Episode 9

Raising Fargo Part One: Raising Arizona (1987)

Exploring Raising Arizona: Craft, Trivia, and Humor

In part one of this two-part series, hosts Chris and Jerome Wiegand discuss the 1987 Coen Brothers film 'Raising Arizona'. They delve into the movie's structure, including the unique 11-minute pre-credits montage that sets up the characters and story, and the Coen Brothers' use of the rule of three. They analyze the film's key beats, themes, and character arcs, highlighting how the Coen Brothers break traditional screenwriting rules brilliantly.

Additionally, they touch on trivia, humor, and the movie's cultural impact, making a case for its place in classic American cinema.

Part two will focus on the 1996 dark comedy, Fargo - also by the Coen Brothers.

00:00 Introduction to Recidivism

00:33 Welcome to the Silver Screen Happy Hour

00:44 New Studios and Technical Difficulties

01:55 Today's Movie Lineup: Coen Brothers Classics

05:22 Discussing Raising Arizona

06:29 Raising Arizona: Box Office and Cultural Impact

14:50 The Rule of Three in Raising Arizona

25:30 The Four Point Push in Screenwriting

25:56 Double Bump and Star Wars Example

26:21 Catalyst and Debate in Raising Arizona

27:13 Break into Two and Fun and Games

28:05 The Snotes Boys and High's Tug of War

29:12 Introduction of the B Story

31:21 Midpoint and the Big Car Chase

33:20 All is Lost and Rule of Three

34:21 Dark Night of the Soul and Break into Three

35:00 Five Point Finale and Climax

38:54 Closing Image and Trivia

50:16 Final Thoughts and Teaser for Next Episode

Follow Silver Screen Happy Hour on Instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/silverscreenhappyhour/

Transcript
Jerome:

And the teacher said there's a term called recidivism.

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Does anyone know what that is?

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And Dave yells out, repeat O Fender.

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Just like the guy in the movie says.

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Because he's seen Raising

Arizona a thousand times.

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And knows it back and forth, so when

he heard that movie, He immediately

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said out loud, Repeat, O Fender.

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And the teacher goes, Yes, that's right!

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Good job, Dave!

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All because he'd seen this movie so much!

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Yeah, that's great.

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Chris: You are listening to

the Silver Screen Happy Hour.

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I'm Chris Wiegand, along

with my brother Jerome.

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Jerome: Here and unhappy.

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Chris: So, You are listening to

the Silver Screen Happy Hour.

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Yeah, since the last time we recorded you

and I are both in new studios, and We're

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working out some technical difficulties.

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It's been a frustrating

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Jerome: Difficulties is

the nice way of putting it.

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I already cracked my beer.

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With the money spent in this

fucking box that I built.

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Which is awesome by the way.

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I know the viewers can't see it, yet.

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There will be, eventually we're gonna

go video and you'll be able to see it.

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I have this pimped out studio.

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Oh, it's sexy.

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It's awesome, man.

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But apparently in this box, the internet

speed is so bad that we, we can't even

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do video at the same time right now,

or it would crash the whole thing.

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Chris: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So we're going to give this

a shot and see how it goes.

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So, and I was, I was excited

to get this first one recorded.

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This is the first time we're

recording in these new studios.

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And ironically, I moved out of an actual

room that we, you know, was my studio into

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a closet and you moved out of a closet.

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Into a brand new room that you built.

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And uh, yeah, so anyways, I

think this is going to work.

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So what movies are we going

to be discussing today?

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Jerome: So today we are doing a

couple of, well, I was going to say

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crime movies, but there are Coen

Brothers films that involve crime.

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The reason why I emphasize that is

I'm going to pair it with my drink.

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Before I do that, I'm going to just tell

you the names of the movies we are doing.

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The 1987 Raising Arizona

and the:

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So two Coen Brothers classics today.

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And we're going to, this is actually

a good one for any beginning writer

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or anybody that's just a fan of

these films because the Coen brothers

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don't write scripts traditionally.

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They don't do what you're

quote unquote supposed to do.

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They break all the rules of screenwriting

and yet somehow their films fucking

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work and they work amazingly.

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So I was really looking forward to today.

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I'm really dug in on these two,

but first, before we get to your

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booze, I'm going to tell you mine.

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I am going to apologize to the

makers of larceny, who I believe

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we did larceny on a previous

episode, or we just talked about it.

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You did,

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Chris: I had larceny

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Jerome: and I bashed

it because I hated it.

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And, but then I got this bottle.

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It is a stronger, let me see.

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It's 125 proof.

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Chris: Wow.

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Is it cask strength or something?

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Jerome: Yeah.

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It's like 63 percent alcohol.

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It's actually 126 proof.

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It says barrel proof,

John E Fitzgerald larceny.

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It's a special edition larceny that's

stronger and I've already tried it.

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And it's actually really good.

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You know why?

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You know why you like it more?

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Chris: It burns your taste buds off.

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Jerome: Well, and here's

what I think happened.

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I think the makers of Larceny listened to

our previous episode where I bashed it.

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And they found a way to

get this in my hands.

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We got to up our game.

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So here we go.

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I don't know if you heard that.

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Let's do this.

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Are you ready?

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Chris: Yeah.

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Jerome: Did you hear the pour?

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Chris: Yeah.

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Jerome: Alright.

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So, what are you drinking today?

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Oh, by the way, the whole point

of Larceny is because it's like

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the jailhouse theme, you know?

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So that's why.

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That's why.

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It's got like a lock and key

logo on it and everything.

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Chris: Yeah.

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Quite often I try to find

something in the movies to drink.

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And in these movies, I think in both of

them, there's a couple Like scenes where

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there's like light beer being drank.

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So I just went with some

Mic Ultra for today.

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It's a full, full

disclosure, full disclosure.

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I, I was prepared.

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I got our schedule mixed up and I was

prepared to talk about two other movies.

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So I have another six pack in the

fridge for the next time we record

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and I'll talk about what that is then.

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Jerome: Nice.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So we're my brother is

so on top of his game.

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He's already preparing

for the next episode.

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Actually asked me today, what the

hell movies are we doing today?

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That's how far in advance he is

preparing ever the professional.

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All right.

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So shall we begin?

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Chris: We shall.

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Which one are we going with first?

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Jerome: Okay, we're going

to do Raising Arizona first.

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We'll go chronological order.

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Yeah, since it was the first one made

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Chris: in these two.

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It was the

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Jerome: first of the two.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, so, okay, so here's the specs.

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1987.

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Directed by Joel Cohen.

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Written by Joel and Ethan Cohen.

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Running time of an hour and 34 minutes.

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Which I think is awesome because

You know, while today's epics are

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always like two and a half hour

films, sometimes three hours, like

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these guys were pumping out movies.

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Fargo is another one.

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That's not that long.

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They're pumping out movies that are

only like an hour and a half long.

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They really get to the meat of a

story and then they get the hell out.

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You know what I mean?

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They don't linger and that love

that about the Coen's, but okay.

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Running time of an hour and 34 minutes.

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A budget of 1987.

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It was released on April

th,:

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8 million domestic, which was good for

52nd place on the domestic list that

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year, it got beat by roughly 700, 000

by the plate, by the 51st placed holder.

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Ernest goes to camp.

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Chris: Oh my God.

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Jerome: So as, as you can see,

Raising Arizona didn't necessarily

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blow the doors off at the box office.

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It garnered zero Oscar nominations.

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Chris: That's amazing.

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So, and what

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this movie has meant, like culturally.

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I mean, it became a cult classic

and didn't realize, I mean, it

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didn't bomb at the box office.

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It made money, but holy

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cow.

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Jerome: Yeah, it was a success.

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Absolutely.

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It was a success.

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And it really plays into their

next few films after that.

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I'm not going to go into order.

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I'll go a little bit out of order.

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So any Coen brother fans, Don't

be like that wasn't the next film.

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Yeah.

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Okay, so i'm just gonna bunch together

like miller's crossing barton fink hud

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sucker proxy They were all the same

made on shoestring budgets and they

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made they turned profits That's why the

coen's kept getting contracts to make

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movies you know allowed to make their

films so I will say however It did

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land at number 31 on the American Film

Institute's top 100 comedies of all time.

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That's amazing.

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So, yeah, I mean, 31, I think it should

be higher, but 31's not bad when you

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had no Oscar nominations and you didn't

make hardly any money at the box office.

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To, like you said, its

cultural impact is significant.

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Now, just a side note on that

100 comedies of all time.

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Some Like It Hot was number one.

