Fight Clip Club: Raising Arizona

Ever fight a person with a trailer? Yeah, me neither.

Continuing with the funniest of fight scenes, what we’ve got here is one of the slapstickier ones from a wide range of action scenes from the ‘80s. Is it me, or was 1987 like, the best year ever for movies? Just me? It can’t be just me. And what could be better than late-1980s Nic Cage at the height of his Nic Cageiness? (Actually, it can be argued that his pinnacle of Nic Cageiness is right now, but. My point stands, I think.)

There are quite a few famous and well made fight scenes I can think of off the top of my head that take place in a cramped space. It’s a neat gimmick for a fight, and it brings a few challenges to a choreographer as well as to performers. One of the best is the famous train compartment fight in the James Bond flick From Russia With Love, but this fight stands out to me because of just what the cramped space is: it’s a mobile home. 

Now I grew up in a trailer, and so the various appearances of certain pieces of decor, smashings of thin walls, etc. really hit home for me (see what I did there). The smashing of that random decorative pillar-looking thing? Yeah, how many rough-housing siblings can relate? 

But as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself. Go ahead and watch the fight scene in question below, and let’s talk about it after.