Every Sunday evening in January at 9:00 PM we screen a classic film. This month’s selection is Paper Moon (1973).
During the Great Depression, con man Moses (Ryan O’Neal) makes a living selling Bibles to widows. Unexpectedly, he finds himself saddled with the care of a sharp-tongued young girl named Addie (Tatum O’Neal). He decides to take her along on his journeys across the American Great Plains. What follows is the beginning of a remarkable partnership: when it comes to swindling strangers, the nine-year-old cigarette-smoking Addie proves to be a natural… Addie might just as well be Moses’s own daughter.
In PAPER MOON (1973), director Peter Bogdanovich captures the endless expanses of the American Midwest and the bleak atmosphere of the 1930s Great Depression with meticulous attention to detail. Despite its themes of poverty and despair, PAPER MOON is an exceptionally witty, lively, and tender comedy-drama. The film shines thanks to the unforgettable performance of ten-year-old (!!!) Tatum O’Neal, beautifully rendered in striking black-and-white cinematography. For her radiant performance, Tatum O’Neal became the youngest Academy Award winner in history.