Raising Arizona

This film holds the personal distinction of being my #1 favorite movie of all-time! “Raising Arizona” was released in 1987 and I first saw it on an all-night PAN AM flight from New York to London. When the flight attendant was announcing the movie before we took off, she called it “Raising THE Arizona”, so, since I am completely unable to sleep on a plane, I figured I was in store for some kind of Pearl Harbor documentary. It seemed that the Pearl Harbor Docs were not real popular in that I appeared to be the only one still awake on the plane when they finally showed the movie.

I proceeded to loudly laugh my butt off for the next 90 minutes and managed to wake all the passengers seated within 20 rows of me. For a movie that I had never heard of, with actors that, at that time, I had never heard of, this flick just blew me away. You have to have a truly twisted and warped sense of humor to appreciate the comedy in “Raising Arizona” and Lord knows, I am twisted and warped, so to me, the film is a comedy classic.

Years later, when I would meet my current day Father-in-Law, I would discover that beneath his mild mannered, calm exterior, lies another warped and twisted sense of humor in that I discovered that he too loves this movie! I have seen this flick around 100 times and I still laugh like I did over 20 years ago when I first saw it.

Though they had done other films prior, this movie really put stars such as Nicholas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, and Frances McDormand on the Hollywood map.

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Gale: All right, ya hayseeds, it’s a stick-up. Everybody freeze. Everybody down on the ground.

Feisty Hayseed: Well, which is it, young feller? You want I should freeze or get down on the ground? Mean to say, if’n I freeze, I can’t rightly drop. And if’n I drop, I’m a-gonna be in motion. You see…

Gale: Shut up!

Feisty Hayseed: Okay then.

Gale: Everybody down on the ground!

Evelle: Y’all can just forget that part about freezin’ now.

Gale: Better still to get down there.

Evelle: Yeah, y’all hear that, don’t ya?

[Everybody lays down. Gale looks at the now-empty teller windows]

Gale: Shit! Where’d all the tellers go?

Teller’s voices: We’re down here, sir.

Evelle: They’re on the floor as you commanded, Gale.