood out as well as they have in other movies.
Speaker C:So for me, I'm gonna have to say that, yeah, I go out of my element here.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I think those are.
Speaker B:I actually agree with you.
Speaker B:I still.
Speaker B:I am actually still going to give it a bites.
Speaker B:This is not the strongest.
Speaker B:Lot of side characters.
Speaker B:Yeah, but you still.
Speaker C:And that is not to say that they're not well done.
Speaker C:They are still well done.
Speaker C:But within the scale of, you know, if.
Speaker C:If the 1 to 10 on this.
Speaker C:On the Cohen scale really puts it in like a 7 to 10, on a normal scale, this would be down at a seven.
Speaker C:It's still good, but it's not the best that they've done.
Speaker B:The most annoying to me was Julianne Moore.
Speaker B:At first, my first watch ever, I did not like her character.
Speaker B:But then I.
Speaker B:After doing some research, I kind of realized what she was going for.
Speaker B:And she pulls it off really well.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:But I did not like her character as much.
Speaker B:In fact, I.
Speaker B:I thought she was annoying, but then I realized that, like, she was playing a person that was almost pretending to be affluent.
Speaker B:Like, she was almost forcing this because she felt like she had to be dignified.
Speaker B:Like she forced this feminism thing.
Speaker B:Like it was all just a character faking pretentiousness.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Which is funny.
Speaker B:She's an actress, but she's faking.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's.
Speaker B:Anyway, I like that now.
Speaker B:But, yeah, I.
Speaker B:I don't think it's the strongest lot.
Speaker B:I still give it.
Speaker B:I still give it a bite, personally, but.
Speaker A:Shout out to David Wenham in that.
Speaker A:In that Part, by the way, the guy who plays the guy giggling.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Wait, Faramir.
Speaker A:Yeah, Faramir.
Speaker A:That's the thing, man, that you got to watch it again, dude.
Speaker A:You got to watch it.
Speaker B:They nailed that artist thing.
Speaker A:Because I do think, Because I, I feel like I probably had a similar reaction, Seth.
Speaker A:When I first watched it, it was like, you know, just like, it wasn't all the way there, but like, this is definitely a repeat viewing movie.
Speaker C:So here's the thing for me with movies like this, I, I, I wouldn't have watched it now without the podcast.
Speaker C:If I was going to watch it on my own accord, I would have waited until someone like you or someone like you was like, oh, let's watch the Big Lebowski.
Speaker C:Because for me, if I watch it with someone who already loves it, it will give me the best chance of loving it.
Speaker A:Okay, that's cool.
Speaker C:Watching it on my own, it just didn't hit for me.
Speaker C:So maybe if I watch it again with someone who does love it and as we're watching, they can point out the things that they've noticed it might be, you know, give me more reason to enjoy it.
Speaker C:But for now, it just, it wasn't my thing.
Speaker A:I do think it's also one that, like, you can kind of put on now that you've seen it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Especially after you've seen the Big Lebowski.
Speaker A:It's one that you can just kind of put on and have on.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Tarantino talks about this with Pulp Fiction, like, earlier on when he was making it, he's, he had in mind.
Speaker A:He talks about this in an interview where I want to make a movie where people can just put it on and it's just there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Not, not like the Netflix.
Speaker C:Not like a background movie, but.
Speaker A:Yeah, but like, and I think Lebowski, like, dude, it had a whole run on like, TBS and TNT.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A: In the, like, early: Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:It was hilarious.
Speaker A:Can you look up the.
Speaker A:What, what the edit was when in that scene where they go to the screenwriter's house and he says, this is what happens when you a stranger in the ass, Larry?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, I, I do.
Speaker B:That was a big deal because the, the, the Cohen's thought I wrote it down, but I can't remember.
Speaker B:But the Cohen's thought the thing that was put on TV was funnier.
Speaker C:Oh, really?
Speaker B:They were like, why didn't we write that?
Speaker B:That was their response.
Speaker C:Oh, I love that.
Speaker C:I love the little happy accidents that sometimes happen.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Oh my God.
Speaker A:Gotta try to find it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Let me know when you do.
Speaker B:I, I remember that.
Speaker A:Here it is.
Speaker A:This is what happens.
Speaker A:You see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:They were like, why, that's funny.
Speaker B:They were like, why didn't we write that?
Speaker C:Yeah, that's.
Speaker A:That is actually funnier.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:It's 2 to 0 with some great commentary.
Speaker B:Here we are abiding writing Joel and Ethan Cohen again.
Speaker C:This just wasn't their strongest for me.
Speaker C:Like, yeah, it's got some good quotes, but as we've talked about with Napoleon Dynamite, having great quotes doesn't make it a good movie.
Speaker C:And for me it just.
Speaker C:Again, not saying I hated it, but it's just, it's.
Speaker C:It's one of their weakest scripts in my opinion.
Speaker C:So I'm going to have to go out of my element again.
Speaker A:I, I think they were really try.
Speaker A:This is another high concept thing like we talked about with Tenant.
Speaker A:Like they were.
Speaker A:We earlier, I think.
Speaker A:I don't know if it was in the recording or not.
Speaker A:We were talking about what genre this movie is.
Speaker A:Like stoner comedy.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think like, I think they've said like this is.
Speaker A:They, they.
Speaker A:They were trying to do a Raymond Chandler detective story.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:But instead of like a hard boiled detective, it was.
Speaker A:Is the stoner guy dude.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Which is really the ironic part that makes it so funny to me.
Speaker A:But like, yeah, like it's, it's a really cool script that really wants to be revisited a lot.
Speaker A:And I think it's great.
Speaker A:I think it's.