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Tootsie was number two and you got

to go all the way down to number

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10 before you get to airplane.

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So, you know, let's, let's take it as a

grain of salt in my, in my book, airplane

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would be number one and, and raising

Arizona is probably in the top 10 if I

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had to do my top comedies of all time.

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So, all right, we'll just

take that for what it is.

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Another side note on the box office the

top 10 films of that year, three men and

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a baby was number one with 167 million.

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Followed by Fatal Attraction, Beverly

Hills Cap 2, Good Morning Vietnam,

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Moonstruck, The Untouchables, Secret

of My Success, Stakeout, Lethal

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Weapon, and The Witches of Eastwick.

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The reason why I wanted to bring this

up, a couple of reasons, number one,

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there's a couple of action films in there,

Beverly Hills Cap 2 and Lethal Weapon.

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In today's market, those would

have been the top two films.

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Which Lethal Weapon was it?

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One was the first one.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Yeah.

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And you see all these other

movies are all Oscar laden movies.

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Yeah.

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Fatal attraction.

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Good morning, Vietnam.

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Moonstruck the untouchables.

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You know what I mean?

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These are movies that win Oscars

and they were the top grossing

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movies that it just goes to show

how different the times are today.

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Transformers and Marvel and Disney

star wars, they make all the

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money and the Oscars are won by

movies like past lives and anatomy

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of a fall and American fiction.

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You know what I mean?

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Like, I mean, granted, this wasn't

the best year for that example, since

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Oppenheimer and Barbie were doing

the biggest movies of the year and

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kind of ruled the Oscar nominations.

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But still the other side note

on there, big year for share.

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She had two movies in that top 10 with

Moonstruck and The Witches of Eastwick.

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Yeah.

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And she went best actress

for Moonstruck that year.

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So big year for Cher 1987, but

we're not talking about Cher today.

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We're going to talk about Raising

Arizona, which stars Nicholas Cage as H.

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I.

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McDonough, Holly Hunter as Edwina.

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Trey Wilson as Nathan Arizona Sr., which,

by the way, I have to just tell you

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right now, Trey Wilson steals the show.

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He's fucking hilarious in every

scene he's in as Nathan Sr.

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Francis McDormand as Honey, John

Goodman as Gale Snotes, and his

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brother William Forsythe, well, he's

not his brother, Actor William Forrest

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Light plays his brother, Evel Snotes.

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Sam McMurray of course

plays Glenn as well.

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So that's pretty much your top cast there.

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When was the first time

you seen this movie?

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What's your experience with it?

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Chris: I don't remember the first time.

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I mean, I might have

seen it at the theater.

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It came out in 87, right?

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Jerome: Yeah.

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Chris: April.

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So, 87's kind of a blur.

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Jerome: You were 11.

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You hadn't even turned 12.

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No.

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I was 11.

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I was 11.

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I hadn't even turned 12 yet.

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You were

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Chris: I was partying.

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I was a teenager.

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Jerome: You were 15 and

not yet turned 16, right?

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Cause your, cause your

birthday's December.

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Chris: Yeah, but I was at 15.

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I was living like, I thought I was 25.

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Jerome: I remember, I remember those days.

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So no other explanation needed there.

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But when do you first remember?

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Chris: I mean, I remember watching it.

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We probably rented it.

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I mean, I don't know if it was on cable,

but I remember watching it at home.

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Like.

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Cause I, it was, it was one of

those movies that if it was on, you

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were going to watch it no matter

what, no matter what you're doing.

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If it was on, you're stopped.

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And that's what you're doing now.

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Jerome: Yeah.

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It's like, yeah, it's like, it's like

when I got into college, my buddy Hughes.

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And I used to joke about, we'd be

hung over on a Sunday, you know,

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like you partied all night Saturday

and it was non football season.

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So there's no football on it.

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We just lay around on a couch on Sunday.

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And if you put on TBS, they'd

have like all Tom Cruise movies.

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They called it the Sunday cruise.

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Or, or TNT or one of them would

have Swayze crazy on where it

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was all Patrick Swayze movies.

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That's what we were doing that day.

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That's just, that's it now.

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That's where I'm at.

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And raising Arizona was like that,

where if you're flipping around and

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it's on, guess what you're doing.

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Now you're going to watch that.

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Right.

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My, I'm very similar with that.

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I remember being in a car again, I was 11.

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I hadn't quite turned 12 yet.

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But I was in a car, I wanna say mom or dad

were driving and the radio was on and you

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know, they were playing music and stuff.

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And then they went to a commercial and the

guy on the commercial was like coming, you

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know just released this week or whatever.

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He was doing a promo for it.

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It was called Raising Arizona.

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And I didn't, I never

heard of it, obviously.

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It just had come out.

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I wasn't.

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You know that knowledgeable about the

actors at that time, Nicholas Cage and

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Holly Hunter were not huge names yet.

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But I remember the guy on the

radio saying, this is the most

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unique film I have ever seen.

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I remember saying, he's like, movies

are going to change after this.

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I remember the guy on the

radio fucking saying that.

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Chris: That's amazing.

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Cause I remember when I rewatched

it, you know, when you were,

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when, when, when did we watch that

when you were home on vacation?

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And I remember thinking to myself,

actually, I think I watched it a second

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time because I watched it and then I

told you, Hey, let's watch this together.

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So in the last month or so, I've watched

it a couple of times and I remember like

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the first time I had watched it in a long

time, I'm watching it going, Oh my God.

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I mean.

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They made a comedy about

people kidnapping a baby.

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Jerome: A baby.

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Yes.

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Fucking kidnapping a baby.

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And it's one of the funny, it's the

31st funniest movie of all time,

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according to the American film Institute.

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Chris: Yeah.

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Jerome: Yeah.

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So I remember, so hearing that on

the radio I made it a point, like

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somehow, some way I got to see this

movie and yeah, like you, I think

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I waited for video or waited for

it to come to cable or whatever.

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But once I saw it, Our cousin William,

man, me and him used to quote this movie.

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Every time we saw each other,

we'd be quoting raising Arizona.

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Like it was one of those films that

was just the watch, the rewatch

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ability of it is off the charts.

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Even, even in preparing for this

show, I watched it a few times and

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I loved every time I watched it.

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I didn't get bored of it at all.

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All right.

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So log me.

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Chris: All right, when a childless

couple, an ex con and an ex cop decide

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to help themselves to one of another

family's quintuplets, their lives become

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more complicated than they anticipated.

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Jerome: Help themselves

to another family's child.

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Chris: Decide to help themselves to

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Jerome: one of another

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Chris: family's quintuplets.

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Jerome: Yeah, I'm just gonna take one.

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Just one.

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The way they

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Chris: rationalized it,

man, it was so funny.

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Jerome: Yeah, so for anyone who

hasn't seen Raising Arizona, if you

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can guess where it's going at this

point, so two people, a couple who

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can't have kids, kidnap a baby from

a rich family that just had five.

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Chris: Yeah.

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Jerome: And which they say throughout the

film, sort of their, their motif is, we

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thought you had more than you can handle.

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Like they, they rationalized

that they were helping them by

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kidnapping one of the babies.

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Anyway.

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So right off the bat, before we

get to the beats, I'm going to

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give you a little side note bar

sidebar on the, on the beats here.

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The Coen's are notorious for

knowing the rules of screenwriting

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and then breaking them.

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They understand structure.

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And, and yet they still deliver

their story, but they do it, they

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always do it like in this unique

way that deviates from structure.

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For instance, the credits aren't

shown until 11 minutes into the movie.

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Chris: Yeah.

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Jerome: There's an 11 minute setup.

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It's kind of like a mon at the audience.

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So you kind of get the idea of who these

people are and what their goals are.

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And again, that happens before

the frigging opening credits.

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Yeah.

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11 minute montage.

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Are you ready?

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Yep.

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Okay.

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We have the beats.

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All right.

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Opening image.

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Hi, McDonough.

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Introduced as he's getting his mud

shot, his mug shot taken by Edwina.

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This is how the movie starts.

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He's already been arrested.

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The love story set up almost immediately

when he calls her a little desert

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flower and that gets her attention.

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We proceed, by the way, I read the actual

screenplay, which is available online.

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There is no mention in the screenplay

that this is working on Edwina.

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It just says everything that

High says and the scene ends.

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When you watch the movie though, they have

shots of Ed like, Noticing this, right?

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Like she's catching the attention already.

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Chris: Yeah.

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Jerome: None of that's in the script,

which I thought was interesting.

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It doesn't say anywhere in

the script, like Ed notices

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or Ed smiles or Ed's happy.

