6 Fantastic Close-Quarter Fights On Film

2. Raising Arizona The Coen Bros. are not action directors, which makes you wonder why they are just so damn good at it. Whether they're orchestrating operatic tommy gun battles (Miller's Crossing) or midnight shoot-outs on silent streets (No Country For Old Men) or just finding inventive ways to brutally murder Steve Buscemi (most movies), the Coens keep demonstrating their keen eye for motion and impact. Nowhere is this better evidenced than in the trailer-leveling brawl between John Goodman and Nicolas Cage in Raising Arizona. Goodman and his brother wish to abduct the already abducted infant Nathan Jr., leaving surrogate Daddy H.I. McDonough (Cage) to try and stop them. It goes poorly. Part wrestling match, part extended Looney Toons gag sequence, the Coens keep finding new ways to emphasize the tight space of the trailer, whether it's Goodman busting the wall when he pulls his elbow back for a punch, or Cage scraping his knuckles on the ceiling. The scene is a classic example of "Having Your Cake and Eating It Too", as it allows the Coen Bros. to both keep the plot moving forward, AND affords them the opportunity to revel in the spectacle of two grown men smashing a small room into bits. Even the disproportionate sizes of the combatants are part of the gag. Cage has never been more of a string-bean than in Raising Arizona, and Goodman looked as if he had just strolled off of a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, so pitting one against the other only exacerbates the cartoon logic of the entire film. By the time the two begin to fly through the air and smash walls, it seems like an inevitability.