The Coen Brothers Comedy Raising Arizona

Evaluation of a Movie: Raising Arizona
My criteria for judging a film comedy is that the material should be original while conforming to the rules of the genre. A comedy should be funny, down-to-earth, and ultimately have a happy ending. It should also have good music in it, because music can truly make or break a movie. Comedies should also have elements of low-brow humor, high-brow humor and innocence. The Coen Brothers’ Raising Arizona is the kind of movie I love, because it fits the bill on all the criteria. It is off-the-wall zany, yet grounded in reality, and completely in love with innocence and goodness at heart. Even though the characters are less than ideal by any standard, what makes them all sympathetic is that beneath the layers of gunk and ignorance, there is something good to be found. The only character who seems to lack any authentic goodness whatsoever is the bounty hunter—and he is annihilated at the end. Since the movie meets my criteria of a perfect comedy (it is original, witty, stupidly funny, sharp, intelligent, bold, genre-driven, dark yet with a good moral), I view Raising Arizona as a great movie that does a good job at reflecting our human nature by embellishing aspects of humanity to make them stand out and teach us lessons about ourselves in the process.
Raising Arizona is a 1987 film comedy by Joel and Ethan Coen starring Holly Hunter, John Goodman and Nic Cage. Cage and Hunter play a bandit and a police officer, respectively, who get married and try to start a family. Unfortunately, she cannot get pregnant. They learn that a local has had quintuplets and decide to kidnap one of the babies to raise as their own. At the same time, Goodman and a friend play former cell-mates of Nic’s. They escape from prison and hole up with Cage and Hunter, which greatly upsets Hunter, as she wants Cage’s lawless days to be behind him (especially now that they have a baby to care for). The escaped convicts realize that they baby is not Cage and Hunter’s; they kidnap the child from Cage and Hunter and set off on a bank robbing spree. Meanwhile, the father of the child has employed a bounty hunter to find the baby. The final showdown comes outside a hayseed bank where the escaped cons ineptly foil their own attempt at a getaway. Cage and Hunter rescue the child and Cage has it out with the bounty hunter, who represents some mysterious malevolent force that Cage reflectively recognizes as springing from his own bad actions. Cage defeats the bounty hunter and he and Hunter return the baby to the father in an act of remorse. The film ends with Cage having a vision of two elderly people being visited by their children and grand children on a holiday.
The film works on many levels. The musical score is terrific and adds to the originality of the film: it uses Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” as a main motif but applies a southern country style of playing to the classical composition, which makes it hysterically stand out perfectly against the southwestern backdrop of the film. The actors and actresses perfectly embrace their colorful characters. Everyone plays their parts straight, which makes them even funnier. These are ridiculous characters in a ridiculous world, but their hearts are what make them human and what the viewer sympathizes with. The comedy is touching and farcical alternately, but always clever. The language of the main character played by Cage is vaulted and allows him to do with prose what Melville did: turn it into something resembling poetry.
Roger Ebert in his review of the film in 1987 did not appreciate the movie’s use of elevated language: he called it lacking realism. Ebert says of the characters, “They all elevate their dialogue to an arch and artificial level that's distracting and unconvincing and slows down the progress of the film.” I disagree and think the linguistic embellishments perfectly fit the style of the film. The style is embellished; it is meant to be extraordinary. From the very first scene, this is apparent. The film is a screwball comedy, just like the old screwball comedies of the early 20th century—such as Twentieth Century and His Girl Friday: there is a zany freshness to it that is both acerbic and refreshing. Just like Twentieth Century is full of colorful and bold characters, Raising Arizona pushes the envelope on character-driven action and succeeds in the same manner that John Berrymore and Carol Lombard did in Twentieth Century. Raising Arizona is not supposed to have the type of uber-realism that Ebert wishes it had. The use of the Beethoven symphony is a perfect example of the screwball nature of the film; it is re-cast in country terms and yet still catapults the film above the ordinary and day-to-day while maintaining some connection to the here and now and the down-to-earth. The film is able to whip up to the heavens while simultaneously keeping its feet on the ground, which is no small feat.
The film works because it is original and humorous and does not try to be conventional (in terms of every other comedy of its time) even though it does follow the rules of the comedy genre. When I say it follows the rules, I mean there is a plot, conflict, development, and resolution—but the manner in which the plot plays it is extremely original, thoughtful and fun.
The ending of the film is the best part: this is where the heart really shines. The main characters decide to do the right thing and return the stolen child to its rightful home. The father of the stolen baby has no hard feelings because he is just happy to have the baby home—and, moreover, he gives Cage and Hunter some marital advice (as they both feel they are not fit for one another after all the shenanigans). The advice is what inspires Cage to have his dream of a happy home full of children, and this vision gives the viewer something to hope for and root for. The film ends on this note, which elevates the movie to the heavens, just like Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” does with anyone who listens to it.

Works Cited
Ebert, Roger. “Raising Arizona.”
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/raising-arizona-1987.