Raising Arizona (1987)
Retro Review #70: The Coen brothers' second film and first masterpiece.
Raising Arizona (1987)
+ Feature film, 1h 34m🎖️
A+^
Grade: A+^ (20.0) / HOF: 90
EQ 👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A+ 🎼A
DW 😎😎11.0 | 🌚11 🌝11
POPCAP 💯n/a 🍿n/a 🧢n/a
L-R 💻⬇️0️⃣ 👀⬆️1️⃣ 🛐⬇️2️⃣
Cinephiles, a.k.a. movie-lovers, are, in general, quite familiar with the work of the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan Coen, who have made a significant impact on the art of filmmaking. 1987’s Raising Arizona was just their second film, but in my humble opinion it remains their very best, at least of their films that I have seen. That’s no small praise from my point of view, since I include their films Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou? among my all-time favorites also.
Many of their works probably fall into the Dark Whimsy genre, but Raising Arizona sticks the landing most precisely. It’s a story of a male ex-convict and a female police officer who fall in love and get married, and that all happens before the opening credits! The ill-fated couple discovers that they are unable to have children, so they decide to kidnap a baby for themselves, setting off a chain of delightful mayhem, that makes for a story that is off the charts when it comes to any measurement of movie-watching fun that comes to my mind.
The brothers use bright colors and delightfully theatrical sets to deliver the Whimsy, along with dream sequences, a well-timed musical score, and of course, there are babies! The comedy aspect of Whimsy is not neglected either and in 2000 the American Film Institute included Raising Arizona at #31 on its list of “100 Years… 100 Laughs”.
One of the brilliant methods by which the Coen Brothers often bring comedy is by including really dumb characters, often criminals. It’s a feature of many of their feature films, but probably not delivered as well or as funnily in their other films, compared to Raising Arizona. You’d be hard-pressed to find a character of average intelligence in the movie, much less above-average. And let’s face it—stupidity can be hilarious, as it is here. (My favorite technique they use to portray a lack of IQ is giving a character a large vocabulary, but also a lack of understanding of the precise meaning of the bigger words that they use!)
Meanwhile, Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter give solid performances as the wannabe parents, straddling the line between heroic protagonists and baby-napping villains. While their own virtue is ambiguous, they must contend with, and thus are contrasted with, some truly monstrous villains that bring the Whimsy-balancing Dark by the bucketload.
And that brings me to the place where I want to speak directly to my Christian readers. My normal course of action is to let you check on the content ratings and viewpoint icons after the review, to give you a feeling for whether the film might include material you would find objectionable, or push viewpoints you don’t agree with. But here I want to highlight a common mistake that I think we can make as Christians when viewing a Hollywood film made by creators who do not fully share our worldview.
On the L-R line in the header of this review, I indicate that “My View” (👀⬆️1️⃣) of Raising Arizona gives it a grade-step bonus for its messages, beyond the Entertainment Quality of the film (which in this case, is top-of-the-scale already). The “Holy View” (🛐⬇️2️⃣) that I describe is my best-guess about how a typical Christian conservative (of which I am one, so no offense intended) might reflexively react to the reviewed work.
The common mistake I’ve seen in Christian criticism, which could certainly apply here, is to conflate the viewpoint of a story’s protagonist with the viewpoint of the author, or in this case, the screenwriters. Just because the two main characters justify kidnapping a baby, and the movie finds humor in the story, that does not mean that the creators are confused about right and wrong or that they condone selfishly breaking the law for your own gain. I don’t want to spoil anything, but to understand the message of a story, you have to follow it to the conclusion.
The truth is that Raising Arizona evidences some really commendable Judeo-Christian values that were really rare to find in secular Hollywood films even 40 years ago. Although the movie includes some sexual content, it is entirely within the bounds of marriage, and sex outside of marriage is portrayed negatively. Ultimately redemption happens in the film, and right prevails over wrong. Sorry if that spoils it for you, but without telling you how that happens, you can still enjoy the journey. In the end, this is a pro-marriage, pro-family film, and—dare I say it—even pro-life, although I have my doubts that the latter message was explicitly intended.
On the down side, the movie includes one use of the F-word and boatloads of “lesser” obscenities and profanities. Christians, if you use a filter to mute those words, such as the language filter available at VidAngel dot com, you can transform this movie into a very good family film you can enjoy even with your younger teenagers. There are also a couple of pornographic magazines briefly depicted, cover only, with no nudity shown. It’s completely gratuitous, but only very slightly damaging to the overall message of the film. I suppose they thought the inclusions were funny, but I doubt anyone would have laughed less had those quick shots been edited out, and my guess is that VidAngel can edit those shots out for you too.
Whether you use filters for yourself and your family, or choose to watch the movie with adults only and tolerate the adult content issues, Raising Arizona is one of the better comedies ever, with slapstick, screwball and satirical influences, includes a great crime caper motif, and surprisingly delivers a feel-good positive message that can even be approved of by conservative Christians. That makes it a rare find and a must-watch in my book!
Onwards!
+ last viewed (3) 2025-05-17, HDX7, 1.85v, 2D
+ first viewed 1987, ThX, 1.85, 2
+ 🍌👤💰🥸🤪😛
+ ❌0️⃣ Problematic for teens and sensitive adults. | PG-13)
+ 😡+0 😵💫+0 🤬-1^ 🤭-0 🫣+0
+ 👀⬆️1️⃣ ➖(😐😍)
+ ✝️ +2 ➕😇❤️💒💒🩸
+ ✡️ +1 ➕🌗😊😊🤍 ➖🤬
+ 🗽 +0 ➕⬜(🏛️🤱) ➖(💻💲)
Last updated 2025-05-20
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Another good one I missed! Thanks for the recommendation.