Jeff Bridges and thousands of fans in bathrobes and khakis attended the festival dedicated to the Coen brothers' abiding film

Rachel Wax is a video editor from LA. On her arm, written in cursive, is a tattoo of the word “abide”, inked a few years ago after she met Jeff Bridges and asked him to scrawl it on her skin.

“I didn’t wash for two days,” she says, “This is actually the text that he wrote.”

Rachel is part of a long line of people outside the Wiltern Theater, in downtown Los Angeles. On either side of us are hundreds of people in long raincoats, bathrobes, or white and beige Pendleton sweaters.

If you have never seen The Big Lebowski, the Coen brothers’ 1998 film about a case of mistaken identity and an unforgettable anti-hero called the Dude, you're forgiven for any confusion. Why are four blocks of people in flip-flops standing about this far from the beach? Why have all the men with knitwear come with a friend in a military vest and khakis?

The answer: they're all here for the first night of Lebowski Fest, a “travelling festival” celebrating the movie, and here are a thousand of the film’s superfans, known in the Lebowski vernacular as “achievers”.

They are largely dressed as characters – mostly the Dude and his Nam vet buddy, Walter, though I spy a Maude Lebowski or two, in green velvet – and there will be a prize awarded for the most convincing costume.

In the line, I meet an achiever from Seattle called Gary Hamiker, who took home the “Best Dude” award at last year’s Seattle Lebowski Fest. He looks uncannily like Jeff Bridges. I ask him if he loves the film because he embodies the Dude’s lifestyle.

“I love it because the Dude embodies mine,” he says.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fans pose in the line for Lebowski Fest. Photograph: Emma-Lee Moss

Lebowski Fest started out in Louisville, Kentucky in 2002, and now takes place all over America. It typically involves a movie screening, a bowling party and meet-ups with minor cast members. According to the veterans I meet, its Louisville incarnation is the most fun, but tonight the Achievers are being treated to something special and rare – an appearance from the Dude himself, in the form of a musical performance by Jeff Bridges and his band, the Abiders.

As we enter the venue, anticipation is high. Gary says he hopes Bridges picks him out of the crowd.

Inside the theater, girls in Viking helmets are selling White Russians on trays, in honour of the Dude's favourite drink. Peter Exline, one of the Coen Brothers’ inspirations for the Dude, kicks off proceedings by speaking about a rug he once had that “tied the room together”. During the next set of deliberately horrible cod-rock from the Kyle Gass Band, I duck out of the auditorium and get my picture taken with Lu Elrod (Coffee Shop Waitress) and Jim Hoosier (Liam).

When I get back, another inspiration for the Dude, Jeff Dowd, is causing chaos onstage with a girl he keeps referring to as “my special lady friend”. Later, he pushes to the front of the crowd to get a video of Bridges as he walks on stage.

The Abiders are skilled entertainers, and Bridges is a generous performer, playing to the occasion with Lebowski-themed blues-rock covers and saying things like: “Me and T-Bone go back 30 years. We met on the set of Heaven’s Gate … ” The crowd goes wild every time he mentions the world “abide” or “nihilist”. The Abiders end their set with “some Creedence”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jeff Bridges performs with the Abiders, at Lebowski Fest. Photograph: Michael Tullberg/Getty Images

By the time the screening begins there is hysteria in the air, and it’s an extraordinary environment in which to watch a movie. It's more like a sports event than a film – there are cheers for every name in the opening credits, and every word of dialogue is chanted in unison, with extra applause for the most quotable phrases.

When Philip Seymour Hoffman's character, Brandt, appears onscreen, the crowd leaps to their feet. It's an unexpectedly moving moment in among all the goodnatured raucousness: a homage to a great actor by the fans he made through association to this, the most abiding of films.