Comments on The House Next Door: H.I. Pulls the Pin

And the fact that, during his stirring speech abou...

2007-11-19T21:04:00.000-05:00

And the fact that, during his stirring speech about a man's need to take responsibility for his life, H.I.'s responsible act is, for the first time, loading the gun he's going to carry.

Dang, I was just thinking of that fight scene yest...

2007-11-18T17:47:00.000-05:00

Dang, I was just thinking of that fight scene yesterday, or maybe today, as I was shuffling around the house. Yeah, that movie's poetry, and I love the way H.I. talks.

Great performances from everybody. "You mean your code name?"

Yeah. It's a movie that works every time.

Sometimes it's a hard world for small things.

Also, regarding the fight scene with Lenny: I like...

2007-11-18T15:22:58.692-05:00

Also, regarding the fight scene with Lenny: I like the way Lenny pulling Hi from under the car recalls Hi pulling the baby from under the crib.

And weird details like Hi working for Hudsucker Industries, and the P.O.E./O.P.E. scrawled on the gas station rest room wall -- I assume that's a deliberate Dr Strangelove reference, but why?

Ahhhh. This is my favorite modern movie, the only...

2007-11-18T15:22:58.719-05:00

Ahhhh. This is my favorite modern movie, the only competition to His Girl Friday for favorite movie ever. Raising Arizona perfectly balances farce and sentimentality. It's an absurd movie, yet the dream sequence at the end brings tears to my eyes every time. Even while it centers around a crime and sordid behavior and stupidity, it's peculiarly innocent in tone. Favorite moments multiply endlessly. In addition to the lines everyone else has cited, there's the hilarious dialogue between Gale and the hayseeds in the bank robbery. I think that Frances MacDormand and Sam MacMurray don't get nearly enough credit for the unbearable awfulness of Dot and Glenn ("say that reminds me"). The chase scene is nearly perfect, only crossing the line into corny when they have the baby pull the hood across its face. Also, the opening -- everything up to the titles and the rising of the theme song -- is the best-paced, most compact, and funniest piece of scene and story setting in any movie ever.

Um, what sr said.Both "Arizona" and "Earl" simulta...

2007-11-18T02:16:00.000-05:00

Um, what sr said.

Both "Arizona" and "Earl" simultaneously mock and adore people at the fringes.

I was just thinking the other day about a strange ...

2007-11-18T02:11:00.000-05:00

I was just thinking the other day about a strange and lovely image from that film:

In H.I.'s vision, he sees the (Google, Google) Snoats brothers climbing back into their escape tunnel, to return to jail. John Goodman's character, first in the hole, reaches his hand up to give his brother a . . . lift? . . . into the hole.

Strange and sweet.

Last year, I picked up a CD of Christmas music from Dollar Tree; I needed some all-instrumental holiday music for a party at work. It's all twangy harpsichord and dulcimer music; for some reason they included that deliriously wacky banjo rendition of The Ode to Joy.

I can't help but grin whenever I hear it.

"Those were our salad days."

Leo, I didn't feel the need to specify: 80's-comed...

2007-10-14T13:00:32.148-04:00

Leo, I didn't feel the need to specify: 80's-comedies-I-loved-in-Jr.-High heaven. They'll also be showing Bachelor Party.

Did Steve Boone really say they show Coming to Ame...

2007-10-12T18:19:00.000-04:00

Did Steve Boone really say they show Coming to America in Heaven???

"Would you care to guess what happens next?""He fi...

2007-10-12T01:14:52.342-04:00

"Would you care to guess what happens next?"
"He fixes the cable?"

Did Steven Boone really say something bad about Le...

2007-10-12T00:48:00.000-04:00

Did Steven Boone really say something bad about Lebowski? Doesn't he realize that nihilists read this site? And those people believe in nothing.

There has never been a movie that I can just quote...

2007-10-11T18:49:00.000-04:00

There has never been a movie that I can just quote back and forth with friends all day long...laughing as hard as I laughed the first time I saw the movie.

There might be Coen films that are deeper or richer or more popular but Raising Arizona will always be my favorite.

It's impossible for me to pick just one quote, but "Would you shop at a store called Unpainted Huffheins?"

One of my all-time favorite movies. I've seen it m...

2007-10-11T18:31:00.000-04:00

One of my all-time favorite movies. I've seen it more times than I count and have recited nearly every piece of dialogue at least once.

"These balloons blow up into funny shapes?"

"Well no, unless round is funny."

Thanks for the wonderful review, Matt. You made the poetry of these wonderful characters and their plight that much sweeter.

"These are mighty good cereal flakes, Mrs McDunnough."

It's nice to know I'm not alone in my appreciation of the Arizona clan, although I'd have to say that Steve's comment about Big Lewbowski appears to have missed the entire point of that movie. Oh Brother as well. But whatever.

"Anyone bipedal found in five wears their ass for a hat!"

Well, sometimes I gets the menstrual pains real ha...

2007-10-11T10:12:19.303-04:00

Well, sometimes I gets the menstrual pains real hard.

I will be watching this movie and Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Coming to America in heaven.

The Coens were never this funny, sincere or naturally kinetic again. O Brother, Lebowski and Ladykillers seem like shoddy, empty attempts to get back to this pure place.

Man, I need to see this movie.

