Product Details

• Actors: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, Peter Stormare
• Directors: Joel Coen
• Writers: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
• Producers: Ethan Coen
• Format: Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Gramercy Pictures
• DVD Release Date: October 18, 2005
• Run Time: 119 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,055 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000A7DVR2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,913 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Big Lebowski (Widescreen Collector's Edition)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

After the tight plotting and quirky intensity of Fargo, this casually amusing follow-up from the prolifically inventive Coen (Ethan and Joel) brothers seems like a bit of a lark, and the result was a box-office disappointment. The good news is, The Big Lebowski is every bit a Coen movie, and its lazy plot is part of its laidback charm. After all, how many movies can claim as their hero a pot-bellied, pot-smoking loser named Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) who spends most of his time bowling and getting stoned? And where else could you find a hairnetted Latino bowler named Jesus (John Turturro) who sports dazzling purple footgear, or an erotic artist (Julianne Moore) whose creativity consists of covering her naked body in paint, flying through the air in a leather harness, and splatting herself against a giant canvas? Who else but the Coens would think of showing you a camera view from inside the holes of a bowling ball, or an elaborate Busby Berkely-styled musical dream sequence involving a Viking goddess and giant bowling pins? The plot--which finds Lebowski involved in a kidnapping scheme after he's mistaken for a rich guy with the same name--is almost beside the point. What counts here is a steady cascade of hilarious dialogue, great work from Coen regulars John Goodman and Steve Buscemi, and the kind of cinematic ingenuity that puts the Coens in a class all their own. Be sure to watch with snacks in hand, because The Big Lebowski might give you a giddy case of the munchies. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Widescreen Collector's Edition. Jeff ''The Dude'' Lebowski (Bridges) is the victim of mistaken identity. Thugs break into his apartment in the errant belief that they are accosting Jeff Lebowski, the eccentric millionaire philanthropist, not the laid-back, unemployed Jeff Lebowski. In the aftermath, The Dude seeks restitution from his wealthy namesake. He and his buddies (Goodman and Buscemi) are swept up in a kidnapping plot that quickly spins out of control. Cast: John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Peter Stormare, David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Flea, Leon Russom, Sam Elliott, Tara Reid, David Thewlis, Ben Gazzara. Directed by the Coen Brothers.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

585 of 688 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars I'm rating the bowling ball special edition DVD, NOT the movie! September 10, 2008

By M. Fulkerson VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

The Big Lebowski is on my top ten list of all time best films. I've seen A LOT of films by the way. I don't need to explain to anyone why this movie is so brilliant, and why it continues to be a cultural phenomenon. I mention these things first because I don't want people to feel like I'm giving the film one star. If I could I would give the movie 100 stars. What I'm giving such a poor review for is my distaste for movie studios pumping out special editon dvd's every few years because they know a film has a huge following. This new "bowling ball" edition of Lebowski is further proof that Universal has nothing but contempt for the fans of Big Lebowski. They wrap it up in a nice big package and make it look slick, but that's as far as the creativity goes into supplying anything new in terms of extras. Does anyone remember the terrible repackage they gave it a few years ago with a towel and coasters? No actual extras existed, but they still put it out as a revamped "deluxe edition". Well, don't expect much more here.
The only new extras to this edition are four very brief featurettes. They feature new interviews with all of the major players (with the exception of the Coen brothers, of course), but they mostly just sit around and say stuff like, "It's a great film! It's hilarious! Coen Brothers are geniuses!". Err, yeah, we know all of that. It also has a featurette that centers around the Lebowski Fest which is vaguely interesting for a few minutes until it turns into the same old "Lebowski is great!" territory. The featurettes are a snooze fest to say the least.
What really annoyed me with this DVD, though, is that they included the SAME "Making of Big Lebowski" documentary that has been on every release of this film!... Not only that, it looks as if it was recorded from an old VHS tape and plastered onto a full screen format. It looks horrible, and what's more, we've all seen it before! How many times is Universal going to pump out the same damn extras to the same audience?? It's an insult to be charged more and more money for the same mediocre extras that were never that good to begin with. Luckily I was able to rent this and didn't actually buy it! "The Big Lebowski" will NEVER have proper extras until the people who created it (the Coen Brothers) are involved. We want a commentary, a full length documentary with in-depth interviews, and deleted scenes (and plenty of them!).
DON'T BUY THIS EDITION. It's junk! Simply keep the edition you already have (the very first edition) safely knowing that you are not missing anything with any other edition! Read more ›

185 of 228 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not buy this if you already own the previous DVD release October 18, 2005

By David

Format:DVD

Picture and sound quality is a bit improved, but other than that you are spending money on the exact same DVD. Usually, when a "Collector's Edition" is released, especially after a movie gains such a huge cult following like Lebowski has, people actually go through the effort of including cast commentaries, more bonus features, and...well, more than just repackaging the old DVD with a new name, a new cover, and a higher retail price.

Shame on Universal and Focus Features.

