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From DavisDVD:

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has just this very minute announced The Big Lebowski: Collector's Edition for release on October 18th. Since it was put up only a short time ago, scant info is available for now. What we can tell you is that it will arrive in separate anamorphic widescreen and fullscreen editions and retail is $19.98. A Gift Set will be available as well for $49.98. Stay tuned for more later in the day.

YES!

Ditto on that! They've been talking about this release for quite sometime. I guess they're serious about maintaining emphasis on their collector's edition line, which is good for everybody. Universal, it's not too late to turn things around and get decent DVDs out!!!!

Oh hell yes! [Insert Due quote of your choice here.]

A gift set for $50. I wonder what's included. Will it be a box shaped like bowling ball bag, or a ringer for a ringer. Will it include the script, you think?

Were you listening to the dude's story? You're like a little child who wonders in... So that's what you call me. That, or his dudeness, or duder, or el duderino, if you're not into the whole brevity thing...

It'll be a bag containing my undies, MY WHITES!

exte wrote:A gift set for $50. I wonder what's included. Will it be a box shaped like bowling ball bag, or a ringer for a ringer. Will it include the script, you think?

When you pick it up, it will say "shut the f&*@ up"!

That's awesome news. This is one of my favorite movies of the 90s and my favorite Coen brothers film.

If any of you picked up the new Casino 10th Anniversary DVD there's a trailer for the new Big Lebowski DVD. Alas, it doesn't say anything about extras. It's funny 'cos they are totally marketing it like a cult film, which, of course, it is.

oldsheperd wrote:It'll be a bag containing my undies, MY WHITES!

thats just, like, your opinion...man.

Shut the F*ck Up, Goddy! Shomer Shabbas!

Perfect timing, as my car was recently stolen, which contained my "business papers" and my copy of The Big Lebowski and when it was recovered, the DVD was missing. My car also stank of piss.

This is what happens when you "have fun with stranger in alps".

Well don't worry Gordon, they got the boys downtown working on it in shifts.

oldsheperd wrote:Well don't worry Gordon, they got the boys downtown working on it in shifts.

he peed on my....fucking rug....man.

Maude Lebowski: What do you do for recreation?
The Dude: Oh, the usual. Bowl, drive around. The occasional acid flashback.



its my favorite coen, equal with barton fink, and the script is without doubt one of the best scripts in any american film, ever.

The use of language and catchphrases in the film is amazing. It could easily be a successful novel. The Dude copying George Bush's, "this aggression" line to Mr. Lebowski is great. Also the Chinaman line is great.
"Dude, I belive Asian-American is the correst nomenclature."
"Fuck, Walter, these aren't like the guys who built the railroads."

I love how Jeff Bridges says certain lines... like the famous retort, "Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man." Those pregnant pauses between certain words gets me every time.

Definitely my fave Coen bros film of all time (followed closely by Miller's Crossing... "What's the rumpus?").

I'm not surprised that our own Fletch F. Fletch is a fan of this film, as it is a great addition to detective-comedy sub-genre, along with Altman's, The Long Goodbye - "Who's in there? J. Edgar Hoover in there?". In fact, all films have great one-liners/catchphrases. Almost every Chevy line in Fletch is gold: I quote from that film frequently, to the amusement/bewilderment of others. The Fletch DVD went OOP last year, so maybe a SE for it, too is in the works. Paramount's transfer of Michael Ritchie's Prime Cut is excellent, btw; he was a damn good craftsman of odd stories.

The Dude and Walter, obviously aren't private detectives, but they act like it and the film is generally a pastiche of detective films. I have always found it interesting that the film, although being from 1998, is set in 1988/89, but the gags about Bush 1.0 are neat.

I really hope that we get a Bridges-Goodman commentary, which would be a riot, I'm sure.

Gordon McMurphy wrote:.

The Dude and Walter, obviously aren't private detectives, but they act like it and the film is generally a pastiche of detective films. I have always found it interesting that the film, although being from 1998, is set in 1988/89, but the gags about Bush 1.0 are neat.