Speaker A:I definitely would abide at this one.
Speaker B:Yeah, I abide.
Speaker B:And this is probably the strongest part for me is I'm, I'm sensing, you know, you watch like the Matrix and you know, there's a lot of philosophy in there, but you're like, man, which one?
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:To me the philosophy is so clear with these characters.
Speaker B:Like it's.
Speaker B:And that I say to someone that like, I thought my life was gonna, I thought I was gonna be a philosophy professor for like four minutes, but I, I see it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:You got the goatee for it.
Speaker B:I got a turtleneck somewhere.
Speaker A:Got the pretentiousness for it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I gotta.
Speaker C:You have the, the elbow patches on a blazer.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:I got a face for philosophy radio.
Speaker B:I, I love philosophy and it's actually the original thing that got me into movies was, is when I started noticing the, the background, you know, to what, what movies were about and you start sensing themes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you could connect those.
Speaker B:That's why I originally got addicted to movies.
Speaker B:And I do actually have the Matrix to.
Speaker B:Thanks for that.
Speaker B:That was the first move.
Speaker B:I was like, whoa, there's philosophy in here.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I sense the philosophies.
Speaker B:I love the characters.
Speaker B:To me, the universe thing.
Speaker B:When, like, the characters living in their own universe, what that means to me is they're embodying a certain philosophy or an archetype of a type of person or a type of belief system.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And the characters are bouncing off each other.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:I love how firm they are.
Speaker B:Walter is so firmly aggressive.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:You know, the dude is so firmly pacifist.
Speaker B:And they.
Speaker B:They're not.
Speaker B:No one's trying to change.
Speaker B:Like, no one is changing.
Speaker B:No one started here and got better or no one started here and got worse.
Speaker B:Yeah, they're just atoms.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:They're equal and they're bouncing like, they're not equal necessarily what their beliefs are, but they're equally invested in their belief systems.
Speaker A:That's beautiful.
Speaker C:But see, that's kind of a problem for me is like, sure, if.
Speaker C:If one character, like we were talking about in intended.
Speaker C:If one character is meant to be that.
Speaker C:That foil character, that doesn't really do any changing throughout the whole thing.
Speaker C:Sure, that's a choice.
Speaker C:But when everyone does it, it's just.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It's hard for me to get into because even in Burn After Reading, like, the.
Speaker C:The fact that at the very end, J.K.
Speaker C:simmons is literally just like, so what did we learn?
Speaker C:What did we learn in this whole shit show of a situation?
Speaker C:Like, it's them still looking for something to change from.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker C:And this, to me, it makes it weaker when not a single character has any type of change.
Speaker B:I guess you could say Donnie died.
Speaker B:That's a big.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker C:But his.
Speaker B:That'll change your insurance.
Speaker C:But his mentality didn't change.
Speaker B:Yeah, I know.
Speaker B:That's great.
Speaker C:Other than just being off now.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Being completely in the ground now.
Speaker B:I get it.
Speaker B:No, I get it.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I'm struggling to think of a character that has any change.
Speaker A:I don't see that as necessarily a negative thing for this movie.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But in general, you know, like, if I'm thinking about movies that impact me, you know, most of the time they, like, there's some kind of dynamic with.
Speaker A:With.
Speaker A:With a character, usually the protagonist.
Speaker A:But, like, yeah, just.
Speaker A:That just kind of teaches us something.
Speaker A:But I think maybe that is also part of this movie is like, it's it's really.
Speaker A:I think it is a philosophical treatise as much as it is anything, and it does try to point out how these different worldviews embodied in these characters kind of just exist.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And we just kind of live in.
Speaker A:This is kind of.
Speaker A:Kind of the world we live in, at least.
Speaker A:You know, I don't know if maybe over time it's changed a little bit, but I don't know, man.
Speaker A:I feel like.
Speaker A:I feel like this is one of those timeless movies that continues to do what it tried to do when it came out.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, it tries to say, hey, this world is fucking silly.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you're going to encounter all kinds of silly people, and, you know, it's kind of up to you how you want to deal with it.
Speaker A:The dude deals with it by just trying to, you know, trying to solve this mystery and get some money out of it and just kind of continuing to live his life.
Speaker A:Get that rug, you know?
Speaker A:Get the rug, you know?
Speaker A:And when it's all done, he wants to go back to bowling.
Speaker C:We need to officially change it from get that bread to get that rug.
Speaker B:Three to zero.
Speaker B:We are with.
Speaker B:With much ado.
Speaker B:At the expense of Seth here, who is dressed like the big.
Speaker B:The Dude.
Speaker B:No, I could.
Speaker A:But he's acting like the Big Lebowski.
Speaker B:Yeah, he is.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Get a job.
Speaker B:Sir, are you employed?
Speaker B:The bombs lost.
Speaker B:The bombs lost.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker B:I want someone to scream that at my funeral.
Speaker B:Yeah, you got me.
Speaker B:I actually have assignments for all my friends at my funeral.
Speaker B:I know that's morbid, but I'm going first, and when I do, I want some good to be said.
Speaker C:There we go.
Speaker C:Got you.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:You picked the playlist, too.
Speaker B:You got a good record collection.
Speaker C:I'm down.
Speaker B:I guess I don't understand what they do at funerals.
Speaker B:If I think there's a playlist.
Speaker C:Nothing but straight Rebecca Black.
Speaker B:Don't hire that dj.
Speaker B:I hate him directing.
Speaker B:Joel and Ethan going, just kidding.
Speaker A:They're awesome.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:All the things you said you liked, but all of a sudden, the directing is bad.
Speaker C:They wrote it.
