The One Universal Fact: The Dude Abides
There are a ton of reasons why The Big Lebowski is a classic movie, but sometimes we all need a reminder of just how epic it is. Here are some of our favorite reasons:
It’s a Coen brothers film:
The Coen brothers are behind some of the best films of all time. We’re talking Fargo, No Country For Old Men, True Grit, and yes, you guessed it: The Big Lebowski.
It features some of the best actors out there:
The Big Lebowski is a throwback to when our favorite actors were a couple decades younger and a little less established in their careers. Acting heavyweights like John Goodman, John Turturro, Jeff Bridges, Tara Reid, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi… should we continue? Regardless of where these Hollywood mainstays were in their career back then, they’ve only gotten better with time — and The Big Lebowski is part of their legacies.
It created some of the best catch phrases of all time
Where oh where do we begin? The Big Lebowski has led to funny catch phrases and jokes that have stood the test of time. Here are some of our favorites:
What happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass? Well if you’ve seen The Big Lebowski, you should already fucking know. (And if don’t know, now you do.)
Nobody fucks with Jesus
John Turturro created a memorable movie moment when confronting The Dude. The end result is a catch phrase that we can all recite in bad Spanish accents. You think nobody fucks with The Dude? Well, “nobody fucks with the Jesus” either. It’s such an iconic scene that we had to capture it in a tee.
The Dude abides
This is a catch phrase that literally everyone knows — or at least they should. If anyone has something negative to say, tell them to fuck off because it’s a religious quote. In fact, it’s a reference to an Ecclesiastes 1:4 quote in The Bible that says, “One generation passes away, and another generation comes: but the earth abides forever.” And just like that, The Dude abides.
It started a religion
Speaking of which, The Big Lebowski started a religion. What other movie has that big of an effing impact? (Don’t worry, we’ll wait.) The religion is called Dudeism and was founded in 2005. Devoted to the philosophy of The Dude, there are thousands upon thousands of Dudeist Priests — all of whom should proudly don a t-shirt honoring their holy deity. And sure, you might think that’s sacrilegious… because honestly it kind of is. But it’s still pretty impressive if you ask us.
There are real life stories behind many of the characters and scenes
We’ll always remember every single line of this hilarious scene between Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, and Steve Buscemi.
Turns out, there’s truth to the story. Peter Exline, one of the Coen brothers’ friends, was the one who created the phrase in real life, saying “It really tied the room together.” The infamous rug was stolen from Exline by a young boy, making it great material for the Coen brothers to draw inspiration from for The Big Lebowski. Of course, we had to dedicate a shirt to it.
It allows us to shamelessly promote ourselves
We’re not gonna lie, any time we get to plug our products is good with us. *Oh, did we say that out loud?* No but seriously, we’re not going to dick around and pretend like you guys don’t know we sell shit. Cool shit, but still.
If you love The Big Lebowski and you love cool shit, we’ve got you covered.
There are tons of “Easter eggs” throughout the movie
That’s justification for watching The Big Lebowski over and over throughout the years, right? Some Easter eggs you may or may not have caught:
- In some capacity, The Dude appears in every single scene of the movie. Yes, every single one.
- The Dude never bowls during the movie, despite being on the bowling team.
- Donny always wears personalized bowling shirts, but none of them actually say “Donny.”
- Bunny’s license plate number says “LAPIN”, which means “rabbit” in French.
- The picture of a bowler that sits on The Dude’s mantel happens to be a picture of former president Richard Nixon, who was an avid bowler.
- You may not know Latin phrases (and to be honest, we don’t usually know them either). But when one of Jackie Treehorn’s thugs is pissing on The Dude’s rug, he says “Ever thus to deadbeats, Lebowski.” There’s a Latin phrase “Sic semper tyrannis” that translates to “Thus always to tyrants.” Abraham Lincoln’s murders apparently yelled this during the assassination, which makes it an apt line for Treehorns thugs to say.
- The Dude writes a $0.69 check for milk that’s dated September 11, 1991 as a speech by George Bush Sr. plays in the background. During the speech, Bush Sr. is heard saying, “This aggression will not stand.” That date was exactly 10 years before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Eery, right?
It’s considered the “Best Stoner Movie of all Time”
And no, not just by us. Rolling Stone magazine bestowed this honor upon The Big Lebowski, which is a damn good accomplishment. It beat out other stoner movies we also love, like Pineapple Express and Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle.
It’s one thing we can all agree on
If you’ve ever wondered why the hell we sell so many products related to The Big Lebowski, it’s because why wouldn’t we? The world is divided more than ever, but The Big Lebowski has the ability to unite people from all walks of life. So hey, three cheers to that.