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PAPER MOON
It seemed like director Peter Bogdanovich would have nowhere to go but down after The Last Picture Show and What's Up, Doc?, but he actually hit the trifecta with a another lovely black and white period piece called Paper Moon, a warm and winning comedy that made a second generation star out of Tatum O'Neal, as well as making her the youngest actor to date to win an Oscar.
Based on a novel called "Addie Prey" by Joe David Brown, this story, set during the Great Depression in the Kansas bible belt, introduces us to a slick con man named Moses Prey, played by Ryan O'Neal, who arrives at the funeral of a woman he had a past with named Essie Mae Loggins and finds no one there but a minister, two old women, and Essie Mae's daughter, Addie (Tatum O'Neal). After assuring the ladies present that he is not Addie's father (apparently they have the same jaw), they ask him if he would be willing to drive Addie to St. Joseph Missouri, since he is en route to St. Louis. He agrees but needs to do some business to make some traveling money, and when Addie quickly catches on to what Moses is doing and how she can help, this marks the beginning of a very unlikely and unpredictable business relationship.
Needless to say, the appeal in this story is the slow burn of the relationship that quietly develops between these two very unlikely business partners, made all the richer and entertaining by the fact that the two characters are being played by a real life father and daughter and Alvin Sargent's Oscar-nominated screenplay never allows us to forget this. We are reminded throughout the story of the physical resemblance between Moses and Addie and we have to chuckle every time the con man vehemently denies that he is the child's father. Even Addie herself sees the resemblance and is willing to forgive the first time Moses uses her in his con when she thinks he might be her dad, but when he insists that he's not, that's when Addie insists on the money he conned out of innocent women with her assistance. If I had one quibble with the screenplay, it would be that we never find out one way or the other whether or not Moses is really Addie's father, which might have been on purpose, but it would have been nice to know. Not to mention the fact that though she never would admit it, Addie really wanted it to be true.
The relationship is thrown a wrench when Moses picks up a gregarious good time girl named Trixie Delight (Madeline Kahn) and her 15 year old maid, Imogene (P J Johnson). As wise beyond her years as Addie appears to be, she reverts to complete 10 year old mode with her bold-face resentment of Trixie taking attention away from her, not to mention the front seat.
Bogdanovich has crafted another period piece, shot in beautiful black and white, that stirs images of the Great Depression as a stark contrast to the comedic story being presented. Ryan O'Neal is slick and charming as Moses and he and Kahn prove they still have the chemistry they displayed in What's Up, Doc?, but this is Tatum O'Neal's show all the way, a performance that so commands the screen, she became the youngest actor ever to win an Oscar, taking the title from Patty Duke. O'Neal won Outstanding Supporting Actress though the role is clearly a lead, as young Tatum is in virtually every frame of the film, displaying an ease with the camera that is a little startling for a 10 year old making her film debut. A triumph for Bogdanovich and the O'Neal family and a lot of fun for the viewer.
It seemed like director Peter Bogdanovich would have nowhere to go but down after The Last Picture Show and What's Up, Doc?, but he actually hit the trifecta with a another lovely black and white period piece called Paper Moon, a warm and winning comedy that made a second generation star out of Tatum O'Neal, as well as making her the youngest actor to date to win an Oscar.
Based on a novel called "Addie Prey" by Joe David Brown, this story, set during the Great Depression in the Kansas bible belt, introduces us to a slick con man named Moses Prey, played by Ryan O'Neal, who arrives at the funeral of a woman he had a past with named Essie Mae Loggins and finds no one there but a minister, two old women, and Essie Mae's daughter, Addie (Tatum O'Neal). After assuring the ladies present that he is not Addie's father (apparently they have the same jaw), they ask him if he would be willing to drive Addie to St. Joseph Missouri, since he is en route to St. Louis. He agrees but needs to do some business to make some traveling money, and when Addie quickly catches on to what Moses is doing and how she can help, this marks the beginning of a very unlikely and unpredictable business relationship.
Needless to say, the appeal in this story is the slow burn of the relationship that quietly develops between these two very unlikely business partners, made all the richer and entertaining by the fact that the two characters are being played by a real life father and daughter and Alvin Sargent's Oscar-nominated screenplay never allows us to forget this. We are reminded throughout the story of the physical resemblance between Moses and Addie and we have to chuckle every time the con man vehemently denies that he is the child's father. Even Addie herself sees the resemblance and is willing to forgive the first time Moses uses her in his con when she thinks he might be her dad, but when he insists that he's not, that's when Addie insists on the money he conned out of innocent women with her assistance. If I had one quibble with the screenplay, it would be that we never find out one way or the other whether or not Moses is really Addie's father, which might have been on purpose, but it would have been nice to know. Not to mention the fact that though she never would admit it, Addie really wanted it to be true.
The relationship is thrown a wrench when Moses picks up a gregarious good time girl named Trixie Delight (Madeline Kahn) and her 15 year old maid, Imogene (P J Johnson). As wise beyond her years as Addie appears to be, she reverts to complete 10 year old mode with her bold-face resentment of Trixie taking attention away from her, not to mention the front seat.
Bogdanovich has crafted another period piece, shot in beautiful black and white, that stirs images of the Great Depression as a stark contrast to the comedic story being presented. Ryan O'Neal is slick and charming as Moses and he and Kahn prove they still have the chemistry they displayed in What's Up, Doc?, but this is Tatum O'Neal's show all the way, a performance that so commands the screen, she became the youngest actor ever to win an Oscar, taking the title from Patty Duke. O'Neal won Outstanding Supporting Actress though the role is clearly a lead, as young Tatum is in virtually every frame of the film, displaying an ease with the camera that is a little startling for a 10 year old making her film debut. A triumph for Bogdanovich and the O'Neal family and a lot of fun for the viewer.