Swingers (1996)

In Doug Liman's original comic drama, a very popular independent film with a very witty script (from actor Favreau in his screenwriting debut), it followed the bar lounge-hopping and pick-up efforts of five party-animal, single, dateless show business wannabes in the hip singles scene - both in LA and Vegas - who mostly wanted to get laid while giving each other advice on how to pick up women. The Jaws musical theme was used to identify the predatory, testosterone-loaded 'sharks' at a bar picking up on females (colloquially known as 'babies'). Its tagline was: "cocktails first. questions later."

The bromance film, often described as a feature film version of the popular sit-com Friends, was a guys point-of-view 'romantic comedy' or 'chick flick'. Much of the low-budget film, made in only 22 days, was improvised. There were many quotable lines ("You're so money and you don't even know it!" - using money as an adjective meaning 'to be indisputably correct,' 'cool,' or an 'utterly gorgeous' happening guy).

The Four Swingers
Trent Walker (Vince Vaughn)	Mike Peters (Jon Favreau)
Sue (Patrick Van Horn)	Rob (Ron Livingston)

The twenty-something thing males included:

• Trent Walker (Vince Vaughn), a smooth-operating, charming, fast-talking ladies-man who often offered advice about hooking up with females to the others
• Mike Peters (screenwriter-actor Jon Favreau), an uptight, senstitive, love-sick, self-pitying, insecure, struggling actor- stand-up comedian, recently relocated to LA from New York, still heartbroken over his broken 6 year relationship with his ex-girlfriend Michelle six months earlier
• Sue (Patrick Van Horn), named after the Johnny Cash song "A Boy Named Sue," pugnacious and semi-violent, an ice-hockey video gamer-fanatic
• Rob (Ron Livingston), another recent transplant from New York, a struggling actor who played Hamlet "off-Broadway" and could only find work as Goofy at Disneyland

In Las Vegas during a trip to cheer up the depressed Mike, Trent bedded down casino waitress Christy (Deena Martin) in her trailer, while Mike broke the mood by feeling sorry for himself as he discussed his previous breakup to her friend Lisa (Katherine Kendall). As they left Vegas, Mike admitted that he was attracted to Trent's "Dorothy girl" date, and Trent reassured him that he wasn't a fag: "No baby, you're money!...You're so money and you don't even know it."

In a club, Trent and Sue encouraged Mike to be more confident and exhibit his stronger side by showing his bear claws and fangs to approach meek bunnies: ("And you got these f--king claws and these fangs, man! And you're looking at your claws and you're looking at your fangs. And you're thinking to yourself, you don't know what to do, man. 'I don't know how to kill the bunny.' With this you don't know how to kill the bunny, do you know what I mean?"); Sue added: "You're like a big bear, man."

The swaggering singles memorably discussed their most favorite moments in movies like GoodFellas (1990) and Reservoir Dogs (1992). At first, they spoke about whether Tarantino was copying or homaging Scorsese, but then the film itself paid homage to and emulated both films (GoodFellas' Copacabana lengthy Steadicam tracking shot entry through the kitchen, and Reservoir Dogs' neo-Rat Pack slow-motion "cool guy walk'). Mike noted: "How can you even compare the two, man? Tarantino completely bites everything off Scorsese," while Rob concurred: "I don't know what the big deal is. I mean, everybody steals from everybody. That's movies."

Back in Los Angeles at a nightclub bar, Mike eventually scored by obtaining the phone number of sexy Nikki (Brooke Langton). Anxious about losing her and ignoring the warning of his friends to wait two days before calling her, Mike phoned Nikki - and ended up leaving self-deprecating, desperate messages on her answering machine: ("This is Nikki. Leave a message"). When it cut him off before he left his phone number, he excused himself for his repeated phone calls and messages by stating: "I don't want you to think I was weird or desperate..." Finally, she answered live and retorted: "Don't ever call me again"; the scene covered all the various emotions that come to play in a male/female relationship.

At a Hollywood swing-dancing club The Derby, Mike met young and single Lorraine (Heather Graham) at the bar and engaged in nervous small talk. When he awkwardly joked about her name: "Like the quiche," she sarcastically responded: "That's a really original joke." He went further and asserted: "I like quiche" - unlike most "real men." After realizing that they had similar backgrounds - and that they both loved swing dancing, things went more smoothly, and by the end of the night, Mike boldly stated: "I want to make plans to see you again," and they favorably exchanged contact information.

Although he was tempted to resume his relationship with Michelle in NY (when she called at an inappropriate time), he decided to pursue his friendship with Lorraine when he didn't call Michelle back.

"All I do is stare at their mouths and wrinkle my nose, and I turn out to be a sweetheart."

"I don't want ya to be the guy in the PG-13 movie everyone's really hopin' makes it happen. I want you to be like the guy in the rated R movie, you know, the guy you're not sure whether or not you like yet. You're not sure where he's coming from. Okay? You're a bad man. You're a bad man, you're a bad man, bad man."

"Vegas, baby. Vegas!"

- "What'd you think of that, uh, Dorothy girl?"
- "The whole Judy Garland thing kind of turned me on. Does that make me some kind of fag?"
- "No, baby, you're money."

"You're so money and you don't even know it."

"Everybody steals from everybody, that's movies."

The sequence of Trent's and Mike's trip to Las Vegas to find some action and cheer Mike up.

In a club, Trent and Sue encouraged Mike to be more confident and exhibit his stronger side by showing off his inner bear claws and fangs when around bunnies: ("And you got these f--king claws and these fangs, man! And you're looking at your claws and you're looking at your fangs. And you're thinking to yourself, you don't know what to do, man. 'I don't know how to kill the bunny.' With this you don't know how to kill the bunny, do you know what I mean?"); Sue added: "You're like a big bear, man."

