Margaux and I discuss another movie about which we have no complaints: Raising Arizona.
Trevor:This is going to be another Moonstruck situation, because I have nothing bad to say about Raising Arizona. I’m biased, of course, because the Coen brothers are my favorite filmmakers (which isn’t exactly a controversial stance). This movie is great and Cage is great in it. As an actor, he does a lot of accent work, and I think this might be my favorite voice of his (tied, maybe, with his husky New York drawl in Moonstruck). Also, this might be the Coens’ sweetest film, and Cage, of all people, turns out to be the perfect person to anchor it. Holly Hunter is great too, but we’ll get to her eventually.
Margaux: I haven’t seen Raising Arizona in a really long time, but I was struck by how timeless it looked (way to go, Barry Sonnenfeld!) and sounded. Immediately I knew this Cage-Mas pick was going to be us saying “this movie is great! One million stars” for about 500+ words. The cold open is probably one of my favorite sequences committed to film, the amount of information and characterization and scene setting done at that pace in such an organic way, I felt like I hadn’t that in really long time. I understand why Raising Arizona is often lauded as their most genuine in their filmography, and really established their writing and directing style for almost every movie they’ve made since.
Trevor: And since this came after their pitch-black debut Blood Simple, they already established themselves as guys who would, say, follow Fargo with The Big Lebowski. Goddamn I love the Coen brothers. But I’m getting off track.
Margaux: The jig is up, we fucking love the Coens. Phew, now we can move on.
Trevor: I agree with you about the opening. It’s such efficient storytelling and world-building, but it never feels rushed. You take in all the information as rapidly as it’s presented to you, and by the time the title hits the screen you feel as though you really know Hi and Ed. (What great names.) Also, I’m of the mind that every Coen film has one line that’s funnier than all the rest, and for Raising Arizona, I think it’s “My seed could find no purchase.” Something about Cage’s droll delivery makes the line funny and tragic at the same time.
Margaux: Pretty sure this was also the last we see Cage’s real hair committed to film (the year is 1987). The banter seemed to flow well between Hi and Ed, and I usually do not like Helen Hunt, their chemistry is surprising. But with her background in law enforcement would lead you to believe she wouldn’t ultimately be the one to hatch the baby snatching scheme. But that’s what allows Cage’s breaking bad persona to be so charming and hoping against hope they’ll get away with. I forgot how slapstick this movie is and was happy to see Cage pull it off in a way that wasn’t cringeworthy.
Trevor: There are a couple incredibly well-constructed comic set pieces in this film, the first of which is Cage alone in a room full of babies. There’s not much to it; the babies crawl around, and Hi reacts. But kidnapping a baby while its parents are downstairs is something that would be played for tension in most other movies; in Raising Arizona the Coens manage to play it for laughs.
Margaux: The fact that they refer to Dr. Spock’s book, Baby and Childcare, as “the baby manual” is hysterical. Also, when Hi comes back to the car, baby-less, and complains to Ed that they were crawling all over and crying and can’t they just go home? Was the exact right reaction to have about babies in general. Bad idea, just go home.
Trevor: Later (and this is skipping ahead, sorry), when Hi robs a convenience store for Huggies, begins the film’s finest sequence, in my estimation. The Coens can boast many iconic shots; one of them is Hi, clad in panty hose, Huggies under his arm, running from cops. I don’t use the word “madcap” often, but I think it applies to this sequence. It’s hilarious, but also goddamn dizzying in its construction, as cops, the store clerk, about a dozen dogs, and an innocent driver all get caught up in the chase. It’s brilliant filmmaking, and Cage’s long-limbed frame makes him well-suited to scenes like this (also scenes where he has to get beat up).
Margaux: Everyone Hi runs into has at least one gun, and he manages to escape unharmed. It was insane to watch him dodge all the gunfire like he was Keanu in the Matrix. I did love Helen Hunt muttering to herself, “goddamn son of a bitch.”
Trevor: I think there’s a direct line from her character here to her character in O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Margaux: But to switch back to the topic of Cage, I did wonder why he’s never worked with the Coen Brothers again. Dark comedy is perfectly suited to Cage’s wheelhouse, and they seem like the right directors to guide him. I only rented the movie on iTunes, but I wonder if there’s a story in the director’s commentary or something.
Trevor: The only story I read was on the IMDb trivia; apparently while out for drinks with the actor playing Glen, Cage was approached by a girl who didn’t know if it was him or not. He said it was him; she asked for an autograph; he signed a cocktail napkin “Tomorrow you will die. Love, Nic Cage.” So I think he was pretty nuts already. But I want to co-sign your idea of him working with the Coens again.
What really struck me re-watching Raising Arizona is how hopeful it is at times – tender, even. There’s really none of the blackhearted humor that the Coens are well-known for now, which you can see in full force in Burn After Reading. The ending, for instance, was unexpectedly moving. Both Hi’s dream, and Hi and Ed’s conversation with Nathan Arizona.
Margaux: I wrote in my notes that Hi’s nightmare at the beginning, of a demon man arriving on a motorcycle to reign down havoc, was really just him having a premonition of starring in Ghost Rider later. And Hi’s dream at the end, of being a Ghost of Christmas-type, visiting the life of a growing Nathan Jr and his family with Ed, was The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. I think Cage-Mas has broken me.
To your point of Raising Arizona being heartfelt at its core, I’d agree with you. It’s definitely one of the Coen Brothers’ more truly lighthearted and hopeful movies, but still ended on a joke, “maybe it was Utah.” Brings it full circle.
Trevor: Such a great ending. Such a great movie. I don’t have any complaints about it, other than that it took me way too long to watch it again.
Margaux: It pulls off a fairly ridiculous premise, and the universe sort of supports it by having everyone be a little baby crazy, everyone wants their own little junior. It’s a great story, and Hi is one of the best character Cage has played, a bit of a lightning in a bottle of a performance. Or at least, it feels that way after all that we’ve seen him in since Raising Arizona.
Next up: Trespass
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