Film Night in the Park 2010: “The Big Lebowski” | Mission

Submitted by the Event Organizer

The Coen brothers’ “The Big Lebowski” is a genial, shambling comedy about a human train wreck, and should come with a warning like the one Mark Twain attached to “Huckleberry Finn”: “Persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” It’s about a man named Jeff Lebowski, who calls himself the Dude, and is described by the narrator as “the laziest man in Los Angeles County.” He lives only to go bowling, but is mistaken for a millionaire named the Big Lebowski, with dire consequences.

This is the first movie by Joel and Ethan Coen since “Fargo.” Few movies could equal that one, and this one doesn’t–but it’s weirdly engaging, like its hero. The Dude is played by Jeff Bridges with a goatee, a potbelly, a ponytail and a pair of Bermuda shorts so large they may have been borrowed from his best friend and bowling teammate, Walter Sobchak (John Goodman). Their other teammate is Donny (Steve Buscemi), who may not be very bright, but it’s hard be sure since he never is allowed to complete a sentence.

Everybody knows somebody like the Dude–and so, rumor has it, do the Coen brothers. They based the character on a movie producer and distributor named Jeff Dowd, a familiar figure at film festivals, who is tall, large, shaggy and aboil with enthusiasm. Dowd is much more successful than Lebowski (he has played an important role in the Coens’ careers as indie filmmakers), but no less a creature of the moment. Both dudes depend on improvisation and inspiration much more than organization.

In spirit, “The Big Lebowski” resembles the Coens’ “Raising Arizona,” with its large cast of peculiar characters and its strangely wonderful dialogue. Here, in a film set at the time of the Gulf War, are characters whose speech was shaped by earlier times: Vietnam (Walter), the flower power era (the Dude) and “Twilight Zone” (Donny). Their very notion of reality may be shaped by the limited ways they have to describe it. One of the pleasures of “Fargo” was the way the Coens listened carefully to how their characters spoke. Here, too, note that when the In & Out Burger shop is suggested for a rendezvous, the Dude supplies its address: That’s the sort of precise information he would possess.

Saturday September 25, 2010 – 8pm/Dusk
Dolores Park, Dolores and 19th
FREE

Films are free of charge in beautiful park settings and projected on a giant outdoor screen. Films-goers are encouraged to arrive early, spread out a blanket and picnic prior to the screening, but discouraged from bringing chairs.

Every summer Film Night in the Park puts on free outdoor movies in parks throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area. 2010 screenings run from May 21st to September 25th with showtimes starting at dusk or 8pm, whichever is later.

2010 Film Night in the Park Outdoor Film Series
San Francisco
All shows begin at 8pm or Dusk, Schedule Subject to Change
http://www.sfntf.org/

Saturday, 6/19, Dolores Park, GREASE SING-A-LONG (1978)
Saturday, 7/10, Union Square, DIRTY DANCING (1988)
Saturday, 8/7, Dolores Park, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (1986)
Saturday, 8/28, Union Square, REAR WINDOW (1954)
Saturday, 9/11, Wash. Sq. Park, AMELIE (2001)
Saturday, 9/25, Dolores Park, THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)

2010 Film Night in the Park Outdoor Film Series
Bay Area
All shows begin at 8pm or Dusk, Schedule Subject to Change
http://www.filmnight.org/fnp2010.htm

May 2010
Friday May 21 San Anselmo SHERLOCK HOLMES (Robert Downey Jr.)
Saturday May 22 San Anselmo THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG
Friday May 28 San Anselmo TWILIGHT
Saturday May 29 San Anselmo ON THE EDGE (Dipsea 100 Anniversary)

June 2010
Friday June 11 Fairfax CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (EcoFest)
Friday June 18 Mill Valley STAR TREK
Saturday June 19 SF – Dolores Park GREASE SING-ALONG

July 2010
Friday July 9 San Anselmo LET IT BE
Saturday July 10 SF – Union Square DIRTY DANCING
Friday July 23 San Anselmo THE BLOB (1958)
Saturday July 24 San Anselmo HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
Friday July 30 San Anselmo FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Saturday July 31 San Anselmo JAWS

August 2010
Friday August 6 San Geronimo NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
Saturday August 7 SF – Dolores Park FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF
Friday August 13 San Anselmo THE WORLDS FASTEST INDIAN
Saturday August 14 San Anselmo MAMMA MIA (SING-ALONG)
Friday August 20 San Anselmo Hitchcock’s NOTORIOUS
Saturday August 21 San Anselmo CORALINE
Saturday August 28 SF – Union Square REAR WINDOW

September 2010
Friday September 3 San Anselmo 16 CANDLES
Saturday September 4 San Anselmo UP
Sunday September 5 San Anselmo AVATAR
Friday September 10 Mill Valley ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Johnny Depp)
Saturday September 11 SF – Washington Sq. Park AMELIE
Saturday September 18 San Anselmo Special Screening – Film TBA
Friday September 24 San Geronimo WALL-E
Saturday September 25 SF – Dolores Park THE BIG LEBOWSKI

Film Night in the Park Locations:
SAN ANSELMO – Creek Park, the 400 block of Sir Francis Drake Blvd. 94960
FAIRFAX – Central Field, Broadway & Bank 94930
MILL VALLEY – Old Mill Park, 300 block of Throckmorton Ave. 94941
SAN GERONIMO – San Geronimo Valley Community Center , 6350 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. 94963
SAN FRANCISCO
– Dolores Park,  Dolores and 19th
– Washington Square Park, Union & Columbus
– Union Square, Geary & Powell

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.