B-Movies and Couch Classics: The Apostle • Raising Arizona

B-Movies and Couch Classics
The Apostle & Raising Arizona

By Dan Dumbauld,
Special Correspondent to Movie Merchants

THE APOSTLE
1997 OCTOBER FILMS
It is always interesting what films big Hollywood studios decide to finance. Hollywood seems to be content producing formulaic movies where the good guy catches the bad guy or the guy gets the girl as opposed to anything edgy or thought provoking. Actor Robert Duvall witnessed the Hollywood process first hand as he tried to get funding for his personal project about a flawed southern preacher, The Apostle. Duvall shopped his script around Hollywood for a decade and despite being one of the most respected actors in town for over thirty years, no one wanted to touch his film. So Duvall decided to go the independent route and basically financed the $3.5 million budget himself. He secured distribution through the independent company October Films and secured a Best Actor Nomination at the Academy Awards. The Apostle is the story of Sonny, played by Duvall, a preacher who travels throughout the Deep South putting on colorful religious revivals. With his grandiose verbal and physical style, Sonny has gained quite a following, however, things are not as good at home. He talks easier with Jesus than his own family and his marriage is on the rocks. He finds out that his wife (the strangely cast Farrah Fawcett) has been cheating on him with the local minister. Despite being no stranger to infidelities of his own, Sonny lashes out in violence that forces him to flee town.

After running his car and all of his worldly belongings into a river, Sonny assumes the identity of The Apostle E.F. His journey takes him to a small Louisiana town that no longer has a church. The Apostle then takes it upon himself to resurrect the town’s dilapidated church and give the people a place to worship the Lord. He enlists the aid of the now retired former minister, (a marvelous low key performance by John Beasley) and gets time to preach on the local am radio station. He then starts courting Miranda Richardson.

After a lot of hard work The Apostle gets the church back up and running, however it may not have time to flourish as many townspeople are opposed to it and Sonny’s past indiscretions still loom over everything.

Robert Duvall’s role of Sonny/The Apostle is one of the most deeply religious characters in film history. Despite Jesus and His Lord being the guiding influence in his life, he is a flawed human being. At the beginning of the film, it appears that Sonny is a huckster. Perhaps this is because Duvall lets us see his flaws early, or maybe it is because in films preachers, especially southern preachers, are almost universally parodied. However as the film progresses the audience sees that this is not an act and this man’s one true faith is in God.

As a director, Robert Duvall is as great as he is an actor. His direction is very straight forward. He gets tremendous performances out of his supporting cast, many of them non-actors; however, this is truly his film. He is in virtually every frame of the movie and commands the screen at all times. Charismatic and volcanic, his performance is an instant classic and earned him several year end critic’s awards.

Hollywood decided not to finance this moving and thought-provoking film. Hollywood also awarded its Best Actor award to Jack Nicholson (in a role he could have played in his sleep) in the $65 million film As Good As It Gets. Until Hollywood decides to take a risk on a small project every once and awhile, the indie studios like October and Miramax will continue to produce the most interesting films like The Apostle.

RAISING ARIZONA
20TH CENTURY FOX 1987
Two years ago Joel and Ethan Coen became household names with their unconventional take on kidnapping and murder in Fargo. The film ended up winning two Oscars (Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress for Frances McDormand) and had won the Coens many new fans. Many thought that with all of this success the brothers would become too mainstream. However, they returned to their offbeat style with another hilarious kidnapping caper, The Big Lebowski (now available on video), which is a film that separates fans of the Coen brothers from those who simply liked Fargo.

The Coen brothers best film in terms of pure comedy is their second feature, Raising Arizona. After their fine debut with the film noir Blood Simple the Coens settled to their style with Arizona.

The film stars Nicholas Cage, in one of his two starmaking turns in 1987, (Moonstruck is the other) as H.I. He is a lonely soul who ineptly robs convenience stores. Upon one of his visits to the police station he falls for Ed (Holly Hunter) the officer who takes his picture. He declares his love for her and promises to marry her once he returns from the local correctional facilities.

Once H.I. is released, he follows through on his promise and sweeps Ed off of her feet. H.I. attempts to go straight as they start a happy life together. The only problem is that Ed finds out that she is barren and cannot have children. A solution to this problem presents itself when the couple sees that rich businessman Nathan Arizona, played with great zeal by Trey Wilson, has just been blessed with quintuplets. H.I. and Ed figure that the Arizonas will not miss one baby, so they take one for their own, leading to ransoms, police chases, and a motorcycled bounty hunter known only as the Lone Biker of the Apocalypse.

With inspired performances from Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter years before either won an Oscar and colorfully offbeat supporting performances from John Goodman and William Forsythe, Raising Arizona is one of the funniest films of the last decade. The sequence where Cage tries to steal “these huggies and whatever you got in the drawer” is a pure and utter delight. The Coens have been one of the few filmmakers who have maintained this high quality of work in every film.