Watching all of my movies has really illustrated how many great films I own. It makes sense that I would like all of my movies but honestly- some of them are so funny. Raising Arizona is one of those movies. The Coen brothers have brought us many good films, but this one is one the best. 1987 was a good year for H.I. and Ed, our two main characters. H.I. is played by Nic Cage and he is a convicted convenience store robber a few times over and Ed played by Holly Hunter is the police station photographer. They fall in love and their lives get more complicated when Ed wants a child real bad. When conventional methods do not result in a child, they hatch a plan to have a child any way they can.
The battle between good and evil (the police and criminals) is a constant theme in this movie. As viewers we watch H.I. tell the story of how he navigates through his own internal war with good and evil. There is quite a bit of funny in there too. I personally think that Holly Hunter is one of the best actresses out there. She can be funny and serious, I am sure she can sing and is a dancer too. You know, one of those triple threats.
The little guy that plays little Nathan Jr in this movie is also the cutest little guy around. Even when he is part of a bank robbery. Poor little guy, exposed to crime so early. Even Dr. Spock recommends you wait until they are at least school age. And we all know he wrote the book on how to raise children correctly.
This film is also a little bit violent, not in a Quentin Tarantino kind of way but in a guns, knives, explosions, man hunter, woody woodpecker tattoo, teeth falling out kind of way. It seems necessary to tell this tale. If I was forced to pick a theme that comes out of this movie, I think it would have to be about family. H.I. and Ed are a family and they want so desperately to be one of those respectable couples with kids. Ed felt the world was so beautiful that every minute you did not have a kid, you were robbing them of that beauty.
I am struggling this afternoon to find a good RA program to put with this movie. I suppose there could be a program about not giving up. H.I. did not give up on his career aspirations, or lack there of, and Ed did not give up on having a family. But more importantly at the end of film, viewers can extrapolate that H.I. and Ed did not give up on each other. They appeared to be opposites to the very core but they worked through things together. Well, I am going to break with the blog promise to find a program for every movie. For the second time (click here for the first time) I am going to refrain from posting one. But if you watched this film and have some ideas- feel free to post them in the comments so we can all learn something!
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