paper moon movie review

Paper Moon (1973): A Heartfelt Odyssey through the Great Depression’s Charmed and Charlatan Landscape

• December 9, 2023

Paper Moon , directed by Peter Bogdanovich and released in 1973, is a heartwarming yet comically charged road movie set against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Adapted from Joe David Brown’s novel Addie Pray , the film stars Ryan O’Neal and his real-life daughter Tatum O’Neal, delivering memorable performances that earned Tatum an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

The story follows Moses Pray (played by Ryan O’Neal), a small-time con artist and traveling Bible salesman navigating the impoverished Midwest during the Great Depression. The narrative takes an unexpected turn when Moses is approached by Addie Loggins (played by Tatum O’Neal), a wise-beyond-her-years nine-year-old who claims to be the illegitimate daughter of Moses’s deceased former lover.

Addie quickly convinces Moses to take her along, suspecting he may be her real father. Initially resistant, Moses eventually warms to the idea, realizing that having Addie by his side could open new avenues for his dubious schemes. The duo embarks on a misadventure-filled journey across Kansas and Missouri, their escapades fueled by Addie’s street-smart instincts and Moses’s questionable charm.

The heart of the film lies in the evolving relationship between Moses and Addie, a dynamic that oscillates between camaraderie and conflict. Despite Moses’s dubious profession, a genuine father-daughter bond begins to form, and the audience witnesses their shared moments of laughter, frustration, and, ultimately, mutual affection.

The central plot device is Moses’s latest con job, selling Bibles to recently widowed women. Moses and Addie’s journey takes a hilarious turn when they encounter the wealthy and gullible Mrs. Imogene Hooper (played by Madeline Kahn), a widow mourning her husband. The duo’s schemes become increasingly elaborate, and their interactions with Mrs. Hooper add both comedic and emotional depth to the narrative.

As their journey unfolds, Moses and Addie’s lives become entangled with various characters, each contributing to the film’s rich tapestry. Notably, a scene-stealing performance by P.J. Johnson as the burlesque performer Trixie Delight adds a layer of complexity to Moses’s character and further explores the theme of makeshift families formed in the face of adversity.

The film’s climax is marked by a poignant turning point, challenging Moses and Addie’s relationship and underscoring the theme of personal growth. The resolution offers a blend of emotional resonance and humor, showcasing the resilience of the human spirit even in the direst of circumstances.

Paper Moon is visually distinctive, capturing the stark landscapes of Depression-era America through the lens of cinematographer László Kovács. The black-and-white cinematography enhances the film’s nostalgic atmosphere, echoing the iconic imagery of the time.

Central to the film’s success is the remarkable chemistry between Ryan O’Neal and Tatum O’Neal, whose real-life father-daughter relationship translates seamlessly on screen. Tatum’s portrayal of Addie earned her critical acclaim and an Academy Award, making her the youngest winner in an acting category in Oscar history.

by Judith Crist

The world, let alone Watergate, is so much with us that amid a clutch of “thesis” movies one opts for the simple, the sweet, and the pleasurable.

And the last, happily, comes from Peter Bogdanovich in beautiful, relax­ing and appropriate black and white. Paper Moon, his fifth and most recent film, is exactly what we have in mind when we talk nostalgically of what movies “used to be”—meaningful rather than metaphorical, engrossing rather than exploitative, humanistic in their comedy and their sentiment. Indeed there will be those cineastes who will declare that this is a used-to-be movie, with shades of The Kid, The Champ, Little Miss Marker— if not hommages to the makers thereof. They’re right as far as genre goes—a basic theme is, of course, that of the waif and the con man, the child up against the hard heart and larcenous leanings of the adult. But as Bogdanovich has shown in the progression of his films, along with a steady growth of professionalism and ripening of talent, through Targets, Di­rected by John Ford, The Last Picture Show, and What s Up, Doc?, he is artist enough to make his personal mark upon a genre.

