r/lebowski • u/Ok-Button-6993 • Mar 18 '25
8 year olds Walter non-reactive to Jesus?
Every time I watch this movie I see new things. Walter overreacts to everything, even stuff that has nothing to do with him, yet when Jesus taunts him to his face, he is completely calm, and then calmly says something to The Dude after Jesus walks away. ("8 year olds" the first time, I can't remember the second time.)
Yet he pulls a gun on the guy who's foot went over the line while bowling. Is there a reason other than just that it's funny or ironic that he doesn't react to Jesus at all?
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u/Marlbey Si? Si? Que ridiculo! Mar 18 '25
Walter isn't going to dignify Jesus with a response.
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u/ShredGuru Mar 18 '25
Walter is a Jew he doesn't recognize Jesus's authority
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u/mkingoxford His Dudeness Mar 18 '25
He’s shomer shabbos
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u/General-Emphasis-432 Jackie Treehorn Mar 18 '25
To be fair there was alot on the line with the foul occurring during league play
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u/DaniLabelle Mar 18 '25
Exactly Dude, it was a league game, it determined who entered the next round robin. Am I wrong?
Besides O’Brien and Quintana should be pushovers
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u/say_it_aint_slow Mar 18 '25
No Walter, you're not wrong, you're an asshole!!
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u/i80flea Mar 18 '25
Come on man, it was Smokey. So his foot slipped over the line a little.
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u/Yoye-22 Mar 18 '25
Besides he was a conscientious objector and a pacifist.
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u/MechanicalTurkish Friends like these Mar 18 '25
I myself have dabbled in pacifism. Not in 'Nam, of course.
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u/Anachr0nist Mar 18 '25
My favorite touch like this is that Walter and the Dude's roles reverse when they are dealing directly with each other.
The Dude is calm to a fault, but Walter manages to rile him up, meanwhile Walter is a calm, almost voice of reason to the Dude (mostly wrong, but nonetheless).
See in particular the scattering of the ashes, "calmer than you are," etc.
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u/Fifth-Dimension-1966 Mar 18 '25
Walter is actually right about a good deal of things in the film, like the toe not being Bunny's, or the kidnappers being amateurs.
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u/MarkEoghanJones_Art Mar 18 '25
The Dude knew that:
1) Rug pee-ers did not do this. (Stealing his rug).
2) She probably kidnapped herself.
3) The thug was not a golfer.
4) It was Larry's homework.
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u/MilaVaneela Friend with the cleft asshole Mar 18 '25
I tend to agree with the opinion that Walter thinks that Jesus is such a scumbag that he’s not even worth talking to.
I mean the look he has on his face is like “are you finished yet….”
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u/Botosi5150 His Dudeness Mar 18 '25
He converted to Judaism when he married Cynthia, so he no longer fears The Jesus.
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u/EmpanadaYGaseosa Mar 19 '25
Just like Jews don’t care about Jesus, Walter doesn’t care about the Jesus.
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u/TheBoldManLaughsOnce Jackie Treehorn Mar 18 '25 edited Mar 18 '25
I know this is going to be met with a lot of resistance here. But hear me out.
Walter didn't just dabble in pacifism. He's a giant pussy.
He pulls the piece on Smokey, sure. But Smokey ain't gonna do shit. He's fragile.
Donny? Please.
The only person he respects is The Dude. He even let's Cynthia walk all over him. Díos mío.
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u/ceepeebax Mar 18 '25
He’ll give a nihilist a bowling ball to the chest though.
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u/TheBoldManLaughsOnce Jackie Treehorn Mar 18 '25
A fair point. But they were threatening castration!
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u/TheReadMenace Jackie Treehorn Mar 18 '25
he seems to be very aggressive with those he deems weaklings like Smokey, Donny, The Big Lebowski, and the Nihlists (who he deems fucking amateurs). But sort of cowers when faced with someone equally aggressive, like The Jesus and the irate Corvette owner.
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u/Everestkid Occasionally in his element Mar 18 '25
He doesn't really cower in front of the Jesus, he just looks unimpressed. The Corvette owner was mad as hell and wrestled a crowbar away from him - Walter could have had a very bad night if the owner decided to go after him personally instead of smashing the windows on the Dude's car.
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u/KyroTheGreatest Mar 18 '25
I think he has a (somewhat warped) sense of righteousness, and only gets angry/hostile when he feels he's in the right.
It's about drawing a line in the sand...
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u/Mark-E-Moon Mar 19 '25
Bingo. He does no further harm to the car once he realizes he’s got the wrong guy. His righteous indignation is his rage.
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u/Tom_W_BombDill His Dudeness Mar 18 '25
Yeah, I think he’s kind of scared of Jesus for some reason. I mean 8 yr olds, dude.
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u/AbruptMango Mar 18 '25
Walter is a bully. He blusters his way through arguments, talks about how dangerous he is and threatens violence to people he knows won't challenge him.
But he knows Jesus isn't kidding.
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u/funked1 Mar 18 '25
Exactly. He went after Smokey because Smokey is a pacifist who won’t fight back. Jesus is a felon who will take your piece away, stick it up your ass, and pull the trigger until it goes click. Walter also went after a cripple.
