Flick of The Day:The Big Lebowski

It would be hard to argue against the Coen Brothers as the most consistently entertaining and talented film-makers of the last 25 years. They have consistently delivered great cinema across many genres, from their debut with the suspenseful thriller Blood Simple to the gangster epic Millers Crossing, the darkly comic Fargo and their Oscar winning western True Grit. Perhaps their best work, or at least their most quotable and comic picture is 1998's The Big Lebowski. Today's flick of the day, it is a deeply funny comic riff on a Raymond Chandleresque caper.

The Big Lebowski

Jeff Bridges, in a once in a lifetime performance, is Jeff 'The Dude' Lebowski, a layabout bowler and a Creedence Clearwater fan in 1991 Los Angeles. The Dude spends his days bowling and arguing with his two friends, ex-surfer Donny played by Steve Buscemi and Vietnam vet cum psychotic Walter played by the incomparable John Goodman. Arriving home one evening, he walks in on two hoodlums looking to collect a debt owed by a Jeffrey Lewbowski and his trophy wife Bunny to a Jackie Treehorn. One of them decides to urinate on The Dude's rug when the case of mistaken identity becomes apparent. The Dude decides to contact the big Lebowski and get compensation for his soiled rug. He is quickly drawn into a web of double crosses as he seeks to get to the bottom of the disappearance of Bunny Lebowski involving a trio of German nihilists, a pornographer,  a teenage car thief, a private detective, an artist who describes her work as "strongly vaginal" and Dude's crazy friend Walther.

The Dude: And, you know, he's got emotional problems, man. 

Walter Sobchak: You mean... beyond pacifism?

This is a gem of a movie, an absurdist take on the kind of hard boiled detective tales so often set in Los Angeles and penned by the likes of Chandler and Hammet. It has the kind of gleefully bizarre cast of characters that one only encounters in a Coen Brothers picture. Bridges' The Dude is a latter day stoner Philip Marlowe and his interactions with his crazy Vietnam obsesses friend played by Goodman are a highlight of the film. 

Donny: Are these the Nazis, Walter? 

Walter Sobchak: No, Donny, these men are nihilists. There's nothing to be afraid of.

Less of a cogent tale then a series of encounters between The Dude and the oddballs which populate Southern California. In that sense, it is perhaps the most quotable film of all time with so many witty one liners, it is difficult to pick your favourite. Add this to a series of bizarre dream sequences  set to the music of Kenny Rogers and you have a film that really can't be missed.

The Dude: Mr. Treehorn treats objects like women, man. 

Malibu Police Chief: Mr. Treehorn draws a lot of water in this town. You don't draw shit, Lebowski. Now we got a nice, quiet little beach community here, and I aim to keep it nice and quiet. So let me make something plain. I don't like you sucking around, bothering our citizens, Lebowski. I don't like your jerk-off name. I don't like your jerk-off face. I don't like your jerk-off behavior, and I don't like you, jerk-off. Do I make myself clear? 

The Dude: [after a pause] I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. 

A commercial failure on its release in 1998, perhaps because its unstructured tale of idiocy clashed with the kind of crowd attracted to the Coen's work after the roaring success of Fargo. In the years since, it has come to be seen as the true classic it is and indeed has spawned a whole cottage industry of Dude related paraphernalia and even a festival.

Walter Sobchak: Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.

Ultimately, this is the kind of film you either love or hate. You either buy in to the bizarre circumstances and run with it or you don't. It is a brilliant film held together by a fine ensemble cast and with perhaps the best script the Coens have ever written. A real must see.

Da Fino, Private Snoop: I'm a brother shamus! 

The Dude: Brother Seamus? Like an Irish monk? 

Da Fino, Private Snoop: What the fuck are you talking about?

Flick of The Day: Cutter's Way

In contrast to some of the ground breaking films of the 1970s that we have looked at thus far such as Jaws, The French Connection and Blue Collar, the 1980's were very much a step back for the New Hollywood movement. Directors like Friedkin, Coppola and Cimino that had soared so high in the '70s one by one foundered on the rocks of the studio system. Indeed Michael Cimino managed to make a film so stupefyingly dull and expensive that it brought down a whole studio. So it was that the 1980s became a decade of studios playing it safe with a string of sequels and action pictures. There were exceptions of course, and today's film was one of them, Cutter's Way.