Based loosely on Addie Pray, a novel by Joe David Brown, with a screenplay by Alvin Sargent, Paper Moon is the story (a love story, perhaps, or a story of love) of a nine-year-old orphan and a small-time confidence man making their way through a Depression-bleak Kansas en route to her aunt’s in St. Joseph, Missouri. The Panama-hatted slick-suited gent is a Bible salesman, working the widow racket, and they meet at her mother’s graveside. Since he’s on his way to St. Jo, why not take the girl to her only surviving relative? He agrees—and in no time has gently black­mailed a chap in town into giving the child $200 in compensation for her mother’s death and spent a chunk of it on refurbishing his roadster; he’s about to put her on a train for St. Jo with $20 cash when suddenly he sees the child plain. “You owe me $200,” she declares. And he has met his match.

Moses Pray’s match is about four feet tall, a hideous cloche pulled down to her eyebrows, sexless in overalls, firm-jawed and bass-voiced, clutching a cigar box packed with her treasures, chief among them a bottle of perfume and a snapshot of her mother, a posturing, cheap and pretty belle in the same cloche. And Addie has a perceptive eye, a mind like a calculator, a bent for smoking in bed, a passion for Jack Benny and Fibber McGee, a cool head for business, and a yearning for tenderness. But in eternal-woman fashion, she’s up against a total stinker, a foolish, cowardly, petty crook without an honest instinct or a non-egocentric emotion. He’ll earn and repay the $200—if he won’t, Addie will scream—but not an iota more will he give.

And so the two set out and before you know it, Addie’s running the business. True, there’s a bit of a setback when Moses gets himself besotted by Trixie Delight, a carnival dancer of good family, and near-disaster when he gets into bootlegging. But you can bet on Addie all the way.

Addie is portrayed by a nine-year-old named Tatum O’Neal—and only a father would be willing to co-star with this technically amateur but actually top-pro picture-stealer. And indeed, it is her father, Ryan O’Neal, who not only cooperates in her large case of larceny but in the course thereof proves himself a first-rate character actor.

Bogdanovich’s basic triumph is in keeping the film unsentimental, un­slapstick, and unstrained. Laszlo Kovacs’s camera has captured so com­pletely a sense of time and place, of a poverty-stricken Midwest and a Depression era whose hopes are fed by Addie’s idolized “Frankie Roose­velt” and of an age of relative innocence, that one is transported in the watching. And the casting is impeccable, beyond the O’Neals, with Madeline Kahn, that deliciously nasal fiancee from Iowa in What’s Up, Doc?, sheer delight as the whorish and pathetic Trixie with highfalutin talk of bone structure and a bitter awareness of her shaky holding power; P. J. Johnson as Trixie’s stolid slave who accepts the burdens of hard times and the joys of emancipation with equal patience; Burton Gilliam as a gamy desk clerk—and lots more, with every face a part not only of the scene but of the era. And again Bogdanovich has used period music within its context as the final seal on our nostalgia. We can revel in Paper Moon as a reminder that the good things of film not only used to be—but are.

New York , May 21, 1973

by Gary Arnold

Paper Moon may prove a disappointment if you go with sizable expectations. At its best the film is only mildly amusing, and I’m not sure I could recall a few undeniable highlights if pressed on the point.

Several supporting and bit players are enjoyable for the brief moments they occupy the screen: John Hillerman in the dual role of a bootlegger and his sheriff brother; Burton Gilliam as a lecherous desk clerk; Dorothy Price and Dejah Moore as swindled saleswomen; P. J. Johnson as the teen­age maid of a prattling trollop, a would-be hilarious role that has been grotesquely overplayed by Madeline Kahn, evidently at the insistence of director Peter Bogdanovich.

None of these performers happens to be critically important, indispens­able to the action and appeal of the story. The problem with Paper Moon is that it’s hollow at the center. The central relationship, involving a small­time con man and a tough little girl who practice a Bible-selling racket in the Midwest during the Depression, remains undeveloped and unaffecting.

