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ah oh yeah kind of just want to listen to that song a little bit like the background Eve is it going in the background welcome to a very special Yuletide episode of the 404 program where we celebrate the big lebowski i'm jeff beck alone I'm Justin you I'm spear I mariela nunez and this is the show where we're gutter ball we're all gutter ball gutter program today what better person to come in and just geeked out with us about the film The Big Lebowski than Steve sphere Guttenberg that's it he's the dude and on the spear so so before we even get into it you have a very personal reason personal set of circumstances that gave you the luxury of watching this movie over and over and over and over what happened yes I was a movie theater projections I knew nothing about the movie before you know came in yeah i don't think i read a review right you sure you didn't even know about this movie no I just you know was just on the schedule and I ran it okay brand new and it didn't do that well you know it took a while for it to catch on bread I just kept watching it and I can think it's so funny I would stand and then when it started to get a little popular I would stand in the back of the theater and watch audiences watch the movie yeah it was just so did you like it immediately when you first saw it I didn't grow because it's just that it's the right kind of weird yeah you know it's it's surreal but it doesn't get so out there that you just just get lost or silly it's the weirdness is focused on him you know it all fits within his care what is it about this movie and I agree with you the weirdness is perfect what is it about this movie that it just transcends every other sort of relationship and it's so pervasive to like I mean it's no secret they have these Lebowski Fest sand all these big parties a couple times a year what is it about this movie that just has a cult following like I don't think there's a feel even you can make the argument I co star wars on it but it's different there's something about lebowski that's just in its own universe that is so accessible so many people love this film maybe because he because you could imagine he people I guess some part of them want to be the dude you r everyone you couldn't be those other people really bright but it's such a low aspiration yes you you could but he just imagines gets by and he loves his life right he's poor they never say how he makes money either it's always a mystery right he's just you have a job sir yeah he's like I'm in between stuff or what does he say I don't remember anybody you know like he just uses coasting he's just coasting and he's like in his forties yeah and he's just smoking a lot of parties bowling only and he's just living the dream yeah while the rest of the world is in conflict yeah during this does the woman struggling about money and just and he's just just trying to get by you know doing the things that dude does yeah and there's something about that that you're right that everyone was almost jealous of yeah you know when they when they saw this movie including the other the real def Lebowski which now i don't mean the real real jump with the rich Lebowski right money right so I mean I don't want to get obviously you know reiterate the plot to the film because if you're listening to this and you don't know we're talking about borean lost no wasting your time of it but I mean I mean you look at the the cast to and I think for its time don't forget a lot of people in this film maybe perhaps had not exploded into Fame before those it Jeff Bridges was certainly the most famed chef bridge is obviously pretty famous but even people like philip seymour hoffman no no that was first time I was ever where you know a john goodman was pretty obviously john goodman people like tara reid not a no tara reid was before this may be there was American people shine that was it actually only famous because he was in other coen brothers movie Brea exactly there's something there there's just something about it you said before it's like it's not the perfect movie but man it just folds up kind of clothes and even when you say those lines out of context yeah honey for sure don't forget fleas in this movie too he don't Annihilus yeah um I feel like so and then don't forget Jesus the Jesus the Jesus mr. John Turturro comes his bowling balls I mean and you know it's funny it's like uh you know bowling was is this when the first time bowling was in a movie you know there's a lot of films at bowling right but it was something about this that that just made it better I don't know the make you know what sweet basil a mirage busy real depth to it first of all it's extremely well written like a wasted line in it it's for sure readily tight but I guess if you're really into bowling you know there's that shot where the cameras inside the bowling ball right and as it's going down the lane you see what I rounded there what do they do there and it's like they read and then there's even scenes of those machines that are putting the pins yak in place everything's I'm calling this is like a religious experience there's a lot of trivia associated with the film as well and we'll get into some of those little sort of easter eggs uh in a little bit oh and I'd start point out that if you're a fan of the movie you may not know this the jeff bridges is a pretty serious photographer yeah and he has a lot of pictures that he shot on the set that show you a completely different perspective of be seen so that's really very cool so that's pretty cool I in you said it might be on his website i don't i don't know but he has a book a jeff bridges photography book and then your pictures of the movie there there's like weird stats about this movie the word dude is used 161 times yeah 160 spoken once in text credits the f word or variation of the f word is used 292 times which one you really think about that is excessive well as Sam Elliott points out you have to custom yeah exactly the dude says the word man 147 times maybe nearly one and a half times a minute okay so he's not and he's not on on-camera the entire time uh the dude has a habit of repeating phrases he hear from other characters this aggression will not stand yeah dude does not bide again trophy wife trophy wife I'm going by cash machine in the parlance of our times yeah very very good stuff man oh man obviously he uh the character reinvigorated the White Russian and obviously which is served at all many times how many thing how many White Russians is janna he probably has like 11 and in that movie uh