The Big Lebowski

Deliberate mistake: When we are introduced to Jesus, during his slow motion roll, the camera cuts to the ball hitting the pins and then back to Jesus doing a celebratory dance. For some un-known reason, the film of the ball hitting a strike is actually back to front (see the posters above the lane are in mirror image to what they should be). Given that a bowling lane is perfectly symmetrical, if anyone's got an explanation, I'd love to hear it... [Jesus bowls with his right hand. If the scene was played the correct way, you would realize the shot of the ball rolling was done by a LEFT HANDED bowler...so obviously rather than re-shoot the scene with a right-handed bowler they reversed the shot. Voila. Still a mistake but there's why.] (00:25:26)

Continuity mistake: When the Dude first looks at the Nihilist in the pool the liquor bottle is way off to the side. In the next shot a few seconds later, (the close up) it is tucked right under his arm. (00:15:30)

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

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Trivia: This isn't really a mistake, just something to note - throughout the whole movie the Dude is not seen bowling once. Also, every time you see Donnie (Steve Buscemi) bowl, he gets a strike, except for the last bowling scene, he does not get a strike, and he dies of a heart attack a few minutes after this.

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Question: What did Walter mean by, "You're killing your father, Larry!"?

Answer: Generally, he means that the boy, Larry Sellers, is disgracing his family (Walter has huge respect for the boy's dad, but considers the kid a dunce). Specifically, Walter is blaming Larry for his father struggling to breathe; that's Larry's dad in an iron lung in the background. Walter and The Dude become louder, more insistent and more vulgar, but the kid still blankly refuses to answer, and all you can hear is the iron lung pumping in the background. Frustrated because the kid isn't intimidated, Walter lashes out: "You're killing your father, Larry!"

Charles Austin Miller

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