Raising Arizona

1987 • 94 minutes

About this movie

H.I. McDonnough is a multiple-convicted armed robber who falls in love with Edwina, a young policewoman who takes his mug shots.  They end up getting married, with H.I. vowing to stop robbing convenience stores.  They try to start a family, but Ed finds out that she is barren.  Since they can't adopt, due to H.I's extensive record, their marriage is going nowhere. Ed goes into a severe depression until she sees an item in the news saying Nathan Arizona, owner of a chain of unpainted furniture stores, has become the father of quintuplets.  Mr. and Mrs. Arizona have been blessed with quintuplets, after Florence Arizona's fertility treatment.  Desperate, Ed convinces H.I. that the Arizonas wouldn't miss one of their babies, having been blessed with so many.  H.I. and Ed kidnap one of the infants, figuring that they'll have a baby and the Arizonas will have less of a load.  Complications arise, when H.I.'s convict friends and his boss also become involved in the scheme to possess...

Ratings and reviews

I know it's a little ridiculous to call this wild and sometimes slap-stick comedy by the Coens meaningful but I saw this when I was ten and I was mesmerized. It was the first movie I had seen that was more than just sheer entertainment. I saw that a movie is capable of so much more. They could be strange, take risks. 24 years later and it's still one of my favourite Coen brothers movies... but my memory of it is the best part.