Raising Arizona

Raising Arizona   

Screenplay by       Ethan Coen

          Joel Coen

Produced by       Ethan Coen

          Mark Silverman

Directed by       Joel Coen

Cast List:

Nicolas Cage      H.I. McDonnough

Holly Hunter      Edwina

Trey Wilson      Nathan Arizona, Sr.

John Goodman      Gale

William Forsythe    Evelle

Sam McMurray      Glen

Frances McDormand    Dot

Randall "Tex" Cobb    Leonard Smalls

T.J. Kuhn      Nathan Arizona, Jr.

OVER BLACK:

VOICE OVER

My name is H. I. McDunnough...

 
A WALL

 
With horizontal hatch lines.

VOICE OVER

... Call me Hi.

A disheveled young man in a gaily colored Hawaiian shirt is launched into frame by someone offscreen.
 

He holds a printed paddle that reads "NO. 1468-6 NOV. 29 79."

The hatch marks on the wall behind him are apparently height markers.

VOICE OVER

... The first time I met Ed was in the county lock-up in Tempe, Arizona...

FLASH

As his picture is taken.

CLOSEUP

On the paddle: "NOV. 29 79."

VOICE OVER

... a day I'll never forget.

A bellowing male voice from offscreen:

SHERIFF

Don't forget the profile, Ed!

ANGLE ON THE STILL CAMERA

It is mounted on a tripod. A pretty young woman in a severe police uniform peers out from behind it.

WOMAN

Turn to the right.

HI

What kind of name is Ed for a pretty thing like you?

ED

Short for Edwinna. Turn to the right!

HI obliges, but still looks at Ed out of the corner of his eye.

HI

You're a flower, you are. Just a little desert flower.

FLASH

On his eye-skewed profile.

HI

Lemme know how those come out.

LOW ANGLE CELL BLOCK CORRIDOR

As Hi is escorted away from the camera toward his cell.

At the far end of the corridor a huge con is sluggishly mopping the floor.

VOICE OVER

I was in for writing hot checks which, when businessmen do it, is called an overdraft. I'm not complainin', mind you; just sayin' there ain't no pancake so thin it ain't got two sides. Now prison life is very structured – more than most people care for...

INTERCUTTING

HI'S POV of the MOPPING CON, tracking as he approaches, and the Mopping Con's POV of Hi as Hi approaches.

VOICE OVER

... But there's a spirit of camaraderie that exists between the men, like you find only in combat maybe...

The Mopping Con snarls as Hi passes:

CON

Grrrr...

VOICE OVER

... or on a pro ball club in the heat of a pennant drive.

NEWSREEL FOOTAGE

A ballplayer connects – THWOCK – for a home run and the crowd roars.

PRISON HALL

Panning a circle of men who sit facing each other in folding chairs. The pan starts on Hi.

VOICE OVER

In an effort to better ourselves we were forced to meet with a counselor who tried to help us figure out why we were the way we were...

At this point the pan has reached the COUNSELOR, an earnest, bearded young man who straddles a folding chair with his arms folded over its back.

He is addressing one of the Cons:

COUNSELOR

Why do you use the word "trapped"?

CLOSEUP BLACK CON

The huge muscle-bound black man with a shaved head is knitting his brow in consternation.

CON

Huh?

COUNSELOR

Why do you say you feel "trapped" in a man's body?

CON

Oh ...

He bites his lip, thinking; then, in a resonant bass voice:

CON

... Well, sometimes I get the menstrual cramps real hard.

PAROLE MEETING ROOM

Three PAROLE OFFICERS – two men and a woman-face Hi across a table.

CHAIRMAN
Have you learned anything, Hi?

HI

Yessir, you bet.

WOMAN

You wouldn't lie to us, would you Hi?

HI

No ma'am, hope to say.

CHAIRMAN

Okay then.

EXT 7-ELEVEN NIGHT

A beat-up Chevy pulls into the all-night store's empty parking lot.

VOICE OVER

I tried to stand up and fly straight, but it wasn't easy with that sumbitch Reagan in the White House...

Hi is getting out of the Chevy in a Hawaiian shirt, holding a pump-action shotgun.

VOICE OVER

... I dunno, they say he's a decent man, so...

He primes the shotgun – WHOOSH – CLACK – and heads for the store.

VOICE OVER

... maybe his advisers are confused.

FLASH

Full-face exposure of Hi once again in front of the mug-shot wall.

ED

Turn to the right!

Hi obliges but shoots sympathetic glances at Ed who is obviously upset, wiping away tears and snuffling behind the camera.

HI

What's the matter, Ed?

ED

My fai-ants left me.

VOICE OVER

She said her fiancée had run off with a student cosmetologist who knew how to ply her feminine wiles.

FLASH

On Hi's profile. He turns back to Ed.

HI

That sumbitch.

SHERIFF (O.S.)

Don't forget his phone call, Ed!

HI

You tell him I think he's a damn fool, Ed. You tell him I said so – H.I. McDunnough. And if he wants to discuss it he knows where to find me...

As another police officer starts to lead him away:

HI

... in the Munroe County Maximum Security Correctional Facility for Men...

CLOSE ON ED

Looking up through her tears as Hi is led away.

HI (O.S.)

... State Farm Road Number Thirty-one; Tempe, Arizona...

BACK TO HI

Struggling to call back over his shoulder as he is firmly led out the door.

HI

... I'll be waiting!

The door slams.

LOW ANGLE CELL BLOCK CORRIDOR

As Hi is once again escorted toward his cell.

The Mopping Con is now in the middle-background, having worked his way about halfway up the corridor since last time we saw him.

VOICE OVER
I can't say I was happy to be back inside, but the flood of familiar sights, sounds and faces almost made it feel like a homecoming.

CLOSE ON MOPPING CON

As Hi passes.

CON
Grrrr...

PRISON HALL

Group is meeting again.

COUNSELOR

Most men your age, Hi, are getting married and raising up a family. They wouldn't accept prison as a substitute.

Hi looks sheepish.

COUNSELOR

... Would any of you men care to comment?

Two convicts sitting next to each other, GALE and EVELLE, appear to be friends.

GALE
But sometimes your career gotta come before family.

EVELLE

Work is what's kept us happy.

ANGRY BLACK CON

Yeah, but Doc Schwartz is sayin' you gotta accept responsibilities. I mean I'm proud to say I got a family... somewheres.

HIGH ANGLE CELL
 

Looking down from the ceiling. In the foreground, lying on the top bunk, hands clasped behind his head as he stares off into space is MOSES. Moses is a gnarled, elderly black con with wire-rimmed spectacles. On the lower bunk, also with hands clasped behind his head and staring off at the same spot in space, is Hi .

VOICE OVER

I tried to sort through what the Doc had said, but prison ain't the easiest place to think.

MOSES

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

HI

You ate what?

MOSES

(nodding)

We ate San'.

HI

You ate sand?!

MOSES

Dass right...

PAROLE BOARD ROOM
 

Hi faces the same three PAROLE OFFICERS across the same table.