Raising Arizona Easter Egg - Nod to Kubric

In the scene where the biker, played by Randall Cobb, bursts into a gas station restroom on his Hog, the camera focuses briefly on the inside of the door just before the biker knocks it down. There is some graffiti on the door - the letters OPE and POE.
This seems a reference to Kubric's "Dr. Strangelove," in which Gen. Ripper wouldn't reveal the recall code for the bombers. He had scribbled on a tablet: "purity of essence, piece on earth," as well as anagrams of POE, OPE.
Hence, the Coen brothers' nod to Kubric and/or his film.

User Rating:
7.1
  7.1/10 with 44 votes
Contributed By: thompson on 04-18-2000
Reviewed By: Webmaster
Special Requirements: None -- it's in a film
Please correct this Egg if you see errors.

Pictures and Videos

bathroom door at 32'05
bathroom door at 32'05"

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Comments

Big Booch writes:
This is incredible, I was just watching Raising Arizona (the greatest movie of all time) yesterday and I couldn't stop wondering about the P.O.E & O.P.E on the door and how I might determine it's meaning. Now, today, I get an email that includes an Easter Egg on this very topic. Is that cosmic, or what ?
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D. Bergren writes:
Thank you so much! Ever since I first saw this movie, the O.P.E P.O.E. thing has been driving me nuts. I always knew it had to mean something, because it was so prominent in the scene. Good researching. And yes, this is the greatest movie of all time.
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gorekc writes:
The same POE OPE appears in the gas station bathroom scene in the 2006 movie RV starring Robin Williams. Very interesting.
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subgenius writes:
more important than the "nod", is that the letters stand for the code being sought to stop the nuclear bombing in dr. strangelove, appropriate considering the coming "apocalypse" of Tex Cobb. However, you first see the letters when the escaped convict brothers are in the bathroom "fixing their hair". also interesting is how these letters were communicated in the kubrick movie. why does H.I. reference 3 different jail locations at the begining of the movie as we are led to believe he is always going to same one?
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pythagore writes:
are you sure POE means piece on earth ? or maybe peace on earth would better match
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propguy writes:
Also... The song Ed is singing Ed Jr in the car when Cage is robbing the store for some Huggies is the Three Little Pigs. Remember "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in" courtesy of Jack Nicholson from The Shining???
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bodhidog writes:
The Strangelove reference doesn't stop at the graffiti. In Raising Arizona, when Gale pulls Evelle out of the mud, in an earlier scene, the high pitched howl that Evelle lets out is sampled from Dr. Strangelove. It is the "yahoo" that Slim Pickens yells as he rides the bomb into oblivion. The very next scene after Evelle comes out of the mud, is them greasing their hair in the bathroom where we later see the graffiti.
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