AS P.T. BARNUM PUT, “THERE’S A SUCKER BORN EVERY MINUTE”.
Few people have had such a typically dramatic Hollywood upbringing as Tatum O’Neal. Born in Los Angeles in 1963 to Ryan O’Neal and Joanna Moore (the same year they got married and the year before Ryan had his breakthrough on TV’s Peyton Place), Tatum was only four years old when her parents divorced. In the 1980s, she married and divorced John McEnroe, and also developed a heroin habit; that would be followed by a continued addiction to drugs, resulting in a massive stroke in 2020. In her autobiography she accused her father of letting his drug dealer abuse her at the age of 12; no wonder they drifted apart. There would be an (unsuccessful) attempt at reconciliation in 2011 in the shape of a reality series, Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals.
All of this misery was yet to come on that evening in 1974, when ten-year-old Tatum got out of her seat at the Academy Awards to accept her record-breaking Oscar for Paper Moon, a film that put the relationship with her father front and center.
Meeting Addie
The story begins in Kansas in 1936, where Moses Pray (Ryan O’Neal) arrives to pay his respects to a woman whom he dated briefly, who has just died. Standing by her grave, friends and neighbors begin to suspect that he might be the father of the woman’s young daughter, Addie (Tatum O’Neal). This Moses vehemently denies (in spite of that chin), but he’s talked into giving the child a ride to Missouri where her aunt lives. Addie soon learns how Moses makes a living. He locates a suitable widow, has her name inscribed in a Bible and then pretends to be a salesman who tells her that her husband ordered a precious Bible for her, just before he died. The widows are usually moved to tears and pays him whatever he’s asking for.
Addie ends up helping him, showing a knack for con games that surprises Moses. They become partners, but Addie has little patience for Moses’s poor judgment.
Refusing to be played for a sucker
This was the third and last of Peter Bogdanovich’s terrific first films, following The Last Picture Show (1971) and What’s Up, Doc? (1972). Having two daughters, he found the story of Paper Moon appealing. Bogdanovich reunited with Ryan O’Neal, who had played a Cary Grant-type screwball role in What’s Up, Doc?. Paper Moon also needed a comic touch from O’Neal whose character in some ways resembled a child in comparison with Addie, who was smart, smoked cigarettes (!) and refused to be played for a sucker, seeing right through Moses’s financial schemes and infatuation with the wrong type of women. In this case Madeline Kahn, expertly cast as the tricky Trixie Delight who keeps trying to find men to pay for her lifestyle. She drags along a Black maid called Imogene (P.J. Johnson) who makes friends with Addie.
The actors make us laugh, which is frequently contrasted with the stark black-and-white cinematography.
The actors are a major reason why the film is such a delight. There were changes in the script to accommodate the fact that Tatum was younger than Addie in the book; she and her father are so good together, including in that moving finale, that it breaks your heart knowing how quickly their relationship deteriorated in real life. They make us laugh, which is frequently contrasted with the stark black-and-white cinematography. Suggested by Orson Welles, the look of the film deftly reminds audiences that this is the Depression and the characters’ actions are often caused by a sense of desperation and financial stress.
Paper Moon was likely a reason why so many were fascinated by Ryan and Tatum O’Neal over the following decades. Sentimentality is held at bay; there’s a charm combined with a pinch of darkness that makes it seem more authentic than you might expect.
Paper Moon 1973-U.S. 102 min. B/W. Produced and directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Screenplay: Alvin Sargent. Novel: Joe David Brown (”Addie Pray”). Cinematography: László Kovács. Cast: Ryan O’Neal (Moses ”Moze” Pray), Tatum O’Neal (Addie Loggins), Madeline Kahn (Trixie Delight), John Hillermin, Burton Gilliam, P.J. Johnson, Randy Quaid.
Trivia: Originally set up as a project for John Huston, starring Paul Newman and his daughter Nell Potts. Later a TV series, Paper Moon (1974), and a stage musical, ”Addie Pray”.
Oscar: Best Supporting Actress (Tatum O’Neal).
Last word: “I called [Orson Welles] long distance and it was a very bad connection. ‘Can you hear me?’ ‘Barely. What do you want, I’m cutting…’ I said, ‘Can you just take a minute and tell me what do you think of this title? ‘Paper… Moon’.’ Short pause. ‘That title is so good, you don’t even need to make the picture. Just release the title!'” (Bogdanovich, Empire Magazine)