The swaggering singles memorably discussed their most favorite moments in movies like GoodFellas (1990) and Reservoir Dogs (1992). At first, they spoke about whether Tarantino was copying or homaging Scorsese, but then the film itself paid homage to and emulated both films (Reservoir Dogs' neo-Rat Pack slow-motion "cool guy walk', and GoodFellas' Copacabana lengthy Steadicam tracking shot entry through the kitchen). Mike noted: "How can you even compare the two, man? Tarantino completely bites everything off Scorsese," while Rob concurred: "I don't know what the big deal is. I mean, everybody steals from everybody, that's movies."

The excruciatingly funny, but agonizing strike-out scene of Mike's repeatedly desperate phone calls to the answering machine of new LA acquaintance Nikki (Brooke Langton) ("This is Nikki. Leave a message") whom he had just met in a bar, when it cut him off as he left his phone number, and how he excused himself for his repeated phone calls and messages by stating: "I don't want you to think I was weird or desperate..." - and her live retort to his calls: "Don't ever call me again." The scene covered all the various emotions that come to play in a male/female relationship.

American History X (1998)

Director Tony Kaye's visceral, ultra-realistic, R-rated controversial drama (his feature film directorial debut), told the story of two brothers living in Venice Beach, California, and the results of racial hatred, intolerance and violence; it was a tale of one man's journey from hate to moral redemption:

• Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton, Best Actor nominated), a violent, devoted, prejudiced, racist, charismatic, idealistic white-supremacist Neo-Nazi LA skinhead
• Daniel "Danny" Vinyard (Edward Furlong), Derek's younger, impressionable brother who aspired to be like his older brother

The film opened with the intense film's most infamous and devastating sequence - the brutal and painful-to-watch scene (a flashback) of the menacing, tattooed Derek assaulting two black Crips gang members. While having loud sex in his bedroom with his girlfriend Stacey (Fairuza Balk), Derek was alerted by Danny to an incident outside their house. He caught three black men breaking into the truck his dead, bigoted LA firefighter father Dennis (William Russ) had left him. (While on a firefighting job, Dennis had been murdered by a black drug dealer) He shot and killed one man, and then wounded a second one with two shots, while the third man escaped

Later in the film, a flashback showed a continuation of the aftermath of the shootings. Acting righteously yet viciously, Derek forced the wounded black car thief Lawrence (Antonio David Lyons) to bite down on the sidewalk curb. He then stomped on the man's head to snap his neck in half - a bone-crunching act to teach him a "real lesson." After brutalizing and killing him, he spit on his body before he was arrested. He was sentenced to serve a three-year prison term in the Catholic Institution for Men for voluntary manslaughter - the killing of the two car thieves.

The film's flashbacks (in gritty monochromatic black and white to show the past and Derek's simplistic views of the world) showed Derek's earlier corruption as he became a skinhead leader (with a shaved head, tattoos, and a goatee) who legitimized hate-filled violence.

The film's title referred to a private "American History X" course taught one-on-one by the concerned black high-school principal Dr. Robert Sweeney (Avery Brooks). Danny was assigned to the course after he wrote an offensive, anti-Semitic book report on Hitler's autobiography Mein Kampf for his Jewish history teacher Murray (Elliott Gould). Danny's first assignment was to write a paper (on the day of his older brother's release) about the impact of Derek's incarceration.

Derek had followed the advice and mentorship of older white supremacist mentor Cameron Alexander (Stacey Keach) in order to bring hate and evil terror to non-whites and other minorities in his beach neighborhood of Venice Beach, California, through their organization known as the Disciples of Christ (D.O.C.).

In one instance, an Asian-owned supermarket, Archie's Ranch Market, was attacked for its hiring practices (of blacks and immigrants) after Derek gave an emotional pep talk-speech to his followers outside the store about the immigration problem and the border policy.

Derek's Racist Firefighter Father Dennis (William Russ)	School Principal Dr. Robert Sweeney (Avery Brooks)	Jewish History Teacher Murray (Elliott Gould) - Doris' Boyfriend
White Supremacist Leader Cameron Alexander (Stacey Keach)	Derek's Black Friend in Prison Lamont (Guy Torry)	Derek's Mother Doris (Beverly D'Angelo)

Derek's firefighting father Dennis had earlier planted some seeds of racism in the Vinyard family during a dinner conversation about black literature. Later, Derek caused greater antagonism in his family at the dinner table, when he berated his mother Doris' (Beverly D'Angelo) boyfriend Murray. He was expelled from the house after an offensive, angry rant at Murray: ("You don't think l see what you're trying to do here? You think I'll sit here and smile while some f--king kike tries to f--k my mother? It's never gonna happen, Murray!...Coming in here and poisoning my family's dinner with your Jewish, n----r-loving, hippie bulls--t. F--k you! F--k you! Yeah, walk out, a--hole, f--kin' Kabbalah reading motherf--ker. Get the f--k out of my house"). His mother denounced him: "I'm ashamed that you came out of my body!"

During his time in prison, Derek had become disillusioned in prison by the Aryan Brotherhood, rampant drug dealing, the politics of prison gangs, and his abandonment by the D.O.C. For his befriending of a black inmate named Lamont (Guy Torry), Derek was raped in the shower. When he emerged from prison, the ex-con and ex-Neo Nazi white supremacist had changed ways of thinking and was distasteful of his past. When he returned home, his skinhead teenaged brother Danny, a young skinhead, idolized him and was becoming a neo-Nazi himself, and had joined the D.O.C. Derek attempted to separate Danny from the D.O.C. and confronted Cameron: "I came here for one reason, to tell you that I'm out. Out! And Danny's out, too. And if you come near my family again, I'm gonna f--king kill you," but Cameron denied Derek's request: "He needs my help and I'm gonna give it to him....He'll come to me. I'm more important to him now than you'll ever be."