Speaker C:Well, they.
Speaker C:You know, they picked great people, but they somehow sucked.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Horrible.
Speaker A:No, definitely.
Speaker A:Just kidding.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, you know, it's.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:It's interesting to.
Speaker A:We just did the Tenet show, so I keep coming back to that one and talking about process, but, like, I just felt like everything I've seen about how they made this movie, it's so intricate and detailed, and it seems like they made the movie they wanted to make.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I Have.
Speaker A:You know, I have nothing bad to say about what they did.
Speaker C:Despite me feeling like the script is.
Speaker C:Is weaker on their part, I still think that they took what they had and what they made, and then they went and did it.
Speaker C:100.
Speaker C:So now I'm say abides on this one because I do think this was a genuine passion project for them.
Speaker C:I do think that even though I disagree with some of the choices they made, they made some very clear and purposeful choices.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And it clearly has resonated with a large number of people over the years.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:No, I'm gonna give it to him.
Speaker C:I'll definitely say that I abide on this one.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:I'll go abides.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:This is what draws me to them.
Speaker B:They have such a unique flavor.
Speaker B:You know, I.
Speaker B:I would put them in the same camp as.
Speaker B:As Tarantino as directors that have a signature that can bounce between genres and sets of actors and still so distinct.
Speaker B:Wes Anderson has this.
Speaker B:It's just so distinctly Cohen's.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's amazing to me how they actually are pretty good at threading the same language in the same way they write dialogue.
Speaker B:This is present in no country for Old Men.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:With Josh Brolin and Woody Harrelson.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And Anton.
Speaker B:Or, sorry, Harvey Arbadem.
Speaker B:Like, I just love that they're able to.
Speaker B:To copy and paste this approach to dialogue to different movies.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And no country is a very serious film.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's like a.
Speaker B:But it's still a little silly.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:There are moments where it's.
Speaker A:Where it feels like a comedic moment.
Speaker C:I would almost put it as an absurdist drama instead of an absurdist comedy.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:This definitely is more of an absurdist comedy.
Speaker B:It is, but.
Speaker C:And I feel like that's kind of their take on everything is whatever they're doing.
Speaker C:They're trying to bring out the absurdity of life.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I think they accomplished that with this.
Speaker B:So you land on a bite on this one.
Speaker B:Oh, cool.
Speaker B:Look at.
Speaker B:You gave him a compliment for once.
Speaker C:I gave them one on the first one.
Speaker C:You.
Speaker B:I love you.
Speaker B:I'm kidding with you.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker B:I love it when we have differences.
Speaker A:Seth has Coen brothers toilet paper in the bathroom right now.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:One for Joel, one for Ethan.
Speaker B:That's hysterical.
Speaker C:Neither confirmed.
Speaker B:That's hilarious.
Speaker C:I do have hello Kitty toilet paper somewhere in this house.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:That was unprompted.
Speaker A:Nobody asked about it.
Speaker B:I don't know anybody that feels that strongly about hello Kitty.
Speaker C:Gift from my tattoo artist.
Speaker B:Do not sponsor the podcast.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:It is 4 to 0.
Speaker B:We are cooking with gas here.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And, God, by the way, I don't know why I just had this image, but I love it when he's.
Speaker B:His landlord's asking him to come to his dance and then ask him for the rent.
Speaker B:That's just.
Speaker B:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker B:What's in front of a cinematography, production design, sound, costumes, and editing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, the entire world felt very lived in.
Speaker C:It felt very like it was something that's happening no matter where you were, whether you were in the big Lebowski's gigantic mansion or whether you were in the Dude's shitty apartment.
Speaker C:Like, no matter what, it felt real.
Speaker C:It felt like you were there, even with the absurdist elements to it.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:No, I give them an abides on this.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Something I've been doing lately is, like, watching old sitcoms from the 90s and going to YouTube and watching.
Speaker A:They have, like, one hour of just commercials from the 90s.
Speaker A:And I've.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:I've just been so nostalgic lately.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And watching this movie brought me back.
Speaker A:Even though I never went to LA in the 90s or anything, it just kind of brought me back to a time, you know, and it kind of reconnected with, like, you know, with just the feelings of being alive those years.
Speaker A:And so I.
Speaker A:And I think.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I'm sure that's part of what they were trying to do, but, like.
Speaker A:But for me, that's something that resonates now, watching it again and also just want to talk about the.
Speaker A:The song.
Speaker A:The Bob Dylan song.
Speaker A:The man in Me kind of opened me up to a new sort of version of Bob Dylan.
Speaker C:Nice.
Speaker A:You know, just.
Speaker A:I'm kind of into music, I guess, but, like, you know, I'd known the.
Speaker A:The earlier Bob Dylan, but, like, that.
Speaker A:That I'd never heard that song until this movie.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, I would abide with everything as far as this category goes.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That song is killer.
Speaker B:The whole soundtrack's killer.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:It's funny.
Speaker B:I was just thinking.
Speaker B:I was like, how.
Speaker B:How true is this, that everyone has a uniform?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, Walter, he.
Speaker B:He has variances.
Speaker B:I think in one scene, he's wearing cargo shorts, and then he wears cargo pants.
Speaker B:But he has the sunglasses, those Hunter S.
Speaker B:Thompson sunglasses.
Speaker B:And the.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:They're variations.
Speaker B:But they're variations of a uniform.
Speaker B:And Donnie's always wearing his bowling shirt, and even Mod, when she shows up at his apartment, is wearing a robe, even there so, like, I'm sure she wears clothes elsewhere, but on screen, her character is always wearing a robe.
Speaker C:She's either naked or wearing a robe.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I just love that.
