MFT: Cohen brothers - Raising Arizona - Lone Biker of the Apocalypse

I was watching Raising Arizona lately and it is still as good as it gets. One thing that stuck with me was the peripheral character known as Lone Biker of the Apocalypse AKA Leonard Smalls. He comes into the film as the solution for the problem.

He's there to catch the kidnappers and bring a semblance of justice. He's the harbinger of Doom for the protagonists of the story. For the entirety of his part in the film - he is presented as an ultimate badass. Even though he doesn't do anything in particular aside from looking really intimidating and making an imposing presense with a tangible sense of dread.

There are only two major episodes involving Leonard Smalls - coincidentally, his introduction and subsequent demise.

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The introduction of the character is pitch perfect. He comes in a Herbert's dream after the main part of the story was kicked into the second gear. In a way, he's a manifestation of the guilt.

Leonard Smalls' Lone Biker is described as the ultimate force of doom that is so mean and unrelenting that it is just beyond any comprehension - a force of nature of sorts.

Let me describe him in detail. He's got dark brown hair, speckles of awesome and Frank Blue Eyes. He wears a skull necklace because of couse and also a skull tattoo with a sentence saying "mamma didn't love me". He also wears a military vest for practical awesomeness reason. There is some fur and spikes on the sleeves because that's the way it is when it comes to depicting a badass character. There hand grenades on his chest and shotgun holsters on his back.

He emerges from the fire. He blows up a rabbit with a hand grenade, he shoots a lizard with a shotgun and when he passes by poppies catch fire. And he's got little boots dangling on his side (I suppose there is a deleted scene where he conjures the spirit of Little Bootsm but whaddayaknow).

This leaves a lasting impression even though the character is disposed by the power of his own badassery. Too cool to stick around for his own good. Speaking of which.

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The final confrontation between Herbet and Leonard is notable for being well-orchestrated plausible fight where the superior blunt force is outwitted by cunning underdog. The dude's too arrogant to be cautious.

During the fight - Herbert shoots him in the arm and instead of blood - there's a spurt of fire coming out. After some nasty throwing around Herbert manages to pull the pin out of Leonard's chest grenades and so ends the glorious story of Lone Biker of the Apocalypse.

He blows up and one of his boots with a pair of baby shoes remains to commemorate the man. The heroes are safe and they will live happily ever after because reasons and also because this is the end of the story.

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