Review of Paper Moon (1973) by Will S — 09 Mar 2008

Tatum O'Neal's reaction shots from this film alone would have made a better-than-average movie. She has this amazing attitude throughout, as if she knows what everyone else is all about and is disgusted and fascinated by that knowledge.

Her dad doesn't disappoint either, proving as he would again two years later in Barry Lyndon that less is more when depicting ethically dubious characters. Watching Paper Moon is like wandering through a uniquely American folk-tale with con-men and call-girls and cotton candy and everything you would expect from the magical underbelly of the Depression-era Midwest.

It's nostalgic, but not in a cloying, Sunday afternoon, My Dog Skip kind of way. I like that it tells a very small story with an enormous backdrop (a modern attempt would do the dull opposite). It's like Walker Evans made a gangster film.

Or like Night of the Hunter if Robert Mitchum had even an ounce of sympathy. I wish Peter Bogdanovich made more films like this (or more films period). This movie is maybe a masterpiece.