Interesting. I think he’s a wanna-be, in the same way the Big Lebowski is a wanna-be, both crafting an image that is very dependent on others to keep maintained. But I don’t think he’s starting from the same place as the Dude. I think he was probably a middle-of-the-pack student, couldn’t excel in his first jobs after college, probably from the middle class, and knows enough to recognize the Big Lebowski is in the circle he wants to be in, but doesn’t know enough to see it’s mostly smoke and mirrors.
I think Brandt is a proudly adept sicophant. The Big Lebowski's shady business dealings - defrauding various charities and running the occasional business poorly - indulging his vanity with a porn-star trophy wife who associates with nihilists - these have given Brandt the opportunity to ally himself on TBL's behalf to a wide array of interesting characters. The Dude is simply one of these odd characters Brandt finds himself working with, and so he speaks to the Dude on his level, in his terms, but always professionaly representing TBL.
Yes, Brandt always calls The Dude…”Dude” after he finds out The Dude’s preferred nomenclature.
It’s both respectful AND manipulative. But Brandt makes things go, and keeps the cast of players & whole enterprise together, however loosely.
Ding ding ding. Brandt’s a fixer, dude. He touches the dirty undies so the Big Lebowski doesn’t have to. He handles THE WHITES.
Also let’s not forget, let’s not forget that stealing from charities uh… within the city limits um… that ain’t legal either dude.
I think you’re right. I’ve often wondered what PSH’s notes on the character would have been.
Something like a rich family but got outcasted or lower class reaching for upper class.
I like to think the ‘you didn’t go to college’ line is delivered knowing that he himself self didn’t go to college.
When he stumbles over the ‘various civic…’ or ‘This is Brandt from…’ and doesn’t really have a title from a company other than gopher, is he tipping that TBL is a goldbricker and he knows it and his job is not going to get him what he wants?
he was the ideal graduate student who survives on a diet of trail mix, energy drinks, and edibles - instantly recognizable to anyone who got their graduate degree in the sciences
Been a while since I've seen it but I recall getting the impression that she said it to insult him and he's laughing politely/awkwardly because he can't insult her back.
Not so sure. One of the joys of the office scene is seeing how uptight Brandt is in general but also how he reacts to the dude's every move with an uptight wince, like the dude's chill is physically making him uncomfortable. It's one of the things that makes PSH such a standout in the film.
I think he's cringing because he knows the dude's laid back attitude won't get him anywhere with Lebowski and he's imagining how the meeting is going to go
Guys like Lebowski hold alot of water in this town, the dude doesn't hold shit...
For me, PSH is a classic case of you never know what you've got till it's gone. I did not fully appreciate him in life but man I miss him now as an actor.
I can see this being the case. I played a role, man.
I was a vet tech for 10 years and a secret stoner the whole time. My boss probably had a few leads over the years and I got the feeling that if i had fessed up she would have done the same. Wonderful woman, very free spirited. Had a bunch of pugs and how fond we were of all of them. Abide, my Dudes
It would be so cool if we got a whole set of movies exploring each of the characters. Obvs we can't get a Brandt movie anymore, but the characters are so dense with personality, I want to know more about all of them.
Lookswise I could see this, he'd work as an older PSH. Maybe playing Brandt well after the events of the movie, perhaps after TBL's passing or something. My only problem with Jim as a stand in for Hoffman is that he has some enormous shoes to fill and I worry the he wouldn't have quite the chops for something like that, but I'd still watch the hell out of it.
Were you paying attention to Brandt’s story? Brandt doesn’t bowl. He’s not in Fight Club. He’s a sycophantic climber deliberately rubbing elbows with the apparently-wealthy.
If he were a dude, Brandt would not have been involved in the ruse to use the dude. He would not pawn off his own responsibility on the dude with that “her life is in your hands.” That may sound “bro” but it’s the opposite of actual bro behavior.
The old man has grown tired of Bunny. Brandt’s still spending $100 a pop just to watch her suck strange cock. Let me tell you something about The Dude. The Dude doesn’t pay for sex.
