MovieChat Forums > The Big Lebowski (1998) Discussion > The taxi scene.

The taxi scene.

posted 4 years ago by TheMan18 (13135)
19 replies | jump to latest

Hi, in a scene where Jeff Bridges' character "The Dude" is in a taxi and he asks or rather rudely demands the taxi driver to turn off the music because "He hates the f*cking Eagles", and then driver throws him out...

Firstly, was the driver even under the circumstances allowed to do that? And secondly, could he have just said something politely like "Excuse me, sir, I have a headache, can you please turn the music off" and would the taxi driver have obliged then?

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[–] Kompressor (240) 4 years ago

The more unbelievable part is that a leftover hippie would hate the Eagles

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[–] TheMan18 (13135) 4 years ago

Well, maybe he thinks the Eagles are an overrated and not very talented band, maybe he thinks their songwriting, singing and instrument playing is boring and/or insufficient, maybe he's also in addition to it all have heard them too much and feels he's had enough, maybe in addition to all of that he also heard people say how lame they are and this has left an imprint in his mind, and since he probably was in a bad mood that very day in a taxi, and the taxi driver happened to be a devoted fan of the Eagles and was probably in some authoritarian mood, they had a personality clash and therefore a conflict situation involving what we saw - an angry taxi driver throwing "The Dude" out as a result.

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[–] kwestmo (4385) 4 years ago

There are a lot of reason to like and not like the Eagles. I go back and forth myself. However, I am guessing that Lebowski started hating the Eagles when they left country-rock behind and became a pop group.

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[–] kwestmo (4385) 4 years ago

A taxi driver can kick out a passenger if he/she feels threatened or harassed. It's no different that a restaurant or any other business.

Yes, asking nicely always works better than shouting a demand.

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[–] TheMan18 (13135) 4 years ago

2 kwestmo - so you think in this scene, the taxi driver was justified, and by saying "I hate the f... Eagles", Jeff Bridges' character harassed the driver?

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[–] kwestmo (4385) 4 years ago

of course. Why would the driver have to endure that kind of treatment?

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[–] TheMan18 (13135) 4 years ago

Well, maybe the driver was a little short-tempered too, he could've reasoned with him, no? Or turned the music off even if he screamed at him to do so?

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[–] kwestmo (4385) 4 years ago

I guess you're a doormat

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[–] TheMan18 (13135) 4 years ago

Or maybe the scene was played for comedic effect and was supposed to be exaggerated.

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[–] TheMan18 (13135) 4 years ago

For a while there, I honestly thought that the MAIN reason the taxi driver throws the Dude out is because taxi driver is such a huge fan of the Eagles that he was personally upset that someone would speak so ill about one of his all-time favourite bands, but was that 'really' the case here?

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[–] TheMan18 (13135) a year ago

Doormat? Why would you think that mate, kwestmo?

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[–] Redsfan001 (6187) 4 years ago

I got the impression that the taxi driver was having a bad day and the Dudes request was the last straw.

That is why they showed the tumbleweed in the beginning of the film.

The Dude IS the tumbleweed, being blown by the winds of life.

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[–] TheMan18 (13135) 2 years ago

And overall, basically in a nutshell, the taxi driver didn't JUST throw that passenger, The Dude, out, because he was upset and unhappy that he doesn't like the music that he likes, right?

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[–] TheMan18 (13135) a year ago

So they WERE BOTH having an equally bad day and basically managed to duke it out together?

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[–] TheMan18 (13135) a year ago

So do you think that if he asked him politely to turn the music off, the driver could and would oblige?

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[–] liscarkat (19031) a year ago

In a comedy like this, I don't worry much about how realistic it is.

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[–] TheMan18 (13135) 10 months ago

It wasn't as much about realism as it is about understanding a CONFLICTING ATTITUDE.

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[–] TheMan18 (13135) 10 months ago

"In a comedy like this, I don't worry much about how realistic it is."
And you don't worry about its "blunt emotional aspects" either, correct?

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[–] bsantosu (156) 10 months ago

The Dude was channeling the ghost of Gram Parsons.

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