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And of course, short for Edwina.

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But, but it's clearly there in the film.

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So now we proceed with that 11 minute

setup before the opening credits

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that includes the rule of three.

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I want to explain this for anyone

that doesn't know the rule of three.

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So the rule of three in writing

it's a repetition technique, right?

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And the idea is you do something once

you do it again, like a second time,

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only it's a little bit different.

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And then the third time it's very

different, sometimes almost a

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reversal, but it's, it's where it's

almost like a punchline of a joke.

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It's where it's even

funnier the third time.

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So the rule of three is

actually an all writing.

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It's not screenwriting.

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It's, it's, it's actually in life too.

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Like people use the rule of

three when they give speeches,

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they use the rule of three.

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You know, in anything.

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So The Coens use it specifically

Let me see if I wrote down

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how many times they do it.

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So, so they use the rule of

three at least four times in

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the first eleven minute montage.

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so I'm gonna break up

the montage by the way.

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Into the first six minutes

and the next five minutes.

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The reason why I'm breaking 'em

up is because I have them is

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there're two different montages.

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What I'm cons, what I consider

the first six minutes, I

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call the recidivism montage.

397

:

Mm-Hmm.

398

:

. And that's highs criminal past.

399

:

Mm.

400

:

Okay.

401

:

Now you gotta remember they're cramming

all this in 11 minutes so that you

402

:

get to know who these people are.

403

:

Right?

404

:

Right.

405

:

Um, and then the next five minutes

after that is sort of what I

406

:

call the salad days montage.

407

:

It's where Hi and Ed are together.

408

:

So So in the first montage, we

have three moments of the first

409

:

rule of three is the mugshots

410

:

fingerprinting.

411

:

There's a rule of three for

the off screen cop telling

412

:

Edwina not to forget something.

413

:

There's a rule of three for the parole

board, the guys that say, okay then.

414

:

And then there's a rule of three

for the Of every time he walks

415

:

by the mopping convict in prison.

416

:

Okay.

417

:

Okay.

418

:

And then actually there's another one too.

419

:

The, the rule of three of what I call

contemplating prison life with a twist.

420

:

So, I'm gonna break all

three of these down.

421

:

So the mugshot figure printing.

422

:

The very first time is the

first scene in the movie where

423

:

Ahai calls Ed a desert flower.

424

:

The second time we see him

being mugshotted, Ed is crying

425

:

because her fiancé left her.

426

:

for.

427

:

Remember that part?

428

:

You tell him, I think he's a damn fool.

429

:

You tell him, hi, McDonough said so.

430

:

You know what I mean?

431

:

And then the third time

is the fingerprinting.

432

:

It's not the mugshotting, but

it's the fingerprinting where he

433

:

puts a promise ring on her finger.

434

:

Right?

435

:

So the offscreen cop, first time we

hear him, don't forget his profile, Ed.

436

:

That's where she's like, turn

to the right, turn to the right.

437

:

Right?

438

:

The second time we hear him is.

439

:

She said, you hear the offscreen cow

go, don't forget his phone call it.

440

:

And then on the third one, right

before he on the third time, when he

441

:

goes to put the promise ring on her,

don't forget his fingerprints it.

442

:

So that's the rule of

three there too, as well.

443

:

So now we have the mopping

prisoner who growls at high.

444

:

Every time he walks by

the first time he does it.

445

:

If you notice he's way far in

the back of the corridor, like

446

:

he's just started mopping the

447

:

Chris: Yeah.

448

:

Jerome: The second time we see

him, he's about halfway up.

449

:

The third time we see him, he's

already all the way up to the front.

450

:

He's almost done mopping the floor.

451

:

And Hai walks by and goes, missed a spot.

452

:

So, the concept there is that it

took him the entire time of Ed's,

453

:

I'm sorry, Hai's Constantly going

to prison, getting released, going

454

:

to prison, getting released, going

for this guy to mop the floor.

455

:

Like

456

:

Chris: you missed a spot,

457

:

Jerome: right?

458

:

And then another time is the cut.

459

:

So the last one was the the

contemplating prison life with a twist.

460

:

The twist here is where they

switch his method of coping.

461

:

What I mean by that is the first time they

show him he's in group therapy in prison.

462

:

The second time it's half group

therapy and then half the crawdad guy.

463

:

You ate what?

464

:

We ate sand.

465

:

You ate sand.

466

:

You know what I mean?

467

:

And then the third time

is just the crawdad guy.

468

:

No more therapy.

469

:

It's just where he's laying there

where the guy's rambling on high

470

:

is laying in bed thinking about Ed.

471

:

So this use of repetition, the rule

of three is to develop the first six

472

:

minutes of the film into where the

audience is completely aware of who these

473

:

people are, particularly high because

we're learning about them so quickly.

474

:

You know what I mean?

475

:

That's what the rule of three does.

476

:

The repetition is the key.

477

:

Kits you the idea of this

is regular life, right?

478

:

This is how it goes for him,

including the parole board.

479

:

I forgot to even mention the parole board.

480

:

There's a rule of three with the

parole board where every time

481

:

they ended, the guy ends it with,

like I said, okay then, right?

482

:

But even those are different because

there's different statements in each one.

483

:

The reason why I say that one for

the end is because this is where

484

:

you're going to get our theme stated.

485

:

So on the third and final visit to the

parole board, one of the board members

486

:

asks, you're not just telling us what

you, we want to hear, are you high?

487

:

And he says, no, sir.

488

:

And the board member says,

because all we want is the truth.

489

:

Hi.

490

:

It's a little befuddled.

491

:

And he goes.

492

:

Well, then I guess I am telling

you what you want to hear.

493

:

And the board members all boy, didn't

we just tell you not to do that?

494

:

Chris: That was hilarious.

495

:

Jerome: This is high steam because trying

to make other people happy will be both

496

:

his downfall and his saving, saving grace.

497

:

Sometimes he's the selfish convenience

store, Robert, who only cares about

498

:

himself, and sometimes he tries too hard

to make other people happy, or at least

499

:

Pleased with him, you know, where I'm

going with the Snope brothers, right?

500

:

This all is going to play in the,

in the, in come into play here.

501

:

This emotional tug of war,

which we've talked about before.

502

:

Definitely comes into play with the

Snotes when they crash at his place.

503

:

We can't, he can't make

them and his wife happy.

504

:

Right?

505

:

It's gotta be one or the other.

506

:

But he tries so hard to

make everybody happy.

507

:

This of course leads to self sacrifice.

508

:

When you give up your own welfare

for another, Heis battling

509

:

towards his spiritual goal.

510

:

So the next five minutes, which I

call the salad days montage is after

511

:

he walks in and he proposes, right?

512

:

So now we're in the, the post wedding

marital bliss part, the narrated montage

513

:

of happy married life where they, they

this is what Blake Snyder, of course,

514

:

would call at work at home at play, right?

515

:

So they show them at work, we show

them at home, you know what I mean?

516

:

We show them watering the lawn and stuff.

517

:

There's another rule of play here.

518

:

Where they watch the sunset.

519

:

He's watering the bushes.

520

:

She's knitting.

521

:

He works at the sheet metal plant.

522

:

So that's the at work at home play.

523

:

By the way, I don't know if you noticed in

those work scenes, the name on his uniform

524

:

is says HUD, HUD sucker industries.

525

:

So they're already laying out their plans

to make the HUD sucker proxy, which is

526

:

a movie that would come out years later.

527

:

I always thought that was

a cool little thing there.

528

:

All right.

529

:

So four point push.

530

:

Now this is something that I've sort of,

I don't want to say I've coined because

531

:

all these terms are already known.

532

:

I, I just, I, if there's

anything that I coined, it's

533

:

calling it the four point push.

534

:

So, I think that all the best

screenplays have four points.

535

:

We always talk about

the five point finale.

536

:

I believe that the first act

should have four indisputed points,

537

:

undisputed points, I should say,

undisputed points, which will drive

538

:

the character to the second act.

539

:

Okay?

540

:

Some movies have some,

some movies have one.

541

:

Some movies have a lot, but they

should all at least have four.

542

:

More than that is fine.

543

:

When we talk to a double bump, the

double bump is usually an added one.

544

:

That's like a fifth one.

545

:

The more beats, the better, right?

546

:

Because you're creating this, you, you,

you want the main character to have to

547

:

be forced to make a decision, right?

548

:

Lazy writing is where they just

sort of drift into act two.

549

:

And there's no driving force.

550

:

So, my points of the four point

push are the inciting incident,

551

:

which is the first hint that the

before world is about to change.

