Paper Moon (1973)

Paper Moon
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
Written by Alvin Sargent from a novel by Joe David Brown
1973/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Moses Pray: I now owe you one hundred and three dollars and seventy-two cents.
Addie Loggins: Seventy-four.

The omission of this excellent comedy from the 1001 Movies list is the most inexplicable to date.  If you are a classic movie buff, you must see it.  If you are not, you probably will still love it.

The story is set in the Depression-era Mid-West. As the film begins, we see a funeral in progress, in what truly appears to be the middle of nowhere. The deceased was the local town harlot.  Her illegitimate daughter Addie (Tatum O’Neal) is now an orphan.  Moze Pray (Ryan O’Neal) shows up to pay his respects.  Townspeople remark at Addie’s resemblance to him and he reluctantly agrees to take the girl to her aunt’s house after they agree to his price.  He then works a con and extracts $200 from the brother of the man that hit Addie’s mother in the car accident.

Addie has overheard the whole thing.  She hopes against hope that Moze will admit he is her father, He adamantly denies it. In that case, she figures the $200 belongs to her and sticks like glue to him demanding her cash.

It turns out that Addie is as skilled at grifting as her mentor, Moze, if not more so.  They become quite the team of Bible salesen and work a number of other scams as well. They accumulate well more than $200 without splitting up.

All this changes when Moze sees the hootchie-cootchie act of exotic dancer Miss Trixe Delight (the hilarious Madeline Kahn) in a traveling carnival.  He is smitten and the next thing we know he has installed Trixie and her long-suffering maid Imogene (the wonderful P.J. Johnson) in his car.  Addie is furious and shares a smoldering hatred for Trixie with Imogene.  She will not rest until she finds a way to get rid of this insufferable spender of Moze’s money.

The final act of the movie concerns Moze’s very ill-advised attempt to work a con on a bootlegger (John Hillerman).  The trials of the duo bring them even closer together.  I will stop there.

Bogdanovich and company. create a beautiful blend of sad images of the dustbowl, nostalgia for a time and its music, father-daughter warmth, and a bit of screwball hilarity in this great film.  The acting in this movie is really outstanding.  The three fantastic females swamp poor Ryan O’Neal, but he couldn’t be more perfect either.  Very Highly Recommended.

Tatum O’Neal won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (though, IMO, she was clearly the lead actress and the film’s protagonist).  At age 10, she became the youngest winner ever in a competitive category.  The film was nominated in the categories of Best Supporting Actress (Kahn); Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; and Best Sound.

Great clip showing the chemistry beween Ryan O’Neal and his talented daughter