Noir hero for the modern era. The Big Lebowski

[reetpleat]

I just read an article on Rolling Stone on The Big Lebowski. Like many great films, it wa a bit of a bomb, but has been growing in popularity at a high rate.

I was not too surprised to discover that the Coen Brothers based it somewhat on the writings of Raymond Chandler. I got to thinking that the movie is a great take on film noir. As funny and non "noir" or black, it has all the elements of great noir.

the hero is a bit of an everyman, who is thrown into a series of events beyond his control. He is beaten, abused, and thrown around, but he perseveres by luck, and a willingness to go along and see where the ride takes him, ultimately, allowing the truth to out and evil to implode upon itself.

I guess I don't mean all noir, but it seems in much of the Marlowe type private eye films, the hero is not really heroic, nor does he solve the problems by brilliance or super human skill or power. They pretty much gets slugged, kidnapped, thrown around by henchmen, manipulated by beautiful women, abused by cops and double crossed. But in the end, they come out on top or "abide." Even the very premise of a slacker guy who sits around smoking pot is the modern equivelant of the private eye with no case and a bottle of scotch in the drawer. so, i say The Dude, is our modern film noir hero.

 

[Feraud]

I agree TBL has many noir elements. An excellent movie. The Coen's are amazing filmmakers.

Just remembered...there is even a femme fatale in the movie.

 

[Artigas]

I never got noir vibes off of TBL. I guess it has some elements of noir in the plot, but the visual effects are certainly not noir, and it is a very comic film--also not noir.

Interesting insight, though.

 

[ScionPI2005]

That's an interesting concept. It has been a little while since I've seen the movie, so next time I watch it I'll keep the Noir idea in mind.

 

[Wesne]

This film is a favorite of mine, and it's a spot-on parody of the noir genre. Your classic noir hero (or anti-hero) is a guy who gets pulled into the plot against his will, and is probably being used by someone else to further their own ends. He's the type who claims not to stick his neck out for anybody else - a rugged individualist who's proud of his own cynicism. But deep down inside, he really cares about justice and doing the right thing. As events unfold, he becomes increasingly involved and finally he turns the tables on those who are pulling the strings.

The central conceit to The Big Lebowski is this: what if you made a film noir in which everyone goes along with the game except for the protagonist? What if he really is just a lazy slacker who just wants to get his rug back? All the other characters in the film are straight out of the noir handbook, but the Dude just "abides." He really, sincerely doesn't want to be any part of this nonsense, but they just won't let him be.

 

[reetpleat]

This film is a favorite of mine, and it's a spot-on parody of the noir genre. Your classic noir hero (or anti-hero) is a guy who gets pulled into the plot against his will, and is probably being used by someone else to further their own ends. He's the type who claims not to stick his neck out for anybody else - a rugged individualist who's proud of his own cynicism. But deep down inside, he really cares about justice and doing the right thing. As events unfold, he becomes increasingly involved and finally he turns the tables on those who are pulling the strings.

The central conceit to The Big Lebowski is this: what if you made a film noir in which everyone goes along with the game except for the protagonist? What if he really is just a lazy slacker who just wants to get his rug back? All the other characters in the film are straight out of the noir handbook, but the Dude just "abides." He really, sincerely doesn't want to be any part of this nonsense, but they just won't let him be.

Very well put. I haven't seen it in a while. In the end, doesn't the Dude eventually kind of take a stand for justice? or does he stick to his leave me out of it attitude?

 

[Feraud]

This film is a favorite of mine, and it's a spot-on parody of the noir genre. Your classic noir hero (or anti-hero) is a guy who gets pulled into the plot against his will, and is probably being used by someone else to further their own ends. He's the type who claims not to stick his neck out for anybody else - a rugged individualist who's proud of his own cynicism. But deep down inside, he really cares about justice and doing the right thing. As events unfold, he becomes increasingly involved and finally he turns the tables on those who are pulling the strings.

The central conceit to The Big Lebowski is this: what if you made a film noir in which everyone goes along with the game except for the protagonist? What if he really is just a lazy slacker who just wants to get his rug back? All the other characters in the film are straight out of the noir handbook, but the Dude just "abides." He really, sincerely doesn't want to be any part of this nonsense, but they just won't let him be.

Well put Wesne!

I think this is a good Wiki summary of the film -

The film begins with a short voiceover introduction by an unnamed narrator introducing the character of Jeffrey Lebowski as he is buying milk from a grocery store in 1991. The voiceover explains that Lebowski calls himself "the Dude".

