Documentary on the Dude on whom 'the Dude' was based

Jeff Feuerzeig offers us a glimpse into what its like to be the dude that the Coen Brothers based "The Dude" in the Big Lebowski on. Far out, man!

Jason Weisberger is Boing Boing's publisher. He often does what he ought, instead of what he should. On instagram and twitter he is @jlw

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=692695819 Grant Bernstein

I know this is a small thing, but it’s the “Coen Brothers”, not “Cohen Brothers”.
- http://boingboing.net/ Jason Weisberger
  
  Fixed. Load balancers will catch up with us shortly.
  - show me
    
    …and it’s Feuerzeig, not Feuerzig.
- http://www.facebook.com/postelwait Cameron Postelwait
  
  that’s like your opinion man.
  - Brainspore
    
    Nice comment. It really ties the thread together.
    - sdmikev
      
      “I just want to understand this, sir. Every time a rug is micturated upon in this fair city, I have to compensate the owner?”
    - Preston Sturges
      
      Hey, careful, man, there’s a beverage here!
http://johnkgoodman.com/ John K Goodman

that was…great! thanks :)

I guess I know what my halloween costume is gonna be this year.
- sdmikev
  
  Smokey, my friend, you are entering a world of pain.
- TheMudshark
  
  Let me tell you something, pendejo. You pull any of your crazy shit with us, you flash a piece out on the lanes, I’ll take it away from you and stick it up your ass and pull the fucking trigger ’til it goes “click.”
http://profiles.google.com/keithdtyler Keith Tyler

Back in March, Jeff Dowd appeared at Seattle Intl. Film Festival’s “Lebowski Quote-Along”, which opened with this mini-doc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66whPceJqe4

While the main feature played, Jeff went off and checked out the after-party bar for us. As we filed out, he was there telling us all where it was, and that it was good.

That’s just the kind of Dude that he is, man.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=521240745 Ryan Griffin

This is wonderful stuff.
skeptacally

I am a proud member of the Church of the Dude: http://dudeism.com/

I’d tell you when I was ordained, but… uh… I kind of forget. And last time I saw my certificate it was under a pinch of BC bud.

Apparently, I can marry people in some States, though I believe that, here in Canada they want to harsh my buzz and not let me do a damned thing.

I will admit this, though. I don’t bowl. The shoes all kind of freak me out, man.
- http://maggiekb.com/ Maggie Koerth-Baker
  
  My dad is not only a Dudist Priest, he also bowls, and has a full head of luxuriant Jeff-Bridges-esque hair.
  - skeptacally
    
    i think we’d all be better off with dads like that.
millie fink

Pretty cool little movie, thanks. I guess that to stay in the spirit of the original (and awesome) film, this one’s makers downplayed this guy’s ongoing commitment to activism and social justice. It describes his early days with the Seattle Seven, but it then portrays him now him as little more than a lazy stoner. Which is fun, I suppose, but not who he really is.

The end credits finally get around to describing this truer version of him, listing first that he continues to fight “racism.” I wonder what he would think of the overwhelming, nearly complete whiteness of the Coen bros movie, and of the crowds who make up Lebowski fest? Funny how it’s just a movie, not a white movie, and those are just festivals, not white festivals. How much longer will white people go on enjoying their occupancy of center stage as the unmarked norm?
- sdmikev
  
  Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature, Asian American, please.
- themac
  
  So what does “white” mean again?
  - Preston Sturges
    
    What the fuck are you talking about? The chinaman 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,,,
- http://jere7my.livejournal.com jere7my
  
  Man, you’re like my wife with Plutarch.
- http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
  
  overwhelming, nearly complete whiteness of the Coen bros movie
  
  Its a white russian, not an asian russian or an african russian.
- wysinwyg
  
  I think your comment has helped me to understand the perspective of political conservatives with respect to race. So thanks for that (I guess).
  - millie fink
    
    That’s interesting. How so? (I’m quite the opposite of a political conservative…)
    - wysinwyg
      
      Don’t worry; it’s quite clear you’re the opposite of a political conservative and I usually I appreciate the perspective you add to BB threads. To answer your question, this particular comment helps me to understand the visceral disdain from conservatives for what is often called “liberal guilt.”
      - millie fink
        
        I see.
        
        Project much?
        
        Whatever dude. I don’t expect many white people to see the value in pointing out the white emperors’ clothes.
      - wysinwyg
        
        Project much?
        
        No.
        
        I don’t expect many white people to see the value in pointing out the white emperors’ clothes.
        
        I see the value of it in issues like housing, employment, negative stereotypes in media, access to education. Trying to make The Big Lebowski and associated subcultures a race issue…not so much.
        
        I’d appreciate if you didn’t imply I was some kind of racist for disagreeing with you on a fairly minor point.
        
        Edit: Nice. I’d have to be a thoughtless person and intoxicated to disagree with you. That’s how you win an argument right there.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        to education. Trying to make The Big Lebowski and associated subcultures a race issue…not so much.
        
        Stripping out the political context of real peoples’ lives or fictional characters is an important tool of oppression by default. Does it bother you that many gay characters got straightened up in films?
      - millie fink
        
        My apologies if you got that implication. I’m all about pointing out racism, not racists. What matters more is racism — racist acts. Though latent racism matters too, for its potential to become action. But even then, I have no interest in labeling most white people “racists.”
        
