Continuity mistake: When the Dude is in Jackie Treehorn's estate, he pencils over a pad of paper to see what Jackie wrote down while he was on the phone. He then hurriedly crumples up the piece of paper and shoves it in his wallet. Then, when we see the Chief of Police of Malibu looking through the contents of The Dude's wallet, the paper is there, neatly folded in fourths.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Directed by: Joel Coen
Starring: John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro, Tara Reid, Peter Stormare
Continuity mistake: In the opening credits when a very large bowler attempts a 7-10 split, the ball he releases changes color when it is shown picking up the spare.
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)
Trivia: At the beginning of the movie, when The Dude is writing a check for the cream at the grocery, look at the date on the check. Sept 11, 1991. A few seconds later we see George Bush Sr. talking about Iraq. So here we have a scene containing Sept. 11th, George Bush and references to the Middle East in a movie that takes place in 1991. (00:03:00)
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.
Trivia: A majority of the clothes The Dude wears are Jeff Bridges' own.
Goon: What the fuck is this?
[Picks up a bowling ball hesitatingly.]
The Dude: Obviously you're not a golfer.
Walter Sobchak: Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.
Walter Sobchak: Shut the fuck up, Donny.
Question: At the very end of the scene in which Walter and the Dude are spreading Donnie's ashes at the coast, a dark and unidentifiable figure appears for a few seconds in the upper right screen, apparently hiking a trail along the cliff. Was this an accidental walk-on by an actual hiker, or was it written into the script? With all the star-power in this film, I thought every bit of background action was supposed to be meticulously crafted.
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!"
Question: What role does Paris Themmen play in this movie? (IMDB.com only lists him as "uncredited".).
Answer: Themmen plays a background bowler in pretty much all of the bowling scenes. I don't know if this is necessarily worth a credit, but I guess his agent disagrees with me.
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Chosen answer: There's no way of knowing. If the hiker was that far away, it could have been someone who happened to stray into the scene by accident. The filmmakers may or may not have noticed, but if they did, may have felt it added to the realism. I did this myself during the filming of a street scene for the TV show, "Northern Exposure." Filming was underway before I realised I was in the midst of it. I just kept walking like I was supposed to be there.
raywest ★