Paper Moon (1973)
Peter Bogdanovich's comedy / drama road movie which sees conman Moses Pray meet nine year old Addie Loggins as they scam their way across Kansas and Missouri during the Great Depression.
Starring real life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O'Neal, Paper Moon is a joy from first to last. Bogdanovich filmed this in crisp black and white (As he did with 1971's The Last Picture Show) and it really gives the dust bowl towns and scenery that sand spittin' vibe, the starkness of it all harking back to American Depression classics like 1940's The Grapes of Wrath, however unlike that film there's plenty of fun along the way.
Like me you'll probably spend minutes afterwards working out how the duo con twenties out of shop keepers when they only began with five bucks but it all adds to the charm of the film.
Whilst Ryan is very good and drives the narrative forward it's daughter Tatum who is the real star. She's funny in a subtle way and has a stare that would sour milk and it doesn't take long before we realise she's more than a match for her elder companion when it comes to getting her own way and of course during their hustles.
Paper Moon is a cynical charmer of a film and one that will seemingly never age. Highly recommended.
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