Recidivist hold-up man H.I. McDonnough and policewoman Edwina marry, and then discover that they are unable to conceive a child. Desperate for a baby, the pair decide to kidnap one of the quintuplets of furniture tycoon Nathan Arizona. The McDunnoughs try to keep their crime secret, while friends, co-workers, and a feral bounty hunter look to use Nathan Jr. for their own purposes.
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Raising Arizona Ratings & Reviews
- Kevin WardJuly 3, 2025I’m not a huge Coen Brothers fan, though I will say that Fargo is one of my all time favorite movies. Raising Arizona just may have become my second favorite Coen Brothers film though. It’s a comedy of errors crime flick with Nic Cage and Holly Hunter in the center attempting to kidnap a baby because of their own inability to bear children. Though their crime is rather despicable, there’s a tenderness in their pursuit of parenthood and their dedication to each other that makes Cage and Hunter easier to root for most of the Coens’ other flawed protagonists. An ridiculous chase scene in the middle of the film is probably my favorite moment. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that this features a Long Cold Open.
- sopula2d agovery funny at times due to the completely insane performances, interestingly Cage might actually be the most mild of them, some of his "brain dead" faces though are just amazing. it's really quite a sweet movie, the love between Ed and H.I is infectious and the movie seems to quickly take you through the feeling of existential anxiety and then resolves with a warm glowing of "everything's gonna be OK" I would like to compare it to Fargo which has a lot of similarities with the simple folk and foolish plans and everything going awry, but i find to be much more powerful as it isn't so overtly comedic. I guess Raising Arizona is a bit more of a "feel good" movie also its so awesome that they decided to put the demonic HogRider guy in the story, completely crazy, really adds some kind of metaphorical twist especially that he has the same tattoo as H.I...
Raising Arizona Trivia
Raising Arizona was released on March 13, 1987.
Raising Arizona was directed by Joel Coen.
Raising Arizona has a runtime of 1h 34m.
Raising Arizona was produced by Ethan Coen.
Recidivist hold-up man H.I. McDonnough and policewoman Edwina marry, and then discover that they are unable to conceive a child. Desperate for a baby, the pair decide to kidnap one of the quintuplets of furniture tycoon Nathan Arizona. The McDunnoughs try to keep their crime secret, while friends, co-workers, and a feral bounty hunter look to use Nathan Jr. for their own purposes.
The key characters in Raising Arizona are H.I. (Nicolas Cage), Ed (Holly Hunter), Nathan Arizona, Sr. (Trey Wilson).
Raising Arizona is rated PG-13.
Raising Arizona is a Comedy, Crime film.
Raising Arizona has an audience rating of 8.5 out of 10.
Raising Arizona had a budget of $6M.
Raising Arizona has made $29.2M at the box office.