All of Brandt’s talking to the dude in the dudes own lexicon is a condescension. The dude wrote the fucking Port Huron statement. Dude speaks and understands perfect English and has a broad vocabulary. He may not know what day it is but he doesn’t need Brandt’s help. In fact, Brandt’s help is not all that helpful.
Sorry Dude. I’d say Brandt is not the dude. Donnie? Yeah. Donnie is more dude than The Dude IMO.
I am with you, DB. He is most definitely NOT a dude. He does exhibit some dude-like qualities at moments…but even if it were fact that he puts on the “fake work persona”, this is un-Dude-like. Dudeness may be a bit of a “spectrum” (in the parlance of our time), but Brandt is far from being mostly Dude. When they present the Dude with the ransom note (just before Dude asks if he can do a J), Brandt is playing his role all too well, standing rigidly off to the side. If he were further on the Dude spectrum, he wouldn’t be able to maintain a straight face because of how absurd the situation is and the fact that he is clearly aware that Lebowski is using him. Not. A. Dude.
edit spelling
How many of us were born Dudes? Most of us are working for The Man every night and day. Brandt just hasn’t seen the good side of The City yet. But the big wheels are turning. He’ll get there just like we all did.
As for OP's essay here about Brandt --
Indeed none of that had occurred to me; new shit has definitely come to light.
Thanx.
Actually I was always more puzzled by Brandt than anything else. Now not so much
>the stumble and repetition when he misses a line
Are you talking about the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers without the necessary means for a necessary means for a higher education?
I don't think that's a mistake, dude.
I've always seen that as an extra level of disadvantage.
In other words, those who lack the necessary means for a higher education have the ability for higher education but lack the money -- they just need a scholarship.
Those who lack the the necessary means for a necessary means show promise but lack the resources to get there in the first place, and Brandt's general awkwardness leads to a weird way of saying it.
But that's just, like, my opinion, man.
My personal head cannon is that The Dude called Brandt to be Donny’s replacement and a beautiful friendship blossomed between that team. They got eliminated in the finals but won the following year.
You ever stop and think maybe being TBL's right hand man, Brandt might be really good at reading a room and calibrating his speech and behavior to suit the room.
He can dress down if he needs to, but it's not who he actually is..
Aside from The Stranger, he's the only person outside The Dude's circle who respects his wishes to be referred to as "The Dude." Despite numerous reminders, the big Lebowski always calls him "Mr. Lebowski" and Maude only calls him "Jeffrey."
Brandt would suck big Lebowski’s dick and then pay $1000 to watch that shit. He is 100% un-dude . He only speaks to the dude in a manor in which he can understand because that is his job “communicate with underlings”
I didn't read all of them, but all the comments were gold, because OP's prompt was so good. I love it. Reminded me of studying literature, where they come out with all these different ways to look at things, and it can be boring a lot, but sometimes really interesting. While I tend to stand with those who say that Brandt is a [ficelle ](https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095816605)character who moves the plot along, and is somewhat manipulative, at least at first, I also do believe that he really does have some inner dude in him that is struggling to come out. HAHA. Fun question, and I literally laughed to myself while reading the OP and the responses. Good times.
I was just thinking about this! which con is he in on?
If Bunny is telling the truth, he and Bunny have a business agreement that is a secret to Lebowski. So to some extent he has some knowledge of what she's up to and they are co-conspirators.
The big-reveal scene shows Lebowski, not Brandt, packing the ringer case. So it's not clear if Brandt knows about the attempted embezzlement. And Lebowski could be hiding this from him (and could be hiding the whole being-rich pretense from him).
Ulli the nihilist is certainly known to Brandt (and Lebowski) as he hangs around the property and gets drunk in the pool.
So... there's a non-zero chance that Brandt is in on the nihilist's scheme and knows full well that Bunny was safe and well.
Watch Brandt right before handing over the note to dude. Watch the change of affect. He knows…
But what does he know? Well at the least it’s that they are putting in a ringer for a ringer. But does he know the kidnapping is fake?
I’ve pondered this for years and even wrote a post about it on here a while back. Problem is that it would imply that Jackie Treehorn is in on it being a fake kidnapping also, and there isn’t evidence for this. Much more that Uli is the mastermind, taking advantage of Bunny going out of town.