552

:

Okay?

553

:

So, there's always been a lot of confusion

between inciting incident and catalyst.

554

:

Well, which one's the catalyst?

555

:

Which one's the inciting incident?

556

:

In movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark,

it's even harder to identify, because

557

:

in Raiders of the Lost Ark, there's

simply one catalyst and nothing else.

558

:

The FBI agents meet with him and

tell him about Hitler's And then,

559

:

like, the next scene, he's already

decided he wants to go for it.

560

:

He's waiting for them

to give him the okay.

561

:

You know what I mean?

562

:

There's no debate.

563

:

Indiana Jones doesn't have to debate if

he wants to go after something, right?

564

:

It's just like, that's the catalyst, and

the next scene, he's on his way to Cairo.

565

:

You know?

566

:

In that movie, it works, though.

567

:

It works in that movie but in most

films you want more than that.

568

:

There's got to be more of something to

really push the character into act two.

569

:

So the inciting incident is kind

of like the first hint that the

570

:

before world is about to change.

571

:

Catalyst, that's the next one.

572

:

That's the second point.

573

:

That's the big thing that happens

that crashes into the before world.

574

:

It's no longer just a hint.

575

:

This is now something big.

576

:

The debate begins.

577

:

Is the will they won't they?

578

:

That's the debate.

579

:

Will they decide to go into

Act 2 or will they not?

580

:

And of course, the fourth point is the

break into 2, which is the thing that

581

:

happens that causes Act 2 to begin.

582

:

So, like I said, all the best films

should have all four of these.

583

:

Some of them only have one.

584

:

But in the case, you know, not everybody's

going to be good enough to write Raiders

585

:

of the Lost Ark, you know what I mean?

586

:

So if you're writing a screenplay, make

sure you have your four point push.

587

:

And if you have a double bump that makes

it five points, even better, the more

588

:

points, the better inciting incident.

589

:

If you, if we're not going to get

into double bump, but again, it's

590

:

another Blake Snyder term where.

591

:

The first catalyst isn't enough,

sometimes they need two, right?

592

:

They need something else.

593

:

We've often talked about Star

Wars being the double bump, right?

594

:

Inciting incident.

595

:

Roughly eight minutes in, a crying

Ed returns home and tells Hai

596

:

she's barren and cannot have kids.

597

:

This isn't enough, by the way,

to catapult them into act two.

598

:

They need all four points

of these four point push.

599

:

Here's the next one.

600

:

Catalyst, the adoption agency,

rejections, depressed high drives by

601

:

convenience stores, a pivotal moment

of where's their future headed.

602

:

By the way, the scene where the adoption

agency rejects them is kind of hilarious.

603

:

It's where she's like, they're looking

at their history and Edwina's all, I,

604

:

we realize high has a checkered past

and then high is all, but Ed, here's

605

:

a Officer of the law twice decorated.

606

:

So we kind of we figure it kind of

evens out and then they show his

607

:

rap sheet It's been arrested, right?

608

:

Of course, they're not gonna approve

his adoption Okay, so debate begins.

609

:

That's when they discover Nathan,

Arizona and his wife and his wife

610

:

have given birth to five babies They

immediately come to, we figure they

611

:

had more than they can handle, right?

612

:

They don't need all five of those babies.

613

:

So that's where they

start to plan and plot.

614

:

And of course the break into two

is literally the credit sequence.

615

:

It's basically the break into two.

616

:

It's because they've made the decision

and now they're going into act

617

:

two to kidnap one of these babies.

618

:

So think of how different that

is from just about every other

619

:

movie we've ever talked about.

620

:

Where they wait 11 minutes to show the

title of the movie, and in the first 11

621

:

minutes there's two separate montages.

622

:

One of High's past, one of High and Ed

together, and, and, don't, can't you

623

:

admit, That at that 11 minute mark, when

the credits start, we know everything

624

:

we need to know about these two.

625

:

Oh yeah.

626

:

Right.

627

:

Everything we need, we

know everything about them.

628

:

God.

629

:

So how fucking brilliant is that?

630

:

All right.

631

:

So fun and games always

the first part of act two.

632

:

Kidnapping scene in the

ensuing first night at home.

633

:

And now they're officially in the upside

down world version of act one, right?

634

:

Cause now they get a baby at home and

now they have to be responsible adults.

635

:

Ironically, the next scene, the

Snotes boys escape from prison.

636

:

It's another funny way to escape prison.

637

:

Just the way that they do it.

638

:

They get themselves a car and they

go to high's house immediately.

639

:

Their

640

:

Chris: escape from prison

reminded me of Shawshank, but

641

:

that came out after this came out.

642

:

Jerome: Yes.

643

:

That came out what?

644

:

Eight years after seven years, seven

years later, seven years later, but

645

:

it's hilarious the way they do it.

646

:

They're screaming the

whole time you would think.

647

:

And the screaming is going to be a

thing with these two guys because they

648

:

do it again at the end of the movie.

649

:

When they're in the car and they

keep leaving the baby behind.

650

:

But, but when they escaped from prison,

it's like, you'd think they'd want to

651

:

be as quiet as possible, but they're

fucking screaming at the top of their

652

:

lungs as they break out of the sewer line.

653

:

So anyway, they represent the

childish and selfish nature of high.

654

:

Whereas.

655

:

Ed represents the decent

and responsible nature.

656

:

See where we're going here?

657

:

We're already going

into High's tug of war.

658

:

Yeah.

659

:

It's no mistake that these

scenes are back to back.

660

:

Yeah.

661

:

They come home with the baby, and the very

next scene, the Snowes escape from prison.

662

:

Right.

663

:

That's not an accident.

664

:

B story at the 27 minute mark.

665

:

This is an interesting B story for me.

666

:

So remember when we talk about B

story, the B story is the character

667

:

that's going to drive your, your

protagonist to their spiritual goal.

668

:

A lot of times it's a

love interest, right?

669

:

The love interest is usually

introduced at this point.

670

:

Guess who I have as being the

B story for raising Arizona.

671

:

You could disagree.

672

:

Others can disagree.

673

:

I think there's solid evidence that at

the 27 minute mark, Leonard Smalls, the

674

:

biker from hell arrives in the film.

675

:

He oddly enough is going to serve

as the B story because ultimately

676

:

he's going to drive high to him.

677

:

And if you wanted to talk timing, the

timing actually does follow Blake Snyder's

678

:

beat sheet because you know, 27 minutes

is kind of right after the break into two.

679

:

Usually the B story is introduced

right after your break into two.

680

:

Alright, more fun and games.

681

:

We round out the first half kidnapping,

682

:

tension during breakfast between

the Snotes and Edwina, then finally,

683

:

the Glenn and Honey visit, which is

Sam McMurray and Francis McDormand.

684

:

It's, and that, oddly enough, is

also broken up into three segments.

685

:

Another rule of three.

686

:

First part is, we meet Glenn, and

we get a good feel of this guy.

687

:

Two, the dip test and insurance

discussion with Honey and Edwina.

688

:

Which by the way, I got it.

689

:

It stopped.

690

:

Well, I'll just tell you the third one.

691

:

And the third one, of course,

is the wife swapping discussion

692

:

where a high punches out Glenn.

693

:

So that's like a three segment,

three scene rule of three

694

:

of meeting Glenn and honey.

695

:

What's funny about honey press

McDormand when she first sees the baby

696

:

and she's all, Oh, look at this baby.

697

:

Oh, he's so good.

698

:

It's like a total baby.

699

:

Talk to the baby.

700

:

And then in like an instant looks

at it and goes, so you're going

701

:

to send him to Arizona state.

702

:

And just what made me laugh so hard

about that is like, that's kind

703

:

of like how we in Michigan, like

when a baby is born, like, Oh, he's

704

:

going to go to Michigan, right?

705

:

Like automatically we start thinking

about which college they're going

706

:

to go to Michigan or Michigan state.

707

:

Right.

708

:

So when I heard that,

I just started rolling.

709

:

All right.

710

:

Midpoint scene 45 minutes into

the film, almost exactly halfway

711

:

through an hour and a half movie.

712

:

Hi, Rob's another convenience

store for money and huggies.

713

:

And it sets off the events of the

big car chase, which I think is

714

:

one of the best chase scenes ever.

715

:

As he alludes, not only cops, but dogs

and an armed convenience store clerk and a

716

:

shoot happy grocery store manager as well.

717

:

Not to mention the shoot happy cops

who don't seem to care about the

718

:

Whatever might be in the background

of whatever they're shooting at.

719

:

Just firing at houses.