In the film's devastating conclusion, Derek cradled the bloodied body of his dead brother Danny in his arms in a school bathroom, after he had been shot three times in front of a bank of urinals by a black student named Little Henry (Jason Bose Smith) (involved in an altercation earlier in a school restroom, when Danny blew some cigarette smoke into his face). A reformed Derek realized that he had been unable to prevent his younger sibling from going down a similarly violent life path ("Oh God, what did I do?").

Danny provided the narration for the film's concluding voice-over, reading part of the conclusion of the paper he had just written for his "American History X" class. In his writings about why he was giving up flawed neo-Nazi values, he quoted in part from the conclusion of Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, as images of a Venice Beach sunset were shown.

"...You come here and shoot at my family? I'm gonna teach you a real lesson now, motherf--ker. Put your f--kin' mouth on the curb."

"We're so hung up on this notion we have some obligation to help the struggling black man. You know, cut him some slack until he can overcome these historical injustices. It's crap. This stuff you guys are saying just perpetuates it. All this liberal nonsense. You know. Everyone's turning looking the other way while our country rots from inside out."

"This state spent three billion dollars last year on services, to those people who had no right to be here in the first place. Three billion dollars. $400 million dollars just to lock up a bunch of illegal immigrants, criminals, who only got into this country because the f--kin' INS decided it's not worth the effort to screen for convicted felons....Every night, thousands of these parasites stream across the border like some f--kin' piñata exploded....This is about your life and mine. It's about decent, hardworking Americans falling through the cracks and getting the shaft, because their government cares more about the constitutional rights of a bunch of people who aren't even citizens of this country!...Are we gonna ante up and do something about it?...You're goddamn right we are."

"I believe in death, destruction, chaos, filth, and greed."

"So I guess this is where I tell you what I learned - my conclusion, right? Well, my conclusion is: Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. It's just not worth it. Derek says it's always good to end a paper with a quote. He says someone else has already said it best. So if you can't top it, steal from them and go out strong. So I picked a guy I thought you'd like. 'We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.'"

The infamous curb-stomping scene in which Derek Vinyard taught a lethal lesson to a wounded black car thief Lawrence (Antonio David Lyons).

The scene of a raid on a Korean-owned grocery store.

The concluding death scene of Derek's dead teenaged brother Danny cradled in his arms, and Danny's voice-over that in-part quoted Lincoln's First Inaugural Address.

The Big Lebowski (1998)

In this dark and quirky comedy/crime caper-thriller involving a complex case of mistaken identity from the inventive, cultish and anarchic Coen Brothers - it was an obscenity-filled, anarchic independent film that became one of the most revered cult films of all time; the plot was actually about extortion and kidnapping, but was intentionally designed as a shaggy dog tale. It threw together (in episodic vignettes) a mismatching set of absurdist pop cultural elements, including a pissed-on rug, a trio of German nihilists, strange feminist avant-garde performance art, a severed toe, a bowling competition, White Russians and doobies, a pornographer, a ferret on a leash, missing money, and much more. It was mostly notable for its main male character -- Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski, who spent most of his time drinking White Russians, smoking pot and bowling.

In the opening scene narrated by the off-screen, drawling cowboy Stranger (Sam Elliott), the Sons of the Pioneers sang about "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" as he introduced bearded hippie, disheveled, long-haired pot-smoking, stoned out, laid-back LA slacker, unemployed slob Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), wandering in the aisles of a Los Angeles Ralph's grocery store late at night in the year 1990, and smelling a carton of Half & Half before writing a check for $.69 cents.

Upon Lebowski's return home to his Venice Beach (California) bungalow, he was assaulted by two debt-collecting thugs (Mark Pellegrino) and Woo (Philip Moon) (sent by Treehorn, later introduced), who alleged that The Dude owed them money due to his own wife's promiscuous associations around town - but it was a case of mistaken identity. They roughed him up and then Woo peed on the Dude's favorite carpet; apparently, he had been mistaken for fat, wheelchair-bound, philanthropic Pasadena tycoon-millionaire Jeff Lebowski, the real "Big Lebowski"; the Dude complained to the thugs about them ruining his rug.

The bowling-loving Dude commiserated with his bowling buddies: uptight nutcase and gun-crazed Vietnam war veteran Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) and moronic, ex-surfer Donny (Steve Buscemi) about his ruined, valued rug that had been peed upon by the Chinaman Woo ("Yeah, man, it really tied the room together").

"You're a Lebowski, I'm a Lebowski" Scene	Lebowski in Wheelchair	"You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude"
The "Big" Lebowski (David Huddleston)	The Replacement Rug Being Carried Out	Mr. Lebowski's Nympho Wife Bunny (Tara Reid): "I'll suck your c--k for $1,000"

In the next scene, the Dude met up with a rich, crippled Pasadena businessman - the real "Big" Lebowski (David Huddleston). He complained about and demanded compensation from Lebowski for the mistaken attack by two hoods (due to a mix-up of addresses for "Lebowski"). The thugs were really targeting Mr. Lebowski's indebted, promiscuous trophy wife Bunny (Tara Reid), a porn actress. As he left the premises, the Dude met up with the millionaire's sexy and free-spirited nymphomaniacal wife Bunny - one of the porn stars and bedding partners of sleaze king mobster Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara); while painting her toenails, she offered the Dude: ("I'll suck your c--k for $1,000 dollars"). Through deceitful means, the Dude was able to exit the premises with a beautiful, rolled-up Persian rug as a replacement.