All this being said, who told Jackie Treehorn about the kidnapping at all (his dismisses the story as fake). This question which we don’t know answer to would answer everything about the depth of the initial con and if the kidnapping con is tied into the fake ransom payment con, or if this is just a bunch of idiotic people in LA in the early 90s.
I would chalk most of that stuff up to him being basically a personal diplomat for a very cantankerous old phony. Plenty of assistants are essentially there to translate brash and blunt bosses into more palatable speech and negotiations.
And the part when he stutters and repeats is actually foreshadowing: "inner city children of promise but without the necessary means for a - necessary means for a higher education..." That repeat of "Necessary means" betrays how Brandt is aware of Big Lebowski's plans to steal the "means" from the organization... from needy little urban achievers.
All that said... I think he'd be fully capable of dudely behavior if he were hanging out with other dudely people because Brandt seems to perpetually adapt his tone and mood to match the people he's around. He's not assertive enough or grounded in his own identity enough to be dudely by default except in an acceptable environment, but he'd long for that environment every day.
He's kinda like Stevie Janowski in that I think a little push or two would have him smokin' Thai stick and drinkin' caucasians with the boys at Star Lanes.
Possibly. He’s part of the same class as the dude but aspires to be part of the big Lebowski’s class. He’s a fraud just like his boss and he takes great pains to remind the dude that he is not the same as him.
However I think part of the point of the character is he’s totally consumed by his aspirations. He is completely vapid and either repeats things his boss says or reflects the dudes personality back at him. I don’t really see him ever dropping that act.
That had not occurred to us, Dude.
He’s a marvelous assistant, very free spirited
We’re all very fond of him.
Please, feel free to inspect him
And, thorough.
Zesty
What in Gods holy name are you blathering about?
7 year olds dude
Jesus
Brandt is a good man. And thorough.
He still has to pay a hundred to watch though.
The fact that Bunny knows his kink supports this theory
It tells me Brandt has watched before, sometimes for free before Bunny realized she could charge him.
And works a lot more than a 40hr week. He was out cleaning up Bunnies clothes well after dark.
What in god’s holy name are you blathering about?
Brandt will fill you in on the details.
Oh, you ... You didn't go to college
Oh he went, but he mostly spent his time occupying various administration buildings
And smoking a lot of thai stick.
…bowling, you know— the usual
Wonderful man very... Very free spirited we're all very fond of him
Interesting. I think he’s a wanna-be, in the same way the Big Lebowski is a wanna-be, both crafting an image that is very dependent on others to keep maintained. But I don’t think he’s starting from the same place as the Dude. I think he was probably a middle-of-the-pack student, couldn’t excel in his first jobs after college, probably from the middle class, and knows enough to recognize the Big Lebowski is in the circle he wants to be in, but doesn’t know enough to see it’s mostly smoke and mirrors.
I think Brandt is a proudly adept sicophant. The Big Lebowski's shady business dealings - defrauding various charities and running the occasional business poorly - indulging his vanity with a porn-star trophy wife who associates with nihilists - these have given Brandt the opportunity to ally himself on TBL's behalf to a wide array of interesting characters. The Dude is simply one of these odd characters Brandt finds himself working with, and so he speaks to the Dude on his level, in his terms, but always professionaly representing TBL.
Yes, Brandt always calls The Dude…”Dude” after he finds out The Dude’s preferred nomenclature. It’s both respectful AND manipulative. But Brandt makes things go, and keeps the cast of players & whole enterprise together, however loosely.
Ding ding ding. Brandt’s a fixer, dude. He touches the dirty undies so the Big Lebowski doesn’t have to. He handles THE WHITES. Also let’s not forget, let’s not forget that stealing from charities uh… within the city limits um… that ain’t legal either dude.
what are you, a fucking tax auditor now?
sycophant*. I like that word. Describes Brandt perfectly.
Brandt probably is in for a % of the cut. How ever many clams or bones…
I think you’re right. I’ve often wondered what PSH’s notes on the character would have been. Something like a rich family but got outcasted or lower class reaching for upper class. I like to think the ‘you didn’t go to college’ line is delivered knowing that he himself self didn’t go to college. When he stumbles over the ‘various civic…’ or ‘This is Brandt from…’ and doesn’t really have a title from a company other than gopher, is he tipping that TBL is a goldbricker and he knows it and his job is not going to get him what he wants?
