I was watching the classic Coen brothers film, Raising Arizona the other day and I was reminded of one particularly epic beard from my childhood. Raising Arizona is a film starring Nicolas cage and Holly Hunter, about a couple consisting of a career criminal and a police officer who can’t have a baby. They live in a trailer in the desert in modest poverty, and soon find out about a local wealthy furniture salesman who has just had what seems like eleventy children and thats when they devise a scheme to kidnap one of them and take the baby in as their own.
Once this happens, of course Nathan Arizona and his wife take umbrage to the event and a manhunt begins.
This is where one particular iconic character is born, in leonard smalls.
Better known as “The Lone Biker of the Apocalypse,” he is one of the most unforgettable characters in the film. Played with menacing gusto by former professional boxer, Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb, Smalls is a bounty hunter who brings chaos, danger, and a touch of the surreal to the film’s offbeat storyline.
He’s a towering figure with an almost mythical aura, riding into the story on a motorcycle that seems more beast than machine. He has this mad max meets terminator meets sons of anarchy vibe… accessorized with grenades, a sawed-off shotgun, and an aura that screams bad news, From the moment he appears, he becomes a figure of looming relentless darkness.
In fact, after a meeting with Nathan Arizona in which the father rejects the bounty hunters offer, Smalls plans not to return the baby to his wealthy parents, but aims to sell the child on the black market for profit.
Smalls becomes a symbol of unrestrained chaos in an otherwise quirky and offbeat comedy. His larger-than-life presence feels almost supernatural, and in many ways, he represents the inner fears and doubts of HI, played by Nicolas Cage, embodying the struggle between the life H.I. wants to leave behind and the one he’s trying to build.
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After an epic showdown, the biker becomes a victim of his own devices when HI pulls the pin on one of his grenades and the bikers pursuit effectively ends in many pieces.
Aside from his grimy looks and nefarious demeanor, the character has some insane facial air. Likened to Animal from the muppets being drug behind a bus, the beard is bushy, messy, chaotic…. Just like the character of Leonard Smalls himself, and as long as people remember and appreciate this great classic film, they will never forget Randall Tex Cobb and his glorious beard.
The Glorious Beard Podcast 
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