The Dude Abides These ‘The Big Lebowski’ Tattoos

For decades, we’ve accepted The Academy Awards as the end-all-be-all of a film’s greatness. When a film wins the Oscar, it gets elevated to premier status. If it comes short, or doesn’t even get nominated, there is a certain class of person who completely dismisses the merits of the film. 

It’s time to change this. It’s time to recognize those films that may have been overlooked at the time of their release but have shown over the years to be infinitely quotable, enduringly entertaining and never out of favor. Today we celebrate the finest film to ever be created—”The Big Lebowski.” 

All the Dude ever wanted was his rug back, but instead, he got lured into one of the most outlandish schemes to ever appear on screen. There are lots of ins, lots of outs and lots of what-have-yous, but this movie really is the Coen Brothers’ masterpiece. I know that may sound like a crazy thing to say given the existence of “Fargo” and “No Country For Old Men,” but there’s something truly special about this oddball noir-ish tale set in Los Angeles right around the time of our conflict with Saddam that just sticks with people. 

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me, watching “The Big Lebowski” has become a Christmas Eve tradition in my family. Instead of sipping eggnog and reading “The Night Before Christmas,” we make up a couple of Caucasians (OK, more than a couple) and watch as Walter, The Dude and Donny try to make their way through the Round Robin and into the finals. We know damn near every word by heart, and even though we know how things end, we still hold out hope for the Creedence. 

When you get a look at the gallery below, you’ll see that there are a nearly infinite number of “The Big Lebowski” tattoos out there. Although, for some reason, we couldn’t find any tattoos of the Dude’s landlord performing his dance moderne, you know, his cycle. We’d really love to see one and give it some notes.