Starring Ryan O’Neal, Tatum O’Neal, Madeline Khan, Randy Quaid

(9-Great Film)

Moving. Funny. Classic.

Moses Pray (Ryan O’Neal) promises to take 9 year old, orphan Addie (Tatum O’Neal) to her Aunt in Missouri, as he claims to have been a friend of her mother (she suspects he might be her dad). After watching Moses pull a number of small-time cons, Addie proves adept at assisting him, and the two escalate their grift on the way to Missouri. Paper Moon is completely wonderful. Sad when it wants to be sad, funny when it wants to be funny. The two lead performances are pitch perfect, and never reduced to being cute. They form real characters and take them seriously.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(172)