720

:

They're firing at cars.

721

:

They're firing at anything

just to get to high.

722

:

So here's his tangible goal.

723

:

Now, remember his tangible goal was

wanting to provide for his family.

724

:

And he technically he prevails.

725

:

It's a false victory.

726

:

He does in fact, get the money.

727

:

And the huggies.

728

:

Right.

729

:

So technically he is a success, but

it's a false victory because now

730

:

his wife is pissed off because he's

going back to that recidivism again.

731

:

Right.

732

:

And, and of course the happiness, the

false victory is short lived because

733

:

the bad guys closing in as always,

what comes right after the midpoint and

734

:

immediately upon arriving home, Ed has it

out with the Snotes effectively kicking

735

:

them out in the morning and, you know.

736

:

They want to recruit

High for a bank robbery.

737

:

So, it's already now all

starting to go to shit.

738

:

More bad guys closing in scenes as High

writes and narrates a goodbye note for Ed.

739

:

Letter to Smalls shakes down Nathan

Senior, and finally Glenn arrives

740

:

with some bad news, and you know,

that he knows who the baby is.

741

:

By the way, in that scene, I don't

know if you ever noticed, in the

742

:

back window of Glenn's station wagon,

there's a sticker on the window decal

743

:

that says, Caution, I drive naked.

744

:

I never noticed that.

745

:

This is a guy who's got

a wife and five kids!

746

:

Yeah.

747

:

Or four kids, however

many of those there are.

748

:

Those annoying kids that they have

and he's got that on his window.

749

:

It's hilarious.

750

:

All right.

751

:

All is lost at the one

hour, five minute mark.

752

:

The Snope brothers turn on high because

they want the reward money for the baby.

753

:

They trash this place and steal the

baby kidnapped away from the kidnappers.

754

:

Another rule of three, by the way,

is introduced at this point, this

755

:

late in the movie at the all is lost.

756

:

The Coen brothers are initiating

another rule of three.

757

:

You know, you remember which one it is?

758

:

The baby book.

759

:

So after Gale leaves High is all tied

up and he's screaming and he tips over.

760

:

Gail re enters, but he only

comes in to get the baby book.

761

:

The sort of like the instructions

on how to raise a baby, right?

762

:

Later after they rob the bank and the

dye pack explodes, Ed looks for the

763

:

baby book when they get inside the car.

764

:

And then of course, the third one is

when they return the baby at the end.

765

:

I'm jumping the gun here, but

I just wanted to explain the

766

:

rule of three on this one.

767

:

When they return the baby at the

end, They returned the baby book.

768

:

It's like it's their instructions

on how to raise a baby.

769

:

All right.

770

:

So, Dark Night of the Soul, Ed

sees that the Snotes have fled and

771

:

she feels relieved until she gets

home and sees that she has to free

772

:

High and that the baby is gone.

773

:

Break into three.

774

:

High reasons with Ed about how

right she was and how wrong he was.

775

:

When he racks his shotgun.

776

:

Now let's go get Nathan Jr.

777

:

Just before Evel robs the convenience

store and he makes the old man count to

778

:

825 and then back down to zero, which is

funny because they leave the baby behind.

779

:

So then when the old man's

halfway through counting, he's

780

:

all, Oh, the hell with this.

781

:

And he gets up and they're coming back.

782

:

Chris: Yeah.

783

:

Jerome: And he's like, Oh shit.

784

:

So he gets back down and keeps counting.

785

:

Chris: Yep.

786

:

Jerome: Anyway.

787

:

All right.

788

:

Five point finale.

789

:

We're in act three now.

790

:

Five point finale.

791

:

Gathering the team.

792

:

Hi and Ed are in the car.

793

:

They discuss not only getting

Nathan back, but likely breaking up.

794

:

They're just not good for each other.

795

:

Execution of the plan for all involved.

796

:

Actually, this is a good execution

of the plan for everyone.

797

:

Smalls arrives at the McDonough home.

798

:

The Snotes have taken Nathan Jr.

799

:

on a bank heist with them.

800

:

After the dye pack explodes, however, like

I said Ed will retrieve the baby book.

801

:

By the way, in that scene, where the

dye pack explodes there obviously was

802

:

a real exploding device of some kind

when they shot the movie, because when

803

:

you see John Goodman's character yells

at Evel, Damn it, you never leave a man

804

:

behind when they realize the baby's gone.

805

:

Both of them are wearing earplugs.

806

:

Chris: Yeah,

807

:

Jerome: I never noticed that

until I did this rewatch, and

808

:

I've seen this movie 20 times.

809

:

But when I was rewatching

it for this, they're both

810

:

wearing earplugs in that scene.

811

:

Hightower Surprise.

812

:

Smalls shows up and snatches the baby.

813

:

Smalls is reminiscent, sort of,

like, I'm, this is a bit of a reach

814

:

here, but I'm going to go with it.

815

:

Smalls is a little reminiscent of

Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old

816

:

Men, another Coen Brothers classic,

as he's the embodiment of pure evil.

817

:

This connection will show up later

in the dream sequence in both films.

818

:

I'll talk about that after,

but okay, so dig down deep.

819

:

Both Ed and High attempt to

retrieve the baby from Smalls, who

820

:

gives chase with his motorcycle.

821

:

Execution of the new plan.

822

:

High must fight Smalls and win in

order to secure the baby safely.

823

:

During this fight, he sees that

he has the same Woody Woodpecker

824

:

tattoo that that Smalls does.

825

:

This is significant because Smalls

represents the evil nature of high.

826

:

And if high doesn't change his ways,

he could end up possibly having

827

:

that sort of future for himself.

828

:

Right.

829

:

You know, we talked about, our friends

over at writer's blockbusters, the

830

:

script butcher himself, Jimmy George,

and one of his podcasts where he talks

831

:

about nightmare fuel aspects, one of

the things that he says their main

832

:

character will have to face their

biggest fear in order to succeed.

833

:

It's the line he uses is I'll do anything

I need to do to achieve the goal except

834

:

the one thing I have to One of his

examples is in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

835

:

Indiana Jones is willing to do

anything, but he hates snakes.

836

:

Well, what happens to be in the

entire inside of the well of souls

837

:

where the Ark is snakes, right?

838

:

So in this case, high has to

fight smalls to the death.

839

:

Yeah.

840

:

Which would be his ultimate fear, right?

841

:

So he's, you know, high is even

842

:

Chris: having nightmares about it,

843

:

Jerome: right?

844

:

So it's almost like highs, like I'll

do whatever I have to do to get the

845

:

baby back, except the one thing I have

to do, which is fight Leonard smalls

846

:

to the death who he's terrified of.

847

:

So climax high.

848

:

Succeeds!

849

:

He's fighting, he's fighting

Leonard Smalls, gets the shit

850

:

kicked out of him, by the way.

851

:

I mean, Smalls just beats the living

shit out of him, but then his last

852

:

punch launches him like ten feet away.

853

:

Yeah.

854

:

And that's when he reveals he's

holding a pin from one of the grenades

855

:

that's on Leonard Smalls jacket.

856

:

Smalls blows up.

857

:

Chris: Wait, wait, before

he blows up, Nick Cage looks

858

:

at him and goes, I'm sorry.

859

:

I'm sorry.

860

:

That part kills me every time.

861

:

Jerome: Yeah, he's laying there.

862

:

His eyes are swollen shut.

863

:

He's bleeding from every orifice.

864

:

And he lifts up the pin.

865

:

And when Smalls looks down and sees

the grenade and looks back at him.

866

:

Yeah, he apologizes.

867

:

So great.

868

:

Okay, so.

869

:

Hi blows up Smalls.

870

:

By then, by doing that, he achieves

his spiritual goal of risking

871

:

personal life and limb for another,

in this case, his wife and child,

872

:

the most selfless act he could give.

873

:

And then, they return

the baby to Nathan Sr.

874

:

High even says to Nathan Sr.

875

:

about why they're splitting up, he's like,

we're just too selfish and unrealistic.

876

:

And Nathan Sr.

877

:

says, well you brought back my boy,

so you must have your good points too.

878

:

Closing image, High has his dream, a

futuristic, hopeful vision of himself.

879

:

By the way, the entire dream is

selfless as he's focusing on what is

880

:

best for everybody else in his life.

881

:

That final dream sequence, by the

way, I told you I would talk about it.

882

:

It mentions or I mentioned

earlier the connection to the

883

:

end of No Country for Old Men.

884

:

Spoiler alert for anyone

who hasn't seen that movie.