After returning to his apartment in Venice, California, two thugs break in and rough up Lebowski. They are attempting to collect a debt Lebowski's supposed wife owes to a man named Jackie Treehorn. After realizing they were looking for a different person with the same name, they leave, but only after one of the thugs urinates on the Dude's rug. At the instigation of his friend and bowling teammate Walter Sobchak, the Dude decides to seek compensation for his urine-soaked rug from the other Jeffrey Lebowski. The next day, the titular "Big" Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire, gruffly refuses the Dude's request. After craftily stealing one of the Big Lebowski's rugs, the Dude meets Bunny Lebowski, the Big Lebowski's nymphomaniacal trophy wife on his way off the property.

Days later, the Big Lebowski contacts the Dude, revealing that Bunny has been kidnapped. He asks him to act as a courier for the million-dollar ransom because the Dude will be able to confirm or deny their suspicion that the kidnappers are the rug-soiling thugs. Back at his apartment, the Dude naps on his new, stolen rug, only to have a new set of criminals burgle his apartment. The criminals knock him unconscious. Following a musical dream sequence, the Dude wakes up on his bare wooden floor, his new rug missing. Soon after, when Bunny's kidnappers call to arrange the ransom exchange, Walter tries to convince the Dude to keep the money and give the kidnappers a "ringer" suitcase filled with dirty underwear. The Dude rejects this plan, but cannot stop Walter. The kidnappers escape with the ringer, and the Dude and Walter are left with the million-dollar ransom. Walter seems unperturbed by this turn of events, and takes the Dude bowling. Later that night, the Dude's car is stolen, along with the briefcase filled with money. The Dude receives a message from the Big Lebowski's daughter, Maude. She admits to stealing back the Dude's new, stolen rug, as it had sentimental value to her. At her art studio, she explains that Bunny is a porn starlet working under producer Jackie Treehorn and confirms the Dude's suspicion that Bunny probably kidnapped herself. She asks the Dude to recover the ransom, as it was illegally withdrawn by her father from a family-run charitable foundation for orphans. She offers him a finder's fee in exchange for his services.

The Big Lebowski angrily confronts the Dude over his failure to hand over the money. The Dude claims that he made the pay-off as agreed, but the Big Lebowski responds by handing the Dude an envelope sent to him by the kidnappers which contains a severed toe, presumably Bunny's. The Dude is enjoying a relaxing bath when he receives a message that his car has been found. Mid-message, three German nihilists invade the Dude's apartment, identifying themselves as the kidnappers. They interrogate and threaten him for the ransom money. The Dude returns to Maude's studio, where she identifies the German nihilists as Bunny's friends and pornographic co-stars. The Dude picks up his car from the police, and based on evidence he finds in the front seat, he and Walter track down the supposed thief, a teenager named Larry Sellers. Their confrontation with Larry is unsuccessful, and the Dude and Walter leave without getting any money or information.

Jackie Treehorn's thugs return to the Dude's apartment to bring him to Treehorn's beach house in Malibu. Treehorn inquires about the whereabouts of Bunny. When the Dude confesses he has no such information, Treehorn drugs the Dude's drink and he passes out. This leads to a second, more elaborate dream sequence. Upon awakening once again, the Dude finds himself in a police car and then in front of the sheriff of Malibu, who berates and strikes him for ruining the peace. The Dude arrives home and is greeted by Maude Lebowski, who hopes to conceive a child with him. During post-coital conversation with Maude, the Dude finds out that, despite appearances, her father has no money of his own. Maude's late mother was the rich one and she left her money exclusively to the family charity. In a flash, the Dude unravels the whole scheme: When the Big Lebowski heard that Bunny was kidnapped, he used it as a pretense for an embezzlement scheme, in which he withdrew the ransom money from the family charity. He kept it for himself, gave an empty briefcase to the Dude (who would be the fall guy on whom he pinned the theft), and was content to let the kidnappers kill Bunny.

Meanwhile, it is now clear that the kidnapping was itself a ruse: While Bunny took an unannounced trip, the nihilists (her friends) alleged a kidnapping in order to get money from her husband. The Dude and Walter arrive at the Big Lebowski residence, finding Bunny back at home, having returned from her trip. They confront the Big Lebowski with their version of the events, which he counters but does not deny. The affair apparently over, the Dude and his bowling teammates are once again confronted by the nihilists, who have set the Dude's car on fire. They are still demanding the million dollars, despite the fact that the Dude does not have the money and Bunny has not even been kidnapped. Walter viciously fights them off. However, their third teammate, Donny, suffers a fatal heart attack. Walter and the Dude go to a beach to scatter Donny's ashes. After an emotional exchange, Walter suggests, "**** it, dude. Let's go bowling." The movie ends with the Dude in the bowling alley and meeting the narrator at the bar. The narrator tells the Dude to take it easy and the Dude responds by stating, "the Dude abides".

