I'm not one for nepotism, but the father/daughter team of Ryan O'Neal and Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon is undeniably entertaining. Those two work really well together. This film is an interesting mix of humor and drama, placing a light-hearted con artist story in the midst of the great depression. Tatum definitely deserved the Academy Award she won for this performance.

By the time the movie's over, you're kind of hoping that Moses Pray and his young ward Addie are really a father and daughter team. The story keeps the relationship intentionally ambiguous and leaves it to the viewer's imagination, but if you're like me, you probably wind up rooting for it to be true. Addie (Tatum O'Neal) turns out to be a consummate hustler who one-ups 'Moze' more than once, from her off the cuff Bible pricing to breaking up his road romance with Miss Trixie Delight (Madeline Kahn). But the elder O'Neal is no slouch in the con game himself, as his whiskey scam and wrasslin' match maneuver clearly show. This is another of those Seventies flicks that I saw when it first came out, and not again until some forty plus years later, and it still holds up well as an entertaining picture. In my case, it helps that it was done in glorious black and white, just like director Peter Bogdanovich's masterpiece (in my opinion), "The Last Picture Show". If you consider the story in it's entirety, it's a nicely developed caper and heist movie which compares favorably with another 1973 film, "The Sting". Picture if you will Redford and Newman in a double team up with the two O'Neals and you've got the makings for a con with a sure fire blow-off. I'd even pay double to see that one.

I became interested in this film after seeing Peter Bogdonovich's "What's Up, Doc?" with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal. "Paper Moon" is a delightful film about a con man (Ryan O'Neal) who is forced to take in a girl (Tatum O'Neal, who won an Oscar for this film) who may or may not be his daughter. The film is essentially a road trip movie, with a slim plot to carry around events that happen while the two main characters travel across Great Depression America. Both of the characters are utterly charming with the heartfelt Addie forced to ride along with sleazy Moses.I prefer "What's Up, Doc?" as I love Buck Henry's writing on that film.

Two years after The Last Picture Show (1971), a sophisticated drama, Peter Bogdanovich gives us another black and white period piece. But Paper Moon is something else, a hybrid of crime comedy and maybe a family drama. It starts with 9-year-old Addie at her mother's funeral, where she meets a friend of her mother, the con man Moses Pray. Moze gets $200 for Addie in compensation for her mom's death, then blows half of it on a new car for himself. The film begins to pick up and become very funny when the little girl demands her money back, showing herself worldly and forceful for her age- likely a product of being raised by a "loose" woman. Addie also suspects Moze may be her dad, which he denies- after a long pause, indicating he either knows he is or believes it's possible.What we have from here is an unusual (maybe) father-daughter story, in which the two bond, but never in a sweet and sugary way. They don't get sentimental- instead, she picks up Moze's tricks and joins in the fun, making his con jobs more equitable by sparing the impoverished and getting more out of the rich. They're on the wrong side of the law, but in their own way, each does have scruples. In the end, Addie is offered a sweet and sugary life in a comfortable home- and doesn't want it, because she prefers life with Moze, because she isn't perfect and doesn't want perfect, and the audience can feel that's who she is and can understand.Paper Moon slows down a little in the middle, when Madeline Kahn comes into the picture and Moze and Addie mess with a bootlegger. But in my view, the big payoff comes when they're arrested and pull off an extremely clumsy escape. It's a good laugh, and adds to Paper Moon's many charms.