885

:

When Tommy Lee Jones is retelling

the dream he had to his wife.

886

:

So he has a dream and the movie ends

with him telling his dream to his wife.

887

:

The dream is way more somber, right?

888

:

It's about seeing his

long deceased father.

889

:

And in the dream, his father

goes on ahead and tells him he'll

890

:

meet him there and builds a fire.

891

:

And he knows he'll see him again.

892

:

It's an obvious metaphor for afterlife

and that Tommy Lee Jones, having

893

:

survived the wrath of evil, that is

Anton Chigurh realizes his own mortality

894

:

and that he too will die someday.

895

:

Didn't High pretty much do the same thing?

896

:

Like, he faced his evil, which

was Leonard Smalls, and survived.

897

:

But the stark contrast is that his

dream is hopeful and uplifting.

898

:

Right.

899

:

Of a possible happy future.

900

:

Okay, trivia.

901

:

13 babies are credited for playing the

Arizona Quints, including Nathan Jr.

902

:

Apparently, there were as many

as 15 at one point, but one was

903

:

eventually fired during filming

because he learned how to walk.

904

:

Chris: That's hilarious.

905

:

Jerome: Francis McDormand and

Holly Hunter were roommates at

906

:

the Yale School of Drama in 1982.

907

:

Do you think

908

:

Chris: that baby has to like

forevermore he had to admit on

909

:

applications on job applications that

he had been fired from another job?

910

:

Jerome: Maybe, but I

think it'd be a good one.

911

:

You could say I was one of the babies.

912

:

I was originally one of the

babies in Raising Arizona.

913

:

Friends McDermott and Holly

Hunter were roommates at the

914

:

Yale School of Drama in 1982.

915

:

They would both appear together

in the Cohen Brothers first

916

:

film, blood Simple, 1984.

917

:

Although Holly Hunter really only

appears as a voice on a phone call, she's

918

:

the the a message left on the phone.

919

:

Also in that film, blood

Simple is Mm, at Walsh.

920

:

And the musical score was

done by Carter Burwell.

921

:

Both of them Carter Burwell and

Francis McDormand, that was their first

922

:

film, by the way, was Plot Simple.

923

:

But all four of them, Holly

Hunter, Francis McDormand, M.

924

:

Emmett Walsh and the composer Carter

Burwell would join together for

925

:

the Coen Brothers next film, which

was this one, Raising Arizona.

926

:

All four of them appear in it.

927

:

Between them, Holly Hunter and Francis

McDormand now have five Academy Awards.

928

:

Though Franny is winning heavily,

she's up 4 to 1 right now on Oscars.

929

:

Yeah, right.

930

:

3 of them for Best Actress and she has

a 4th Oscar for, she was the producer

931

:

of the Best Picture winning Nomadland.

932

:

Holly Hunter, of course, has 1

Best Actress Oscar for The Piano.

933

:

Coincidentally Carter Burwell, who did

the music, also did the music for Fargo.

934

:

And he has 3 total Oscar nominations,

but he has yet to win one.

935

:

There is another rule of three, Mohit,

that I forgot to mention, when the

936

:

cops pull somebody away from something.

937

:

Opening image, Hai is pulled away from

by a cop while he's flirting with Ed.

938

:

In the second, Hai is pulled away

again when he's sticking up for Ed.

939

:

The first two mugshot scenes,

a cop keeps pulling him away.

940

:

And the third one is Nathan seniors

being pulled away from the, by the cops

941

:

when he's trying to talk to the media.

942

:

So it seems that that's a running

rule of three in this one where

943

:

the cops pull somebody away.

944

:

A couple more funny lines in the film

film that's loaded with funny lines.

945

:

But just a couple that

I had to write down.

946

:

The cops are interrogating,

interrogating Nathan Senior.

947

:

Do you have any disgruntled employees?

948

:

Nathan says, oh hell,

they're all disgruntled.

949

:

Now, as a retail manager,

I can respect that.

950

:

In the same, in the same scene,

the cop asks, what would the

951

:

child's jammies look like?

952

:

And first of all, it's important to note

that the child wasn't in any jammies.

953

:

He was just wearing a diaper, but to

answer the question, he's all where's

954

:

he says, Oh yeah, this is a quote.

955

:

I don't know.

956

:

There were jammies.

957

:

They had Yotas and shit on them.

958

:

When the Snotes are talking about

how they found out about the

959

:

hayseed bank that they're going to

rob on that particular Friday, why

960

:

they need to do it on that day.

961

:

Friday because the, all that cash was

there to cover farmer subsidy checks.

962

:

Gail says we got it in a joint from a

guy named Lauren Spivey, one of Dick

963

:

Nixon's under secretaries of agriculture.

964

:

And then Evel says he's in for

solicitating sex from a state trooper.

965

:

I think Gail says ordinarily we don't

associate with that type of person, but he

966

:

was trying to score some brownie points.

967

:

Like it's kind of like that Pulp

Fiction esque of honor among low lives.

968

:

You know what I mean?

969

:

Like, Even these hardened criminals,

they have a line they rarely cross, and

970

:

they don't associate with sex offenders.

971

:

So, okay music playing

a factor as a character.

972

:

As Edwina helps to calm

a restless Nathan Jr.

973

:

from a bad dream, she carries

him gently around the bedroom

974

:

humming a soothing lullaby.

975

:

That song, Down in the Willow Garden,

that's the name of the song, is

976

:

actually about the murder of a girl.

977

:

Chris: Oh, wow.

978

:

Jerome: Composer Carter Burwell

uses it as an instrumental version.

979

:

He also uses it in the

final dream sequence.

980

:

Wow.

981

:

Roger Ebert's Criticism I remember telling

you that in 19 when we did the Die Hard

982

:

episode, he gave Die Hard a thumbs down.

983

:

Guess what he also gave a thumbs down?

984

:

You guessed

985

:

it!

986

:

Raising Arizona.

987

:

He gave it 1.

988

:

5 stars.

989

:

Which is a thumbs down mostly

because of the dialogue.

990

:

He said he felt the dialogue came out

ridiculous for these characters when

991

:

they say things like over yonder.

992

:

You know what I mean?

993

:

Like it just for him it didn't match up.

994

:

A low rent criminal.

995

:

Yeah.

996

:

Hi McDonough.

997

:

Right.

998

:

All right.

999

:

We're gonna do a fun exercise here.

:

00:44:35,428 --> 00:44:39,408

Real quick, that 11 minute pre credits

set up that I was talking about.

:

00:44:39,418 --> 00:44:39,728

Yeah.

:

00:44:39,818 --> 00:44:40,118

Right.

:

00:44:40,808 --> 00:44:45,028

The before the credits 11 minute

montage has its own beat sheet.

:

00:44:45,528 --> 00:44:46,068

Chris: Okay.

:

00:44:46,288 --> 00:44:46,878

Jerome: Are you ready?

:

00:44:46,958 --> 00:44:47,348

Yeah.

:

00:44:47,728 --> 00:44:49,138

Opening image and setup.

:

00:44:49,138 --> 00:44:52,588

High is a criminal and Ed, in this

situation, in this beat sheet,

:

00:44:52,618 --> 00:44:54,258

Ed is the B story love interest.

:

00:44:54,798 --> 00:44:55,388

Catalyst.

:

00:44:55,478 --> 00:44:56,908

Ed's fiancee leaves her.

:

00:44:56,918 --> 00:44:58,798

High sticks up for her

and she falls for him.

:

00:44:59,008 --> 00:45:00,818

Break into two and fun and games.

:

00:45:00,908 --> 00:45:02,548

Montage of High's prison life.

:

00:45:03,008 --> 00:45:04,938

And puts a promise ring on Edwina.

:

00:45:05,448 --> 00:45:06,368

More fun and games.

:

00:45:06,368 --> 00:45:08,318

High gets paroled and proposes to Ed.

:

00:45:08,498 --> 00:45:10,468

Midpoint scene is the wedding.

:

00:45:10,838 --> 00:45:14,028

Don't forget the bouquet, Ed, by the

way, that's the cop, the officer, the

:

00:45:14,028 --> 00:45:15,658

king cop, actually a rule of three.

:

00:45:15,728 --> 00:45:18,858

He throws a fourth one in there,

but that was is the wedding.

:

00:45:19,328 --> 00:45:22,598

And this is their tangible goal

for both of them to get married.

:

00:45:23,158 --> 00:45:26,798

Bad guys, closing in mundane work

at the sheet metal plant, watching

:

00:45:26,798 --> 00:45:28,538

the sunrise and the salad days.