Speaker B:I love that because it's like all of a sudden, like, they're very distinct, you know, and so it's part of that universe thing.
Speaker B:So I love it.
Speaker A:Yeah, it adds to the allegorical quality that we were talking about with the philosophy thing.
Speaker A:Like, they stand for these ideas.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:They embody, like, you know, like, the dude embodies passivism, you know, like, they embody this idea that they stand for.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Five.
Speaker B:Would you.
Speaker B:Do I bite you by five to zero in this next category?
Speaker B:The big Lebowski, Big deal.
Speaker B:Here we are, 26 years later.
Speaker B:This movie took five or six years to catch on.
Speaker B:It's now in the National Library of Congress as a artifact of American filmmaking history.
Speaker B:Is it worth the hype all these years later?
Speaker B:Is it.
Speaker B:Does it deserve that level?
Speaker C:Yeah, I'm going to have to go out of my element on this one.
Speaker A:There we go again.
Speaker C:Not bad.
Speaker C:Like, I'm not saying it's bad movie, but it's definitely one of those that.
Speaker C:Not only was it the people that hyped it up, but just the amount of hype I've had from everyone who I've talked to who likes it, I'm like, yeah, it's fine.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:But, no, I don't.
Speaker C:I don't think it's this revolutionary film, especially compared to some of the other movies they've made.
Speaker C:I don't.
Speaker C:I understand how visually, it.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's become iconic.
Speaker C:But, no, I.
Speaker C:I don't.
Speaker C:I don't think it's worth the hype.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:I'm perfectly fine watching it the one time and probably never watching it again.
Speaker C:Like, yeah, I don't.
Speaker C:I personally, again, I would, if you wanted to, just to point things out to me and be like, oh, this, this, whatever, but am I going to sit down and choose to watch it by myself?
Speaker C:Almost definitely not.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Shock.
Speaker A:No, no.
Speaker A:I mean, I.
Speaker A:Obviously, I would say so, but I guess I'm thinking about, like, hype.
Speaker A:Like, the hype has, as you said, it kind of built.
Speaker A:Has built over time.
Speaker A:It wasn't really a hyped movie.
Speaker A:I don't think when it came out.
Speaker B:Right, right.
Speaker B:It wasn't.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:And so I would say, yes, I would abide the hype, but I would also say that it's kind of wild what it has become, because, I mean, I've been Trying to go to Lebowski Fest for, like, the last several years, I haven't been able to make it out there.
Speaker A:But the fact that we have a Lebowski Fest sort of subculture, that Lebowski Fest happens in several cities, you know, across the country.
Speaker A:That's kind of wild to me.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Cool and wonderful, and I definitely want to go.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But it is.
Speaker A:I don't know that that's.
Speaker A:That sort of, like, franchise element to this movie is something that they had anticipated or want, even maybe wanted.
Speaker B:They didn't.
Speaker B:They don't love this movie as much as a lot of their other movies.
Speaker B:They don't have the same.
Speaker B:They talk about.
Speaker B:They don't have the same love or recollection of this.
Speaker B:It's not that they hate it.
Speaker B:It's just compared to some of the other stuff they make, this is not in their good.
Speaker C:So I agree with the director.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I'm correct, in my opinion, y'all.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Excuse me.
Speaker A:Sorry.
Speaker A:It does feel like people have definitely latched onto this and made it bigger than maybe anticipated or.
Speaker A:Or intended.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:That said, I think it's hilarious and cool that people want to do that, and.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:And I would.
Speaker A:I'm a willing participant in that, too, so.
Speaker A:It is kind of weird, though, to me.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:See, it's weird for me in the opposite direction, where I'm just like, how the.
Speaker C:Did this turn into having its own Comic Con, basically?
Speaker C:Like, why?
Speaker C:Why?
Speaker A:Well, I think it's because of that philosophical allegory that we were talking about, the element to it, because people really identify with not either being the dude or, like, wanting to be the dude or having that element as part of them.
Speaker A:Like, they.
Speaker A:They see him as like, wow, this is somebody that is a part of me.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And all the people that I know who do that are the worst people I know.
Speaker C:Like I said, just every in college who was just like, oh, Big Lebowski is my favorite movie ever.
Speaker C:But, I mean, we were talking about this.
Speaker C:It's like, the only people worse than them are the people who think Boondock Saints is the greatest movie ever.
Speaker A:Yeah, I love it, too.
Speaker C:I think it's a great movie.
Speaker C:But I'm not gonna sit here and be like, oh, it's the greatest thing ever made.
Speaker B:It was a thing.
Speaker B:It was hyped up.
Speaker A:It was huge.
Speaker A:I think we all, at some point, want to feel like we can just remove ourselves from the rat race and just kind of be our own person and just go, whatever.
Speaker A:Bowling is for us.
Speaker A:Just go do that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And, like, not want to get mixed up into all the.
Speaker A:I think a lot of people.
Speaker A:That really resonates with a lot of people.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:So I think maybe that's a big part of it.
Speaker A:Also.
Speaker A:People love smoke weed, you know, and, you know, it's a great Lebowski Fest is a great reason to go smoke weed with a bunch of hilarious people.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So you go, yeah, I abide.
Speaker B:You abide.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But it is a little kind of.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I toiled over.
Speaker B:This is my own category.
Speaker B:I challenged myself.
Speaker C:There you go.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I do abide.
Speaker B:I did have a weird thought, though, because in my research, Julianne Moore talks about this a lot in the special features that a lot of the people that would walk up to her years after the film came out and really showed strong appreciation.
Speaker B:It was the college fraternity guy.
Speaker C:Again, the douchiest people I've ever met.
