Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter and Trey Wilson in the Coen Brothers movie ‘Raising Arizona’

With a tip of the cap to comedy based in criminality from just before my teenage years, we visit Raising Arizona (1987) as written, directed and produced by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. The Coen brothers film pokes fun at the notion of competing lifestyles humorously incompatible put into situations where laughter ensues to keep you from crying, should you join in the romp meant to highlight the humor.

(From left, Holly Hunter as Edwina ‘Ed’ McDunnough and Nicolas Cage as Herbert I. (H.I.) ‘Hi’ McDunnough in the Coen brothers movie Raising Arizona).

Raising Arizona opens with repeat offender Herbert I. ‘Hi’ McDunnough getting arrested for robbing convenience stores. At each instance, police officer Edwina (aka ‘Ed’) photographs McDunnough at intake, with an increasing banter between the two leading to an eventual romantic interest following the last arrest. The pair, portrayed by Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter, respectively, get married. Wanting kids and being unable to become parents in the standard way, the pair resort to something more dramatic when they also cannot adopt due to McDonnough’s criminal past.

(From left, Trey Wilson as Nathan Arizona, Sr. and Lynne Kitei as Florence Arizona in the Coen brothers movie Raising Arizona).

As this develops, it becomes known in their Arizona community that furniture magnate Nathan Arizona, Sr. and his wife Florence, portrayed by Trey Wilson and Lynne Kitei, recently had five babies (quintuplets). Figuring that the Arizonas had more than they needed and could make due with one child fewer, Hi and Ed decide to kidnap one of the five Arizona kids. Humorous interactions surround the abduction, which ultimately succeeds and kicks off the core of the story. T.J. Kuhn portrayed the baby, Nathan Jr.

(Front to back, T.J. Kuhn as Nathan Jr. and Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb as Leonard Smalls in the Coen brothers movie Raising Arizona).

Aiming to make the transition to the straight and narrow in the aftermath of the kidnapping, Hi finds the work that he’s acquired structured enough like prison to make things work. The operation takes its first left turn when brothers Gale and Evelle Snoats, as portrayed by John Goodman and William Forsythe, breakout of prison. The pair looks to the newly minted McDunnough family for a place to hideout. Complications arise when the foreman from Hi’s job, Glen, comes to visit with his wife, Dot, and their unruly kids. Sam McMurray and Frances McDormand portrayed Glen and Dot, respectively.

(From left, William Forsythe as Evelle Snoats and John Goodman as Gale Snoats in the Coen brothers movie Saving Arizona).

A storyline develops next to these wherein Leonard Smalls, as portrayed by Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb, seeks to interject himself into the reward process that has opened for the safe return of Nathan Jr. to Nathan Arizona, Sr. and their family. The paths of misunderstandings, criminal behaviors by Smalls, the Snoats brothers and the McDunnoughs, when placed against tomfoolery of Glen and Dot to boot, gives plenty of comedic fodder to the quick pacing of the movie that is Raising Arizona.

(From left, Sam McMurray as Glen and Frances McDormand as Dot in the Coen brothers movie Raising Arizona).

Mostly positive reviews by critics and audiences alike greeted Raising Arizona, as indicated here on Rotten Tomatoes. As I was amused by the movie, I grant Raising Arizona as written, directed and produced by the Coen brothers 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, and Corbin Bernsen in ‘Major League’

“There’s a red moon rising…On the Cuyahoga River…Rolling into Cleveland to the lake.” Ostensibly, that introduction with the movie Major League (1989) introduced a city and a nation thirty years ago this week to the notion, with the hypothetical start of a new baseball season, to the notion that Cleveland and the Indians were lovable losers worthy of hope, success, and a rebound to be immortalized with humor against some heavy odds.

(Margaret Whitton, left, and Charles Cyphers in Major League).

