Arizona

VHS, 125 minutes, COLUMBIA / TRI STAR

Jean Arthur and William Holden star as a hellion and the man who loves her in "Arizona", an epic adventure set in the frontier days of lawless Tucson. Columbia Pictures purchased Clarence Budington Kelland's 1939 novel "Arizona," intending it as a reunion vehicle for Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur, the stars of "Mr. Deeds goes to Town" and "The Plainsman." When Cooper became unavailable, the studio assigned the male lead to their "Golden Boy" sensation, William Holden. Budgeted at 2.3 million, "Arizona" was produced on a grand scale, complete with a full-sized recreation of the 1860's Tucson settlement, majestic location scenery, hundreds of extras, boisterous Apache raids and a spectacular cattle stampede. Opening on Christmas Day 1940, "Arizona" was hailed as a rip-roaring Western from a director, Wesley Ruggles, who knew how to make them (Ruggles directed the 1931 Academy Award winning Best picture "Cimarron").