Mini-filmography of Jeff Bridges for Guitar Aficionado, Spring 2010 issue.

Jeff Bridges has been wildly prolific since playing an infant in the 1951 movie The Company She Keeps. From a hapless Texas teen to the king of all Dudes, these are just some of the highlights in the career of the ever-compelling Crazy Heart star. 


The Last Picture Show
Director: Peter Bogdanovich, 1971
A small Texas town is sputtering—even the movie house is breathing its last breath—and its residents are mired in malaise. High school football star Bridges (nominated for Best Supporting Actor) seems to have it pretty good, what with dating the most desirable girl in all of Anarene (Cybill Shepherd), but soon she will deceive him. And by the end, what comes through is not the story of a small town but how frighteningly small life can be.


Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Director: Michael Cimino, 1974
An underappreciated odd-couple classic in the vein of Midnight Cowboy. Clint Eastwood is Thunderbolt, a seasoned bank robber with trust issues, and Bridges is Lightfoot, a cocky young peacock whose cheerful readiness makes up for his lack of brainpower. Thunderbolt is hatching a big heist, and he knows Lightfoot is dangerously loosey-goosey for this kind of precision job, but he’s all he’s got. The robbery and all that comes after is a thrill, but the unlikely friendship between the two disparate loners is the real treasure.


Heaven’s Gate
Director: Michael Cimino, 1980
Behind the scenes, all hell broke loose. Cimino, who only two years earlier had triumphed with The Deer Hunter, went over budget and over time, and sent studio United Artists over the edge. And it was all in service of telling a story inspired by the Johnson County War of 1892, a fight between immigrant settlers from Europe and established Wyoming ranchers. At least the cast was killer: Joining Bridges were Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, John Hurt, and Mickey Rourke. The tagline wasn’t bad either: “What one loves about life are the things that fade.” Yeah, like a good pair of jeans.


The Fabulous Baker Boys
Director: Steve Kloves, 1989
Bridges and his brother, Beau, are a struggling lounge act who hire silky but spiky Michelle Pfeiffer to boost their business. Resentment bubbles up as handsome, callow Jeff wins and squanders her love, while fretful Beau hustles to keep the bookings coming. A study of the limits of brotherly love, not to mention the price you pay when you tell yourself you haven’t sold out but know otherwise.


The Big Lebowski
Director: Joel Coen, 1989
The movie that made Bridges a cult hero and elevated slackerdom to the realm of the sublime. Affable layabout Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski is mistaken for millionaire Jeffrey Lebowski, a.k.a. the Big Lebowski, by some goons, who break into his house and pee on his carpet. For the Dude, this transgression will not stand, and his quest to get justice for his soiled rug takes him on a trippy journey populated with outsized fringe dwellers, including Ben Gazzara as a hard-boiled porn baron and Julianne Moore as a sperm-seeking performance artist. —Kristina Feliciano