and the other thing is it's so surreal he's constantly getting beaten up oh he gets an honor like four times yeah but I mean just physically abused in various ways and yet he's perfectly fine there's never a mark on him um I feel a lot of people uh think uh Philip Seymour Hoffman is the best character I don't know film as no I wonder subject is y absolute yeah I actually has the best lines actually does shomer Shabbos I sure should don't roll on shabbos I mean it doesn't get any better I've tried to show this movie to my parents wait wait this isn't nam they were rule yeah I try to show this movie to my parents they snickered a few times there's something about I don't know what it is but what I was I felt this like sense of depression and and you know failure to achieve something when they were like oh this this is it I mean I don't know there's something really upsetting about that I can feel your pain you know you know what I mean I don't know why we couldn't make that happen but anyway it's not for everyone it's not for but that's the thing but I feel like it is I question people who don't get it though right and that's in some it's almost like a sniff test like if you're not a fan of this movie right you're a narc you know there's something wrong there like you're you you you know you're them you work for the man if you're not a fan of this movie for sure what uh what else i know i know you have a bunch and I said oh yeah that I'm so happy there was never a sequel yeah yeah or any other thing just let it be it's perfect the way it is it's it's close to perfection as a movie as I and I probably watched him more than any other there were rumors a couple years ago that they were in fact doing it I hope they don't and yeah I don't think anything ever came to fruition but it's something that you know you sort of want to hold on to forever and it's I don't think it's one of those movies that could ever be redone or attempted to be read analysis it's perfection yeah they kind of broke the mold at after this one well what other note I know you you know that was the only you may notice that you had about it I know you wanted to talk about the gutter ball scene again i cant rember that was the first time or the second time he gets knocked out him sequin think it's the second time yeah so there are these sequences within the movie that are totally surreal uh-huh that's sort of a reactor or what happens when he's knocked out and he has his fantasies and they're amazing let's uh let's watch that little some of that real quick this is the second time it gets knocked out it's pretty it's like a music video within yeah you're not gonna find a better soundtrack either yeah great now this song is perfect story oh the dude I don't that like it's all right it's like how did they it just feels like this masterpiece yeah and I remember this came with this came out in march of 1998 and was I was like 16 men when it came out first time I saw it I didn't I enjoyed it but for me personally this is one of those films that like the second time you see it yeah something sparks open and you're like oh my god you know it unlocks something in you that you're like all right this is this is one of the best ever this is a guy an actor who looks like Saddam Hussein yeah because the movie takes place during the first war with Iraq right and the weird thing is starting in like two thousand one win with there was the second war with Iraq and you watch this movie it felt like it was happening in the present yeah it was really fenestration the moot the show that they're obsessed with Branson musical uh when they go to they go to that kid who stole the suit with his father's in the maghreb would get what the hell is that whole situation it's just a fake I think it's a fake there's it's so weird because everything else is sort of like based off reality you know in that movie and then that sort of thing comes in you're like man what is it about that you know the whole movie feels like one big dream sequence yeah it is it always feels like you're kind of drifting in and out of consciousness like I great dude yeah for sure exactly so really weird fun facts the 69 sent check that the dude right in the su bracket listen to this now I don't have a hundred percent confirmation on this the check he writes at ralphs for the milk is dated September 11th 1991 which is ten years before nine eleven oh yeah he's while he's writing the check george bush can be heard on the telephone on the television behind him rallying and railing against Saddam Hussein I've had something kind of interesting about this scene I guess the actors and the director in the scene played a prank on jeff bridges and they all all the girls actually had wigs on underneath skirts and so no one else knew that but I mean everyone knew that but Jeff and so that's why he has his puzzled look on his face when he eventually turns over and sees the mops as good they want to go bowling now yeah yeah there's something about I don't know what it is I just needed to bowl after I saw I liked that little bit of the guy spraying the shoes the bowling yeah for sure every little detail it's like everything has has been thought through yeah there's no wasted shot there's no way such as is never a lot of dialogue that's wasted every single character even from Lebowski landlord yeah who does that interpretive play they all go and watch where he's like some you know peacock or something like that it's never a wasted moment yeah um I know is it's tough to be put on the spot and even try and name a favorite scene but do you have a favorite scene in The Big Lebowski you know that that's seen near the end where they spread the Donny's ashes yeah so because it's sort of like bringing you down at the end of the movie right and then the ashes like fly in there because they're standing in the wrong direction the wind blows pretty good what Justin do you have a favorite I think it was the the parking lot you know the bowling parking lot scene where Donnie spoiler alert guys he gets shot here's a shot he has a heart yeah as our that yeah yeah I think I really really like that it seems like a turning point in the movie what was her song playing not too i don't remember i remember but i really liked that 1a yeah that's also when you get to see the Nilus really come out absolutely got was really good i think all of his home invasions are really really good because he gets to the point where he just doesn't care anymore he doesn't care that three grown-ass men yeah broken into his blazing and they just he doesn't care he doesn't care the scene