Raising Arizona

by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Book Overview

It's easy to see why "Raising Arizona" is one of the best and most beloved films that Ethan and Joel Coen have yet to create. The cultish humor, original characters, fresh cinematography, catchy soundtrack, and zany yet well-structured plot to be found in this film are all Coen brothers trademarks. Nicholas Cage plays a veteran criminal who marries a prison guard named Edwina (Holly Hunter). Because he and his wife cannot conceive, our convict-hero...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312022700
• ISBN13: 9780312022709
• Release Date: March 1989
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Just as Funny on the Page!

This screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen reminded me of how much I liked the film shot from it. Perennial criminal Hi returns to prison again and again for robbing convenience stores but Edwinna, the police officer who takes his mug shots, softens his heart. He decides to make a new life of it by marrying her. They buy a trailer in Arizona, set up housekeeping, and try the next logical step: to start a family. Edwinna, though, learns that she cannot conceive and that's where the screenplay takes a typical Coen brother leap into absurdity. Ed and Hi decide to become parents by kidnapping one of a set of quintuplets since "it was unfair that some have so many while others should have so few." What ensures is pure madcap, inventive, hilarious comedy with a hint of the bittersweet. The screenplay evokes the film with such clarity and excellent visual storytelling that you'll feel as though you're watching it. While Holly Hunter and Nicholas Cage, who played Ed and Hi, excel at portraying quirky characters, this script makes it clear that they had a fantastic script to work with and were not the sole reasons for its success. This paperback contains a few black-and-white still shots of the film (certainly not worth buying the screenplay for), the full credits for the film, and a short interview/exchange between the Coen brothers and the filmmakers for Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn, a movie that was released during the same season.