During a bowling competition, the Dude's hot-headed bowling buddy Walter told older, pacifist rival bowler Smokey (Jimmie Dale Gilmore) that he had committed a minor infraction of bowling league rules by fouling over the line - he drew his gun to protest, accompanied by scary, gun-wielding threats: "You're entering a world of pain," and "Mark it zero."

The Dude was summoned to return to the Lebowski mansion to be informed of a ransom note for the allegedly-kidnapped Bunny from her kidnappers. The Dude was hired (for a promised $20K) by his namesake to serve as a courier to deliver ransom money of $1 million to free the allegedly-kidnapped Bunny from the kidnappers. [Note: Lebowski assumed that the "deadbeat" would screw things up and could be used as a scapegoat; his intention was never to get Bunny back. Instead, he wanted her dead while he embezzled the 'ransom money' derived from his charity program/foundation - the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers.]

The Dude suspected that the "carpet-pissers" were the kidnappers and/or extortionists - hired by porn king Treehorn to pressure Mr. Lebowski to pay off his wife's indebtedness. He also thought (and was proven right later) that the abduction had been faked by the gold-digging Bunny. [Note: However, as it turned out, the ransom demands came not from pornographer Treehorn, to whom Bunny owed money, but from three opportunistic German nihilists (one of whom was Bunny's boyfriend) who thought, with Bunny's help, that they could con Bunny's rich husband Mr. Lebowski with ransom demands.]

Back at the Dude's bowling alley, competitive, flamboyant, lavender-jump-suited Latino bowler Jesus Quintana (John Turturro) (with a long painted pinky fingernail on one of his ring-laden fingers, who seductively licked his bowling ball) rolled a strike, then did a strange victory dance to the Spanish-tinged tune of Hotel California by the Gipsy Kings; then he threatened the Dude about their upcoming semi-finals match.

The Dude Lying On His Replacement Rug

Maude With Two Assistants

The Dude's Vision While Knocked Out

While in his apartment and happily enjoying the replacement rug he took from Lebowski's mansion, the Dude was assaulted by two men and a red-haired female (Maude!), who knocked him out and stole the rug underneath him; after recovering consciousness (and experiencing a disjointed, bowling-themed dream), the Dude returned to Lebowski's place to retrieve a metal suitcase allegedly filled with the money for the ransom-payoff, before he and Walter went on a nighttime drive to try and attempt to double-cross the kidnappers by handing off a fake case (a "ringer") so they could keep the $1 million for themselves. To their surprise, their plan actually succeeded - the three kidnappers (nihilists) fled on motorcross bikes with the duplicate case. However, they remained worried that the culprits might harm Bunny. And then they discovered that the Dude's car was missing and presumably stolen - with the $1 million dollars of ransom money.

The Dude received a phone message from the female, introducing herself as Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore in a small, comic caricaturized role), Lebowski's estranged daughter; she admitted to reacquiring the family's rug, and wanted to meet him. The Dude was picked up and driven to meet Lebowski's idiosyncratic, eccentric daughter - an erotic, super-stoic, avante garde feminist artist who exhibited living art by soaring nude over her canvas to paint it in a flying trapeze harness; she also delivered a "vagina monologue."

During his visit with Maude, she denounced her philanthropist father as crooked, and also criticized Bunny as his unfaithful, promiscuous, sex-crazed and gold-digging wife who was "banging" Treehorn - confirming the Dude's earlier hypothesis. She also informed the Dude that the ransom money was improperly taken out of her father's children's fund. As a co-trustee of the Lebowski Foundation, she proposed hiring the Dude (for $100,000) to recover the $1 million dollars taken from the family's personal foundation to pay off Bunny's so-called 'ransom', before police learned of her dishonest father's embezzlement.

After pressure from Mr. Lebowski to save his ransomed, victimized wife Bunny, the Dude found himself the victim of an attack as he relaxed smoking a joint in his bathtub; the three nihilists involved in the plot assaulted him in his apartment with a pet ferret as he splashed around to avoid the animal; they threatened the Dude with castration if he didn't have their money by the next day. Afterwards, the Dude was notified that his stolen car had been located, but his reclaimed car was missing the money case. Through some deductive reasoning, he and Walter suspected that the stolen Lebowski attache case with the $1 million ransom money might be at the North Hollywood home of a 9th grader named Larry Sellers. Their visit to the home was a disastrous failure, resulting in Walter's wanton destruction of a neighbor's new vehicle, and more damage to the Dude's car.

Two of Treehorn's tough goons brought the Dude to the Malibu beach home of porn kingpin Jackie Treehorn who asked questions about Bunny's whereabouts and his unpaid debts, and made assumptions that Bunny faked her kidnapping and then ran off with his money; in one of the film's most unique sequences ("Gutterballs"), the Dude experienced a fanciful Busby-Berkeley inspired musical dream about bowling and porn after being slipped a mickey in his White Russian cocktail; the Dude's dream was filled with images including the Viking Queen, Saddam Hussein, and bowling.

"Gutterballs" - The Dude's Fanciful Dream About Bowling After a Spiked Drink

The Dude was found by Malibu police on the highway, reportedly after being ejected from Treehorn's party, and after questioning, he was taken by taxi back to his place. There, he obliged Maude who propositioned him to make love ("Jeffrey...Love me") - with child-bearing intentions; she again reiterated that her father was a fraud and phony who was actually poorer than he claimed, and that all of his wealth had come from Maude's mother who had left everything to the family's charity foundation. She insisted that her father was raiding the Foundation's money.