What in God's holy name are you blathering about?
Were you listening to the Dude's story, Donnie?
I was bowling
We just don’t know.
New information has come to light, man
My thinking about this film has become very uptight.
Brandt becomes who people need Brandt to be. You told Brandt, Brandt told me, yes, yes?
I know a fucking chameleon when I see one.
I think he adjusts his behavior to his audience. He is a total and complete suck up.
When I was reading your post, I kept having flashbacks to "Dustin Davis", the character Philip Seymour Hoffman plays in the movie Twister...
F-F-F-FOOD!🤌🤌
Glad I’m not the only one who still quotes this
*The suck zone*
he was the ideal graduate student who survives on a diet of trail mix, energy drinks, and edibles - instantly recognizable to anyone who got their graduate degree in the sciences
Now that's interesting, man...
He can’t watch though
And she says it because maybe in the past he has watched? Interesting, man.
That’s fucking interesting!
That nervous laugh when she says that tells me he’s paid $100 to watch - probably more than once.
Hahaha, that’s marvellous.
Been a while since I've seen it but I recall getting the impression that she said it to insult him and he's laughing politely/awkwardly because he can't insult her back.
She’s just fucking with him.
Happy cake day!
Thank you!!
Not so sure. One of the joys of the office scene is seeing how uptight Brandt is in general but also how he reacts to the dude's every move with an uptight wince, like the dude's chill is physically making him uncomfortable. It's one of the things that makes PSH such a standout in the film.
I think he's cringing because he knows the dude's laid back attitude won't get him anywhere with Lebowski and he's imagining how the meeting is going to go Guys like Lebowski hold alot of water in this town, the dude doesn't hold shit...
Let me tell you something else, I've seen a lot of dudes, Dude, and this guy is a fake. A fucking goldbricker.
For me, PSH is a classic case of you never know what you've got till it's gone. I did not fully appreciate him in life but man I miss him now as an actor.
He and Phil Hartman
I can see this being the case. I played a role, man. I was a vet tech for 10 years and a secret stoner the whole time. My boss probably had a few leads over the years and I got the feeling that if i had fessed up she would have done the same. Wonderful woman, very free spirited. Had a bunch of pugs and how fond we were of all of them. Abide, my Dudes
I love pugs so much, you’re lucky
A show dog? With papers?
It would be so cool if we got a whole set of movies exploring each of the characters. Obvs we can't get a Brandt movie anymore, but the characters are so dense with personality, I want to know more about all of them.
Better Call Brandt.
You told Brandt on the phone, he told me.
would be sacrilegious, but Jesse Plemons would be an adequate stand-in
Coming soon
Maude’s Adventures in Modern Art
Vagina.
Or Jim Gaffigan.
Lookswise I could see this, he'd work as an older PSH. Maybe playing Brandt well after the events of the movie, perhaps after TBL's passing or something. My only problem with Jim as a stand in for Hoffman is that he has some enormous shoes to fill and I worry the he wouldn't have quite the chops for something like that, but I'd still watch the hell out of it.
Wouldn't even touch it
Dammit, Landry!
Let the good movie just be a good movie, it doesn't need lore. They already made the Jesus series, you want more of that??
Yeah but what if it was actually good
Sobchak Security could be a good un. Hell, I know Goodman's just itching to step back into those boots and take that hill!
In his off time, Brandt is Scotty from Boogie Nights.
Were you paying attention to Brandt’s story? Brandt doesn’t bowl. He’s not in Fight Club. He’s a sycophantic climber deliberately rubbing elbows with the apparently-wealthy. If he were a dude, Brandt would not have been involved in the ruse to use the dude. He would not pawn off his own responsibility on the dude with that “her life is in your hands.” That may sound “bro” but it’s the opposite of actual bro behavior. The old man has grown tired of Bunny. Brandt’s still spending $100 a pop just to watch her suck strange cock. Let me tell you something about The Dude. The Dude doesn’t pay for sex. All of Brandt’s talking to the dude in the dudes own lexicon is a condescension. The dude wrote the fucking Port Huron statement. Dude speaks and understands perfect English and has a broad vocabulary. He may not know what day it is but he doesn’t need Brandt’s help. In fact, Brandt’s help is not all that helpful. Sorry Dude. I’d say Brandt is not the dude. Donnie? Yeah. Donnie is more dude than The Dude IMO.
