Table of Contents

Contents Prologue Part I B.L.: The Coens before Lebowski The Coen Brothers: The Early Years Blood Not So Simple The Early Filmmaking Career of the Two-Headed Director Part II The Seeds of Production: Origin of The Big Lebowski, an L.A. Story A Rug That Tied the Plot Together Welcome to the Hotel California: The Lebowski Characters as Elements of L.A. His Dudeness. Duder. El Duderino. The Three Faces of Walter Sobchak Maude Lebowski and the Fluxus Movement The Lebowski Cycle, by Joe Forkan The Anti-Hollywood: The Pornographers The Nihilists: Believing in "Nossing" Pot Culture and the Dude The Dude Rolls Evolution of the Style: The Retro Look of Brunswick Bowling and Googie Architecture The Wide World of Bowling Sports The Jetsons Styling of Googie Architecture Pulling the Disparate Pieces Together Part III The Making of The Big Lebowski Wordsmithing the Script Casting the Principal Players (The League) Jeff Bridges: The Elite Everyman, by Gail Levin The Lebowski Family Tree The Big Lebowski Production and Postproduction Scene Scrutiny: Micturating Thugs, Flying Carpets, and Dancing Landlords Roll Scenes I: The Dude's Bungalow Cast Stories from the Bungalow Scenes Roll Scene II: The Thief of L.A. Roll Scene III: The Dance Moderne / Marty the Landlord's "Cycle" Part IV Genre-bending The Big Lebowski as Period Piece The Dude's Seinfeldian Lexical World, by Mark Peters The Big Lebowski as Musical What Happens When Kafka, Busby Berkeley, and Kenny Rogers Meet in a Bowling Alley The Big Dance Number On Music in The Big Lebowski, by Todd Martens The Big Lebowski as Western Once upon a Time in the Western: A Brief History of the Horse Opera, Oater, or Cowboy Picture Out of the Past: A Cowboy Dude The Big Lebowski as Noir The Muse: Raymond Chandler The Big Sleep-owski The Precursor: The Long Goodbye The Big Lebowski as ... The Wizard of Oz? Part V The Release and Its Aftermath Initial Audience and Critical Reception The Rise of the Cult of The Big Lebowski A Superfan's Story, by Roy Preston What Have You Rolling On, and On, and On Are You A Lebowski Achiever?: Awards and Acclaim Effect on Cast and Crew: Recognition, Resumes, and Renown What Makes a Cult Classic? Repeated Viewings: Am I Wrong? Am I Wrong? The Gospel According to the Dude: How The Big Lebowski Inspired a Religion, by Oliver Benjamin Quotability Quotient Part VI A.L.: The Coens after Lebowski Epilogue Bibliography Acknowledgments Index About the author

About the Author

JENNY M. JONES is the author of The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay. She has worked in film exhibition at the Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon, and the late, great Oak Street Cinema and the Walker Art Center, both in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At the Walker, she helped organize a complete 35mm retrospective of the work of Joel and Ethan Coen and an onstage conversation with the brothers. Like Ethan, her work history also includes a brief stint at the legendary Embers Restaurant. She currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her daughter Madeline.