#10: Raising Arizona (1987)

Hello! My name is Ed and I am trying to win the lottery by watching Nicolas Cage films.

I know not why I must do this, but a spirit came to me in a dream and told me I must do it, so I do. This time, Nicolas Cage is actually married to someone named Ed so I am almost definitely going to win the jackpot.

The very best things don’t really appear to have been made at all. They are so exactly the thing they’re supposed to be that even the greatest efforts involved in producing them become invisible. They give the appearance of just having one day popped into the universe, self-contained, fully and perfectly formed, because it was somehow necessary for them to exist, and once experienced it seems wholly unlikely that there was a point that they didn’t.

The films of the Coen Brothers include a remarkable number of examples of this, and although Raising Arizona could be considered an fairly minor work in their canon, by almost anyone else’s standards it is a classic.

In essence, Raising Arizona is the story of an ex-con (Herbert “H.I.”/”Hi” McDunnough — Nic Cage) and an ex-cop (Edwina “Ed” McDunnough — Holly Hunter) who, unable to conceive a child of their own, decide to steal Nathan Junior, one of a set of local quintuplets, reasoning that the parents have more than they can handle.

It is not a story with a great deal of weight, but it’s so vividly and wittily brought to life that it’s completely enjoyable, from start to finish. Cage is finally at home in the abstracted version of reality (somewhere between fairy tale and bible story) that the Coens’ films live in — the performance is not much less wild than his Peggy Sue Got Married turn but here it’s grounded, contextualized. There’s no on-screen evidence of the reported ‘spirited’ disagreements between the three during production, although it is presumably no coincidence that they’ve never worked together again.

Holly Hunter is delightful as Ed, the cop who fell for H.I. because she was booking him at the station so often — this origin could almost be a film in itself, but here is deftly told with a few minutes of opening montage. The supporting characters are superb creations — especially Francis McDormand’s Dot, an enthusiastic advocate of motherhood who shows absolutely no interest in parenting her own vile, destructive offspring (and also a swinger).

If the film overreaches at all it’s with Leonard Smalls, a somewhat inexplicable avenging lone biker who takes it upon himself to take back the kidnapped child, and has some, never quite acknowledged, connection to H.I. — are they relations or is he H.I.’s own conscience made flesh? It gives the film the final confrontation it requires but it feels a little forced — a rare glimpse at the men behind the camera maneuvering things.

But yes, overall, I like Raising Arizona, it is good, and now can I win the lottery please because I would like to buy a boat.

THE NUMBERS

1 — In H.I.’s vision of the future, the grown up Nathan Junior is seen wearing the number 1 on his American football shirt. The actual baby grew up to be an estate agent.

5 — The babies are known as the Arizona Quints. Not because they’re from Arizona, but because their father is Nathan Arizona (because, as he explains, who would buy furniture from Nathan Huffhines?)

6 — Nicolas Cage is 6 foot tall, as is clearly visible from the height chart in the opening sequence where Ed repeatedly takes H.I.’s mugshot. I used to think I was 6 foot tall but it turned out that in some moment of vanity I’d given myself an extra half inch and then forgotten about it.

12 — H.I. steals Nathan Junior on Wednesday, April 12th.

31 — When Ed and H.I. first meet his most regular address is Maricopa County Correctional Facility For Men State Farm, Road Number 31, Tempe, Arizona.

56 — H.I. and Ed’s “starter home” is a trailer located at 4256 of some road in Tempe, Arizona. There’s a bit where it gets slightly smashed up and it upset me because I don’t like when people’s stuff gets smashed up in films?

THE RESULT

Another solitary bloody number.

10 films in, and I have won 0 pounds. AND NICOLAS CAGE WAS BASICALLY MARRIED TO ME IN THIS ONE.

Anyone could be forgiven for abandoning the whole thing at this point.

But then the other night I went for a walk, and the powers sent me an omen. Dozens of National Lottery entry slips, scattered over the road. Staring at me. Willing me on.

So it continues.

NEXT TIME ON NICOLAS CAGE:

Moonstruck. It’s the one where he bangs Cher I expect.