761. Raising Arizona (1987)

Running Time: 94 minutes
Directed By: Joel Coen
Written By: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Main Cast: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, William Forsythe, Trey Wilson

ON MY JOURNEY I MET THE BROTHERS 'COEN'

Since my Netflix streaming device made the decision to be a bitch this evening, thus preventing me from watching "Boyz N' the Hood", I decided to turn to my DVD shelf and reach for my "Coen Brothers Collection" and more specifically "Raising Arizona".

The central character of "Raising Arizona" is Herbert McDunnough a.k.a. Hi McDunnough (Cage). Hi is a man who can't resist the temptation to rob a convenience store, thus leading to his constant arrest. As he passes through the county jail, on the way to prison, he meets (over and over again) Ed (Hunter), short for Edwina. After a few short chats while getting his mugshots and fingerprints, Hi and Ed are eventually wed, following Hi's release from prison. Soon after, however, the couple are given the bad news that they can't conceive due to Ed's infertility. Reading a story about the recently born Arizona quintuplets, children on Nathan Arizona, Hi schemes up the idea to kidnap one of them, so that he and Ed can become a complete family.

When I think of my favorite Coen brothers movies, this is one that I always seem to forget about. Then I watch it and realize just how classic of a comedy this really is and how this is really a prime example of the Coen brothers work, with offbeat, yet memorable characters and intricately weaved plot lines. Another one of the good things about watching "Raising Arizona" is remembering a time, so long ago, when Nicolas Cage still had some acting chops, as he does a damn fine job here as the clueless criminal. Everybody else turns up to put on good performances to, including Hunter, Goodman, Forsythe and a very short appearance by Frances McDormand. I've always been a big Coen brothers fan and I damn sure need to stop forgetting their second feature and a real gem in their line of works, "Raising Arizona". I guess I'll keep this review on the short side and cap it off by saying that if you're looking for a hilarious, classic comedy that also has a lot of cleverness to it, then "Raising Arizona" is exactly what you're looking for.

MEMORABLE "RAISING ARIZONA" QUOTES:

*Name's Smalls. Leonard Smalls. My friends call me Lenny... only I ain't got no friends

*Edwina's insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase.

SPOILER ALERT!

*[final lines] That night I had a dream. I dreamt I was as light as the ether- a floating spirit visiting things to come. The shades and shadows of the people in my life rassled their way their way into my slumber. I dreamed that Gale and Evelle had decided to return to prison. Probably that's just as well. I don't mean to sound superior, and they're a swell couple of guys, but maybe they weren't ready yet to come out into the world. And then I dreamed on, into the future, to a Christmas morn in the Arizona home where Nathan Junior was opening a present from a kindly couple who preferred to remain unknown. I saw Glen a few years later, still having no luck getting the cops to listen to his wild tales about me and Ed. Maybe he threw in one Polack joke too many. I don't know. And still I dreamed on, further into the future than I had ever dreamed before, watching Nathan Junior's progress from afar, taking pride in his accomplishments as if he were our own. Wondering if he ever thought of us and hoping that maybe we'd broadened his horizons a little even if he couldn't remember just how they got broadened. But still I hadn't dreamt nothing about me and Ed until the end. And this was cloudier cause it was years, years away. But I saw an old couple being visited by their children, and all their grandchildren too. The old couple weren't screwed up. And neither were their kids or their grandkids. And I don't know. You tell me. This whole dream, was it wishful thinking? Was I just fleeing reality like I know I'm liable to do? But me and Ed, we can be good too. And it seemed real. It seemed like us and it seemed like, well, our home. If not Arizona, then a land not too far away. Where all parents are strong and wise and capable and all children are happy and beloved. I don't know. Maybe it was Utah.

RATING: 8.5/10 Sorry the review was so short, but sometimes it doesn't take long to tell how good a movie is.

MOVIES WATCHED: 156
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 845

October 4, 2010 2:17am