It’s Monday, which means it’s Black and White Movie Night. Welcome to my weekly tradition. A close up on a young girl and an insert shot of a casket in the ground. These are the first two shots in Peter Bogdanovich’s 1930’s depression-era film. And these shots set a trend throughout the rest of the film for just how simply and effortlessly it grabbed my attention and engaged my emotions. There are plenty of other similar moments amidst a ridiculously entertaining story.
The film centers around a conman, Moses (Ryan O’Neal) who reluctantly agrees to take a young girl, Addie (played by the actors actual daughter, Tatum O’Neal), to her aunt’s house in Missouri after her mother has died. Along the way, Addie witnesses how Moses makes his living, which is through simple cons of selling Bibles to the widows of those recently deceased. After a short while, she adopts his ways, proving to be better than him at the cons. As the film progresses, the two begin to share a mutual respect and admiration, though not without conflict. In often hilarious, yet somewhat melancholic scenes near the beginning, Addie asks, “Aren’t you my pa?”, after all they “share a resemblance”. This upsets Moses, who insists that just because he visited his mom often , who we learn was a flapper, doesn’t mean anything. We learn, as Addie does later on in the film that perhaps that is the tragic truth when Moses picks up a new girl from a sideshow to travel with them briefly.
From there, the story is filled with fun, exhilarating moments, and smaller scenes: some happy, some sad. But at the core, Paper Moon is never an overly sentimental film, but instead is filled with often selfish intents and desires from both Moses and Addie. Yet, despite that, we fully understand why they need each other. And in the process, they both pick up on how to take care of the other, almost as if learning another con. We’re shown the beautiful connection between unique, yet similar souls. Just when you start to wonder why the film was called Paper Moon, the film reminds you with a simple shot. And of course, it must’ve been there all along. You’ve got to watch to find out what I mean.