The Big Lebowski: The Pictures and The Facts

32 little random bits of fact you may or may not know.

By PartyPanther

Published 11 years ago

32 little random bits of fact you may or may not know.

1
The fictional German techno-pop band in the movie, Autobahn, is a parody of or homage to the legendary electronic band Kraftwerk.

2
Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers plays a character in a band called Autobahn. He is Nihilist 2, Kieffer.

3
Almost all the music on the soundtrack is revealed to be playing on a radio or a type of PA system at some point.
4
Charlize Theron was considered for the role of Bunny Lebowski.

5
While being member of the Bowling team, the Dude is the only one never seen bowling throughout the movie.
6
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, John Goodman stated that The Dude referring to The Big Lebowski as a "human paraquat" was one of the only improvised lines to make it into the final film...
7
...Paraquat is a herbicide. During the late 1970s, a controversial program sponsored by the US government sprayed paraquat on marijuana fields in Mexico.

8
The word "dude" is used around 161 times in the movie. 160 spoken and once in text in the credits for "Gutterballs" the second dream sequence.
9
When the John Turturro's character Jesus has to go door to door, sharing that he is a convicted sex offender, he has a large bulge in his tight pants. The bulge was formed by a bag of birdseed.
10
Of all the different personalized bowling shirts Donny wears throughout the film, none of them bears his name.

11
The Dude drinks nine White Russians during the course of the movie. He drops one of them at Jackie Treehorn's mansion.
12
Recipe for making a White Russian: 2 parts vodka, 1 part coffee liqueur such as Kahlua and 1 part cream. Served with ice in a low ball glass.
13
The Dude is in every scene of the movie. 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 in keeping with the traditional film-noir, in which the protagonist is the narrator and acts as the audience's guide throughout the film.

14
The 0.69 check the Dude writes at Ralph's for half and half is dated September 11, 1991, exactly ten years before the 911 attacks...
15
...While he is writing the check, George Bush can be heard on the television railing against Saddam Hussein... which explains his appearance in this dream sequence
16
While urinating on the Dude's rug, the Threehorn thug says "Ever thus to deadbeats, Lebowski!" This is a play on the Latin phrase "Sic semper tyrannis!"...

17
...Meaning "Thus always to tyrants!", which was allegedly spoken by the murderers of Gaio Giulio Cesare and Abraham Lincoln during the assassinations.
18
In a version that was edited for television broadcasts, the famous line "This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!" was changed to "This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps!", which is regularly cited as one of the most "creative" edits made for a film to be aired on TV.
19
The Dude's line, "The Dude abides," is a reference to Ecclesiastes 1:4, "One generation passes away, and another generation comes: but the earth abides forever." It is a reference to how the Dude, much like the Earth, can weather change and chaos around him, but still remain the same.

20
In an early draft of the script, The Dude's source of income was revealed. He was an heir to the inventor of the Rubik's Cube. It was Joel Coen's idea to drop this and never say.
21
The Dude tells Maude he was a roadie for Metallica on their fictional "Speed of Sound" tour and refers to the band members as a "bunch of assholes." Metallica themselves were flattered to be referred to in a Coen Brothers movie.
22
A lot of the Dude's clothes in the movie were Jeff Bridges's own clothes, including his Jellies sandals.

23
When we're introduced to the Dude's bowling arch-nemesis Jesus, a flamenco version of The Eagles song "Hotel California" plays and is portrayed as playing on the bowling alley's PA system. Later, we learn in the taxicab scene that the Dude hates the eagles.
24
People mention peeing on the dude's rug 17 times. They also mention that the rug "really tied the room together" 5 times...
25

26
The Dude says "man" 147 times in the movie, nearly 1.5 times a minute.
27
The F-word or a variation of the F-word is used 292 times.
28
The Dude meets a lot of new people throughout the story, outside his "tribe". But only three, Brandt, Jackie Treehorn and The Cowboy show enough "respect" for him to call him "Dude".

29
Before filming a scene, Jeff Bridges would frequently ask the Coen Brothers "Did the Dude burn one on the way over?" If they said he had, he would rub his knuckles in his eyes before doing a take.
30
"Well, I dig your style too, man. Got the whole cowboy thing goin'. "
31
The reason Steve Buscemi's character, Donny, is constantly being told to "Shut the fuck up!" by Walter John Goodman, is because Buscemi's character in Fargo would not shut up.