History Film / THEBIGLEBOWSKI

* AshesToCrashes: Walter misjudges the wind, and ends up pouring out the ashes of [[spoiler:Donnie]] all over the Dude.

*** Thank you, Donnie.

*** Walter's oft-repeated line "shut the fuck up Donnie!" is precisely ''because'' Buscemi's wouldn't shut up in ''Fargo.''

* PastVictimShowcase: The Big Lebowski becomes very angry with the Dude when one of Bunny's toes is sent to him after the botched money exchange.

* GulfWar: "Now this here story I'm about to unfold took place back in the early '90s - just about the time of our conflict with Sad'm and the Eye-raqis." It doesn't factor into the setting much, except for Saddam showing up during a hallucination.

* {{Badass}}: Walter [[spoiler: expecially at the end where he beats the nihilist with his own bare hands and even biting one of 'em's ear off.]].

* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Autobahn, the extremely obscure 70's synth-pop band that Uli and his nihilist friends were in, is loosely based on {{Kraftwerk}} and takes its name from Kraftwerk's best known album.

* NotVeryPrettyNowIsHe: The Big Lebowski becomes very angry with the Dude when one of Bunny's toes is sent to him after the botched money exchange.

* [[IAmNotShazam I Am Not The Big Lebowski]]: "''You're'' Mr. Lebowski. I'm The Dude. So that's what you call me."

* SeriousBusiness: Bowling, to everyone involved. ''Especially'' Walter.

* SeriousBusiness: Bowling, to everyone involved. ''Especially'' Walter. In fact, the image where Walter points a pistol at Smokey for toeing over the line yet still demanding his pin to count is ''the'' [[TropeImage poster image]] for this trope.

'''Walter:''' "Fuck the ''Tournament''?

* ClusterFBomb: The film debuted at 9th and is currently ranked 26th in most instances of the word fuck. Lampshaded by the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jRhgNp-fNc the cowboy]].

* AngryBlackMan: The taxi driver who is apparently a big fan of TheEagles.

* CaptainObvious: Donny, who often makes pointless observations, giving some explanation for why the Dude and Walter completely ignore him.

* CatchPhrase: A number

** "Am I wrong?" - Walter

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Lebowski keeps the money he stole from a charitable foundation, Donny dies of a heart attack, and the Dude doesn't even get his rug back.]] But "life goes on, man." The Cowboy argues that its a BittersweetEnding because [[spoiler: there's a little Lebowski on the way, and after all, the Dude abides.]]

* AbsurdlyIneffectiveBarricade: The Dude suffers multiple home invasions, and getting kinda sick of it, starts to nail a piece of wood to the floor and props a chair between it and the door. It is immediately revealed that the door opens ''outwards'' instead of inwards.
** And later in the film, [[BrickJoke he trips over it.]]

* AllGermansAreNazis:
-->'''Walter''': Fucking Germans. Nothing ever changes. Fucking Nazis.
-->'''Donny:''' They were Nazis, Dude?
-->'''Walter:''' Well, come on Donny, they were threatening castration!
-->'''Donny:''' Uh huh.
-->'''Walter:''' Are we gonna split hairs here? Am I wrong?
-->'''Dude:''' Man, they were nihilists, man. They kept saying they believe in nothing.
-->'''Walter:''' Nihilists? Fuck ''me''. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, at least it's an ''ethos''.
** Ironically averted at the end, where Walter finally gets it right that they're nihilists.
*** Considering he calls one of the Germans an "anti-Semite" in the course of [[IncrediblyLamePun chewing him out]], it might not have completely sunk in.
* AngryBlackMan: "Fuck you, man! You don't like my fucking music, get your own fucking cab!" [[spoiler: after the Dude says he hates TheEagles. Then he gets thrown out.]]

* CaptainObvious: Because he often misses portions of the Dude and Walter's conversations, Donny winds up becoming this when he finally hears something (ie: "Jeffrey Lebowski? That's your name, Dude!")
** Also, your phone's ringing.

* CatchPhrase: "We believe in nothing!" "Shut the fuck up, Donny." "Am I wrong?"
** "No, Walter, you're not wrong, you're just an asshole!"
*** "Okay, then."
** "Yeah, well, The Dude Abides." Probably the most famous quote, and used only once in the movie.
** "It really tied the room together"

* ClusterFBomb: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jRhgNp-fNc "There's just one thing, Dude... do you have to use so many cuss words?"]]
** "What the ''fuck'' are you talking about??"
** The film debuted at 9th and is currently ranked 26th in most instances of the word fuck.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Maude shows the Dude the beginning of a porn movie featuring [[PizzaBoySpecialDelivery a cable repair guy]] who's "come to fix the cable." When Maude turns it off saying, "You can imagine where it goes from here," the Dude replies, [[DeadpanSnarker "He fixes the cable?"]]
** Maude is also guilty of this in the same scene. As she's watching the porn, she turns and mentions that "the story is ludicrous."

** The real Dowd was, in fact, a member of the "Seattle Seven."
*** Him and six other guys...
* DeadpanSnarker: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqFBjOMA5wY "It's uh, it's down there somewhere. Lemme take another look."]]

** Subverted by the cop who makes fun of Lebowski after he gets his car from the compound, who begins to crack up and tell lame jokes.

* DisneyAcidSequence: The "Gutterballs" BusbyBerkeleyNumber dream. And see about 2 minutes in for BetweenMyLegs [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz2ET5K6zY0 here. "Far out, man."]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Lebowski keeps the money he stole from a charitable foundation, Donny dies of a heart attack, and the Dude doesn't even get his rug back.]] But "life goes on, man."
** BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: We hear there's a little Lebowski on the way, albeit one that won't have the Dude's involvement in his upbringing. In addition, Big Lebowski gets traumatized by Walter for his swindle, and the irritating Nihilists are stopped.]] And, you know, come what may... "the Dude abides."

* DudeWheresOurCar: "Say Dude, where ''is'' your car?"
** The title of the movie ''DudeWheresMyCar'' was inspired by this movie.

* FemmeFatale: Maude Lebowski. "Jeffrey. ''Love me.''"

** BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: We hear there's a little Lebowski on the way, albeit one that won't have the Dude's involvement in his upbringing. In addition, Big Lebowski gets traumatized by Walter for his swindle.]] And, you know, come what may... "the Dude abides."

* LucaBrasiSleepsWithTheFishes[=/=]MaryKellysKidney: "What about the toe?"
** "Forget about the '''fucking''' toe!!"

* MaryKellysKidney: "You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it, believe me. Hell, I can get you a toe by 3 o'clock this afternoon... with nail polish."

** Plays up the contrast between the "regular people" and the "film characters," as a side note. Characters who are obviously played as characters don't stutter, and engage in dialog. Characters played as regular people thrust into a movie plot - like the Dude - have conversations, with all the attendant "ums" and misunderstandings.

* ClusterFBomb: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXT0gOk1Ogw "There's just one thing, Dude... do you have to use so many cuss words?"]]

* SeriousBusiness: Bowling, to everyone involved. ''Especially'' Walter.

--> "She's not my special lady, she's my fucking lady friend!"

* NoExceptYes: The Dude when trying to explain his relationship with Maude to a private detective.

{{Cult classic}} directed by the CoenBrothers in 1998. It's a bit hard to describe, but let's call it a FilmNoir parody.