:

00:45:28,778 --> 00:45:29,718

All is lost.

:

00:45:29,858 --> 00:45:30,538

Hi.

:

00:45:30,788 --> 00:45:31,778

I'm barren.

:

00:45:33,028 --> 00:45:33,948

Dark night of the soul.

:

00:45:33,948 --> 00:45:39,308

The doctor explains why she can't have

kids with pictures break into three and

:

00:45:39,308 --> 00:45:43,188

the gathering of the team, deciding to

have a baby one way or another execution

:

00:45:43,188 --> 00:45:45,288

of the plan adoption agency fails.

:

00:45:45,768 --> 00:45:46,498

Oh no, I'm sorry.

:

00:45:46,558 --> 00:45:47,998

I put adoption agency.

:

00:45:48,643 --> 00:45:52,483

But the Hightower surprise comes right

after that the hot adoption agency denies

:

00:45:52,493 --> 00:45:57,073

them based on highs checkered past Dig

down deep losing all drive to housekeeping

:

00:45:57,083 --> 00:46:01,353

and ed resigns from being a cop and

then execution of the new plan They

:

00:46:01,353 --> 00:46:06,423

abduct the baby born to a large family

in order to start their own family So

:

00:46:06,423 --> 00:46:11,663

as you see the beats sort of flow even

in that 11 minute pre credit montage.

:

00:46:11,723 --> 00:46:12,573

Chris: Yeah, that's great

:

00:46:12,983 --> 00:46:14,163

Jerome: Extra note in the tattoo.

:

00:46:14,183 --> 00:46:17,268

This is my last point On Raising Arizona.

:

00:46:18,448 --> 00:46:21,487

We mentioned earlier about how high

and smalls have the same tattoo, right?

:

00:46:22,018 --> 00:46:25,518

And that he re they represent sort

of opposite sides of the same coin.

:

00:46:25,628 --> 00:46:30,588

Often the hero's counterpart, the

bad guy is just like him, right?

:

00:46:30,618 --> 00:46:32,118

There it's just like him or her.

:

00:46:32,428 --> 00:46:35,848

That's the choices that they

make that steer them down one

:

00:46:35,848 --> 00:46:37,528

road as opposed to another.

:

00:46:38,038 --> 00:46:41,098

As mentioned, if high continued

down this path of lawlessness,

:

00:46:41,198 --> 00:46:43,108

he too could end up like smalls.

:

00:46:43,878 --> 00:46:49,498

Similarly, in the same year,:

weapon came out and they use the exact.

:

00:46:49,888 --> 00:46:55,908

Same concept both martin riggs mel

gibson the good guy and mr Joshua

:

00:46:55,948 --> 00:46:57,728

played by gary bucey the bad guy.

:

00:46:57,858 --> 00:47:00,448

They have the exact same

special forces tattoo

:

00:47:00,448 --> 00:47:05,608

This signifies that they are the opposite

sides of the same coin I forgot about

:

00:47:05,608 --> 00:47:11,403

that and if mel didn't make the choices

that he made to become a cop It's

:

00:47:11,423 --> 00:47:13,423

possible he could have ended up like Mr.

:

00:47:13,423 --> 00:47:14,033

Joshua.

:

00:47:14,393 --> 00:47:16,333

He could have been a thug for criminals.

:

00:47:17,243 --> 00:47:21,503

After his wife died and he dove deeper

into suicidal tendencies and alcoholism,

:

00:47:21,513 --> 00:47:23,243

he could have eventually become Mr.

:

00:47:23,243 --> 00:47:23,803

Joshua.

:

00:47:24,463 --> 00:47:29,263

But, Roger, Danny Glover's role, is

the one that sort of crashes into his

:

00:47:29,263 --> 00:47:33,893

life and keeps him on the straight and

narrow just like Edwina does for High.

:

00:47:35,288 --> 00:47:38,248

Other examples, Indiana Jones and belloc.

:

00:47:38,268 --> 00:47:42,108

They're both archaeologists, but one

uses it for evil, one uses it for good.

:

00:47:42,478 --> 00:47:43,618

Batman and Joker.

:

00:47:43,638 --> 00:47:45,748

You could argue they're

both insane, right?

:

00:47:45,798 --> 00:47:47,938

Because they need alter egos to survive.

:

00:47:47,988 --> 00:47:50,228

They are both kind of

cut from the same cloth.

:

00:47:50,258 --> 00:47:54,638

Only one has chosen the path of good

and one has chosen the path of evil.

:

00:47:54,948 --> 00:47:57,528

I got in a discussion

recently with somebody online.

:

00:47:57,578 --> 00:48:00,118

I got, I get into these movie

thread arguments all the time.

:

00:48:00,628 --> 00:48:04,431

And the subject of the movie

was falling down, falling down.

:

00:48:04,431 --> 00:48:06,513

And I use this concept.

:

00:48:06,513 --> 00:48:11,093

I said, a character that Michael

Douglas plays, his name's defense.

:

00:48:11,093 --> 00:48:16,173

He is the, Opposite side of the

coin of Prendergast, which Robert

:

00:48:16,173 --> 00:48:17,853

Duvall's character plays, right?

:

00:48:18,033 --> 00:48:19,983

They're both frustrated with society.

:

00:48:20,283 --> 00:48:24,423

They're both feel unappreciated and

disrespected by both their peers and

:

00:48:24,423 --> 00:48:28,793

their family, particularly their wives

They're practically the same person,

:

00:48:29,103 --> 00:48:33,183

but they've chosen different paths

And if Prendergast had continued to

:

00:48:33,193 --> 00:48:37,113

go down this path Maybe he becomes the

guy who gets frustrated out of his car

:

00:48:37,113 --> 00:48:39,163

one day and says fuck it and snaps.

:

00:48:39,283 --> 00:48:39,693

Chris: Right,

:

00:48:39,753 --> 00:48:45,708

Jerome: right so I love that element

that it's the you know, the, the.

:

00:48:46,168 --> 00:48:49,268

I can't remember what they call it,

but it's, it's kind of like, you know,

:

00:48:49,268 --> 00:48:51,018

the, the two sides of the same coin.

:

00:48:51,228 --> 00:48:57,158

Chris: It's a clever technique because

people tend to try to like, they try to

:

00:48:57,158 --> 00:49:00,278

identify with the good nature in somebody.

:

00:49:00,298 --> 00:49:02,298

Like they might see something

in themselves or they

:

00:49:02,298 --> 00:49:03,738

want to be like that guy.

:

00:49:04,188 --> 00:49:08,278

And then to realize, Oh shit, I could

become like the other guy, you know?

:

00:49:08,278 --> 00:49:11,818

So it's a good technique because it

kind of, it gives you a, you know,

:

00:49:11,818 --> 00:49:13,778

a bit of empathy for a character.

:

00:49:13,778 --> 00:49:14,268

And yeah,

:

00:49:14,728 --> 00:49:17,568

Jerome: Not only that, that's a

huge part that it raises the empathy

:

00:49:17,568 --> 00:49:18,738

you might have for the villain.

:

00:49:19,148 --> 00:49:22,918

But you know what it also does is

it raises the stakes for your hero.

:

00:49:22,938 --> 00:49:23,288

Right.

:

00:49:23,298 --> 00:49:23,898

That's what I mean.

:

00:49:23,898 --> 00:49:24,088

Yeah.

:

00:49:24,098 --> 00:49:27,518

Because if they make wrong choices,

they could end up like that.

:

00:49:27,578 --> 00:49:27,888

Yep.

:

00:49:28,198 --> 00:49:31,358

You know, another perfect example is

that movie SWAT with Colin Farrell.

:

00:49:31,678 --> 00:49:33,948

Jeremy Renner's in that

movie as the bad guy.

:

00:49:34,108 --> 00:49:35,968

They were partners at the

beginning of the movie.

:

00:49:36,758 --> 00:49:38,518

They were partners at the

beginning of the movie.

:

00:49:38,518 --> 00:49:39,118

You know what I mean?

:

00:49:39,118 --> 00:49:44,158

So like The bad thing happened where

they split off and now one's the bad guy.

:

00:49:44,228 --> 00:49:44,978

You know what I mean?

:

00:49:44,978 --> 00:49:48,198

Like, they're basically the same

guy, but one's good and one's bad.

:

00:49:48,718 --> 00:49:50,588

Anything else to wrap up, Raising Arizona?

:

00:49:50,638 --> 00:49:52,468

Chris: No, I, I love it.

:

00:49:52,478 --> 00:49:55,508

Just, if you haven't seen it in

a while, or if you've never seen

:

00:49:55,508 --> 00:49:57,278

it, please, do yourself a favor.