I love that about this movie, its a total send up of the pulp/detective genre but done in such a clever way as to be almost unrecognizable as such on a first viewing. It completely turns the genre's conventions upside down, the Dude could not be any less Philip Marlowe. The way that its very episodic as the Dude's "investigation" brings him in contact with a variety of unusual people that are all none-the-less connected to the larger mystery. Maude Lebowski makes an unlikely "femme fatal" entering the story with her own agenda and unclear intentions. Even the "big" Lebowski being confined to his wheel chair in his cavernous mansion with a young trophy wife who is known to galavant around town is reminiscent of the wheel chair bound old man from Chandlers "The Big Sleep" who's daughter is something of a hellion. We even get a POV shot of the Dude as he slips into unconsciousness. I just regret that I discovered this film when it went to cable and not when it first hit the theaters.

I thought it was set in 90 or 91, because of the brief mentions of Hussein.

I thought it was set in 90 or 91, because of the brief mentions of Hussein.

The camel-fucker in Iraq?

If it is '91, then that is even stranger, as it doesn't really serve a purpose. Other than a means to take the piss out of Bush 1.0, of course. The Coens should do a sequel to this film, for sure. Great characters.

hmm, does this mean more Coen Brothers reissues?
Universal double dip.....

Gordon McMurphy wrote:If it is '91, then that is even stranger, as it doesn't really serve a purpose. Other than a means to take the piss out of Bush 1.0, of course.

I don't really know if it's stranger because it's set in '91. As the narration conveys at the beginning, the Dude is the man that represents the times he lives in, which in this case would be the early 90s when the "slacker" culture was developing. In fact, almost every character represents a certain era in recent history. Donny reflects the innocence of the 50s/60s, Vietnam-obsessed Walter is stuck in the 60s/70s, Jeffrey "The Big" Lebowski seems to be a representation of the Reagan-era, yuppie-controlled 80s (and if he isn't, then Brandt certainly is). You even have Sam Elliot's Stranger representing America's pioneer days. In essence, the entire movie, through the inclusion of these characters, reflects what the 90s turned out to be - a post-modern mix of every era that came before it. The 90s started with the remains of the 80s yuppie-era, there was a brief nostalgic longing for Norman Rockwell lifestyles, then began an obsession with hippy culture and fashion, then it progressed to embrace some characteristics of the 70s.

We're talking about unchecked aggression here, Dude...The Chinamen is not the issue here, Dude! I'm talking about drawing a line in the sand, Dude! Across this line, you do not!... Also, Dude, "Chinamen" is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please... Plus, he has the wealth, obviously, and the resources, so that there's no reason - there's no FUCKING reason - why his wife should go out and owe money all over town, and then they come and they pee on your FUCKING RUG! Am I wrong? AM I WRONG!?! .... That rug really tied the room together, did it not?

There's also the classic "he fixes the cable" line.

Actually, my favorite funny moment in the film doesn't even involve dialogue. It's when the entire detective investigation is really made light of, when the Dude believes he's being really ingenious by shading in the note pad that Jackie Treehorn had written on during his telephone conversation, and it turns out to be nothing more than a pornographic cartoon doodle. That one kills me every single time, just because of the puzzled look on Bridges's face after he figures out what's actually on the notepad.

I nearly passed out laughing when Donnie's remains get blown in The Dude's face and he gets indignant at Walter's rant about Vietnam.

"God damn you Walter! You fuckin' asshole! Everything's a fuckin' travesty with you, man! And what was all that shit about Vietnam? What the FUCK has anything got to do with Vietnam? What the fuck are you talking about?"

So long as the a/v quality is improved, i'm all over this SE.

That's just it. I saw this the other week on a nice plasma, and the video quality was amazing. It blew my mind since there's the full screen version on the same side of the disc. Fucking a, man... You're killing your father Larry.

That gift set will really tie the whole room together.