Raising Arizona (1987)

Film: Raising Arizona (1987)

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson, John Goodman, Sam McMurray, Frances McDormand

Director: Joel Coen

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

As you might be aware I tend to write these articles a bit in advance of when they actually go live, and so I'm writing this before today's Academy Award nominations came out.  Inevitably, people on social media have critiqued what happened this morning pronouncing the Oscars "out of touch," "obsolete," and said they have committed "unforgivable sins"...it's possible even I said something like that (though I don't feel super strongly this year about most of the nominees so I doubt I'm that excitable).  This happens every year-hyperbole goes hand-in-hand with the Oscars.  So today I thought it'd be nice to have for our review a film that is considered by many to be a modern classic, one that features a number of up-and-coming actors in early roles, and one that, well, received no Academy Award nominations, a reminder that Oscar having fickle taste is not new, and that just because he doesn't provide his stamp on a film doesn't mean it won't have legs.

(Spoilers Ahead) Raising Arizona is about a couple, Hi (Cage), a convenience store robber, and Ed (Hunter), a police officer who takes his mugshots repeatedly & falls in love with him in the process.  They find out that they cannot have children, and in their despair, they decide to steal a baby from a couple they don't think can handle all of their children.  The reward that the biological parents put up for the child result in a lot of hijinks & people trying to steal the baby (known as Nathan Jr) for money, for themselves, or for some sort of combination thereof.  In the end, the young couple know that the right thing to do is to give back the infant even if they may never have their own kids (since they'll have each other), though it's heavily implied in the end that they will raise their own family despite the odds.

Made several years after Blood Simple, Raising Arizona is during the period where the Coen Brothers were on the critical map, celebrated by cinephiles everywhere, but before Fargo, when they crossed over into more mainstream awards success (and broke out with mainstream audiences).  It is quirky, sometimes to the point where you might roll an eye or two, but as the film goes by it earns that quirk.  Holly Hunter & Nicolas Cage are both terrific in their lead roles, as newlyweds who cannot have children of their own and therefore kidnap one of a set of quintuplets whom they fall in love with deeply even if they know he can't stay there's forever.

The supporting cast is great, of course (Coen Brothers staples like Frances McDormand & John Goodman appear in key roles), but Hunter & Cage are where it's at.  This is before Hunter took on The Piano (becoming an acting icon) and Cage became something of a national punchline with his indiscriminate choice in scripts.  In the hands of less-gifted actors these roles wouldn't work-Cage would be played as a joke rather than genuinely sweet, and Hunter's crying jags would be ridiculous instead of having the requisite amount of caring to make the movie's final moments, when Hi sees a future where they'll eventually have children of their own but never stop loving Nathan Jr, work beautifully.  The film isn't perfect (the renegade biker bit feels tacked on, as does the cheap jokes about swingers), but it's yet another testament to the Coen Brothers ability to find the emotionally felt in the absurd.