Speaker B:And that's why I know that this is actually evidence for me, because you couldn't find somebody more opposite of that than me.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, I was not in a fraternity even if I wanted to be.
Speaker B:They would not let me in.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Nothing sounds more disturbing than a kegger to me.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Just not my style.
Speaker B:Those people.
Speaker B:I had a couple of frat friends in college, but they were not, like, by and large, they hated me.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, I was.
Speaker B:I was in a band.
Speaker B:You know, that was my whole Persona.
Speaker B:But the fact that I share this film with other people that are very different than me is very interesting to me because, like, I'm not that person.
Speaker B:But at the same time, like, I have a strong reverence for this movie.
Speaker B:So to me, that does speak to.
Speaker B:There is whether.
Speaker B:I don't necessarily understand it, but there is a global, you know, like a kind of a global.
Speaker B:But then Boondock Saints is another example where I have zero reverence for that film.
Speaker B:Is it good?
Speaker B:I like Willem Dafoe.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:There's some funny parts.
Speaker B:I do not really hold it in high regard.
Speaker C:I mean, same.
Speaker C:I probably.
Speaker C:I might watch it again, because I probably saw it seven years ago.
Speaker C:I'd probably watch it again another few years.
Speaker C:But it's not one I'm, like, itching to get back to.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And that movie was hyped, but I wouldn't say it's global.
Speaker B:I wouldn't say there's like a.
Speaker B:There's this wild kind of swinging door.
Speaker C:There's no Boondocks fest.
Speaker B:Yeah, there's no Boondocks fest.
Speaker A:Thank God.
Speaker A:You know, that's St.
Speaker A:Patrick's Day, actually, is what.
Speaker B:And I did a.
Speaker B:I did a piece of social content recently where I ranked, like, what I think are, like, the top five LA films.
Speaker B:And what I meant by that was films where LA is a big character in the movie.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I didn't put the Big Lebowski on that.
Speaker B:Is it a great LA movie?
Speaker B:Yes, but I think there's other movies where LA is more of a character.
Speaker B:Thousands of comments.
Speaker B:Why isn't Big Lebowski not on there, like, to a lot of people, setting.
Speaker C:It's not a character in this movie.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I feel like it could have been, but, yeah, I see there are just a lot of them.
Speaker C:I think it easily could have been done in New York, and I would have gotten the exact same thing out of it.
Speaker C:Or same in, in Chicago or any major metropolitan city where you're going to have the rich people area just outside the main city and then in the city.
Speaker C:Yeah, there's some nice parts, but it's also usually just a shitty place to be.
Speaker C:Like, I don't know.
Speaker C:I, I, I think the only thing that really lended LA to this movie is the fact that he's just smoking weed all the time.
Speaker C:Like, that's kind of the one vibe that LA has that New York and, and Chicago aren't really known for.
Speaker A:I tend to disagree because I think, like, what, like, the porn industry is in this movie is sort of a, A symbol, sort of symbolizes, like, the, the film industry, the entertainment industry.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it's an exaggerated version of that.
Speaker A:I'm not saying that it's the same thing, Bernie, but, like, but, like, I think, like, and I think there's a lot of that sort of coastal, like, west coast thing that, that is this movie.
Speaker A:Like, I do feel like L.
Speaker A:A.
Speaker A:This movie is served by LA being.
Speaker A:I don't, I don't think it could be really set anywhere else and have the same sort of weight to it.
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker A:I think it is, in a large degree, it is about, like, creates the creative industries, entertainment industry.
Speaker A:I think it has that.
Speaker A:Yeah, that motif about it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:But, like, I think Drive was on your, your list.
Speaker C:Was it?
Speaker B:No, not on that one.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker C:What was on your list?
Speaker B:I had Collateral.
Speaker A:Love Collateral.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I had.
Speaker B:God, I.
Speaker B:I made it a while ago, L.A.
Speaker B:confidential.
Speaker B:I did not.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:That's a good one.
Speaker B:I did not put it on my list, but this was just to generate disguise.
Speaker A:But, like, this is the thing there's a, there's so many LA.
Speaker B:They're all in LA though.
Speaker B:Yeah, they're 90 of them are in LA.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:For me, Drive.
Speaker C:I feel like made LA a character more than this.
Speaker C:Just kind of, it had a reason to be set in la.
Speaker C:But I, I, I never felt like I was in the heart of LA while watching this movie.
Speaker C:It just kind of felt like a generic city, generic rich people, suburb, like.
Speaker A:Well, you know, it is one of those places.
Speaker A:I think it continues to be one of those places where people see it as a place where you can go and be the person that you want to be.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Rather than being the person you have.
Speaker B:As long as that person's broke.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, rather than being the person you have to be where you're from.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like wherever you're from, people, people know you and that's kind of who you're going to be, even if you ascend or descend up the social strata.
Speaker A:But you can go to la.
Speaker A:Nobody knows you there.
Speaker A:Yeah, but everybody knows someone like that.
Speaker A:And, and you can kind of make your way there.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's, that's the promise of la.
Speaker A:And I think all the characters that we're talking about in here do that in some kind of way.
Speaker A:Like they, they represent one of these versions.
Speaker A:Not, not all the versions, but like there's a really wide spectrum of people in this movie that we could kind of.
Speaker A:I see ourselves being, if we move to la for some reason.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And a lot of people, like, think about moving out there, you know?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So even now, you know, people, a.
Speaker C:Lot of people move back.
Speaker A:I sure do too.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:We live in Nashville, so most of them are moving here.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I know a lot of people that move to LA and do a very well on Instagram.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Nowhere else.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:It looks like they're doing great.