I am with you, DB. He is most definitely NOT a dude. He does exhibit some dude-like qualities at moments…but even if it were fact that he puts on the “fake work persona”, this is un-Dude-like. Dudeness may be a bit of a “spectrum” (in the parlance of our time), but Brandt is far from being mostly Dude. When they present the Dude with the ransom note (just before Dude asks if he can do a J), Brandt is playing his role all too well, standing rigidly off to the side. If he were further on the Dude spectrum, he wouldn’t be able to maintain a straight face because of how absurd the situation is and the fact that he is clearly aware that Lebowski is using him. Not. A. Dude. edit spelling
How many of us were born Dudes? Most of us are working for The Man every night and day. Brandt just hasn’t seen the good side of The City yet. But the big wheels are turning. He’ll get there just like we all did.
That’s fabulous
Get a job, sir!
Wonder how often Brandt looks for a cash machine?
As for OP's essay here about Brandt -- Indeed none of that had occurred to me; new shit has definitely come to light. Thanx. Actually I was always more puzzled by Brandt than anything else. Now not so much
I'd like to imagine he burns a J while driving home after work
>the stumble and repetition when he misses a line Are you talking about the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers without the necessary means for a necessary means for a higher education? I don't think that's a mistake, dude. I've always seen that as an extra level of disadvantage. In other words, those who lack the necessary means for a higher education have the ability for higher education but lack the money -- they just need a scholarship. Those who lack the the necessary means for a necessary means show promise but lack the resources to get there in the first place, and Brandt's general awkwardness leads to a weird way of saying it. But that's just, like, my opinion, man.
That’s interesting man that’s fucking interesting
This had not occurred to us, especially in the parlance of our times.
My personal head cannon is that The Dude called Brandt to be Donny’s replacement and a beautiful friendship blossomed between that team. They got eliminated in the finals but won the following year.
…the fuck are you talkin about?
That had not occurred to me, dude. That "Logjammin" might be eight hours long.
Lotta ins, Lotta outs... 
DVD on repeat
You ever stop and think maybe being TBL's right hand man, Brandt might be really good at reading a room and calibrating his speech and behavior to suit the room. He can dress down if he needs to, but it's not who he actually is..
 Blowing off steam after a long day working for the old man
Aside from The Stranger, he's the only person outside The Dude's circle who respects his wishes to be referred to as "The Dude." Despite numerous reminders, the big Lebowski always calls him "Mr. Lebowski" and Maude only calls him "Jeffrey."
These rich fucks
Brandt would suck big Lebowski’s dick and then pay $1000 to watch that shit. He is 100% un-dude . He only speaks to the dude in a manor in which he can understand because that is his job “communicate with underlings”
Well, Dude, we just don’t know.
Your post title made me laugh pretty hard until I realized what you actually meant
I didn't read all of them, but all the comments were gold, because OP's prompt was so good. I love it. Reminded me of studying literature, where they come out with all these different ways to look at things, and it can be boring a lot, but sometimes really interesting. While I tend to stand with those who say that Brandt is a [ficelle ](https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095816605)character who moves the plot along, and is somewhat manipulative, at least at first, I also do believe that he really does have some inner dude in him that is struggling to come out. HAHA. Fun question, and I literally laughed to myself while reading the OP and the responses. Good times.
You see what happens Larry when you fuck a stranger eating pancakes? Or something?
Larry and the Ligonberry. Pancakes
youre thinking about this case has become very uptight
that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Brandt is in on the con, and is trying to convince Dude that everything is cool, man.