he has in the front of the fireplace with the real Lebowski uh-huh with Jeff real about the other asking where he has this monologue about you know uh you know grown men do I like stuff like that I think that's really really brilliant stuff and I also really like the the scenes where he he's talking with Maude I feel like people kind of overlook that yeah and you know he he's just you know being himself when he's in her studio and he's just sort of like picking around at all her crap there yeah and drinking a white he's just drinking a White Russian trying not to you know he it's funny because he's kind of having fun with her because she's talking about how her art is very vaginal right is like most men have the proper problem of even hearing the word vaginal vagina hey now and he's just like yeah you do your thing man I'm doing my thing cool that's what it is it not man it's tough and I do you think that Jeff Bridges has ever really been able to escape the dude no he is the dude but that movie from a few years ago where he's the country musician yeah that kind of felt like a reprise what was that called well yeah he said playing guitar the old yeah looks like he's a washed-up one-hit wonder yeah he kind of has a that drawl yeah um nice marmot is uh is what is one of Steve's favorite and I'm eight when they take the ferret and put it into the bathtub with them yet you don't see my like is when he's flipping through all the records and he comes across that cropped work rip off album i buy that band auto bondo that's denial yet as analysis the banner but that album cover looks exactly like croft work like a Croft work album cover and I'm still wearing the red shirts and the ties and everything it's on it's perfect for that German techno genre it's it's funny one of those dudes from Autobahn so obviously flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers out of them and then the other guy is it is an actor who probably is most recognizable for his work with with Volkswagen yeah a creepy like fall saw that guy you know I'm talking about swag is kinda middle he was also in uh arm again yes he's the Russian cosmonaut yeah that's been left at the International Space the thruster is he yeah thrust it's pretty good anyway anyone have any closing remarks with the big lebowski we can nerd out on this film for ages drink a White Russian and watch it you have you had a why Russia you haven't I like a lot I've had one it's not that bad it's not that at all you know it's kind of tasty it sounds like a dessert is urging yeah it's milk right it's when I'm spying for the 69 exactly exactly um yeah it's uh definitely one of our faves I'm surprised we haven't even done this yet yeah cuz this is definitely a film that everyone cannot can get on me i was saying area before the Coen brothers don't really repeat themselves yeah they make their movies are all pretty different from me for sure that's uh that's definitely an amazing feat by them I don't think I think when they were making this movie though I know hindsight's twenty-twenty but there's no way that they ever could have imagined what they had on their hands their f1 think of like the amount of cultism and what happened with this movie there's no way anybody could forecast what was gonna happen I mean when you look at the box office it didn't do well round the box off yeah it actually I mean by today's standards are you up no it did not do well and it's a and you could never trace it back but it's like how where did this start happening you know like how did it start happening where came went from this flop that only made five million dollars its opening weekend and you know eventually went on to be this amazingly successful coach just word of mouth thing yeah and maybe you really have to sort of be you know intoxicated we watching and you could do that more eat more easily at home yeah I guess given the mood I guess I guess I think it I think the universal appeal is just that people relate to him yeah there's some some part of a lot of people that want to be gentle house um actually we were saying we were saying before that you know dude is not he you know he said man a hundred and whatever many times and I said well it's because he's not in every scene believe it or not he is in every scene in the movie that well at least that's what this trivia says yeah there's even in the scene where the nihilists are ordering pancakes you can see the van in which the dude and Walter are driving this is keeping with the traditional film noir in which the protagonist is the narrator and acts as the audience guide throughout the film I didn't know that everything every scene yeah read somewhere that uh this is the only movie that Jeff Bridges is made where he has to watch the entire thing if it just comes on as televisions and I feel the same way about that there's very few movies then engage you constantly like what you're saying is never a dull scene in that movie every time it comes on you kind of just like well i guess i'm watching the big lebowski now no matter where you are in the movie and it in it doesn't you know get weaker yeah just it's funny it gets funnier and it gets even more meta you know I mean because you know like I how many times I've called people carpet pissers no reason there's like all I'm is carpet busy right now um John Goodman's admitted it's his favorite film um jun uh Julianne Moore has said this is one of her favorite films that she's ever worked on it's crazy and believe it or not um John Turturro was only on set for like three days cuz he shot his stuff real quick um but he he you know the the scope of the film he is such an integral part of it and even being only on set for a few days it's uh it's pretty pretty awesome gotta be an infinite gift online of him washing his bowling ball yeah right that's got existent what are those knees tonguing that too yeah it's uh it's pretty it's pretty great stuff if you have a comment about the big lebowski please share with us on Twitter or email us the 404 at cnet com we could go out with that same Bob Dylan song on campus yeah but the man in me man back that's the only this is the only film that got me to listen to a Bob Dylan song voluntarily it's pretty good I hope you're enjoying your break that's going to do it for our yuletide episode celebrating the big lebowski we will see you guys very soon hope you're having an awesome holiday season we'll see you soon I'm Jeff Bakalar I'm Justin you I'm Steve Guttenberg I'm Mariana yeah it's the 404 show high tech lowbrow see you guys soon in a test for compensation take a woman like you