2007-10-10T22:18:00.000-04:00

Man, I need to see this movie.

Anon: "In the mid-1990s I somehow got into a conve...

2007-10-10T21:55:34.610-04:00

Anon: "In the mid-1990s I somehow got into a conversation with a young woman at a department store about this movie, and now we're married, and our daughter just turned 11 months."

Yep, it's that kind of movie.

"Yer a desert flower, y'are."

I love this movie! And great closeup choice, Matt....

2007-10-10T20:44:28.714-04:00

I love this movie! And great closeup choice, Matt.

The movie is so silly and so frenetic for its entire running time, and then, unexpectedly, it hits you right in the tear ducts with that wonderful bittersweet narration at the end. No matter how many times I watch that movie, I never get tired of listening to it.

"Maybe it was Utah."

Annie: "The action is child-like, but the results...

2007-10-10T17:19:00.000-04:00

Annie: "The action is child-like, but the results? All man."

The best one-point-five sentence description Raising Arizona will ever have. Your obsession's paid off.

Of the 1000s of films I've absorbed in my life; mo...

2007-10-10T16:49:00.000-04:00

Of the 1000s of films I've absorbed in my life; monumental contributions to art and society and otherwise, nothing has stayed with me like "Raising Arizona." The humor comes from such a REAL place. Case in point: When they bring Nathan Jr. home for the first time and H.I. is hurriedly fixing up the trailer. In the bedroom he stuffs his porn mag under his mattress. He turns to leave the room, stops and lets out a loud exhalation and rushes back to get one last desperate eyeful of the goodies, fixes the page and stuffs it back under. Its a feeling only a first-time father might understand.

A beautiful, beautiful film. May I take a moment ...

2007-10-10T16:43:00.000-04:00

A beautiful, beautiful film. May I take a moment just to bring up some of my favorite moments?

I love the offscreen Sheriff who's always there to remind Edwina of her duties ("Dont forget his PHONE CALL, Ed!") and is even there at the wedding ("Don't forget the BOO-KAY, Ed!").

Watch also the offense on M. Emmett Walsh's face when HI confuses Bill Parker with "that mother scratcher" Bill Roberts. It's hysterical to see such venom over a throway reference to a character we're never going to meet or see. Great work by Walsh.

And, then, of course, HI's bedime conversation with his cellmate:

"CELLMATE: An' when they was no meat we ate fowl. An' when they was no fowl we ate crawdad. An' when they was no crawdad to be foun', we ate San'.

HI: You ate what?

MOSES (nodding): We ate San'.

HI: You ate sand?!

MOSES: Dass right . . ."

I don't usually have time to watch the entire film anymore, but I can never resist the extended opening.

I'm sorry, can I just throw out my favorite Raisin...

2007-10-10T14:27:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry, can I just throw out my favorite Raising Arizona quote?

The doctor explained, her insides was a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase.

It's interesting, after all this time, to see Rais...

2007-10-10T14:23:00.000-04:00

It's interesting, after all this time, to see Raising Arizona taken seriously as a film. In the mid-1990s I somehow got into a conversation with a young woman at a department store about this movie, and now we're married, and our daughter just turned 11 months.

There probably isn't a day that goes by where I don't think, don't leave the baby on top of the car like the cons in Raising Arizona.

There probably just aren't that many people who can see through the slapstick absurdities and understand that there's serious business taking place just underneath the surface. Perhaps we're just flattering ourselves.

This is one of the few films that, to me, are perfect - not that it's the most imporant or worthy subject, or that it's the most enlightening or leavening, but by its own rules, in its own universe, it is simply flawless. Every word, every syllable, every pebble and blade of grass is perfectly, obsessively placed. Every line is perfectly spoken, perfectly metered poetic cornpone (as Zoller put it). It's one of those movies that's impossible to imagine being any other way, starring any other characters.

One of my college buddies took a class on film or filmmaking, and told me that his professor considered the chase scene to be the finest chase scene in film history. The pimply kid with the 50-calibre pistol reading Juggs, the terrorized redneck in the pickup, the slowly growing pack of lapdogs on the prowl, the footchase through the tri-level whose TV was broadcasting a raging TV preacher, the supermarket muzak and polyester, more rednecks with shotguns...my god, the attention to detail is just staggering. Yes, I'm serious. ;)

Start with the post-credits opening scene, with soggy mother earth giving birth to the two ids who have released themselves on their own recognizance from prison. Such a powerful metaphor, so wonderfully overacted. I think I'll watch it again tonight.

The film is very plainly about HI's wild nature and conscious desire not to let it go, and his wife's civilizing instincts - a timeless story. What I didn't really understand was that the warthog from hell was Cage's alterego or perhaps his own id. Thanks for the post, matt.

Good write up, great movie.And for those inspired ...

2007-10-10T13:07:00.000-04:00

Good write up, great movie.

And for those inspired to watch Raising Arizona for the first time, I think you'll be astounded at what a huge influence it's had on "My Name Is Earl."

You guys convinced me. "Accidentally" is gone.

2007-10-10T09:45:48.039-04:00

You guys convinced me. "Accidentally" is gone.

Congrats, Wesley and Mrs. Wesley.

2007-10-10T09:07:49.831-04:00

Congrats, Wesley and Mrs. Wesley.