Speaker B:The boy.
Speaker B:So anyway, I just tie the note.
Speaker B:But the bow.
Speaker B:I put it, I put it abide.
Speaker B:But I don't really understand it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I don't understand how this film does transcend to the level it does.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:I just, I share reverence with it, with people I don't necessarily share life with.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And frat boys, whatever.
Speaker B:But for that reason I just, I don't get it.
Speaker B:But maybe that's why that isn't a bite.
Speaker B:It's like there's something that speaks to a large swath of people that I don't necessarily understand, but it does.
Speaker A:I love that about this movie.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:I just know I agree with the directors.
Speaker C:Therefore, I'm right.
Speaker B:That's awesome.
Speaker B:Well, it's.
Speaker B:It doesn't matter.
Speaker B:We got one category left, and this is similar to something we did in Tenet.
Speaker B:I have all the films kind of ranked here.
Speaker B:I called this category Coinciding Greatness.
Speaker A:Love it.
Speaker B:Cohen side, man.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker B:I'm good at making these categories, right?
Speaker B:Give it to me, baby.
Speaker B:Give it to me.
Speaker B:I've been doing this a while.
Speaker B:This.
Speaker B:This category, to finish this off, is about the fact that I don't see.
Speaker B:Take the last category.
Speaker B:That global, that.
Speaker B:That reach that's beyond borders.
Speaker B:We don't get it.
Speaker B:But the.
Speaker B:The speak and the zeitgeist, culturally that you feel and see does not match the numbers when you look at their entire catalog.
Speaker B:And these are.
Speaker B:I use Metascores for this one because I just.
Speaker B:I just trust Metascore more.
Speaker B:There's a lot of movies.
Speaker B:I'm gonna go fast.
Speaker B:Lewin Davis.
Speaker B:93.
Speaker B:No country for Old Men, 93.
Speaker B:Fargo, 85.
Speaker B:Keep note of all the movies that I say before big Lebowski, okay, Fargo, 85.
Speaker B:Blood Simple, 81.
Speaker B:True Grit, 80.
Speaker B:Buster Scrugg, 79.
Speaker B:The man who Wasn't There, 73.
Speaker B:Hail Caesar.
Speaker B:72.
Speaker B:The Big Lebowski, 71.
Speaker B:Then we'll go down.
Speaker B:Intolerable Cruelty, 71.
Speaker B:Barton Fink, 69.
Speaker B:Oh, brother, where art thou?
Speaker B:69.
Speaker B:Raising Arizona.
Speaker B:68.
Speaker C:Really?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Miller's Crossing.
Speaker B:66.
Speaker B:Burn After Reading.
Speaker B:63.
Speaker B:Lady Killers.
Speaker B:56.
Speaker B:Could be lower.
Speaker B:Hudsucker.
Speaker B:Hudsucker Proxy.
Speaker B:53.
Speaker C:I mean, I could see why critics wouldn't have liked Burn After Reading as much, but Raising Arizona, that low.
Speaker C:Hail Caesar Above Raising Arizona.
Speaker C:Like, what the fuck?
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:And this is just the Metascore scores.
Speaker B:I mean, so that's the thing.
Speaker B:I'm.
Speaker B:I'm putting the data with the heart, the brain in the heart here.
Speaker B:Does it.
Speaker B:Is this wrong?
Speaker B:Is this a top five?
Speaker B:If.
Speaker B:If this is, like, such a culturally relevant, important film, but most critics didn't even put it in that top five.
Speaker B:Where does this sit in their catalog?
Speaker C:This is maybe the sixth Coen Brothers movie I've seen, and it's definitely number six for me.
Speaker C:So, yeah, I don't.
Speaker C:I don't think it's.
Speaker C:I don't.
Speaker C:I don't think it's as good as most people are gonna sit here and say it is.
Speaker C:It's not bad.
Speaker C:It's just.
Speaker C:It's not.
Speaker C:What.
Speaker C:What's it score at?
Speaker C:72.
Speaker B:71.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's about Where I would rather rank.
Speaker C:This is like a.
Speaker C:Maybe a 7.17 out of 10.
Speaker C:Like, it's just not.
Speaker C:It doesn't hit for me.
Speaker C:It really doesn't, man.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I would.
Speaker A:I haven't seen all the Coen Brothers movies.
Speaker A:I've seen a lot of them.
Speaker A:I feel like this is probably one of my top five Coen Brothers movies, sir.
Speaker A:I would say certainly one of my top five.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I mean, I.
Speaker A:I find it difficult to really speculate about people's tastes and stuff like that.
Speaker A:I do kind of think, like, this is one of those movies that has a really.
Speaker A:A lot of depth and a lot of intellectual stimulus to it.
Speaker A:And doing that as what is basically, like you said, Seth, a stoner comedy.
Speaker A:I think that's a crazy achievement, dude.
Speaker A:Like, you know, we think of stoner comedies, we think of stuff like Half Baked or Pineapple Express and stuff like that.
Speaker A:Like, those movies aren't trying to do what this movie does.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker A:You know, but this movie is.
Speaker A:I think.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I think in spite of themselves, the Coen brothers have to address massive philosophical ideas.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And they just happen to do it with this movie.
Speaker A:I think that's what's so fudgeing cool about it, too.
Speaker A:And so, I don't know.
Speaker A:Like, I don't really think of top fives, honestly.
Speaker A:I don't have, like, top five lists or things like that.
Speaker A:But maybe I should.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker B:I have a top five family members list.
Speaker A:Oh, wow.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it starts at 10.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But yeah, if I were to do it, like, I think, you know, no country is definitely in there.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think this is probably a top five Coen Brothers movie for me, and certainly in one of my favorite.
