Artist Raising Arizona

The Coen Brothers’ second feature, which helped them break through commercially in 1987, Raising Arizona stars Nicolas Cage as H.I. McDunnough, a desperate but good-hearted career criminal who helps his infertile cop wife (an equally wonderful Holly Hunter) steal a baby from an Arizona furniture baron who’s been blessed with quintuplets. Along the way, they encounter a motorcycling bounty hunter from hell, the drudgery of family life, and that masterfully comedic side of John Goodman (as one of H.I.’s escaped-convict friends) that only the Coens can bring out. It’s a classic, and as much fun as a movie can be.

Updated 09/07/2009