:

00:49:58,088 --> 00:49:58,728

Jerome: Yeah, absolutely.

:

00:49:58,798 --> 00:50:02,348

Chris: Just, when you go on, you know,

whatever, Amazon or whatever, just buy it.

:

00:50:03,458 --> 00:50:04,908

Jerome: Yeah, yeah, that's one of those.

:

00:50:05,098 --> 00:50:05,868

Chris: You're gonna wanna watch it again.

:

00:50:05,868 --> 00:50:08,393

Jerome: There are a few of those

that, There are a few of those in

:

00:50:08,393 --> 00:50:11,703

my life where before I even see the

movie I buy it just cause I know,

:

00:50:11,723 --> 00:50:12,963

I just know I'm gonna like it.

:

00:50:13,363 --> 00:50:13,753

Right?

:

00:50:14,213 --> 00:50:14,353

Okay.

:

00:50:14,353 --> 00:50:16,713

Chris: I should get a cut for

the advertisement but whatever.

:

00:50:16,713 --> 00:50:20,573

Jerome: So, Fargo.

:

00:50:21,023 --> 00:50:21,643

Chris: Well hold on.

:

00:50:21,853 --> 00:50:25,523

We're gonna land the

plane and then start anew.

:

00:50:25,793 --> 00:50:28,403

Because we're gonna try and

release this in two segments.

:

00:50:29,013 --> 00:50:31,503

Jerome: Yeah, we thought maybe with

all the fun, and there's a lot more

:

00:50:31,503 --> 00:50:34,233

craft on Fargo, if you thought I

talked a lot on Raising Arizona,

:

00:50:34,463 --> 00:50:35,973

I've got more craft for Fargo.

:

00:50:36,253 --> 00:50:39,393

So folks, we've decided to break

this up like we did with Silence

:

00:50:39,393 --> 00:50:40,413

of the Lambs in midsummer.

:

00:50:40,413 --> 00:50:43,023

We're going to break this up

into two but we're going to

:

00:50:43,033 --> 00:50:44,473

save six degrees for the end.

:

00:50:44,603 --> 00:50:47,083

Chris: Yeah, I was going to just

mention that we're going to save

:

00:50:47,083 --> 00:50:48,663

our six degrees for the end.

:

00:50:48,743 --> 00:50:51,443

Should we, should we tease what,

what they're going to be that way?

:

00:50:51,453 --> 00:50:54,073

Maybe someone can do their homework

and see if they could figure it out

:

00:50:54,073 --> 00:50:55,593

before they hear the next episode.

:

00:50:57,163 --> 00:50:57,753

You want to do that?

:

00:50:57,753 --> 00:50:59,073

Jerome: Interesting concept.

:

00:50:59,083 --> 00:51:03,903

Now, okay, this one we usually like

to make them as hard as possible.

:

00:51:04,333 --> 00:51:07,663

So our first thought was, do

we pick the two kids, right?

:

00:51:07,713 --> 00:51:12,293

Scotty Lundegaard in Fargo

and of course, Nathan Jr.

:

00:51:12,523 --> 00:51:16,653

But the problem with Nathan Jr, who

plays the baby, one of the 15 babies

:

00:51:16,653 --> 00:51:17,883

that they use to play the baby,

:

00:51:17,883 --> 00:51:18,953

Chris: the one that gets the credits,

:

00:51:19,243 --> 00:51:23,833

Jerome: the one that gets the credit,

he has no other film credits, right?

:

00:51:24,153 --> 00:51:25,553

So we decided instead.

:

00:51:25,603 --> 00:51:27,383

Chris: I think he's got an

upcoming project though.

:

00:51:27,383 --> 00:51:30,293

He's going to be in a

documentary about this movie.

:

00:51:31,203 --> 00:51:31,733

Jerome: Really?

:

00:51:31,773 --> 00:51:32,493

That's awesome.

:

00:51:33,073 --> 00:51:36,103

So we went ahead and who did you pick?

:

00:51:36,113 --> 00:51:36,683

You picked

:

00:51:38,413 --> 00:51:40,343

Oh, oh, oh, Leonard Smalls.

:

00:51:40,403 --> 00:51:41,513

Yeah, yeah, Smalls.

:

00:51:41,743 --> 00:51:44,123

So, Leonard Smalls, the dirty biker.

:

00:51:44,143 --> 00:51:47,633

Chris: Yeah, and side note, I mentioned

this to my brother before we hit record.

:

00:51:47,733 --> 00:51:53,433

Smalls, the biker, reminds me of one of

my best friends in high school's dad.

:

00:51:53,993 --> 00:51:55,533

And we were terrified of that, man.

:

00:51:55,533 --> 00:51:58,823

If you know the actor, you know why.

:

00:51:58,833 --> 00:52:00,303

He was just a big, scary dude.

:

00:52:00,323 --> 00:52:03,273

Didn't talk to the kids much, you know.

:

00:52:03,933 --> 00:52:07,803

Jerome: Well, I'll tell you Speaking

of things that remind you of something

:

00:52:07,803 --> 00:52:13,213

of the past, actually this recidivism

part that I talked about, that actually

:

00:52:13,213 --> 00:52:16,203

reminds me every time I hear it, I

think of my friend, I'm going to do

:

00:52:16,203 --> 00:52:19,203

a shout out here to Dave Vassallo,

who I grew up with in high school.

:

00:52:20,158 --> 00:52:21,748

Dave actually it was grade school.

:

00:52:21,748 --> 00:52:24,308

He went down to Florida for high

school, but he, I remember him

:

00:52:24,308 --> 00:52:27,378

telling me this story, Dave and

I were very similar in school.

:

00:52:27,388 --> 00:52:28,868

We daydreamed, you know what I mean?

:

00:52:28,868 --> 00:52:29,928

We thought about movies.

:

00:52:30,128 --> 00:52:31,898

We drew pictures of movie posters.

:

00:52:31,898 --> 00:52:33,128

We didn't pay attention at all.

:

00:52:33,278 --> 00:52:35,468

I, my grades probably could have been

a hell of a lot better if I actually

:

00:52:35,468 --> 00:52:40,348

paid attention, but we were dreamers

and, and, but this is an example

:

00:52:40,348 --> 00:52:41,908

of how movies do teach you things.

:

00:52:42,528 --> 00:52:44,538

Dave told me the story

where he was in class.

:

00:52:44,538 --> 00:52:45,748

I want to say it was in high school.

:

00:52:46,713 --> 00:52:48,613

And he's not paying attention as usual.

:

00:52:48,633 --> 00:52:49,683

He's daydreaming.

:

00:52:50,143 --> 00:52:53,093

But they somehow were talking

about the law, and the teacher said

:

00:52:53,373 --> 00:52:54,973

there's a term called recidivism.

:

00:52:55,003 --> 00:52:56,183

Does anyone know what that is?

:

00:52:56,213 --> 00:53:02,693

And Dave yells out, REPEAT OFENDER Just

like the guy in the movie says, Because

:

00:53:02,693 --> 00:53:07,738

he's seen Raising Arizona a thousand

times and knows it back and forth so

:

00:53:07,778 --> 00:53:13,008

when he heard that movie, he immediately

said out loud, repeat O Fender and

:

00:53:13,008 --> 00:53:14,828

the teacher goes, yes, that's right.

:

00:53:14,858 --> 00:53:15,738

Good job, Dave.

:

00:53:17,428 --> 00:53:19,688

All because he'd seen this movie so much.

:

00:53:19,708 --> 00:53:20,398

Yeah, that's great.

:

00:53:20,598 --> 00:53:21,358

So that's awesome.

:

00:53:21,448 --> 00:53:25,158

I forgot about that story, but every time

I hear it now, I think of that story.

:

00:53:25,203 --> 00:53:28,413

The one time he shined in his class.

:

00:53:28,463 --> 00:53:28,853

Yeah.

:

00:53:30,123 --> 00:53:33,473

Alright, so let's lay on this plane before

we take off in the connecting flight.

:

00:53:34,093 --> 00:53:36,203

Chris: Alright, keep

drinking and keep watching.

:

00:53:36,203 --> 00:53:38,423

Yeah, and go support your local cinemas.

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About the Podcast

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Silver Screen Happy Hour
With the Wiegand Brothers

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About your hosts

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Jerome Wiegand

Born and raised in Metro Detroit, Michigan. Graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Film/Screenwriting. Have lived in California since 2001. I enjoy screenwriting, script consulting and film analysis.
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Chris Wiegand