Outside his bungalow, the Dude encountered a PI named Da Fino (Jon Polito) ("A Brother Shamus") who had been hired by Bunny's family - the Knudsens from Minnesota - after she (her real name was Fawn Knudsen) had run away from home a year earlier. Upon her arrival in LA, she hooked up with Treehorn to shoot porno videos. The Dude and Walter drove to Lebowski's mansion, where they found Bunny alive and well after a visit with friends in Palm Springs. The two confronted Lebowski in his study about lying to them and embezzling his own foundation's money: ""We know the briefcase was f--kin' empty, We know you kept the million bucks for yourself."

During their bowling competition against Jesus, an altercation occurred outside the bowling alley with the three nihilists, who had torched the Dude's car and demanded the ransom money; the Dude refused, since he claimed it was all a fake kidnapping plot to extort the cash; as Walter refused to be intimidated and viciously attacked the nihilists, Donny suffered a fatal heart attack.

The Three Nihilists In Front of the Dude's Burning Car

Donny's Fatal Heart Attack

After Donny's death, Walter delivered a rambling eulogy and the 'Dude' prepared to scatter Donny's cremated ashes from a Folger's coffee can on a windy cliff-side. However, the breeze blew the ashes back - and all over the Dude's face.

In the concluding scene set at a bar in the bowling alley, the Stranger discovered how the Dude was doing: "Oh, you know, strikes and gutters, ups and downs." As the Dude wandered off, he bid goodbye: "The Dude abides." The Stranger expressed his hope that the Dude and Walter would win their upcoming bowling tournament, and stated that Maude was pregnant with a "little Lebowski" - not with Maude's surname but with the Dude's surname!

"No, no, don't do that! Not on the rug, man."

"Yeah, man. It really tied the room together."

"You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, uh, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or uh, you know, El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing."

"My wife is not the issue here! I hope that someday my wife will learn to live on her allowance, which is ample, but if she does not, that is her problem, not mine, just as the rug is your problem, just as every bum's lot in life is his own responsibility, regardless of who he chooses to blame. I didn't blame anyone for the loss of my legs. Some Chinaman took them from me in Korea. But I went out and achieved anyway. I cannot solve your problems, sir, only you can....Yes, that's your answer. That's your answer to everything. Tattoo it on your forehead. Your revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski! Condolences! The bums lost! My advice to you is to do what your parents did! Get a job, sir! The bums will always lose! Do you hear me, Lebowski?! The bums will always lose!"

"Does the female form make you uncomfortable, Mr. Lebowski?...My art has been commended as being strongly vaginal, which bothers some men. The word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Vagina....Yes, they don't like hearing it and find it difficult to say, whereas without batting an eye, a man will refer to his dick or his rod or his Johnson."

"Let me tell you something, pendejo. You pull any of your crazy s--t with us, you flash a piece out on the lanes, I'll take it away from you, and stick it up your ass and pull the f--kin' trigger 'til it goes click....Nobody f--ks with the Jesus..."

"Donny was a good bowler and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors and bowling. And as a surfer, he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Jolla to Leo Carrillo and up to Pismo. He died, he died, as so many men of his generation, before his time. In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright, flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Lan Doc, and Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. So did Donny. Donny who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabatsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince."

"The Dude abides."

The opening voice-over description about bearded, long-haired Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) by the drawling Stranger (Sam Elliott).

The bowling alley scenes of the Dude with his buddies, and the rival Latino bowler Jesus Quintana (John Turturro) (with a long painted pinky fingernail on one of his ring-laden fingers, who seductively licked his bowling ball).

The Busby Berkeley-inspired dream sequence called Gutterballs.

The sequence of the memorial service to spread Donny's cremated ashes off a cliff.

Blade (1998)

This was the first film in the Blade series, a popular group of violent action-vampire movies, which starred Wesley Snipes as a human-vampire hybrid, based on the Marvel Comics hero. The visually-stylish, action-horror-thriller by director Stephen Norrington was a combination action film, horror film, and superhero fantasy film. Non-stop noisy action and violence, gun and swordplay, glossy production design, and special effects were the hallmarks of this trashy, gory vampire film.

Eric "Blade" Brooks (Wesley Snipes) was a superstrong half-vampire, half-man vampire (or "suckhead") hunter-killer, with sunglasses and a black leather coat and vest. Blade had special powers due to his possession of vampire blood. Martial arts-skilled Blade sought revenge against all blood-sucking vampires for the death of his vampire-bitten mother at the time of his birth. Throughout the film, he battled against his up-and-coming arch enemy, punk biker-style vampire leader Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), intent upon creating a "vampire apocalypse."

The opening scene was set in the late 1990s in a secret, after-hours, throbbing and pulsing rave dance hall in Los Angeles, owned by vampire leader Frost. As the revelers partied and the music intensified, blood was sprayed out from the sprinklers above onto the people - most of whom were vampires. Blade (with a Grace Jones hairdo) made his fabulous first appearance - seen from ground level as the crowd parted in front of him - wearing a black leather trench coat, leather vest (black body armor), and black sunglasses. Blood-drenched vampires backed up but flared their teeth at him, as he raised his shotgun (with silver-filled shotgun shells) and blasted them into oblivion.

Entrance of Blade into LA Rave Club	Blood-Drenched Vampires
Vampires Snarling with Teeth At Blade	Blade Blasted Them With Shotgun

The film's climactic sword and martial arts battle occurred in the Temple of Eternal Night between Blade and Frost. Blade sliced Frost in half, but the two parts of his body rejoined and regenerated, as Frost explained: "You're too late, Blade," demonstrating that he couldn't be killed or maimed. He had already been transformed through a ritual into the invulnerable, omnipotent vampire Blood God La Magra, the ultimate god of the vampire race. His plan was to conquer the human race by triggering the Blood Tide, causing everyone in the world to become vampires.

