From the first time I saw him in a film I kept telling friends he was the greatest movie actor of his generation. And he has proven it over and over again since then, leading to a lot of other people agreeing.
He makes this flick work. Otherwise it would just be another "quirky" independent film with eccentric characters etc. But instead it's a classic. All the acting is good. But Bridges is great. The dude does abide.
7 comments:
Yes, the Cohen Bros. films are a joy. I agree re: Bridges. I think what did it for me was his roles in The Fabulous Baker Boys and Starman. Had to admit to myself that the dude is good.
A lesser known/less popular Cohen movie is Burn Before Reading which I re-watched this past week. A really stellar cast. If you haven't seen this one I highly recommend it. I enjoyed it the 2nd time even more than the first. I never laughed so hard seeing someone get shot between the eyes. - Bob
BURN BEFORE READING is one of my alltime favorites Bob. Another one of the greatest actors of his generation whose artistry was overlooked for way too long but finally recognized: George Clooney.
Hey Lal!
Here is my blog post of April 8, 2013 regarding TBL. (http://coolbirth.blogspot.com/search?q=lebowski):
“The Dude abides” (The Big Lebowski)
In my recent “Master and Commander” post mentioned that I might post a list of movies that I will “pretty much always end up watching if I’m channel flipping.” I found that it was really hard for me to just pull up those movies from my memory banks, so what I have decided is to make the subject an on-going theme and post the movies as they happen in real time.
First entry: “The Big Lebowski” I love this movie. A couple of nights ago I was channel flipping and came upon TBL at about two thirds in where Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) has the Dude waylaid and brought to his Malibu digs. Eventually Treehorn slips mind-tripping drugs into the Dude’s drink, which leads to us taking the head-trip right along with the Dude. That trip just makes me laugh my ass off every time I watch it. It is Coen brothers genius on display, with everything from Buzby Berkeley dancers with fans made out of bowling pins to Jeff Bridges turning into a human projectile flying down a bowling lane wearing the greatest stoner face you’ll ever see.
Of course I hung in to the end, savoring John Goodman’s insanely volatile Vietnam vet, and digging on Steve Buscemi’s portrayal of the Dude’s timid bowling companion (Donny). My only regret was that I didn’t come in soon enough to see the hilarious John Turturro bit as Jesus Quintana, an opponent of The Dude's team in the bowling league semifinals. If you haven’t seen that segment you are missing out on a brilliant comedic tour de force.
I’ll end with what the Dude says in closing, then echoed by Sam Elliott (“The Stranger” and narrator): “The Dude abides.” Amen.
~ Willy
Nice Willy. I probably skipped over it since I still hadn't seen it.
THE DUDE AND THE ZEN MASTER, by Jeff Bridges and Bernie Glassman is an entertaining and insightful little book to read.
Suzanne
I heard them both promoting that last year on NPR, I'll check it out Suzanne. Happy Holidays kid.
Sheesh, a senior moment? I was referring to Burn After Reading, not Burn Before Reading, although I've read some books where the latter would have been good advice.
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