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Bartender: "What are you drinking?"
Dude: "A caucasian"

"Barkeep, two oat sodas"...

Can you tell I've watched the film more than a few times?

Hey, there's a beverage here!!

"careful man, there's a beverage here!"

G4
is showing it again on friday 4/20

along with some other enlightened programing.:cool:

"Donny, you're out of your element"

Now I've got to go make myself a White Russian!

My all-time favorite movie.

"Dude, she kidnapped herself, she owes money all over town!"

Walter, what the fuch does this have to do with Vietnam?

Im Sick, I know...

austin552,

Thank you for those, i must be sick too!!! Hey, at least I'm not a nihilist!

i can't believe i just watched all of those

Very, very funny! bugs Bunny was my favorite!

That Tarakan video was hilarious!

That character signifies a great deal of what is wrong with our society.
Idolizing a lazy, good for nothing bum who lives off other people is sickening.
That character is not cool, it is not funny, it is not a role model.

I never thought of the "dude" as a role model or a "positive" character, just a typical Coen brothers character, unbelieveable and funny. The dialog in the movie is what appeals to me, it's almost poetic and I find humor in it. I guess you either "get it" or you don't. Frankly, there are many movies that others like that I "don't get", like Pulp Fiction, Road to Perdition, anything with Steve McQueen, etc...

Of course he's not a role model. It's called satire. The movie is meant to be enjoyed on many levels. That's why it works. First, the idea of real people living like that and getting involved in those situations is kind of funny. The story alone is kind of funny, if not real original, in that the kidnap/cross/double-cross plot twists were fresh but not the first time the story has been told. And it's a commentary on our society that the characters and situations are almost realistic enough that they don't seem outlandish. Then there's the little bit of us that envy people who can live like the dude and seem to have so few possessions and so few cares. The dialog sparkles with equal parts wit and off the wall craziness.

But ultimately the movie is about (to the extent that it is about anything) how all of us are like The Dude in our own way- suffering under delusions that we are more important than we are, engaging in conceits no more valid than affecting a nickname like "The Dude" or The Big Lebowski," engaging in life pursuits that are ultimately futile and senseless, and being tossed on tides of humanity that are both comic and tragic at the same time.

When we make fun of The Dude we poke fun at ourselves, when we sympathize with him we are hoping that others will cut us the slack that The Dude asked for in the movie.

Role model or not, "the dude" was based on a real person - Jeff Dowd.

There probably isn't more than 2 degrees of separation between Dowd and anyone who grew up in Seattle.