Since approximately 1990, at least once a year, I watch Raising Arizona. Directed by the Coen Brothers in the middle of a fast rise that would see them become two of the most prominent and discussed directors in less than a decade, Raising Arizona is one of my favorite comedies of all time. Fortunately, it’s also considered by many others to be a masterpiece, as well. So many that it easily finds a place among any list of movies to see before you die.
I won’t pretend to have understood every joke or scene when I saw Raising Arizona for the first time. I was only 5 or 6 years old, but it was the sort of movie ostensibly for adults that my parents would let me watch with them if I wanted. There wasn’t going to be anything a child shouldn’t see. I loved the movie from the first time I saw it because a lot of its appeal can be understood by almost anyone. It’s a chaotic, often loud whirlwind of larger-than-life characters and circumstances.
Raising Arizona is the story of a retired cop named Ed (Holly Hunter) and a reformed criminal named H.I. (Nicolas Cage) getting married, learning they can’t conceive a child, and making the very rational decision to kidnap a baby. Their logic is that since local unpainted furniture store tycoon Nathan Arizona (the late, great Trey Wilson) and his wife Florence (Lynne Kitei) have five of them, they can afford to miss just one. Makes perfect sense.
The logic employed by Ed and H.I. is just one example of many of the film’s memorable characters making bizarre, often surprising decisions. “Cartoonish” is a word often used to describe Raising Arizona, and this is always meant in the most glowing terms. Ed and H.I. are just two of the generally amiable personalities that populate this film. The cast also includes John Goodman and William Forsythe as two criminal buddies of H.I’s, Frances McDormand and Sam McMurray as a horrible married couple, and the literal maniac Randall “Tex” Cobb (feel free to look up his remarkable life) as a bounty hunter and supernatural force of cruel determination.
Everyone and everything in Raising Arizona is heightened with a certain fast-paced energy. 1987 audiences weren’t quite aware yet that this sort of energy would become standard with the Coens, especially in their comedies. After all, this is only the second movie they’d made at this point. It’s remarkable to think about that now, as we wonder if the two will ever direct together again.
As I got older, my appreciation for a movie with so much emotion, wild comedy, and sincere, memorable, often softly deranged characters only deepened. Raising Arizona is a film that is guaranteed to grab your attention very early into the proceedings. You’ll be so swept up in H.I’s drawling, often hilarious narration, you won’t even notice that the credits haven’t appeared. I’ve been watching Raising Arizona for 30 years, and I still get so caught up in the fun that I forget.
I promise that if you haven’t seen Raising Arizona yet, it’s going to be one of the funniest films you’ll ever watch.
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