Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that Raising Arizona is a classic 1987 Coen brothers film in which Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunt steal an infant from parents who recently gave birth to quintuplets after they learn they're unable to have children of their own. The main characters are kidnappers and convicts. A kidnapped baby is taken into perilous situations throughout, such as car chases, bank robberies, gunfights, and the like. One character is a bounty hunter of sorts who, in a dream sequence, destroys everything in his path, including bunny rabbits. A character blows up from a hand grenade. While the violence is often exaggerated for comedic or dramatic effect, there is an extended chase sequence in which gun and rifle fire is nonstop. Characters are shown bloodied and bruised in these fights. There is some profanity in nearly every scene -- including one use of "f--k" and variations on "s--t." A teen convenience store clerk looks at a pornographic magazine. There is some sex talk, often in the context of conceiving a baby.
Sexual
Content
An unsympathetic character tells the male lead that he and his wife are "swingers" and offers to "wife-swap." Talk of fertility, reference to semen. A teen convenience store clerk looks at an issue of Juggs magazine. The male lead hides a copy of Playboy under a mattress.
Violence
Frequent violence, often exaggerated, such as the lengthy chase of the male lead after he robs a convenience store; the chase is filled with frequent gun and rifle shots, a pack of neighborhood dogs suddenly on the loose, and a chase in which the police pursue a man through a stranger's home and a grocery store, shooting guns the entire time. Characters fistfight, wrestle. One character blows up from a hand grenade. The male lead is shown badly beaten as he is punched and thrown repeatedly in a violent beating. A bank robbery. A paint canister placed in a bag filled with money explodes while the two robbers are driving away from the bank. Knife throwing. A man is knocked off his motorcycle with a two-by-four.
Language
Usually at least one curse word in every scene: "f--k" and "s--t," "son of a bitch," "bulls--t," "s--tbox," "damn," "hell."" An unsympathetic character is fond of telling "Polack" jokes. A young child is shown scrawling the word "FART" on a living room wall.
Social
Behavior
This movie is too farcical and comedic to have any real positive messages.
Consumerism
Cans of Budweiser. Corn Flakes. Huggies Diapers feature prominently in an extended chase scene. Bottle of J&B scotch.
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Two escaped convicts drink beer and leave the empties scattered all around them. Social beer drinking. Cigarette smoking.
