In a scene from “The Big Lebowski” 1998, from left are Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi. IMDb photo

Here they are, the magic cast of the fabled Coen Brothers’ (the 21st Century Warner Brothers) “The Big Lebowski,” a movie that forever more was carved into the Mount Rushmore of cinema. It doesn’t need a new, detailed review. It’s been watched a trillion times since it opened in in 1998, and even has a “Dude” impressionist doing a nightclub act and producing comic books.

MOVIE INFO

“THE BIG LEBOWSKI”
Satire, Stoner Comedy, Comedy, Crime
Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
Length: 117 minutes
Rating: Severe profanity, moderate sex, nudity, alcohol, drugs and smoking, with mild violence, gore and frightening and intense scenes
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Writers: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Stars: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore

“The Big Lebowski” did not score big numbers at the box office, but it seems, like star Jeff Bridges, to resist dying.

Today, I will try to get you back into the theater at Waterville’s Maine Film Center to enjoy Bridges at his best in the Coens’ comedy.

There is our hero Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski (Bridges), described as a slacker, who has two pairs of boxer shorts (in case one is beyond redeeming), a tattered bathrobe and a great, soiled sweater he sometimes wears to the market to taste half and half for his favorite pick-me-up, a White Russian.

The Dude’s Hollywood flat, in need of a new coat of paint, is still here, when two disreputable gentlemen who work for porn producer Jackie Treehorn (OMG is that Ben Gazzara?) seem to think that our Dude is the very different, clean old rich man also named Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston).

After urinating on The Dude’s rug, they depart.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the players of this classic, The Dude and his close buddies: John Goodman (“The Conners”) as Big Walter Sobchak, the “Veteran” with an illegal .45 in his bowling bag, and of course the immortal Steve Buscemi (“The Sopranos”) as Theodore Donald “Donny” Kerabatsos.

This trio pays a visit to the mansion of the other Jeffrey Lebowski and are met by the rich Lebowski’s personal assistant “Brandt” (the late, great, lamented Philip Seymour Hoffman). Then it starts getting complicated when two of our heroes throw briefcases out of car windows.

Surely you remember “Maude Lebowski,” the older, richer, Lebowski’s daughter? This will be the lovely Julianne Moore, back when she was still dabbling in colorful “characters” like she did in 1997’s “Boogie Nights.”

Here, Ms. Moore is in Maude’s bizarre apartment, swinging on a purple swing, and then invades the younger, dirty, bowling Lebowski’s sordid home, and seduces him. That’s just a taste.

For myself, the most memorable character was “Jesus Quintana,” the Spanish convicted molester ace bowler who is sentenced to go door to door in his new neighborhood and announce himself as a pedophile. Yes. He does.

You will meet Jesus (the incredible John Turturro) in his purple bowling jumpsuit as he kisses and licks his purple ball, before rolling a strike and assaulting the Dude and staring down the barrel of Big Walter Sobchak’s illegal .45.

This was back in the days when Goodman gave us comedy figures like the overweight road killer in the Coen Brothers’ masterpiece “Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?”

What do you mean you never saw “The Big Lebowski?”

Here’s your chance.

“The Big Lebowski” is opening on the big screen at The Maine Film Center in Waterville on Aug. 30.

J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.