Blade dislodged and caught his belt-clip of blue vials of anti-coagulant liquid EDTA serum, highly lethal for vampires, and then threw them, at lightning fast speed, at the seemingly-invincible body of La Magra. Five of the vials stuck into La Magra's body, puncturing and injecting into his skin, and coming into explosive contact with his vampire blood. With the overdose of EDTA, Frost would no longer be able to regenerate blood and body parts. Blade commented: "Some motherf--kers are always trying to ice-skate uphill."

Then, Blade threw a sixth vial into the air, and forcefully kicked it into La Magra's forehead. The vampire god experienced a fatal swelling and bloating death until he exploded, causing Blade to shield his face from the massive shower of gore splatter.

"You better wake up. The world you live in is just a sugar-coated topping! There is another world beneath it - the real world. And if you wanna survive it, you better learn to pull the trigger!"

"Some motherf--kers are always trying to ice-skate uphill."

"F--k me? No, you f--k this!"

The dance floor nightclub scene (with sprinklers that bathe everyone in blood) in which Blade killed disco-dancing vampires (who then disintegrated), accompanied by pounding techno-music.

The final bloating death scene of Deacon Frost occurred during a climactic sword and martial arts battle with Blade in the Temple of Eternal Light, when Frost's seemingly invincible body was punctured and injected by blue vials of liquid that came into explosive contact with his vampire blood.

Ronin (1998)

Director John Frankenheimer's suspenseful post-Cold War heist caper and espionage thriller, similar to the James Bond or Mission: Impossible films, Bullitt (1968), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Japan's Chushingura (1962) and its 'Tale of the 47 Ronin,' and The French Connection (1971), contained two of the best white-knuckle, hair-raising, most realistic car chase sequences ever filmed, on the streets of Nice and Paris. It also featured nefarious deals, explosions, alliances, mistrust and betrayals, multiple shoot-outs, and other male-oriented action.

It was explained with title cards that the film's title Ronin referred indirectly to members of the Japanese samurai warrior class in feudal Japan who were forced to roam the countryside with great shame, looking for work as hired swords or bandits, after failing to protect their masters (liege lords). The masterless warriors were no longer called samurai, but Ronin. In the film, it referred to a team of former intelligence operatives hired as a team. [Note: The film concluded with only one of the operatives still a mole and identified as a samurai, in spirit - SAM - short for samurai.]

In the film's plot, a group of displaced spies and political agents were brought together in a Montmartre bistro, and then led to a Parisian warehouse where Irish IRA terrorist organizer Deirdre (Natascha McElhone) (and femme fatale) offered to hire them as an international team of specialists (all ex government officials or covert military-mercenary operatives) with one purpose in mind - to ambush a heavily-armed convoy and retrieve a mysterious silver metal briefcase desired by both the Irish and the Russians - contents unknown (the film's obvious Hitchcockian 'McGuffin') - that was handcuffed to its courier [Note and Spoiler: The case was probably a decoy to lure out a rogue IRA operative by film's end]:

• Sam (Robert De Niro), an ex- CIA elite covert operations strategist with loyalties to no one
• Vincent (Jean Reno), Sam's buddy, a Frenchman, an ex- Euro intelligence agent
• Gregor (Stellan Skarsgard), a German computer-electronics expert, shady, cold and methodical; also opportunistic and not to be trusted
• Spence (Sean Bean), a Britisher weapons specialist (quickly dropped after being exposed as a naive fraud)
• Larry (Skip Sudduth), an American, hired as a designated driver

Deirdre (Natascha McElhone)	Sam (Robert De Niro)	Vincent (Jean Reno)
Spence (Sean Bean)	Gregor (Stellan Skarsgard)	Seamus O'Rourke (Jonathan Pryce)

During a deal set up by Spence to acquire weapons for their job, Sam cleverly saw and warned that it was a set-up when he spotted a sniper and shot him dead, and subsequent gunfire also eliminated the other dealers. The team escaped with the weapons they needed. Sam cleverly exposed Spence as an unqualified fraud (with inept plans) and he was dropped from the team.

In Nice, France during early surveillance and stakeouts, Deirdre and Sam posed as husband and wife in their car and became romantically involved. They also pretended to make out in public so that they could be photographed and acquire pictures of the steel case and its protectors.

They soon learned from Deirdre's rogue operative-handler Seamus O'Rourke (Jonathan Pryce) who was giving orders, that they were competing with members of the Russian mafia for the steel case.

After the successful ambush of the convoy near Nice, France (involving a lengthy car chase and a major gun battle), the double-crossing Gregor betrayed the team by absconding with the case (and swapping it with a silver spray-painted, replicated duplicate containing a bomb). He then attempted to negotiate with Russian thugs led by Mikhi (Féodor Atkine) to purchase and acquire the case. During a tense standoff between the team and Gregor with the Russians, Sam was seriously wounded in the abdomen by a ricocheted bullet, and Gregor was captured by Seamus with Deirdre. In a rural villa of Vincent's wise friend Jean-Pierre (Michael Lonsdale), Sam recuperated after surgery (that he partially instructed) to remove a bullet from his side.

Back in Paris, Gregor picked up the suitcase that he had mailed to himself at a post office, and returned the case to his escorts, Deirdre and Seamus. In the next scene, the second major high-speed car chase of the film, Deirdre (with Seamus in the back seat and Gregor in the front seat of a BMW) sped off, and were pursued by Sam (driving) and Vincent in a Peugeot through Paris's streets and tunnels - in wrong-way traffic on the freeway - causing crashes and pileups, and ending with the tires shot out of Deirdre's car, causing it to upend, crash and burn. Gregor escaped with the case, while Seamus and Deirdre were rescued from the flaming car.