Speaker A:It's one of my favorite movies.
Speaker B:So I, like, list, like, I, I.
Speaker B:They're fun for me and for me.
Speaker B:I don't know why.
Speaker B:Maybe because I'm in the podcasting game.
Speaker B:But I just love keeping.
Speaker B:I love keeping score of, like, going because I'm getting an education.
Speaker B:Every time we cover a movie, I'm like, I feel like I'm receiving a degree in the movie because I'm doing all this research.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So it is fun for me.
Speaker B:And every time I do a podcast, I have to go back to my top 50 because it's changed a ton.
Speaker B:Because I go.
Speaker B:I dive into a movie maybe I wasn't as familiar with, and I'll move.
Speaker B:Something like that's happened.
Speaker B:I've Covered movies that I didn't really know a lot about before.
Speaker B:And because we covered them like, damn.
Speaker B:Like I have a lot of respect for that movie.
Speaker B:Maybe it's recency bias too.
Speaker A:I think one of the things that also adds to this movie is the, the multi viewing potential for it.
Speaker A:Like you pick, you get something new and you, you can, you really get something new every time you watch it and you appreciate it more.
Speaker A:Like when you know a scene is coming.
Speaker A:Like it's like, oh, I'm kind of amped up for the, for the boat, for the Jesus scene.
Speaker A:Or I'm kind of amped up for, for the Marmot and the Nihilist.
Speaker A:Drop it in the bathroom.
Speaker C:Like, I'll just have to take your word for it.
Speaker A:But you know, like if it, if you see it on TV somewhere, like you're gonna kind of know where you're at in the movie and oh, I know what's coming up next.
Speaker A:I, I think that's a big part of why I love this movie so much.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So cool.
Speaker B:I, I go abide here because I listen.
Speaker B:I liked True Grit.
Speaker B:I also liked the original and I was shocked when they did it.
Speaker B:It just felt so weird for them to do a remake.
Speaker A:It was a cool choice.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was a cool one.
Speaker B:It was very unique for them and.
Speaker C:It was very much improved on the original.
Speaker C:Original.
Speaker C:Yeah, I, I, I think they somehow handled Haley Steinfeld's character way better than OG1 did.
Speaker C:The OG1 was just so annoying.
Speaker A:She was so good in True Grit.
Speaker C:So good.
Speaker B:And John Wayne, I hate to say it, like, I just, I went back, I liked the original, really loved the remake.
Speaker B:And then I went back and I was like, man, John Wayne all of a sudden just doesn't feel as good to me.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Because Jeff Bridges killed that role.
Speaker B:Yeah, he did.
Speaker B:Sure did.
Speaker B:So, But I still, still am just like, I'm thinking like, that's funny that that one's in the top five in this original, you know, so called Masterpiece.
Speaker B:I say so called because, you know, that's what we're referring to it as.
Speaker B:But I definitely put it up there.
Speaker B:One thing, I'm looking at this list and I'm thinking like, what's, what's the uniqueness here?
Speaker B:I think Coen Brother movies, by and large, so many of their movies are not affected by technology.
Speaker B:They still do film.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:They by and large don't have like movies don't have iPhones.
Speaker B:Like they really haven't had a movie where technology, I think Burn after reading has like cell phones in it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:But they.
Speaker B:They like to leave that stuff out.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And almost every one of these movies, aside from True Grit, because that's definitely a period piece.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B: n in any century, like, after: Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:It just feels like all these stories could.
Speaker B:Could change decades, you know, like, the character.
Speaker B:Like, I just feel like.
Speaker C:I mean, I would have thought that.
Speaker C: the beginning that it was in: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It feels there's a weird, uncontained timelessness to the characters they make.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And, yeah, I.
Speaker B:I look at this list.
Speaker B:I say it has to be, for me, personally, top five.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It is funny, though.
Speaker B:A Brother War out there was another one that was culturally huge.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:It was, like, the most selling soundtrack of all time at the time.
Speaker A:Soundtrack's incredible.
Speaker A:You know, the first time I saw that movie, I didn't like it at all.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker A:I didn't get it.
Speaker A:Like, I.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was the opposite.
Speaker C:I loved it.
Speaker A:I watched.
Speaker A:I think I walked out at the end of it.
Speaker A:Just was like, oh, God.
Speaker A:This is just.
Speaker A:I didn't.
Speaker A:But, like, you know, watching it again, I was just like, well, that was silly.
Speaker C:Maybe.
Speaker A:Maybe I was dealing with some personal problems or something.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker C:I literally have a tin of Dapper Dan pomade.
Speaker B:That's awesome.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:I respect it more now.
Speaker B:But what's funny is I was Seth to this, what you are to the Big Lebowski.
Speaker B:That was me.
Speaker B:To a brother.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:At first, yeah.
Speaker B:I definitely still put it mid middle pack for them, but it's increased.
Speaker B:You know, it didn't have the same emotional weightiness that, like, I don't know why, but every time I watch this and Sam Elliott says he's out there.
Speaker B:He's out there doing it on behalf of all the sinners.
Speaker B:What is the quote?
Speaker B:Why do I just get emotional?
Speaker C:Like, for some reason, Sam Elliott, that.
Speaker B:Ending monologue really gets to me.
Speaker B:He's like, I'm glad he's out there doing, you know, gotta take.
Speaker B:Taking her easy for all us sinners.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I just get a little, like.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, there's not much difference.
Speaker A:If you look at the portraits of.
Speaker A:Of Jesus, you know, like, that we see in the iconography.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Across the world.
