10 Movies That Completely Reinvent The Books They’re Based On

Classic film noir has long been an influence on the wry, darkly funny movies of the Coen Brothers. Their back catalogue of movies drips with the moral uncertainty, double-crossing, and shady crime that we associate with great film noir of the classic Hollywood era. But one of their movies that reflects this the most deeply is also one of their most light-hearted and most popular comedies.

The Big Lebowski is a very loose adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, one of the defining novels of hardboiled detective fiction. In the book, private detective Philip Marlowe (yet another nod to Conrad?) is hired by a wealthy father in order to locate one of his daughters, missing, apparently kidnapped by blackmailers. Along the way, Marlowe develops a strange attraction to the other daughter, a femme fatale who is always one step ahead of him. And, guess what, it turns out that, dude, she kidnapped herself.

The Dude, a bumbling, easily-led stoner with no money who only wants to get his rug back, is the polar opposite of Philip Marlowe, a suave, cynical and streetwise detective, wisecracking his way through a seedy and murky world of crime, immortalised on screen with elegant panache by Humphrey Bogart. But this is why The Dude is the best Philip Marlowe.