Top 250 Challenge: 130

The Big Lebowski

Number 194 on IMDb's Top 250

Nominated by Mick

When Jeffery "The Dude" Lebowski is mistaken for a millionaire Jeffery "The Big" Lebowski, two thugs urinate on his rug to coerce him into paying a debt he knows nothing about. While attempting to gain recompense for the ruined rug ("It tied the whole room together, man.") from his wealthy counterpart, he accepts a one-time job with high pay-off. He enlists the help of his bowling buddy, Walter, a gun-toting Jewish-convert with anger issues. Hilarity ensues. Deception leads to more trouble, and it soon seems that everyone from porn empire tycoons to nihilists want something from The Dude.

Trivia: A lot of the Dude's clothes in the movie were Jeff Bridges's own clothes. The Dude never actually bowls. The screenplay was written with Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Sam Elliott in mind. The Steve Buscemi character is told to shut up in this movie because the Steve Buscemi character in the previous Coen movie, Fargo, would never shut up.

With such films as Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? Joel and Ethan Coen are masters at the slightly skewed look at life. This movie is no exception. This time they create a perfect private eye movie with the same plot twists and changes you would expect from a detective novel or Bogart Philip Marlowe movie, except for one important point...The Dude isn't a private detective, he's just a guy who wants his carpet back, man. The movie also includes the stock cast for a Coen movie: Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, and Peter Stormare, all of which steal the scenes they are in. Thanks, Mick.