9-Minute Climactic Car Chase Through Paris

Another rendezvous was set up between Gregor and Mikhi to exchange the case during a figure-skating performance of Mikhi's Russian girlfriend Natacha Kirilova (real-life East German Olympic skater Katarina Witt) at a local indoor arena known as Le Zenith. Gregor's threat that his unnamed female sniper would kill Natacha if Mikhi betrayed him and didn't pay him ended up with him being heartlessly outwitted - the countdown reached zero and she was shot dead. Gregor was also killed by Mikhi's gunman (with a silencer) with a shot to the forehead, before they fled with the case. Outside the arena as Sam and Vincent observed, Seamus (disguised as an arena security guard) confronted Mikhi, murdered him, and reacquired the case. Separately, Sam and Vincent continued the pursuit.

Before Seamus reached Deirdre in a getaway car, Sam spoke to her. She begged him: "Come with me, forget about the case," but then he admitted: "I didn't come for the case, I came for your boss. I came for Seamus. I came for him...I never left, don't you see?" - he had never left the CIA and was still an undercover operative working to capture the terrorist Seamus. Deidre chose to drive off, but her exit was blocked by the crowds. Meanwhile, Vincent was shot and wounded by Seamus, who fled back inside the arena. Sam kept up the chase after Seamus, but was ambushed, shot and wounded. As Sam was about to be executed, the wounded Vincent saved him by firing from the scaffolding above the arena, and killing Seamus.

In the final scene, Sam and Vincent were in the same Montmartre bistro from the film's opening, where Sam's mind was on whether Deirdre would walk through the door to him or not, rather than listening to a BBC radio report that the death of Irish rogue terrorist operative Seamus meant stability and peace between the Sinn Féin and the British. Vincent cautioned his friend: "She will not be coming back here." When Vincent asked about the contents of the case, Sam replied: "I don't remember." In voice-over, Vincent had learned a lesson: ("No questions. No answers. That's the business we're in...").

- "You ever kill anybody?"
- "I hurt somebody's feelings once."

"Either you're part of the problem or you're part of the solution or you're just part of the landscape."

- " Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt. That's the first thing they teach you."
- "Who taught you?"
- "I don't remember. That's the second thing they teach you."

(voice-over) "No questions. No answers. That's the business we're in. You accept it and move on. Maybe that's lesson number three."

An early chase sequence began with an ambush and fierce gun-battle in Nice, France, orchestrated by Sam and Vincent, in order to intercept a steel briefcase in a car within a convoy. The chase after the convoy mainly involved a 1996 Audi S8 (driven by Larry) and a 1995 Citroen XM (the target car), while a Mercedes Benz 450SEL (Sam and Vincent) was a backup car following them. Out of town, cars careened on a twisting and winding Cote d'Azur coast-side road along the French Riviera. One of the convoy's escort cars was blown up with a rocket-launcher. When two of the cars were diverted off the main road due to construction, the chase continued on a dirt road, and then returned to the narrow streets of the town of Nice, and plowed through an open market. The chase ended when the cars crashed and plowed through a harbor/waterfront restaurant where diners were eating streetside, and a major gunbattle ensued, as Gregor stole the case.

The scene of Sam instructing others during surgery to help remove a bullet from his side, claiming: "I once removed a guy's appendix with a grapefruit spoon", urging: "Don't take it out unless you really got it', and finally: "Do y ou think you can stitch me up on your own? If you don't mind, I'm gonna pass out.''

There was another thrilling 9 minute high-speed car chase between a blue 1996 Peugeot 406 driven by Sam (with Vincent) who were chasing a black 1991 BMW M5, driven by Deirdre (with Seamus in the back seat) in a high-speed pursuit through Parisian streets and a metro tunnel under the Seine River and continuing into wrong-way, heavy freeway traffic. They were also pursued by French police in Citroen ZXs. The car chase ended when the tires on Deirdre's car were shot at, causing it to roll and crash, careen off the end of an uncompleted highway, and burst into flames.

Wild Things (1998)

Director John McNaughton's 'guilty pleasure' erotic, film-noirish thriller was a film that featured many twists and turns - and prominent younger stars in sexy/dirty situations in a South Florida Everglades town named Blue Bay. This erotic crime film with a twisting and turning complex plot revealed four schemers:

• Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards), a rich, popular, vixenish teen student/socialite
• Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon), the Blue Bay High School guidance counselor
• Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell), a disturbed, outcast, and trashy goth trailer inhabitant
• Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon), a duplicitous and corrupt police sergeant, who was involved in investigation of Kelly's alleged rape case

In the wealthy Miami, Florida suburb of Blue Bay, the film's major plot involved a rape case including three of the cast's characters - Sam, Kelly, and Suzie. In the trial, Sam was defended by free-lance lawyer Kenneth Bowden (Bill Murray). Accusations were made by the two females that Sam raped Kelly and also raped Suzie.

Included early in the film, a dripping-wet Kelly performed seductively while washing Sam's Jeep in a wet T-shirt, charity-fundraising, car-wash sequence to the tune of Lauren Christy's "I Want What I Want" - and afterwards, she seduced her sexually-promiscuous guidance counselor Sam in his home. This sequence provided Kelly with the grounds for making an accusation of rape against Sam.

Lombardo was acquitted since it was revealed during cross-examination that the charges against him had been fabricated.