Having tried without success to maintain some interest in the source of material, Joe David Brown’s novel Addie Pray, I was prepared for certain inadequacies in the story. Addie Pray seemed like a synthetic imitation of True Grit: Brown affected Charles Portis’s vernacular style but failed to reproduce the charm and originality. The tone was reminiscent, but the kick was gone. Apart from its literary charms, True Grit was also an exciting adventure melodrama. Nothing particularly compelling happens in Addie Pray. It’s an episodic account of some negligible-to-pathetic swin­dles, scarcely comparable to Mattie Ross’s relentless pursuit of the men who murdered her father.

Alvin Sargent’s screenplay retains the episodic structure of Brown’s book, and the film suffers from a lack of either strong episodes or a strong line of dramatic development. The truly surprising weakness is the failure to create a touching, ongoing relationship between the country con man, played by Ryan O’Neal, and his orphaned kid accomplice, played by O’Neal’s nine-year-old daughter Tatum. The substance is so thin and the movie treatment so superficial that nothing emotionally lasting takes hold, not even an implicit sense of affection between father and daughter.

O’Neal, adorned with a mustache and garbed in thirties duds, bears an occasional agreeable resemblance to Warner Baxter and Clark Gable, but his performance has no style or authority. He acts rather uptight and flustered. There was never a moment when I believed that his character had either the gall or the charm he would need to have to survive.

The press material for the film includes a comment by Bogdanovich that O’Neal wanted to do the role with a Southern accent but was dissuaded, because Bogdanovich felt the accent would “soften” the character and fail to convince the audience. But O’Neal is not convincingly tough as it is, and perhaps an accent would have given him a useful handle on the role, a ready means of stylizing his character. It’s now apparent that O’Neal desperately needs some method of individualizing the role.

An actor like Gable would surely have been a little playful and ingratiat­ing when impersonating a con man, and one would like to see Ryan O’Neal take a similar tack. I suspect that O’Neal became too concerned with Tatum’s level of performance to concentrate on having a good time in his own part. A harmless device like an accent might have helped to loosen him up.

Considering the box-office success of What’s Up, Doc? and the probable success of Paper Moon, it sounds rather preposterous to suggest that Peter Bogdanovich and Ryan O’Neal may not be right for each other, but I don’t think they are right for each other. O’Neal has not been at his most attractive doing humorless derivations of old Cary Grant and Clark Gable assignments, while Bogdanovich, extraordinarily capable with the straight­forward dramatic material of The Last Picture Show, is inclined to strain and miscalculate when he undertakes the breezier forms of motion-picture entertainment. Bogdanovich’s luck will probably hold: If What’s Up, Doc? can be mistaken for a heady revival of screwball comedy, Paper Moon can be just as easily mistaken for a heartwarmer. It isn’t, but it should be, so audiences may feel like making the necessary allowances.

I wanted to be more impressed and affected by Tatum O’Neal than I was. The most disappointing aspect of the film in my opinion is the lack of anything noticeably original or moving about either her personality or performance. Perhaps the reviewers who have been raving about her should take a look at Hayley Mills in her first movie, Tiger Bay (a little girl-loves-outlaw story that has the kind of conflict, suspense, and senti­mental appeal Paper Moon could use), or Margaret O’Brien in Meet Me in St. Louis, or Butch Jenkins in The Human Comedy, or John Howard Davies in Oliver Twist and The Rocking Horse Winner, or Jean-Pierre Léaud in The 400 Blows, etc., etc.

Miss O’Neal has a pleasantly round, tomboyish mug, and when she smiles, she suddenly becomes an endearing spittin’ image of her father. She’s obviously meant to recall Jackie Coogan in The Kid, but she doesn’t project remotely as much expression or intensity. Tatum O’Neal has a surprisingly reserved screen presence. One enters the theater anticipating a terrific new image of a tough, lovable kid, but this little girl acts unusually subdued and self-conscious, as if she were trying hard to remember her lines and deliver them precisely on cue.

