Paper Moon ***** (1973, Ryan O’Neal, Tatum O’Neal, Madeline Kahn) – Classic Movie Review 2,283

Peter Bogdanovich’s superlative 1973 Depression-era comedy drama Paper Moon is the perfect showcase for Ryan O’Neal and his daughter Tatum O’Neal as the conman Bible seller Moses Pray and the precocious brat Addie.

Peter Bogdanovich: ‘I called up Orson Welles who was in Rome and said: Hey, what do you think of this title, Paper Moon. There was a long pause and he says: That title is so good you shouldn’t even make the picture. Just release the title.’

Director Peter Bogdanovich’s 1973 American road comedy-drama film Paper Moon is adapted by Alvin Sargent from the 1971 novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown. Father and daughter Ryan O’Neal and Tatum O’Neal star as Moze and Addie in the film, set in Kansas and Missouri during the Great Depression, and boldly shot by László Kovács in black-and-white, making it one of the great black-and-white movies of the colour era.

Peter Bogdanovich’s superlative 1973 Great Depression-era comedy drama Paper Moon was the perfect showcase for Ryan O’Neal and his daughter Tatum O’Neal as a conman Bible seller called Moses Pray (Moze) and the precocious brat Addie he finds himself saddled with. She may or may not be his daughter, but in any case the odd couple forge an unlikely partnership.

Tatum won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress in her film début. Aged 10, she was and still is the youngest person ever to win an Academy Award. At one hour, six minutes, and 58 seconds, her performance is the longest to win an Academy Award in a supporting acting category.

Alvin Sargent’s spot-on-target screenplay, a lovely 1930s feel, smashing Thirties period tunes (including of course the title song, It’s Only a Paper Moon, music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E Y Harburg and Billy Rose), and Laszlo Kovacs’s startling black and white cinematography all add up to a stylish success.

The O’Neals make a stupendous team, sparring and bonding winningly, while the kookie Madeline Kahn is a delightful asset playing Trixie Delight.

Also in the cast are John Hillerman, P J Johnson, Randy Quaid, Noble Willingham, Jessie Lee Fulton, Jim Harrell, Lila Water, Bob Young, and Jack Saunders.

Just for a very short while, with this and The Last Picture Show (1971) and What’s Up, Doc ? (1972), Bogdanovich was on top of the world and really had it all back then. Writer Sargent makes a delicious and luxurious five-course banquet out of Joe David Brown’s novel, Addie Pray, a title Bogdanovich hated, though he was nervous about Paper Moon till Orson Welles told him: ‘That title is so good, you shouldn’t even make the picture, just release the title!’

Bogdanovich recalled: ‘I thought Addie Pray sounded like a snake or a lizard or something. I came up with the title Paper Moon, which nobody at Paramount liked. They all said, “What’s it got to do with the picture?” I said to the writer, “We’ve got a problem. You know those paper moons that you sat in at carnivals and they took your picture? We’ve got to put a scene in so they’ll think there’s a reason for the title.”’

So Bogdanovich got Alvin Sargent to add the scene where Addie has her picture taken in a paper moon so the studio would allow him to use the title.

Director of photography László Kovács shot in black-and-white, but uses a red filter on the camera on Orson Welles’s advice, and also uses deep focus cinematography and extended takes.

There were four Oscar nominations but just the one win, for Tatum. Both Madeline Kahn and Tatum O’Neal were nominated as Best Supporting Actress; Alvin Sargent was nominated for Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium; and Richard Portman and Les Fresholtz were nominated for Best Sound,

Tatum also won Best Foreign Actress at the David di Donatello Awards and Most Promising Newcomer – Female at the Golden Globe Awards. Not bad for an eight-year-old with no acting experience.

Filing took place in Hays, Kansas; McCracken, Kansas; Wilson, Kansas; Dorrance, Kansas, and St. Joseph, Missouri.

Runtime: 102 minutes.

The film premiered on April 9, 1973, in Hollywood and was released on May 9 in the US.

It cost $2.5 million and earned $30.9 million at the box office.

The cigarettes used by Tatum O’Neal contained no nicotine and were made out of lettuce. The original plan to star Paul Newman and his daughter Nell Potts ended when original director John Huston bowed out and was replaced by Bogdanovich.

The 1933 song ‘It’s Only a Paper Moon’ is played during the opening credits and sung by an unspecified female and then performed by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra often in the score.

The film later was the basis for a one season 13-episode TV series of the same name, starring Jodie Foster and Christopher Connelly.

Joe David Brown

American novelist and journalist Joe David Brown (May 12, 1915 – April 22, 1976) from Birmingham, Alabama, drew from his own life for his stories – his knowledge as a reporter of confidence games, his World War Two experiences and his grandfather’s role as a minister. 

Three of his novels became movies: Stars in My Crown (1950). Kings Go Forth (1958) and Paper Moon (1973) based on his 1971 final book Addie Pray, retitled Paper Moon after the film’s release.

Alvin Sargent

Alvin Sargent, who died on 9 May 2019, aged 92, was Oscar nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Paper Moon, before going on to win for Julia (1977) and Ordinary People (1980). He said: ‘When I die, I’m going to have written on my tombstone, “Finally, a plot.”‘

The cast

The cast are Ryan O’Neal as Moses (Moze) Pray, Tatum O’Neal as Addie Loggins, Madeline Kahn as Trixie Delight, John Hillerman as Deputy Hardin, Burton Gilliam as Floyd, P J Johnson as Imogene, James N Harrell [Jim Harrell] as the Minister, Noble Willingham as Mr Robertson, Randy Quaid as Leroy, Hugh Gillin as 2nd Deputy, Rose-Mary Rumbley as Aunt Billie, Jessie Lee Fulton,  Lila Water, Bob Young, and Jack Saunders.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,283

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