        I’m not trying to make The Big L and associated subcultures a race issue. They did that themselves, by being about 99% white. When I see crowds like that — especially apparently goodhearted, likely liberal crowds — my inclination is to wonder how that happened. What IS the white thing there, that has brought so many white people together, and that has also left almost all non-white people uninterested in participating? It obviously has something to do with race. So what is that something?
        
        If we talk about movies by black writers and directors with black casts as black movies, what exactly is wrong with talking about movies by white writers and directors with white casts as white movies? I see both, so I try to talk about it, or at least ask about it. Why leave overwhelming whiteness unremarked (at least by white people)?
        
        It’s not a “minor point”; it’s a profound one, once you start thinking about it. Sorry if that harshes your buzz.
- sarahnocal
  
  Like “The Hurt Locker” was just a movie and not a “male” movie? Dude, learn to pick your battles…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=521240745 Ryan Griffin

Or maybe we all can’t be awesome freedom fighters all the time, and the movie was about the weird little things that could hypothetically happen to any old dude at a given moment in his life. Sheesh.
http://nawel.tumblr.com Nawel

would you consider this a “hipster” film? Some stupid kid left this comment on my tumblr when I posted this… about “The Big…” being hipster and stuff. What a jerk.
Anyway, I loved this short film.
- sdmikev
  
  Whoever said that’s not been to any Lebowski Fests. I’ve been to 3; one in Vegas, one in Hollywood and one in Louisville. They are far from hipster.
  On a side note, the latter was in July (forget what year) and holy crap it was hot and humid, man.
- wysinwyg
  
  Yes, it’s a hipster movie. It wasn’t popular in theaters but it became a cult classic among pot-smoking college students. Doesn’t get much more hipster than that.
  
  What I don’t understand is why hipsters take so much umbrage at being called hipsters. Or for that matter why hipsters heap so much scorn on hipsters. Dudes in tight jeans, horn-rim glasses, and wide-gauge earrings tell me how much they hate hipsters; I just don’t get it. I guess maybe because it’s “ironic”?
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Haters gotta something.
- http://whimsicalacious.tumblr.com/ Patrick McGorrill
  
  Haha! I say the dude is a meta-hipster. He was really tuned in to the spirit of the times when the times were more spirited and then he moved on and got tuned in to the spirit of all the times. He’s hip to universal spiritual truths, that is why he abides.
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  if its not football its hipster
- TheMudshark
  
  I´m pretty sure of one thing: The Dude wouldn´t know what a hipster is, in the contemporary sense.
  - sdmikev
    
    In the parlance of our times.
http://redesigned.com redesigned

god i *hate* the vimeo player…playing when it says paused…pausing when it says it is playing…restarting playing by itself even after manually paused…the buffering is crap and jumpy even after caching for over 5min on a high speed connection.

if i didn’t love the dude so much i wouldn’t suffer through….it is enough to make one lose their cool, man.
- http://www.facebook.com/WayneNix Wayne Nix
  
  I agree. I can’t find a youtube version. I couldn’t watch it.
- niktemadur
  
  Dear Vimeo: Everything’s a fucking travesty with you, man!
  - sdmikev
    
    “What the FUCK, has anything got to do with Vietnam?”
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  I like it because I can bookmark thing to play on my roku. Also couch mode.
anharmyenone

I’ll take 1977′s “The Gauntlet” anyday. Ben Shockley has more character in his little finger.
- ashypete
  
  You prefer Gauntlet over this documentary on Jeff Dowd or Big Lebowski? Not that I have a problem with that they are kind of different things compared to the Guantlet. But that said, Clint is just about always great (Gauntlet included in that) but I think he was seriously hampered by Sondra Locke during that period. I don’t think she was always appropriate in the films he cast her in. She was pitch perfect in Death Game though and I think her strident acting style works in Sudden Impact.
flappy

I tried to watch it, but the filmmaker wouldn’t get out of he way.
creesto

How come no one else noticed that the Original Dude is just John Goodman in disguise?
A C

That was awesome. I had no idea, really, that The Dude was a real dude! Seems like a pretty chill guy too, with a history I can respect. Awesome vid, thanks BB!
http://gruffguano.wordpress.com/ Gruff Guano

All time great movie. the whole Coen oeuvre has reached Cult status over here, and ‘The Big Lebowki’ has as much to do with that as the other movies, like ‘O brother where art thou’ and ‘Fargo’, …

Informative thread too, didn’t know there was a Dude Church already. Very amusing. Give it a few hundred years and El Duderino will be as big a prophet as JC. They’ll be seeing him in Taco’s around the world.

All parody aside, … respect for the original His Dudeness though. Protesting an unjust war, in an era where society must have been pretty indoctrinated and overwhelming. And taking it far enough to go to jail for it … And even slapping on a contempt of court as an encore, … that’s true historic greatness right there.
noah django

just leaving this here. anyone who hadn’t yet heard that the Dude was real or that there was a Dude Church seriously needs to check this out also:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/40270058/Two-Gentlemen-of-Lebowski-by-Adam-Bertocci
LogrusZed

Vimeo hasn’t worked for me in ages. Bummer, I really wanted to watch this.