For most directors, making a sizable pivot with your sophomore effort would not be an advisable decision.
As we all know, though,the Coen Brothers are not most directors.
Ultimately, they followed upBlood Simplewith the off-the-wall slapstick joyride,Raising Arizona.
Image by Nimesh Niyomal
This was not the first time Wright had shouted out the film publicly.
He placed it onhis ballotfor Sight & Sound’s once-a-decadeGreatest Films of All Time list.
Other filmmakers who have shared their adoration forRaising ArizonaincludeQuentin TarantinoandSpike Lee.
image via 20th Century Studios
In 2013, Lee included it on his list ofEssential Films for Filmmakers.
Their sense of world-building and style was clearly influenced by the Coen Brothers andRaising Arizonaspecifically.
The Coen brothers have made some of the greatest crime movies of all time: which is the best?
image via 20th Century Studios
Beginning with the opening monologue delivered byNicolas Cageas the dim, kindhearted criminal H.I.
So much so, that when Ed a police officer played to perfection byHolly Hunterfalls for H.I.
extremely early in the film, we don’t question it.We are already along for the ride.
When a childless couple–an ex-con and an ex-cop–decide to help themselves to one of another family’s quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated.
The film’s closing monologue, again delivered byCage, is nothing short of beautiful.
and Ed’s life together.
As the credits roll, we never do know if that dream becomes reality.
Raising Arizonais a film that exists outside of time.
