The Story Archive

Raising Arizona

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen · 1987 CE · Film · Modern / American · Contemporary

A repeat convenience-store robber marries the police officer who kept photographing him for booking, and when they find they cannot have children of their own they take one of a furniture magnate's newborn quintuplets. Two escaped convicts turn up at the trailer, and a bounty hunter out of the husband's nightmares starts riding for the reward. The Coens ran their crime machinery at cartoon speed in only their second outing.

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Attributes

Genre
ComedyCrime / Noir
Theme
MotherhoodRedemptionIndividual vs Society
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
TricksterEverymanShadow
Plot structure
PicaresqueThe ChaseComic Resolution
Symbol / motif
The DreamThe JourneyThe House
Conflict
vs Societyvs Self
Mode / tone
ComicSatiricalIronic
Culture / tradition
Modern / American

Closest analogues