Wednesday, February 27, 2008
One of my favorite movies - PAPER MOON (1973)
This turned a boring friday night into great fun :)
"Charming Depression-era road movie comedy."
One of my all time favorite movies is a classic by the name of Paper Moon—starring Ryan O’Neal & his then 10 yr old daughter Tatum. I recently picked this one up on an incredibly boring Friday night at the video store. Proceeding to the store with my 3 perplexed daughters, seeking a cartload of junk food and movie night munchies….we headed back home to watch this cute little classic. After 20 minutes into this film, my 16 yr old was deeply immersed in the movie enjoying the sight of 10 yr old Tatum effectively stealing every scene that she is in - and ringing gales of laughter out of my own teenage daughter. We had a fabulous night :)
"Charming Depression-era road movie comedy."
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Peter Bogdanovich ("Targets"/"The Last Picture Show ") directs this charming Depression-era road movie comedy. It's adapted from the novel "Addie Pray" (1971) by Joe David Brown and written by Alvin Sargent. Tatum O'Neal became the youngest ever Oscar winner for her Supporting Actress performance. It's one of the three best films Bogdanovich directed before his rapid decline, where he became box office poison.
In 1936, the nine-year-old Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neal, in her film debut) is left an orphan in rural Kansas and her neighbors suggest that the likable but unethical Bible traveling salesman Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal, Tatum's dad), her mom's ex-boyfriend, who was the only stranger attending the funeral and may or may not be her father, take her to St. Joseph, Missouri, to stay with her aunt. Moses soon finds he can't get rid of her and that she's no angel, in fact she's a brat who smokes, cusses, and is a kindred spirit when it comes to flimflam. They team up as con artists who prey on the gullible. Madeline Kahn sparkles in a supporting role as Trixie Delight, a sad-eyed carnival stripper who becomes Moses' romantic interest.
The black-and-white film (shot on location in Kansas and Missouri) is superbly shot by Laszlo Kovacs, giving it that needed midwest dustbowl look. It has Ford's lyrical mannerisms (even shows a shot from his Steamboat 'Round the Bend) and Hawks' ear for comedy, two of the directors the former film critic Bogdanovich said he most admired. To its credit, it avoids mush and sentimentality by being so cynical. It also includes music performed by Ozzie Nelson, Hoagy Carmichael, and Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, and snippets from the radio shows of Jack Benny and Fibber McGee and Molly.
REVIEWED ON 10/19/2006 GRADE: B+
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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