Speaker A:Like, he's like.
Speaker A:He looks like that Jesus, but with some sunglasses on and a robe on.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:That's pretty heavy stuff, man.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it's said in kind of a light way.
Speaker B:But that's, again, that goes back to the Wes Anderson thing I said earlier.
Speaker B:The Cohen's, like, they are able to wrap up Impactful Dark or Sadness, but they can.
Speaker B:They can wrap it up in this boisterous rapper.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And deliver it.
Speaker B:Yeah, he.
Speaker A:He does.
Speaker A:He is a.
Speaker A:Like a.
Speaker A:Like a.
Speaker A:An ideal version of some kind of life that a lot of people want to live.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:Like, he's not wealthy or anything, but he's got all the time that he wants to do whatever he wants to do.
Speaker B:Like his career path.
Speaker B:He was part of that.
Speaker B:That protester group, and then he was a roadie, and.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Now he's unemployed.
Speaker A:I'm unemployed.
Speaker C:Are you employed?
Speaker B:Pretty nice arc.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So, like, you know, you look at that resume, maybe not the most impressive, I guess, but.
Speaker A:But we watch the movie, and a lot of people resonate with that life.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, just getting new adventures, driving around, listening to Credence.
Speaker C:You know, I'll just watch True grit for the 20th time.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Or what do you.
Speaker B:What about no Country Man?
Speaker C:You know, that's one that I've only seen one time.
Speaker C:It was very heavy, and I loved it.
Speaker C:But it's also one of those that.
Speaker C:It's like, I can only watch that every now and then, that movie, and I've got to be in the mood to watch that movie.
Speaker C:But actually, this is something.
Speaker C:When we eventually do our top 50 discussion, my friend and I were talking about this.
Speaker C:To me, rewatch ability plays into how I rank a film in two different ways.
Speaker C:Because sometimes there's a movie like Interstellar that I can.
Speaker C:Or Lord of the Rings, where I could just rewatch it at the drop of a hat.
Speaker C:Anytime someone's like, let's watch it, I'm like, let's do it.
Speaker C:Then you have the opposite movie where it's so good that I can't rewatch it as often as I can with other ones because I never want it to feel familiar.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:I always want to go back into so.
Speaker C:So for no country for Old Men, that's one of those where it's like, on the rare occasion I do feel in the mood to watch that movie, I want to go into it still being as unfamiliar as I was the first time I watched it.
Speaker A:Saving Private Ryan is like that for me.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's Magnolia for me.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Magnolia.
Speaker A:I was gonna think.
Speaker A:I was thinking Magnolia, too.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's just so heavy, but it's so perfect.
Speaker A:Like, I could watch clips of it.
Speaker A:Like, sometimes clips Will come up on the Internet or something and maybe watch little segments of it.
Speaker A:But like actually sitting down to watch a movie like that.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's kind of a task for me.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker B:I love what.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's really.
Speaker B:That's actually extremely profound because it does play in.
Speaker B:Because rewatch ability is this weird.
Speaker B:It's kind of like replayability with games.
Speaker B:Like, whoa, is it replayable?
Speaker B:It's like, well, did you enjoy it the first time?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:But with movies, you know, they.
Speaker B:It depends on the emotional impact.
Speaker B:Like, I.
Speaker B:I've never watched a Von Trier film twice.
Speaker A:No way.
Speaker B:I've also not watched all of them.
Speaker B:I've never completed some of them.
Speaker B:Yeah, like I.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:I will never go back and watch Antichrist again.
Speaker B:But not because I thought it was a good.
Speaker C:I won't even watch it the first time.
Speaker B:It ruins one.
Speaker C:I'm just avoiding.
Speaker B:It gave me.
Speaker B:It just gave me the worst feelings.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker C:I've.
Speaker C:I've watched Nymphomaniac multiple times.
Speaker C:I've watched Melancholia multiple times.
Speaker C:I do need to watch the House that Jack Built again.
Speaker C:And I do need to watch Dogville again.
Speaker C:Dogville was so good.
Speaker A:Dude, Dogville's incredible.
Speaker C:It's insane.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Some of his older stuff isn't as adversarial, I would say.
Speaker B:Like the one with Bjork.
Speaker B:What's that one?
Speaker A:Oh, Breaking the Waves.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Dancer in the Dark.
Speaker A:Dancer in the Dark.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Excuse me.
Speaker B:Yeah, maybe it was Breaking the Waves.
Speaker C:Anyway, sorry, Bjork.
Speaker B:Yeah, sorry.
Speaker B:Keep saying you're doing great.
Speaker B:Iceland's fun.
Speaker B:Well, seven to zero.
Speaker B:And you know, this.
Speaker B:You know, this doesn't with protest.
Speaker B:It doesn't step outside of the cultural norm.
Speaker B:But I did appreciate everything you said.
Speaker B:I think when you have something that's so highly regarded in the culture, it just opens it up to more, you know, speculation.
Speaker B:And I think that's good.
Speaker B:And, you know, we just got done talking about Tenant, which is ironic because it's his lowest rated film, but we found so much goodness in it.
Speaker B:So it's interesting when you look at cultural narratives and then you kind of as the individual drill down as a film lover and find those things.
Speaker B:So I totally appreciate it.
Speaker B:And you still dressed up even though you didn't love it.
Speaker B:Look at you.
Speaker B:But thank you for hanging out with us.
Speaker B:We were abiding and you're out of your element.
Speaker B:Movie wars fans, we love you.
Speaker B:I'm Kyle.
Speaker C:I'm Seth.
Speaker A:I'm Junior.
Speaker B:Love y'all.
Speaker B:The Movie Wars.