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of those change-your-life movies February 26, 2006

By Jason A. Miller VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

"The Big Lebowski" is just perfect. Everything about this movie is a laugh riot, even the bits of dialogue that aren't punchlines. The cast is perfect, the writing is perfect... this movie has both Julianne Moore and Flea in it, what other movies can you say that about? Well, there was the Gus Van Sant "Psycho" remake, but that doesn't count. I found this movie by accident and I haven't let go of it since. I may not be a stoner but I will say I've found more happiness since I embraced my inner Dude.

Every time I go back to "Lebowski" I come away with something new that wasn't there before. Like the realization, this time around, that Jeff Bridges is not seen to throw a single bowling ball in the entire movie. And that Steve Buscemi's character rolls a strike every time we see him... except for the very final scene, for reasons that become clear a few moments later.

The rest of the cast is just superb. Remember Philip Seymour Hoffman as an unctuous PR man? I'd forgotten about that. Jon Polito (late of "Homicide") shows up as a P.I. in a familiar-looking purple VW bug. Even Aimee Mann is in one scene, speaking German. Oh, and Tara Reid, before her career completely and utterly collapsed. Top supporting honors go to Sam Elliott, who according to the DVD documentary wasn't even sure what he was doing in the movie, but his opening narration gets funnier every time out ("And in English, too!").

Another great thing is the dialogue. You'd think the whole movie was done by improv, the way the dialogue is so natural. Every character has their own particular jargon, and just like in real life, people keep repeating phrases they've heard elsewhere.... Jeff Bridges can't seem to finish a sentence, and neither can Steve Buscemi, although that's because John Goodman won't let him. George Bush gets quoted a lot ("This aggression will not stand, man").

Finally, I love the totally unglamorous portrayal of L.A. and Hollywood, limited to tiny theaters, a seedy bowling alley, a weapons store in the barrio, and the In 'n Out Burger (on Camrose). The actor and artist type characters who show up are all obnoxious or pathetic, particularly David Thewlis's "video artist", and the chubby dancer/landlord who forgoes collecting rent from the Dude so long as the Dude shows up for his performances. Not to mention Karl Hungus and the great Ben Gazarra cameo.

But in the end, Jeff Bridges is the glue holding this movie together... and John Goodman... and John Turturro... and... and... aah! Lost my train of thought here. But... ah, [...], I've done introduced 'em enough. Read more ›

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Coens And 'California Crazy'! July 29, 2003

By Barron Laycock HALL OF FAME

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

In what has to be the most brilliantly disjointed and anarchic look at the alienation, apathetic stupor, and pedestrian self-absorption of the pathetic Southern California lifestyle ever filmed, the two Coen brothers (`Fargo') produced and directed this near `cult' film to explore the plethora of cultural cop-outs parading as lifestyles in this zany yet affectionate look at a totally burned out and yet eminently likeable basket case by the name of Jeff Lebowski, who is played masterfully by Jeff Bridges, in yet another of his consistently underestimated character portrayals. Lebowski prefers to go by his street name of "Dude", and seems to be the ultimate California case of a one-time fairly intelligent `n'er-do-well' now perpetually down on his luck and reduced to only occasional flashes of clarity and full functioning after way too many years of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and then some more drugs tossed in on the side.

The Coens' penchant for offbeat characters is having a field day here, with everyone in the cast allowed to vent in a kind of wacko 'Disneyland on the strip' approach to making the endless days of gorgeous LA sunshine pass, as our protagonist finds trouble in the promised land. Particularly memorable here is John Goodman weighing in as the paranoid and unpredictably violent Walter Sobchak, the `Dude's' best friend and perpetual bowling partner.... The holy ceremony of bowling and the seriousness that it plays in the lives of the several losers like the Dude, Sobchak, and the preening eccentric Jesus Quintana (a wonderfully over-the-top John Turturro) and the rest of the motley crew on the Dude's team provides a kind of key that unlocks the mystery of their uniformly alienated, pointless, and directionless lives, as each tumbles from crisis to crisis, and with each attempt that Dude makes to cope with the circumstances that mysteriously start to swirl around his drug addled self-absorption and wake him into a groggy yet sober recognition that something very serious and potentially deadly is going on around him, he is repeatedly sabotaged and blind-sided by the myopic and near-psychotic antics of his friends.

Dude seems to approach crisis management as an exercise in spin control, and tries, sometimes quite ingeniously, to talk his way out of the staccato violence that punctuates his days with increasingly urgent frequency. But as the mystery deepens and Lebowski is sucked farther into the quicksand of coincidences, mistaken identities, and sheer madness that lurks just beneath the cover of these friendly skies, we are introduced to the powers and the principalities that are driving the madcap antics and the increasing shrill intensities of everyone but the Dude. The plot often seems disjointed, yet in a macabre way that seems to shout that not only is truth sometimes stranger than fiction, it is sometimes absolutely insane. Yet it eventually resolves itself into a semi-rational resemblance to plausible reality, or at least almost. And one walks way from the outstanding ensemble cast's performance thinking that something magic and allegorical has happened here, and it is perhaps exactly the insanity of the proceeding activity that is the point. They are indeed, every last one of them, just California crazy! This is a wild roller coaster of a film experience, but one absolutely worth the taking. Buckle up, kids, you're in for a bumpy ride! Enjoy! Read more ›