La barbe à papa

If Hayes, Kansas, and thereabouts...were the perfect locations for Peter Bogdonavich's classic "Paper Moon," then the film itself is the perfect realization of those real places forever etched in celluloid.

Few times will you ever see a film so visually wedded to its locale and cinematic style. In a typical film, you might picture the presentation of the movie working in a number of ways, but in "Paper Moon," it will forever seem like it could only have been done this way...on location, in black and white, and photographed like moving Andrew Wyeth shots of Americana.

Tatum O' Neal is terrific and justifiably won an Oscar for her part, but Ryan is wonderful as well....funny in that exasperated manner that Bud Abbott is, and the quality goes right down to the smallest bit player in the cast.

A perfect film would have great acting, great visuals and utilization of music, a superb story and lines that have you repeating them for years. Welcome to "Paper Moon." I can't recommend this blend of comedy and drama enough. A modern classic.

The Last Picture Show was a great film about small-town usual Americans, and in Paper Moon the director proceeded to represent this idea. It is made very thoroughly and tells us a story in a very gripping way. It really takes a talent to make a film without shoking or brand new ideas so great. The film is plain and it's story is quite simple, but this wonderful storytelling, directing and acting make Paper Moon a brilliant. Ryan and Tatum O'Neal made their job on the highest level and look very charming together. Every movie fan should see this masterpiece.

A sunny charmer with clouds enough to darken the edges of the screen, "Paper Moon" presents us with an entertainment of equal parts wit and sentiment, an underdog story that delivered a real underdog outcome in the form of a historic Oscar win for nine-year- old Tatum O'Neal.

In the time of the Great Depression, a little girl named Addie (Tatum) is left abandoned by the death of her mother, a woman who hung around in bars and left Addie with a big mystery as far as the identity of her father is concerned. At her gravesite, a dodgy stranger named Moses (Ryan O'Neal) happens by to pay his respects, and is immediately recruited by the other mourners, who don't want to be burdened with the girl, with the assignment of delivering Addie to her next-of-kin.

"God works in mysterious ways," one of the mourners says, after Moses reluctantly accepts.

"Don't He now?" Moses replies.

God indeed may have some unfinished business with Moses Pray, a conman who uses the Good Book as his device for fleecing newly-made widows of a few bucks. Watching the O'Neals work their family chemistry for sparks and laughs while Moses, with unexpected help from Addie, works his scams, is great fun. A lingering question is whether Moses and Addie are in fact related; many in the movie point out their similar jawlines, but Moses refuses to accept the idea. Addie is more open to it. Clearly Moses for all his faults fills a hole in her life.

There was a time when Peter Bogdanovich could do no wrong as a director; here he presents us with an assured callback to 1930s- period sensibilities by employing a flat Kansas landscape and scenic design that suggests a combination of Norman Rockwell and Grant Wood, at once homey and vaguely grotesque. The story moves fast, the dialogue is crisp and believable, and the O'Neals' performances of such strong quality as to make you wonder why they so seldom impressed in other roles. The talent is there on the screen.

Tatum was the real surprise here; decades later, long after the flash of her career faded, it's hard not to be as bowled over by what she gives you as all those critics and movie-goers were so long ago. Avoiding the cutesiness of child actors, she plays her character as sharp-tongued and vinegary, with a hint of real beauty beneath the smudges. "Ain't she got a sweet little face, somehow," is the best anyone can manage in the way of compliments, but Addie don't need them. She just wants her 200 dollars, or "two hundra DOLLA" as she keeps putting it to Moses.

The two of them make such a pair I get annoyed when Madeline Kahn joins them for a time as a conniving, cheapjack vixen named Trixie. Unlike the O'Neals, Kahn is an actress I usually enjoy in anything, so why is she so duff to me here? Trixie is a one-note performance that grates on me; I can't wait for the Prays to leave her in their dust.

I did enjoy P. J. Johnson as Trixie's put-upon maid, Imogene. She adds some heart and gives Addie some company for some of the movie's best scenes. So too does a raft of supporting players, most of whom like Kahn must have been waiting for Mel Brooks' call-backs for "Blazing Saddles" at the time of this production.

Mostly, though, this is Tatum's film; it rises or falls with her and, as a result of her spry performance, rises quite impressively. Bogdanovich clearly gambled putting his promising career on her little shoulders; unlike later gambles of his this paid off spectacularly and yields dividends to this day.

Paper Moon is one hell of a movie. I saw this film as a 10 year old in 1973 and loved it then as I do now at 39. Set in Depression era Kansas, it is story of the relationship between Addie, a smart talking 7 year old, and Moses, a bible selling con man who might be her father. The on screen chemistry between Ryan and Tatum O'Neal is fantastic. Madeline Kahn is great as a side show floosey they pick up along the way and she almost steals the show! Filmed in Kansas and Missouri, director Peter Bogdonavich used local people in cameo roles which adds to the authentic feel of the film. Also to the director's credit, this film may be one the best to portray 1930's America. All in all, Paper Moon is full of great characters and a fine story line. On a personal note, I saw this film with my 90 year old grandmother and she laughed throughout the film and said it was one the best films she ever saw. That's not a bad recomendation coming from someone born in 1883!

Paper Moon has to be one of the finest pieces of American cinema to grace the 70's. Bogdanovich's direction bares a strong resemblance to The Last Picture Show, but overall this film is much more satisfying and enjoyable. The Black and White photography gives the film a nostalgic beauty that perfectly complements the Depression-era it attempts to recreate. Also notable is the charming Jazz-based score, with a wonderful opening title track, reinforcing the film's charm. As good as the story, direction and music are however, the true stars of the film are the O'Neal twosome. Both bring forth their best performances of their careers, and share a chemistry on screen that only a father and daughter could. Ryan O'Neal brings forth a subtle charm as the wise-talking, but inept hustler Moses Pray. Tatum however, even upstages her father with what has to be the best youth performance in history. She is funny and moving when need be, and always charming, eliciting laughs many times based solely on her malleable facial expressions. Her show-stopping five minute shot, no matter how long it took to film, proves just how fully Tatum was able to embody little Addie Pray. The movie is always entertaining, with never a dull spot, with a strong supporting performance by Madeline Kahn to help keep things rolling during the middle. This is a true classic that should be seen by people of all ages, I can't recommend it enough!