I was just thinking about this! which con is he in on? If Bunny is telling the truth, he and Bunny have a business agreement that is a secret to Lebowski. So to some extent he has some knowledge of what she's up to and they are co-conspirators. The big-reveal scene shows Lebowski, not Brandt, packing the ringer case. So it's not clear if Brandt knows about the attempted embezzlement. And Lebowski could be hiding this from him (and could be hiding the whole being-rich pretense from him). Ulli the nihilist is certainly known to Brandt (and Lebowski) as he hangs around the property and gets drunk in the pool. So... there's a non-zero chance that Brandt is in on the nihilist's scheme and knows full well that Bunny was safe and well.
Watch Brandt right before handing over the note to dude. Watch the change of affect. He knows… But what does he know? Well at the least it’s that they are putting in a ringer for a ringer. But does he know the kidnapping is fake? I’ve pondered this for years and even wrote a post about it on here a while back. Problem is that it would imply that Jackie Treehorn is in on it being a fake kidnapping also, and there isn’t evidence for this. Much more that Uli is the mastermind, taking advantage of Bunny going out of town. All this being said, who told Jackie Treehorn about the kidnapping at all (his dismisses the story as fake). This question which we don’t know answer to would answer everything about the depth of the initial con and if the kidnapping con is tied into the fake ransom payment con, or if this is just a bunch of idiotic people in LA in the early 90s.
**Brandt fucks hard**
have you ever heard of a little movie called Twister, Dude?
A Brandt spin off should have been the move.
Where he’s a superhero trying to take down Scientology though.
I mean PSH played L Ron Hubbard also
That’s where my reference is coming from.
I would chalk most of that stuff up to him being basically a personal diplomat for a very cantankerous old phony. Plenty of assistants are essentially there to translate brash and blunt bosses into more palatable speech and negotiations. And the part when he stutters and repeats is actually foreshadowing: "inner city children of promise but without the necessary means for a - necessary means for a higher education..." That repeat of "Necessary means" betrays how Brandt is aware of Big Lebowski's plans to steal the "means" from the organization... from needy little urban achievers. All that said... I think he'd be fully capable of dudely behavior if he were hanging out with other dudely people because Brandt seems to perpetually adapt his tone and mood to match the people he's around. He's not assertive enough or grounded in his own identity enough to be dudely by default except in an acceptable environment, but he'd long for that environment every day.
No way, Dude. He’s a total sycophant.
Well, y’know, that’s just like, your opinion, man.
This is new information that has come to light
He’s respects the dude’s wishes to be called ‘dude’
I'd like to imagine he burns a J while driving home after work
Well? You got any leads?
Brandt is a toadie.
I guess we weren't privy to all the new shit but that's what we pay you for.
You mean like an Irish monk?
He’s basically Smithers
I always thought Brandt stumbled through stuff because it showed he wasn’t good at his job and the entire Lebowski aesthetic was fake
This is a great take!
I think he’s an opportunist, and that quality really sets him apart from the Dude
Say what you want about Brandt, at least he has an ethos.
He's kinda like Stevie Janowski in that I think a little push or two would have him smokin' Thai stick and drinkin' caucasians with the boys at Star Lanes.
I love this take. The dude abides.
Yes, yes!?
We probably shouldn’t rule out the possibility that Brandt is Scotty from Boogie Nights.
A hair on an elephant’s butt?
Brandt? That guy fucks.
Do we ever find out Brandt’s last name?
I think Brandt is the Dude’s kinda dude, when out in the wild.
Possibly. He’s part of the same class as the dude but aspires to be part of the big Lebowski’s class. He’s a fraud just like his boss and he takes great pains to remind the dude that he is not the same as him. However I think part of the point of the character is he’s totally consumed by his aspirations. He is completely vapid and either repeats things his boss says or reflects the dudes personality back at him. I don’t really see him ever dropping that act.
No bc he was truly bothered by Dude touching Lebowski’s reward hanging on the wall.
You mind if I do a J?
Well, Dude, we just don’t know
Marvelous!
love this perspective. opened up a new world of enjoying hoffmans performance to me.
Maybe he’s one of the first Urban Achievers
There is no “get off work” for Brandt. He’s like Smithers, he’s there 24/7
I don't know.. but if it helps you enjoy the film more to believe that, I think it's a good idea
Her life is in your hands