• Kelly had pressed charges against Sam due to her jealousy over him, because he was a former lover of her wealthy mother Sandra Van Ryan (Theresa Russell)
• Suzie had pressed charges against Sam, because he hadn't bailed her out of jail (on minor drug charges)

(It was later discovered that both females were accomplices). The idea to extort money from the Van Ryan estate had succeeded - the trial's settlement payout awarded Sam $8.5 million dollars (from Kelly's trust fund established by her mother Sandra) for defamation.

In the midst of the scheming, Kelly exited a school swimming pool - filmed in sensuous slow-motion to the tune of Morphine's "I Had My Chance" (lyrics: "I had my chance and I let it go, I had my chance and I let it go, Well if I ever have myself another chance like that, I'm going to grab it and I won't look back"). She was confronted by suspicious Sgt. Duquette who complimented her: "Nice stroke." She jokingly asked if he was interested in improving his "breast stroke."

He questioned her about a possible conspiracy between her and Sam to get rid of Suzie ("pill-head") and take off for the Caribbean now that Sam had been awarded the settlement money. He was trying to create a wedge between the two females to reveal the scam.

After a catfight between Kelly and Suzie due to Suzie's fears that she would be eliminated, Kelly then unexpectedly celebrated lesbianism with Suzie in a swimming pool (extended only in the uncut version). Suzie untied the straps of Kelly's bikini top, as they kissed, and soon they were both topless and in each other's arms - while the perverted Ray watched from the shadows videotaping their escapades.

In the midst of the plotting was a highly-publicized, champagne-drenched menage a trois sequence with Sam to celebrate their newfound wealth and success, although Sam warned the conspiratorial and scheming trio to not be seen together again. But then, one by one, suspicion and distrust led to a number of betrayals, double-crossing murders and unexpected events. The twists and turns included the following:

• Sam and Kelly took Suzie to a seaside beach where Sam bludgeoned Suzie with a wine bottle (off-screen), and disposed of her plastic-wrapped body in a swamp; during an investigation into her disappearance, Suzie's blood and teeth were found; however, her death was faked (shown later, pliers were used to remove her own teeth to be left as evidence); although Sam was a murder suspect, he gave the authorities Kelly's school file with evidence of her mental instability - due to her father's suicide; subsequently, Suzie's death could easily be blamed on Kelly
• Sgt. Duquette visited Kelly's home, and although his motive appeared either to involve protecting Kelly from Sam's wrath, or to frame her for Suzie's murder, he confronted Kelly; in a shootout, Ray murdered Kelly, then argued that he killed her in self-defense (shown later, he shot her with two rounds and inflicted a shoulder wound on himself with a third shot to make it look like Kelly shot him)
• now that both Kelly and Suzie were dead, Sam was in the clear, and he didn't have to split the money with anyone; Sam departed for a tropical resort
• after Sgt. Duquette's discharge from the police force, he visited the same tropical resort (where he provided a full-frontal view of himself in the shower); another unexpected revelation occurred - both he and Lombardo were secretly working together and had masterminded everything and could now split the money
• on Sam's sailboat (while awaiting bank transfers for the money), Sam attempted to kill Ray, who was deliberately thrown overboard when Sam jerked the steering, but Ray was ultimately finished off by Suzie (now with a bleached blonde pixie hair cut and ALIVE!) with two shots from a spear gun - he was propelled backwards into the water where he drowned; Suzie revealed herself to be a double-crosser when she appeared to side with Sam against Ray
• but then Suzie poisoned Sam with a doctored drink and the sailboat's boom knocked him overboard; Suzie was left as the only survivor

Suzie With Spear Gun Aimed at Ray

Sam's Doctored Drink

Suzie was the plot's mastermind with a high IQ ("that girl could do just about anything she put her mind to"), although she had always been underestimated for her abilities due to her lowly upbringing, poverty, and lack of education. She had planned the entire vengeful scheme, beginning with the rape allegations and the trial, to make it look like Sam was the mastermind - it was further explained:

• Suzie sought revenge against Kelly's wealthy mother - her step-sister - for scorning and abandoning her
• She killed Ray to retaliate against him for two murders: (1) the killing of Kelly, and (2) the killing of Suzie's boyfriend Davie years earlier in the Everglades. In a side-plot, Ray had killed Davie (and then falsely claimed self-defense), and then put Suzie away so she couldn't testify against him, by busting her for drugs and locking her away in a correctional facility
• Suzie had blackmailed Sam into joining the scheme with Kelly, using incriminating photos of Sam and Kelly with drugs and engaged in underage kinky sex

The Film's Ending Pay-Off Scene
Suzie	Bowden	"Suzie, be good"

The film concluded in a beach scene when Sam's unscrupulous lawyer Kenneth Bowden handed Suzie the payoff - a case loaded with cash:

Cash is just walkin'-around money. The check is the balance of the numbered account minus the million we set aside for Ruby and Walter, less my usual fee. Case closed. (She kissed him, then strolled off with the briefcase) Suzie, be good.

The end credits showed off-screen sequences (explained above), rewinding the film to show scenes that hadn't been shown earlier in the film to further explain the plot.

"So, where's your hose, Mr. Lombardo?"

- "Are you retarded, or just brain-dead from whiffing fumes out there in the swamp?"
- "That's what I am to you, isn't it? Swamp trash, just like my mom."

The wet T-shirt car-wash sequence to the tune of Lauren Christy's "I Want What I Want" after which dripping-wet socialite Kelly seduced her guidance counselor Sam in his home.

Kelly's celebrated bout of lesbianism with Suze in a swimming pool (extended in the uncut version).

The highly-publicized, liquor-drenched threesome (menage a trois) scene. and the lesbian kiss pool scene.