Opening Major League was the love song, Burn On, to Cleveland, Ohio. Performed by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Randy Newman, the song establishes a feeling of place and desperation matched soon after by the litany of despair that was the town’s baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. A lengthy run without a world championship is spelled out, followed by a long run of consecutive losing seasons with a dwindling fan base. We then meet team owner Rachel Phelps (played by Margaret Whitton), who is intent on running the team into the ground so the team can move to Miami. General Manager Charlie Donovan (played by Charles Cyphers). is drafted to help the effort.

(James Gammon as manager Lou Brown, formerly of the Toledo Mud Hens, in Major League).

We get to meet the ragtag band of misfits with manager Lou Brown, as played by James Gammon, at their spring training facility in Tucson, Arizona. We meet washed up catcher Jake Taylor (played by Tom Berenger), convicted car thief and pitcher Ricky Vaughn (played by Charlie Sheen), and overpaid and poor performing third baseman Roger Dorn (played by Corbin Bernsen).

(Corbin Bernsen, left, Charlie Sheen, center, and Tom Berenger in Major League).

A large portion of the movie’s storytelling around the clubhouse, interpersonal conflicts and all, revolved around these players three players in moving from a ragtag bunch of misfits that later defy the intentions of the team owner to make a run at a division title. Jake follows-up with Lynn Wells (played by Renee Russo) while Ricky needs to grow up while getting needled by Roger. Hijinks ensue.

(Renee Russo as librarian Lynn Wells, love interest to Jake Taylor, in Major League).

Cuban refugee Pedro Cerrano, as played by Dennis Heysbert, has the distinct personality of a Cuban refugee and Voodoo practitioner seeking help hitting curveballs from a made-up idol named Jobu. Long before becoming President Palmer in the television series 24 (2001-2010) or a spokesman for an insurance company, Haysbert at Cerrano played a power hitter that offered comic relief of his own accord as well as through his relationship with pitcher Eddie Harris.

(Dennis Haysbert as power hitting Pedro Cerrano, voodoo practitioner and Cuban refugee, in Major League).

Eddie Harris was a curmudgeonly older pitcher played by Chelcie Ross. Besides taking a pro-Christianity bent against the improperly portrayed voodoo of Cerrano, the bag of ice offered in the image of Harris below immediately follows an offering of rum and cigars Cerrano made to Jobu to help Cerrano hit better. Harris is clubbed in the head with a bat, ostensibly in retribution for swiping the rum. Much fun is had with regards to Harris cheating as a means of continuing his career.

(Chelcie Ross as veteran junk ball pitcher Eddie Harris in Major League).

Wesley Snipes plays the character Willie Mays Hayes, a rookie that essentially walked onto the team without an invitation to Spring Training. Willie offers a high spirited and enthusiastic personality that is endearing to those who want him to succeed, as in fans of the Indians‘ team he was portraying in Major League. Hayes runs afoul of manager Lou Brown and the team early in the movie, opponents in spring training, and later becomes a player of much appreciation of fans within the movie.

(Wesley Snipes as base stealing rookie Willie Mays Hayes in Major League).

The arc of the 1989 season portrayed in the movie is best described for the “fans” through the feelings and experiences of radio announcer Harry Doyle. Bob Uecker plays Doyle, and gives voice to the struggle of the slow starting season, the struggles of Ricky Vaughn in becoming “Wild Thing” for the fans, and then the ascending ballclub that was up and coming to a chance for the playoffs. The corner on that larger narrative comes as the team has a chance to play themselves into the playoffs against the Yankees when Vaughn comes into to a version of The Troggs song Wild Thing as used in the movie.

(Bob Uecker as radio commentator Harry Doyle in Major League).

Major League is an irreverent yet fun look into the workings of a baseball clubhouse circa 1989. The team chosen for that story was the Cleveland Indians, with a bit of love offered to the fans of the team and the city, Cleveland, that had and has long suffered for the want of a successful baseball club. The movie gets 3.75-stars from me on a scale of one-to-five stars. In the words of the Randy Newman song that started the movie, “Burn on, big river, burn on.”

Matt – Saturday, March 30, 2019