Directed by: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (Uncredited)
Adaptations are difficult. Books translated to film never live up to the "mental movie" you conjure in your mind. Comics to film get bogged down in fantastic special effects and often fail because some people forget that personality and story are also important. Cartoons to film…well…It’s almost impossible to apply to film the stretched reality of those Saturday Morning funnies without over-doing it and completely alienating the audience (“Son of Mask” being a perfect example). So, who better then the Coen Brothers, directors of the academy award winning drama “No Country For Old Men”, to make a straight-up hillbilly themed live action cartoon?
A: No one. They where perfect.
Nicholas Cage is H.I, a “repeat offender” and adamant convenience store robber who falls in love with police constable Ed (A shrill faced (Ed. A face can be shrill?) Holly Hunter). They both set off to have a baby. Problem is, “Edwina’s insides where a rocky place where Ed's seed could find no purchase” and the only way the couple will ever get a baby for themselves is if they “borrow" one long term. Cut to: Nathan Arizona, furniture store mogul and the proud new papa of a set of quintuplets. He couldn't possibly mind having one taken off his hands, right? And to top it all off, two of H.I’s prison buddies are in town (John Goodman and William Forsythe) and they've got the seven feet tall cigar chomping “Biker of the Apocalypse” (Randall 'Tex' Cobb) on their tail. And before you can say "Aw, shucks", you realise he's also itching to get in on a little "Baby Ransom" moolah.
RA may sound simple like a simple caper on paper, but it's its perfection and its simplicity that makes it work. Nicholas Cage is pure cartoon on screen, with a face that goes through more contortions then a professional circus performer and a southern drawl delivery that makes every single line an insta-quote. Speaking of quotes, Holly Hunter’s spits out zingers like “They GOT more then they can handle” with all the gusto you’ve been missing in your life. John Goodman and William Foresythe are incredibly endearing as a pair of criminal low-lifes (who like to scream ALOT! ARGHHHH!) and Tex Cob as the Biker is…Badass. Lets leave it at that. (Ed. Indeed.)
The Coen brother seem to change directorial styles from film to film and this isn't an exception. With the help of D.P (Now director) Barry Sonnenfeld they run the camera ragged till every single move and kooky angle that ever existed has been exhausted. If I didn’t know any better I would even say this film was shot by Evil-Dead Mastermind Sam Raimi.
I've heard from a few people (Who are wrong, dead wrong) that the film lives slags off in its set pieces. Nope. Wrong. Its the characters make the film. The chase scene is an amazing example of cinematography, choreography and editing perfected; if you weren’t cheering on H.I as he's pursued by dogs, cops, six shooter packing pre-teen clerks and curler haired little old ladies, then the whole affair would be nothing more then something "silly". Instead, the film makes you care for the characters and every shot-gun blast gets a pound of extra funny. It also helps that Cage is so dedicated to the film, he goes through the whole last third squinting through one bruised eye.
DVD: Like most Coen Brothers films, Raising Arizona was relegated to a bare-bones DVD release.
NOTE: Sam Raimi and the Coen brothers are actually good friends. Ethan was an assistant editor on the Evil Dead. The Coens co-wrote Raimi’ second film “Crime-Wave" and Sam pops up as a pistol totting policeman in “Miller’s Crossing”. And don’t forget Bruce Campbell, Raimi's leading man, in the Coens' “Hudsucker Proxy” and “Fargo.” (where he's briefly seen on a fuzzy TV screen)
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