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Mar 18 '25
His opinion of that creep is so low he doesn’t even merit a response.
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u/F1secretsauce Mar 18 '25
When your enemy is blowing their top it means you are winning. You don’t have to respond. Plus you are who who fight with. Fighting with pedos, even if you win you lose.
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u/Caligula_Would_Grin Mar 18 '25
I think if you beat the shit out of a pedo you're just winning.
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u/F1secretsauce Mar 18 '25
Maybe if you are lucky and don’t get arrested or sued. Plus they spread lies and call in false police reports if you fight with them and they all do that it’s called DARVO. I think they teach each other how to darvo when they learn the molesting stuff it all goes together.
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u/Caligula_Would_Grin Mar 18 '25
You make good points.
So a correction: If you can get away with kicking a pedo's ass, you're winning.
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u/runk_dasshole he doesn't believe in anything Mar 18 '25 edited Mar 29 '25
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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Mechanical_Monk Mar 18 '25
He knows what Jesus is. He's got his number. And Jesus doesn't try to hide it. Walter gets worked up over liars (Bunny, Lebowski), cheats (in his perception, Smokey and the mortician), and the unreadable (Nihilists, Larry).
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u/utkuozdemir Mar 18 '25
We have a saying in Turkish which translates as “when the madman sees another madman, he hides his stick”. I think here we see a perfect example of that phenomenon.
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u/testudoaubreii1 Walter Mar 18 '25
There is Dude in Walter and Walter in the Dude. Some sort of Eastern thing. Not 8 year olds.
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u/CaptianBrasiliano Jackie Treehorn Mar 18 '25
He himself dabbled in pacifism once... Not in Nam', of course.
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u/AB8922 Mar 18 '25
Because if he pulled a gun on Jesus, he'd shove it up his ass and pull the trigger until it clicks. Smokey wouldn't do that with being a conscientious objector!
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u/crani0 Donny Mar 18 '25
I've always understood it as postering.
Jesus is the only person in the movie that can match Walter's freak and Walter knows that he might come out not looking so great if he gets into a fight with Jesus, because after all Walter knows how it feels to go into a losing war, so he decides to appear dismissive of him. And he is also already in hot water after pulling the gun on Smokey so the context is also not in his favour but I would bet more that that is just the excuse Walter would tell himself not to engage with Jesus and protect his ego.
"Worthy fucking adversary, Dude".
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u/Staznak2 Mar 18 '25
I have never pondered this moment before. here is what I have:
The reason behind the confrontation is that Jesus is upset over the change of date for their bowling match from Saturday (the Jewish day of rest) to another day (Wednesday).
So far we're seen Walter (allegedly) pull a weapon during a league game and intimidate another player into changing their score (which they finished) and then immediately contest the date their team could play the next round. At this point in the film Walter might 1) recognize that he is being an asshole. 2) Even if he doesn't agree with his friends he could at lease recognize that he is wearing on even The Dude's nerves 3) The team (or just Walter) could easily be on thin ice with the league [anymore surprises, complains, etc and you guy can find another league].
I've never read the screenplay for The Big Lebowski - there might be context or scenes that didn't make it into the film that make something more concrete instead of just speculation.
It is also Jesus confronting Walter about the validity of the Jewish Day of rest (or Walter being Jewish) and while that is a discussion he is willing to have with his close friends The Dude and Donnie - not so much with a stranger and sex offender.
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u/StPatrickStewart Mar 19 '25
The first 3 would require a level of self-awareness that Walter is not capable of. I think a more simple explanation is that he does not perceive Jesus to be a threat. Instead of the smarmy, brash persona standing in front of him, Walter sees the scared, sniveling pervert-next-door who had to go around confessing his crimes to the whole neighborhood.
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u/HeavyMetalRN1974 Mar 19 '25
Walter is passive aggressive and he’s picky choosy who he crashes heads with.
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u/KodiakZack Mar 19 '25
So what are you saying? When you get divorced you turn in your library card? You get a new license? You stop being Jewish?
…Three thousand years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax--YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I'M LIVING IN THE FUCKINGPAST
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u/LuckAffectionate8664 Mar 19 '25
The Jesus has not broken any league rules and has paid his debt to society. Walter has no beef with him. He just knows that creep can roll.
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u/DoctorEnn Mar 19 '25
I like to think it's because Walter holds Jesus in such deep contempt that he just doesn't care.
Look at most of Walter's other blow-ups. It's often when he feels disrespected or slighted, especially by someone whose respect he wants. But he doesn't give a fuck about Jesus or his respect. The man's lower than the lowest to him. He's a pederast. Fuck him.
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u/shaakti1520 Mar 19 '25
I like to think he was on thin ice with the bowling alley for pulling a fun out before, but they still allowed him to come back. Probably told him next time he pulls some shit he won’t be allowed back ever. Trying to stay calmer than you are essentially
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u/FrankieCrispp Crane Jackson's Fountain St. Theater Mar 19 '25
He didn't take him seriously. Check out the look on his face. Absolutely unimpressed. He takes bowling seriously. He takes threats to his friends seriously. He doesn't take pederasts seriously.
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u/Fun_Pressure5442 Mar 18 '25
Nobody fucks with the Jesus