“Over the line!” This is what the Lebowski faithful kept yelling when someone’s foot crossed the foul line when bowling at the sixth annual Lebowski Fest on October 13th at Cal Bowl in Long Beach. It was like music to my ears.
You might be wondering, what is Lebowski Fest? Simply put, it is a festival where fans gather together to celebrate the Coen Brothers’ 1998 “bowling noir” film “The Big Lebowski,” starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro and Julianne Moore. With guest appearances by Jeff “the Dude” Dowd (the inspiration for Jeff Bridges’ character in the film) and an actor who played a small role in the film, I knew this would definitely be worth my $25.
I could tell from the get-go at 8 p.m. that there were a lot of new fans, but there were also a lot of hardcore fans who dressed up for the costume contest. The first few hours consisted of settling in: in other words, drinking White Russians (the Dude’s favorite drink in the film), buying merchandise, sharing trivia, mingling with the Dude and, of course, unlimited bowling.
Thanks to my malfunctioning bowling lane, I wandered the alley. During this time, I had a chance to speak to Liam O’Brien, the funny and chubby but avid real-life bowler who played the bowling partner of Jesus Quntana (Turturro’s character).
O’Brien said he got the part by sending some bowling photos of himself to the producers just for kicks, not expecting a call. But out of the blue, the Coens called him back and “now I’m here,” he said with a chuckle. As a result of his lucky break, O’Brien has attended the last three Lebowski Fests in L.A. and Louisville, Ky.
It was a little after 10 p.m. when things really got going. The curly-haired and purple-jacketed Dowd came out of nowhere to the delight of fans as he broke into his annual homecoming speech in which he blathered statements like, “It’s all about friends, man” and “We must break through these walls of awkwardness.” Dowd then stumbled up and down the alley with an entourage following him around, asking him questions, trying to get him to sign autographs and buying him even more drinks.
The costume contest followed in which everyone gathered in the center of the alley and the top ten costumes were called up on stage. Costumes were based on characters, quotes and important inanimate objects. The loudness of the fans’ applause determined the winner.
The most creative costume had to have been the group dressed as The Eagles, which the Dude hated with a passion in the film. Dowd then posed for a photo shot with the winners, his favorite being the Maudes (a group of women dressed as Maude, Moore’s character), whom he started kissing left and right on stage to everyone’s delight.
It was getting late and people started to leave, but I had one last thing on my mind: I needed a picture with Dowd before he passed out. I tried to talk to him, but he ignored me as he went with a few fans to smoke who knows what outside. He came back a few minutes later with shades on and went to the bathroom as fans followed him in.
When he came out, I got him to sign my poster. While signing, he looked bleary-eyed at the food attendant and asked for a taco. As he waited, he took a picture with me and a couple of friends, and, forgetting about his taco, continued on his journey oblivious to his surroundings.
It was a fairy-tale ending to a fairy-tale night that happens once a year when dreams of the devoted Lebowski nation come true. Barring a Dowd liver failure, I hope to see him and others at next years Lebowski Fest.
