RIP to the great Peter Bogdanovich, one of the great filmmakers and film historians of our time. Starting his career as a film critic, he burst onto the scene with The Last Picture Show in 1971 and then went on to make a string of hits in the early 70s, including What’s Up, Doc? and Paper Moon.
Paper Moon is a depression-era/period piece/road trip/comedy-drama about a grifter who meets a nine-year old girl in Kansas that may or may not be his daughter, and he reluctantly agrees to take her to Missouri. The broad strokes of it seem simple at best, and formulaic at worst – the unlikely buddy comedy where despite the initial reluctance, the two form a close bond by the end – but the execution and details are anything but.
The real life father-daughter combination of Ryan and Tatum O’Neal and their sparkling rapport and chemistry carry the film. Ryan O’Neal was an established actor by this point but it’s really the adorable Tatum, who turned nine years old at the time of filming and at age ten is still the youngest winner of a competitive Oscar for this film, who leaps off the screen.
Hers is one of the all-time great child performances, combining the cuteness of Jackie Coogan with the precociousness of a Macaulay Culkin and the gift of transferring emotions across the screen to the viewer. In the very first 25 minutes, she is cheeky and sassy, sad and childlike, and delivers one-liners with stinging wit. She can do motor-mouthed monologues, give and take with the rat-a-tat dialogue, or just deliver wordless, piercing gazes.
It goes without saying that Bogdanovich deserves a lot of the credit – he keeps Paper Moon entertaining and fast paced, with some memorable long takes, but also ramps up the suspense and tension when he needs to, particularly at one point when things take an unexpected turn towards the serious and you are left wondering what is going to happen. He also intentionally made this in black and white, effectively giving it a timeless quality. Paper Moon is a charming and lasting film that doesn’t insult its viewers’ intelligence, and will live on long after Bogdanovich’s passing.
Now streaming on Amazon Prime.
