Ranking the 20 best characters from The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski character ranking

On March 6, 1998, the Coen brothers released their crime-comedy The Big Lebowski. To honor the cult classic's legacy, we chose and ranked the movie's 20 best characters.

20. Larry Sellers

High-schooler Larry (Jesse Flanagan) remains infuriatingly silent while being interrogated by Walter (John Goodman) and the Dude (Jeff Bridges) about his alleged theft of the ransom money.

Best quote: Not applicable

19. Auto Circus Cop

This police officer (Michael Gomez) responds to the Dude's question about whether there are any "leads" on who stole his old, crappy car with maximum sarcasm.

Best quote: "Leads, yeah, sure. I'll just check with the boys down at the crime lab. They've got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts!"

18. Da Fino

Dude-admiring private eye Da Fino (Jon Polito) is hired by the Knutsens to track down their daughter Bunny Lebowski, a.k.a. Fawn Knutsen (Tara Reid).

Best quote: [To the Dude] "I'm a brother shamus!" The Dude's reply? "Brother Seamus? Like an Irish monk?"

17. Smokey

Bowler Smokey (Jimmie Dale Gilmore) sends Walter into a rage — and gets him to pull out his gun — by allegedly putting a foot "over the line" during a league match.

Best quote: "Mark it 8, Dude."

16. Knox Harrington

Knox Harrington (David Thewlis) is the video artist and snickering buddy of Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore). Fun fact: Almost two decades after the release of The Big Lebowski, Thewlis would return to the land of the Coens by playing the villainous V.M. Varga in season 3 of Fargo.

Best quote: [In response to the Dude asking him who he is] "Oh, just a friend of Maudie's." (The Dude's response: "Yeah, a friend with a cleft a--hole?")

15/14. Treehorn Thugs

Woo (Philip Moon) and Blond Treehorn Thug (Mark Pellegrino) are a pair of inept heavies employed by Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara). Over the course of the film, they repeatedly harass the Dude, at first because they mistake him for the much-better-off Big Lebowski (David Huddleston) and then later because they mistakenly believe him to have stolen a large sum of money from the Big Lebowski.

Best quote, via Blond Treehorn Thug: [Holding up one of the Dude's bowling balls] What the f--- is this?" (The Dude's reply: "Obviously, you're not a golfer.")

13. Jackie Treehorn

Ben Gazzara's Malibu-dwelling pornographer and loan shark slips the Dude a Mickey Finn during one of the smut-peddler's parties.

Best quote: "Interactive erotic software. The wave of the future, Dude. One hundred percent electronic!"

12/11/10. The Nihilists

These musicians–turned–nihilistic goons claim to have kidnapped Bunny Lebowski and represent a literally emasculating challenge to the Dude. Their number includes Torsten Voges' Franz, Flea's Kieffer, and Peter Stormare's Uli Kunkel, a.k.a. porn star "Karl Hungus" — who appeared in Logjammin' alongside the aforementioned Bunny. Also, spare a thought for Aimee Mann's auxiliary nihilist, who sacrifices a toe on the altar of the threesome's misbegotten criminal scheme.

Best quote, via Uli Kunkel: "Tomorrow, we come back and we cut off your johnson."

9. Bunny Lebowski

Born Fawn Knutson, Bunny (Tara Reid) ran away from Minnesota to Los Angeles, where she began making pornographic films, including Logjammin', before marrying the Big Lebowski.

Best quote: [After embarrassing Brandt by telling the Dude that she will perform a sex act on him for $1,000] "Brandt can't watch, though, or he has to pay a hundred."

8. Brandt

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the impeccably polite manservant of the Big Lebowski.

Best quote: [After Bunny tells the Dude that she will perform a sex act on him for $1,000] "Hahahaha! Wonderful woman. We're all very fond of her. Very free-spirited."

7. Jeffrey "The Big" Lebowski

David Huddleston's titular character is the Korean War veteran, blowhard businessman, and husband of supposedly-kidnapped trophy wife Bunny.

Best quote: [To the Dude] "'F--- it!' Yes! That's your answer. That's your answer for 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!"

6. The Stranger

The film's mysterious, rambling narrator is also an occasional, lushly mustachioed on-screen presence, played by Sam Elliott. Loves sarsaparilla. Dislikes curse words.

Best quote: "Now this here story I'm about to unfold took place back in the early '90s — just about the time of our conflict with Saddam and the Iraqis. I only mention it because sometimes there's a man...I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? But sometimes, there's a man. And I'm talkin' about the Dude here. Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's the Dude, in Los Angeles. And, even if he's a lazy man — and the Dude was most certainly that. Quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin' for laziest worldwide. But, sometimes, there's a man. Sometimes, there's a man. Aw. I lost my train of thought here. But...aw, hell. I've done introduced him enough."

5. Jesus Quintana

John Turturro plays the pugnacious, vividly attired bowler, and — according to Walter Sobchak — convicted pederast.

Best quote: "Nobody f---s with the Jesus."

4. Theodore Donald "Donny" Kerabatsos

Mild-mannered Donny (Steve Buscemi) is a member of the Dude's bowling team, where his main role is being told to "shut the f--- up" by Walter.

Best quote: "Phone's ringing, Dude."

3. Maude Lebowski

Julianne Moore's conceptual artist has a dislike for her stepmother Bunny — and a strange interest in the Dude's health.

Best quote: "It's a male myth about feminists that we hate sex. It can be a natural, zesty enterprise. But, unfortunately, there are some people — it is called satyriasis in men, nymphomania in women — who engage in it compulsively and without joy. Yes, Mr. Lebowski, these unfortunate souls cannot love in the true sense of the word. Our mutual acquaintance Bunny is one of these."

2. Walter Sobchak

Short-fused, Vietnam War-obsessed military vet Walter (John Goodman) is a member of the Dude's bowling team who attempts to assist Bridges' character in his quest to first deliver the ransom to the kidnappers and then recover said monies. The character was partly based on Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn director John Milius.

Best quote: "Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."

1. The Dude

The Chandlerian hero of the Coen brothers' comic masterpiece is an unemployed stoner and bowling enthusiast with a penchant for White Russians and Bob Dylan (but not the Eagles), who finds himself entangled in the machinations of a kidnapping scheme after his beloved rug is urinated upon. Jeff Bridges' character eschews his real name — Jeffrey Lebowski — in favor of the Dude, or Duder, or El Duderino, if you're not into that whole brevity thing.

Best quote: "This rug I had, it really tied the room together."