3. The Big Lebowski
Having had his beloved White Russian slipped with a Mickey Finn, The Dude (Jeff Bridges) quickly falls into a stupor that incorporates two of America's favourite pastimes: porn and bowling. The trip even has its own title sequence: 'Gutterballs' a presentation from Jackie Treehorn, the smut baron who had tinkered with El Duderino's drink. In a movie already crammed with the surreal and sublime (not least a trio of nihilists armed with oversized scissors), this film-within-a-film is one of the greatest ever conceived. If only it really existed... After collecting his shoes from a certain Mr. Hussein (whoever knew there'd be room for a spot of Gulf War paranoia?), The Dude is transported into a Busby Berkeley-inspired musical routine featuring a troupe of female dancers wearing bowling pin headdresses and, as a divine centrepiece, Julianne Moore as a gold breast-plated Valkyrie. But that's enough fun: now he's being chased by a trio of red-suited nihilists, each armed with a pair of oversized scissors. It makes sense if you've seen the film...but only just. And to top it all off, there's Kenny Rogers & The First Edition on the soundtrack; with their damned catchy song about the dangers of LSD, 'Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)'. It's impossible to hear this song -or even pick up a bowling ball- without replaying this scene in your frazzled little head.