Welcome to the “M-Oscars” (pronounced Mah-skurs)

And my #1 movie of all time is…

“RAISING ARIZONA”

Starring Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter, this little gem of a movie first made its way onto the big screen 27 years ago in 1987.  Wow.  Written, directed and produced by the now-famous Coen Brothers, this movie tells the story of   “ex-con” H.I. McDunnough (Hi for short) and his policewoman wife Edwina (Ed).  Hi and Ed meet in jail over several mug shots, fall in love and get married.  With their child-rearing years ahead of them, Ed is devastated when she discovers that she is barren.  To make matters worse, adoption is not an option for the couple due to Hi’s extensive criminal history.

Meanwhile, Nathan Arizona, furniture mogul and owner of the Unpainted Arizona furniture store, has just had quintuples and, seeing’s how “they have more babies than they can handle,” Hi and Ed decide that the answer to their prayers is to steal one of the Arizona babies.  

After a nail-biting, yet successful caper, Hi and Ed must now figure out how to raise who they think to be Nathan Jr. (Ed:  I think we got the best one!) under the rising suspicion of Hi’s con-artist friends, Gale and Evelle Snoats, as well as their swinging neighbors (as in ‘to swing’) Glen and Dot.   Not to mention the "warthog from hell" who calls himself  Leonard Smalls.

For those of you who have not already seen this film, where have you been for the last 27 years?  Go!  Now!  And rent this movie!  Originally rated 2 out of 4 stars, this movie has developed a hefty camp following and now boasts a solid  rating of 90/100 on “Rotten Tomatoes.”  Seeing as it is my all-time favorite movie, I must give it my highest rating - 4 out of 4 ritz krackas!

“What are you kidding?! We got us a family here!”

“I’ll be taking these Huggies and…whatever cash ya got behind the counter here.”

“Ma'am, you don't breast-feed him, he'll hate you for it later. That's why we wound up in prison.”

“Say that reminds me, how'd you get that kid so darn fast? Me and Dot went in to adopt on account a' somethin' went wrong with my semen, and they said we had to wait five years for a healthy white baby. I said, "Healthy white baby? Five years? What else you got?" Said they got two Koreans and a negra born with his heart on the outside. It's a crazy world.”