Paper Moon

1973 "As P.T. Barnum put it, "There's a sucker born every minute.""
8.1| 1h42m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 09 May 1973 Released
Producted By: Paramount
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A bible salesman finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership as a money-making con team in Depression-era Kansas.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Crime

Watch Online

Paper Moon (1973) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Peter Bogdanovich

Production Companies

Paramount

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial
Watch Now
Paper Moon Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Paper Moon Audience Reviews

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever
Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated
Portia Hilton Blistering performances.
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Vonia Paper Moon (1973) Director: Peter Bogdanovich Watched: May 2018 Rating: 7/10On-screen chemistry, Real-life father and daughter, Captures hard times well, Simplistic, jazz-filled, witty, "You still owe me $200!" Tanka, literally "short poem", is a form of poetry consisting of five lines, unrhymed, with the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable format. #Tanka #PoemReview #ConArtistry #ModernBlackandWhite #Precocious
dougdoepke Plot-- A small-time con-man agrees to escort a 10-year old orphaned girl to her aunt's house in 1930's rural Kansas. But on the way, the challenges mount. So how did they transfer a 50-year old brain into 10-year old Addy's head. And did they have little actress O'Neal swallow a lemon before every scene. Just count her smiles, one finger will do. Well, whatever they did, it's a moppet performance unlike any I've seen. Great movie! The period re-creation strikes me as spot on, between the flivvers, dusty open roads, and pop 30's songs. All backdrop a tricky story that features a grown man getting a little girl started in a life of crime. Even selling phony, over-priced Bibles to widows, no less. Of course, it's not violent crime, but still. Anyway, the story's fashioned in such a charming way, you hardly notice. Then again, will Addy ever find out if Mose is her real daddy or not. And how about Madeline Kahn's chirpy bimbo, with a small bladder, no less. What a loss she was to the world of comedy.Good thing that headman Bogdanovich took Orson Welles' advice and filmed in b&w. I can't imagine the same period results in Technicolor. Anyway, the various parts come together in rich fashion, both amusing and poignant. And despite some critics, Tatum really did deserve an Oscar. I just hope she's found a lot to smile about in the meantime. Watching the movie, I certainly did.
sharky_55 Paper Moon is set in during The Great Depression, but Peter Bogdanovich does not mean for it to be a hard- hitting, no-holds-barred examination of those times and its people. The focus is on a man and his apparent daughter, who never seem to run out of money and have an abundance of time and energy to pursue their greater desires. To be fair, Bogdanovich has etched some of the background characters as figures to be sympathetic of; the black girl Imogene who was promised a hefty four dollars a week to tag along and be the personal assistant (slave) of the showgirl/part time prostitute Trixie Delight, for example. She muses she has not seen a cent of this money, but figures that driving around the countryside in a brand new luxury car and having a full belly most of the time is not such a bad time compared to her family's situation back home. This is about as deep as the hardships go; the film's presentations of the "hard times" are mostly in air quotes. It has a pretty, closed- off view of The Great Depression, a little caricature with more laughs and giggles than real insight. The main pair run a clever scam involving expensive, personalised bibles that specifically targets those already in emotional turmoil - but we are meant to brush past this fact. Bogdanovich instead goes for the simple moral lessons, from the perspective of little Addie Loggins. She sees a horde of starving, haggard children her age, and shouts out that the bible has already been paid for. She (and we) see the closeups of a wealthy women's jewellery and she hurriedly ups the price. Later we are meant to grin along with her in the car because of the tenacity of this little game - the intent is to be comedic and heartwarming. We're also supposed to laugh along as the Trixie's faux-elegance ("I have to go winkie tinkie!") is exposed and kicked out from their lives But it doesn't quite stick because the only moral difference that exists here is that they are the main protagonists and she is not. Bogdanovich only offers simply, clean-cut moral cop-outs to make us root for Addie and her mischief - which is why their scams and antics ultimately don't affect anyone in any drastic, depraved way (a well- off shop and a wealth bootlegger, in reality the cops, are two targets). Tatum O'Neal is the real star. Her character is written as endearingly feisty, but ends up a little annoying by the end. Her portrayal even nails this quality; the way she nags and nags until she gets what she wants, and the small grins afterwards. Addie's best moment is not in her brazen dialogue at all, but in her actions and how they reveal just how tender aged and sweet she is. Sneaking out in the middle of the night to peer at the one last remaining photo of her mother, and silently posing in her manner.
sandnair87 Peter Bogdanovich's 'Paper Moon' is everything a road movie is supposed to be - a life-changing personal journey, a quest, a bit old-fashioned and above all, a hoot. The story is simple. Young Addie (Tatum O'Neal) finds herself orphaned with the death of her single - and apparently rather free-spirited - mother. The arrival of a man named Moze (her real-life father, Ryan O'Neal) at the funeral, provides the other mourners a chance to pack Addie off to her aunt in Missouri. Moze is reluctant to take her along, but sees a chance to blackmail some money out of the whole situation. However, his dreams of pocketing a windfall of $200 and sending Addie off on a train come to nothing - the wily young girl demands the greatly diminished sum that was meant for her care. As a result, he finds himself saddled with this grimly adult child (who is fairly certain that Moze is her father) as his assistant in a crime spree through the Midwest – a scam involving sale of overpriced Bibles to recent widows. In essence, Moze scans obituaries for gullible widows he can convince to pay the balance on Bibles their husbands "ordered" for them - deluxe editions with the names embossed in gold - before "passing on". Unsurprisingly, Addie is an adroit, if unruly, student, who upstages both his skill and daring.Yes, 'Paper Moon' is about two con artists, but not really about their con, and that's a relief. The scam is only part of the story, which takes a number of turns before reaching its end - including Moze picking up a tart from a sideshow - a carnival dancer named Trixie Delight (a cheerfully trampy Madeline Kahn), who is accompanied by a long suffering black maid, Imogene (wonderfully played by P. J. Johnson) who later turns out to be Addie's partner-in-crime. Bogdanovich takes the con games only as the experience which his two lead characters share and which draws them together in a way that's funny sometimes, but also very poignant and finally deeply touching.The film is shot in gorgeous black-and-white, giving it a documentary feel that meshes perfectly with the sweet cynicism of the characters. But what really underscores the film is amazing chemistry between the O'Neals. The fact they are father and daughter in real life helps flavor their working dynamic in an intriguing way. Tatum O'Neal is an absolute revelation - she spends much of the film with a sourpuss expression pasted to her adorable little pixie face, but breezes through the film with astonishing confidence. Ryan O'Neal's roguish charm is perfect for the character and the result, paired with his daughter, is a strong co-lead dynamic, in a tale about their delicate relationship that teeters on father-and-daughter quality without adopting the name.A true treasure, Peter Bogdanovich's Paper Moon belongs to a magical world that has elements of whimsy and noir!