Jeff Bridges Pins and Buttons
Description: In 1991, slacker and avid bowler Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski is attacked in his Los Angeles home by two enforcers for porn kingpin Jackie Treehorn, to whom a different Jeffrey Lebowski's wife owes money. One enforcer urinates on the Dude's rug before the two realize that they have the wrong man and leave. Consulting his bowling partners, Vietnam veteran Walter Sobchak and fall guy Donny Kerabatsos, the Dude visits wealthy philanthropist Jeffrey Lebowski, requesting compensation for the rug. Lebowski refuses, but the Dude tricks his assistant Brandt into letting him take a similar rug from the mansion. Outside, he meets Bunny, Lebowski's trophy wife, and her German nihilist friend Uli.
Description: The Dude is mostly inspired by Jeff Dowd, an American film producer and political activist the Coen brothers met while they were trying to find distribution for their first feature, Blood Simple. Dowd had been a member of the Seattle Seven, liked to drink white Russians, and was known as "The Dude". The Dude was also partly based on a friend of the Coen brothers, Peter Exline, a Vietnam War veteran who reportedly lived in a dump of an apartment and was proud of a little rug that "tied the room together".