Cutter's Way

Set in the Californian community of Santa Barbara, one of America's wealthiest enclaves set between the mountains and the sea, Cutter's Way is a tale of damaged people, murder and despair in the sunshine. Three old friends live together on the margins of this beach community, disaffected and bitter at the fact that they are on the outside. Richard Bone, wonderfully played by Jeff Bridges, is an ageing gigolo gradually coming to the realisation that his looks won't keep him employed forever. Maureen Cutter, an alcoholic who is sticking by her husband Alex despite the fact that he is slowly stripping away her dignity. Alex Cutter, in a career best performance from John Heard, is a crippled Vietnam  vet who wallows in whiskey and self loathing. 

One night while driving home in the rain, Bone's ageing car breaks down in a alleyway. As he sits wondering what to do, a car pulls into the alley and a man gets out, depositing something in a bin before speeding off. As Bone walks home in the rain, we see a women's foot hanging out of the bin. The next morning the police turn up at his door, a young woman has been murdered. Bone relates his tale to the police and is released. He meets up with his friends Alex and Maureen and as Bone tells them the story, a parade passes by. One of the local grandees, JJ Cord is taking part and as he rides by on a horse, Bone suddenly realises that he is the man he saw in the rain. He quickly tells Alex and together they begin to investigate Cord, with Bone a reluctant participant at first. They band together with Valerie, who is the sister of the murdered woman, and plot to blackmail Cord with the intention of turning him in if he pays up. Of course, not all is at it seems, and until the final scene of the film, you are unsure whether Cord is a guilty man or an innocent man being blackmailed.

Alex becomes obsessed with proving that Cord is guilty as much out of bitterness as catching a killer. The film moves slowly toward a thrilling conclusion but it is as much a character study of a group of people who have been damaged by how their lives have turned out and now exist on the margins of society.

"I don't drink. You know, the routine grind drives me to drink. Tragedy, I take straight"

Cutter rages at the world around him often without any real target, Bone is disaffected and seemingly unwilling to commit to anything, preferring to drift. Maureen is perhaps the most beaten down of three, resigned to her fate. All three make interesting studies and are an interesting counterpoint to the go-go 80's characters in other films of this era. It is hard to believe that Gordon Gekko exists in the same decade as these people.

Overall, this is a great film, driven by some very strong performances particularly from John Heard with a fine script. It is worth seeing if only for Heard's performance, though it has a great story which will keep you thinking after the credit's roll. 

Flick of The Day: True Grit

It is the rarest of things, a sequel that is superior to its original. Godfather Part II is the most obvious one to come to mind but then that is the continuation of a tale rather then a new chapter. Today's film is not so much a remake as a re-imagining of the 1969 classic which won John Wayne his solitary Oscar. Ethan & Joel Coen returned to the source material of Charles Portis novel though there are enough similarities to warrant a comparison with the John Wayne version.

The film is narrated by the adult Mattie Ross, as she tells the tale of how her father was murdered by the layabout Tom Chaney and how she set off to seek retribution as her 14 year old self, played by the newcomer and precocious talent Hailee Steinfeld. She hires the meanest marshal in the territories, Reuben J Cogburn and together they fall in with a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf and set off into the wilderness in search of Chaney. Jeff Bridges takes up the role of Cogburn, which John Wayne had made his own and creates his own character out of it. His is more broken down by life and an incurable love of whiskey but retains the honour and toughness which Wayne brought to the role. It is a very fine performance. Special mention must also go to Matt Damon, who far outstrips Glen Campbell's performance in the original. LaBoeuf is arrogant and the quintessential Texan with brash spurs and chaps yet still retains a likeability which counter balances the gruff Cogburn.

Josh Brolin plays the feckless and psychotic Tom Chaney with a menacing idiocy. While all of the main performances are of the highest order, the script is one of the Coens best efforts. It retains some of the levity of the novel while giving the story a grittiness consistent with a modern appraisal of the old west. 

"Rooster Cogburn: We'll sleep here and follow in the morning.
Mattie Ross: But we promised to bury the poor soul inside!
Rooster Cogburn: Ground's too hard. Them men wanted a decent burial, they should have got themselves killed in summer"

The cinematography of Roger Deakins recalls some of the classic Westerns with its grand vistas and harsh lighting of the sparse landscape. The further they venture from society and into the wilderness, the more barren the landscape becomes and Deakins camera captures every inch.

In summary, this is a fine film which stands on its own apart from the original and breathes new life into a great tale, giving it a more fitting ending then the 1969 version. This is not to criticize the original but the ending seems more fitting to that which has come before it. I recommend you see this film, is well worth a trip to the cinema.