Fridge examples for The Big Lebowski.
Fridge Brilliance
- Walter continuing to practice Judaism in spite of divorcing the woman he converted for makes sense considering that converting to Judaism is a notoriously difficult process that requires a lot of work and study (and sometimes even male circumcision). Someone going through that process would likely not simply dispose of it all so easily.
- The Treehorn thugs swap clothes with each other between appearances.
- Walter smashes a car screaming that this is what it's like to fuck a stranger in the ass. At the end of the scene, it's revealed that the car belongs to a completely unrelated man, so Walter really was abusing a stranger.
- Walter ends up solving the "mystery" in his first scene.
- The Dude is constantly repeating idioms he heard earlier, such as "a line in the sand" and "coitus."
- Saddam Hussein working the shoe counter is a callback to the news report in the opening scene.
- It appears that the Dude is smoking the same joint throughout the entire movie, to the point in one of the last scenes he can barely get his lips around the end and swallows some ash, leading to his coughing fit.
- Walter goes through the movie exploding at every little slight, real or imagined, but when he's threatened, he's always cold and calm. When Jesus first taunts him, Walter even mutters "Eight-year-olds, Dude," reminding the Dude not to lose his temper at such filth. The second time, Walter just mutters, "He's cracking." When the Nihilists square off against him, it's Walter who snaps into action while his friends panic. Given Walter's status as a war veteran with likely PTSD, this makes a lot of sense.
- The song that is playing when the Dude reveals his distaste for The Eagles is "Life in the Fast Lane", a place where the Dude steers well clear of living.
- The music that introduces Jesus Quintana is a Latin cover version of "Hotel California" by The Eagles. It's later revealed that the Dude "hates the fucking Eagles!"
- Right before Donny dies of a heart attack, he misses his only strike in the movie and looks shocked. When he returns to his seat, he is shaking his hand around. One of the symptoms of an oncoming heart attack is numb arm (though it's usually the left arm).
- In addition, Walter spends the entire moving bullying Donny, keeping him out of the loop over everything that is going on. Near the end of the movie, when Donny does get caught up in everything that is happening, Walter finally starts acting a hell of a lot nicer to him. It strengthens the idea that Walter legitimately believed that Donny was out of his element.
- While Donny was apparently going through the stages of a heart attack, being threatened by the nihilists spooked him to the point that it became critical. At rude as he was about it, Walter may have been correct that Donny was not a person who should be dealing with criminals.
- Every time Donny appears, his bowling shirt always has someone else's name written on it. The shirt he's wearing when he dies after meeting the nihilists, says Johnson. So in a way, the nihilists truly did cut off the Dude's Johnson.
- In the very beginning of the film the Cowboy mentions how The Dude is the kind of guy who belongs where he is, as a man of his time. This is ironic given that the hippy dropout Dude (with a Vietnam war vet buddy, no less) is clearly a artifact of the 1960s. And this is coming from a "Cowboy" who couldn't be more out of place in 1990s Los Angeles.
- Walter is wearing his wedding ring on the chain with his dogtags throughout the movie. He keeps his past close to his heart at all times.
- The Big Lebowski's home is covered in statues of women rendered in metal. On one level, he has an extensive collection of trophy wives, just like Bunny. On another level, he has accumulated a collection of women he has control and ownership over, as opposed to the women he spends his days being controlled and defied by.
- The two Creedence Clearwater Revival songs that are in the movie, "Lookin' Out My Back Door" and "Run Through The Jungle," were both originally from the same album. This is significant because both songs were playing on the Dude's car stereo - so the "Creedence tape" is evidently either a copy of Cosmo's Factory or the Greatest Hits Album Chronicle.
- The Big Lebowski's staunch refusal to pay for the Dude's rug makes more sense when you find out that he secretly has no control over his own finances. His rants at the Dude about being a deadbeat and a bum in this scene become ironic considering that he is himself someone who contributes nothing to society by his own merits.
- The Big Lebowski and the Dude sharing a name is part of the reason the Big Lebowski embroils the Dude in his schemes. Everyone outside their immediate circles either confuses the two or only really knows one or the other; all official documents by police would have confusing records for this reason. The Dude also told the Big Lebowski that Jackie Treehorn's idiotic henchmen have already shown this problem, and as Jackie Treehorn is more of a threat, confusing the henchmen further is protection. The two men having the same name helps the Big Lebowski get away with it all.
- The Dude's "well, yeah" response to the Big Lebowski calling him a loser actually is a lot more significant and dignified then one might think: Dude may not be a success but he's perfectly okay with that. He doesn't put on airs, feel ashamed, or try to pretend to be something he's not. He is at peace with what he is. The Big Lebowski, meanwhile, feels the need to gloat about his fake success, proving how insecure and pathetic he feels after accomplishing nothing with his life.
- Maude is also like Dude in a way: she acts like a pretentious goofball most of the time, but she's at peace with who she is and what she wants out of life.
- Maude is also an interesting foil to the Big Lebowski: Maude has a weird hipster-like pretension that makes it hard to take her seriously, while The Big Lebowski puts on a more serious and stern air. One would expect Maude to the be spoiled heir to a family fortune, with her unconventional worldview and taste in art while the Big Lebowski is the mighty head of the family, but it's the reverse: Maude is a hardworking family matriarch while the Big Lebowski is the spoiled kid.
- After the Dude and Walter argue over whether or not Walter is really Jewish, Walter sullenly mutters "I'm Jewish as fuckin' Tevye." Tevye is Jewish, but is also a fictional character. In other words, if Walter is as Jewish as Tevye, then he's not a "real" Jewish person.
- At first, The Dude's throwaway line about how Jackie Treehorn "treats objects like women" seems like a mistake, especially since he's still coming off of a Mushroom Samba. However, it's actually a callback to earlier, when Treehorn expressed an interest in electronics as the future of porn.
- The Jesus is supposedly a top bowler, but watch when he actually throws a ball. He bowls it straight in, the way a casual or amateur bowler does. A pro or league player would put a spin on the ball so it would hit the pins at an angle. Earlier on, if you listen carefully, you'll hear Walter remark that The Jesus and his partner are "pushovers." The Jesus isn't some legendary bowler; he's a hack who has just gotten lucky.
