At a bowling alley bar, The Dude, played by Jeff Bridges, sips a White Russian cocktail. The camera slowly pans over to a cowboy who orders a soft drink and offers up some wisdom:
"A wiser fella than myself once said, 'Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar, well, he eats you.' "
He's The Stranger in The Big Lebowski, played by Sam Elliott.
But before Elliott portrayed cowboys, he worked construction in Los Angeles. That's what launched his big break.