Voiceover, mistaken identity, missing woman, ranson, thugs, double cross, corruption, femme fatale, etc. Noir elements combined with a hippy slacker wanting nothing more than to bowl and get back the rug that really tied the room together. Pure Coens genius.

 

[Mr. 'H']

Reetpleat, I would strongly suggest you check out this podcast:

http://outofthepast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=33804

Episode 11: The Big Sleep and The Big Lebowski
When "The Big Lebowski" was released in 1998, Ethan and Joel Coen claimed its "episodic" narrative structure found its source in the work of Raymond Chandler. In this super-sized double-feature podcast, Richard and Shannon examine "The Big Lebowski" against Howard Hawks's 1946 noir "The Big Sleep," and both films against Chandler's 1939 novel "The Big Sleep." Beyond their similar narrative structures, these works all present consummate dialogue, a panoply of memorable characters, and crimes and anxieties impossible to imagine outside Los Angeles--the city of angels, and noir.

It's a series I have been subscribing to for some time.

I love TBL and it is especially cool to me as I played several games of pool with Flea in a bar in Santa Cruz in August 2005. He plays Nihilist #2 in this movie.

 

[Spiffy]

What a great insight!
I just spent days and days writing a six page paper about postmodern noir, and I wish I had thought of this then!

 

[Dr Doran]

The lone dissonant voice?

Hated it.

 

[64tonya]

TBL...Love it, quote it, never tire of it...

Film Noir eh...first thing that comes to mind is Maude...

 

[Feraud]

What a great insight!
I just spent days and days writing a six page paper about postmodern noir, and I wish I had thought of this then!

Did you write anything about Memento in your ppr.?

 

[John in Covina]

The Noir tie in is something I did not pick up on at all, I am glad you took the time to write this!

I think on my part because of giving TBL some sort of equivilance to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" that I would not have seen TBL as noir. In both we see situations spin out of control and the counter culture drug influence, but in FALILV the slackers are the protaganists. Their pursuit of drugs, hedonistic pleasures, the magazine story and making it a Don Quixote quest is what pushes them to create and exaserbate their situations.

 

[Miles Borocky]

If TBL is noir...

...then maybe a great segue between "real noir" and the Coen Bros. film is Robert Altman's take on Chandler's Marlowe in THE LONG GOODBYE (1973). If you look at Altman's interviews, you'll learn that the director's unspoken conceit was that somehow Marlowe--with a historically specific set of beliefs dating back to the 1930s--has somehow awakened into 1970s California and is trying to find his way in that radically different context.

The film uses many noir aesthetic elements but also has that sense of comic refiguration that defines THE BIG LEBOWSKI. Another film that offers a similar sense of juxtaposition between the California of old and the California of the present is THE LATE SHOW (1977). Art Carney's private dick character in that film is like a noir hero who's lived long enough to have to have find his way amidst the comic absurdity of contemporary Los Angeles.

 

[John in Covina]

I watched the 1973 version of "The Long Goodbye" recently and it is an odd film. The juxtaposition of the portrayal of the angst of the times the early 70's is striking against that of Gould's anti-hero detective persona. The charectors, locations, backgrounds, the dog scene in the village square(?)everything just seems unreal in this film.

 

[Spiffy]

...then maybe a great segue between "real noir" and the Coen Bros. film is Robert Altman's take on Chandler's Marlowe in THE LONG GOODBYE (1973). If you look at Altman's interviews, you'll learn that the director's unspoken conceit was that somehow Marlowe--with a historically specific set of beliefs dating back to the 1930s--has somehow awakened into 1970s California and is trying to find his way in that radically different context.

That's what I focused on for my paper.

 

[reetpleat]

Hated it.

Yeah, but you liked the soprano's ending, didn't you. So I guess we will have to agree on our differing tastes

 

[reetpleat]

What a great insight!
I just spent days and days writing a six page paper about postmodern noir, and I wish I had thought of this then!

did you discuss Brick. Noir style telling of a story involving high school kids. Excellent emulation of the format. Not really a spoof of noir as much as a homage that was hilarious in how well they made it all work, without departing the realities of modern high school life.

 

[Dr Doran]

I loved Brick. Just loved it. The balancing act was outrageously perfect.

I'd love to read your paper, Spiffy. If you want to show it to me, that is.

 

[Spiffy]

The Long Goodbye/Noir paper is posted on my blog, if anyone's interested.
*ducks and hides*