The script doesn’t give Tatum O’Neal the opportunity for much variety. Most of the time she merely acts a little stubborn or belligerent. The camera catches her far too often with the same slightly pouting, tight-lipped expression on her face. If there’s something more exciting or vibrant or uninhibited in her personality, Bogdanovich has failed to bring it out. P. J. Johnson, the unheralded supporting kid in the cast, is more interesting to watch, because she looks and sounds like an original—a somewhat lumpy, big-boned girl with an offbeat vocal delivery. While I’m sure Tatum O’Neal is a good, lively kid, I hope she doesn’t believe her reviews, because those raves have been more than a little premature.

Washington Post , June 15, 1973

by Roger Ebert

The two kinds of Depression-era movies we remember best are the ones that ignored the Depression altogether and the ones like The Grapes of Wrath that took it as a subject. Peter Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon somehow manages to make these two approaches into one, so that a genre movie about a con man and a little girl is teamed up with the real poverty and desperation of Kansas and Missouri, circa 1936. You wouldn’t think the two approaches would fit together, somehow, but, they do, and the movie comes off as more honest and affecting than if Bogdanovich had simply paid tribute to older styles. Maybe that’s why Addie Loggins, the little girl, hardly ever smiles: She can see perfectly well there’s nothing to smile about. The movie opens at her mother’s funeral on a windswept plain. Her mother (we learn from an old photograph) was a flapper of the worst sort, but Addie is a tomboy in overalls and a flannel shirt. At the last moment, an old car comes rattling up and discharges one Moses Pray, con man, alleged Bible salesman and just possibly Addie’s father. He promises to deliver the child to relatives in St. Joe, mostly so he can collect $200 in blackmail money.

But then the 9 year-old girl, who somehow resembles Huckleberry Finn more than any little boy I can imagine, turns out to be the more clever con man, and before long they’re selling Bibles to widows who are told their husbands ordered them – deluxe editions with the names embossed in gold, of course – before “passing on.” The movie is about two con artists, but not really about their con, and that’s a relief. We’ve seen enough movies that depended on the cleverness of confidence tricks – not only 1930s movies, but right down to the recent The Flim-Flam Man . No, Bogdanovich takes the con games only as the experience which his two lead characters share and which draws them together in a way that’s funny sometimes, but also very poignant and finally deeply touching.

By now everybody knows that Ryan O’Neal and his real-life daughter, Tatum, play the man and the girl. But I wonder how many moviegoers will be prepared for the astonishing confidence and depth that Tatum brings to what’s really the starring role. I’d heard about how good she was supposed to be, but I nevertheless expected a kind of clever cuteness, like we got from Shirley Temple or young Elizabeth Taylor. Not at all. Tatum O’Neal creates a character out of thin air, makes us watch her every moment and literally makes the movie work (in the sense that this key role had to be well played). She has a scene in a Kansas hotel, for example, that isn’t at all easy. Moses has picked up a tart from a sideshow, one Trixie Delight by name, and has designs on her. Addie is jealous and makes a liaison with Trixie’s young black maid, Imogene (wonderfully played by P. J. Johnson). Together they concoct a scheme to lure the hotel clerk into Trixie’s room and then inform Moses.

Now this could have been a hotel-corridor farce scene, as Bogdanovich demonstrated he could direct quite well in “What’s Up, Doc?” But this time, the scene is played for pathos and for the understanding of the child’s earnestness, and the two young girls are perfectly matched to it.

Paper Moon doesn’t come off, then, as a homage to earlier beloved directors and styles (as Bogdanovich’s What’s Up, Doc? did – and his The Last Picture Show , to a smaller extent). No, it achieves something quite different: a period piece that uses generic conventions only when they apply, so that we see the Depression through the eyes of characters who are allowed to be individuals. Whatever Addie and Moses do in this movie, we have the feeling it’s because they want to (or have to) and not that the ghost of some 1930s screenwriter is prompting them.

Chicago Sun-Times , June 15, 1973

He’s just mad about Addie

by Gene Siskel

I’m in love with a nine-year-old girl.

Her name is Tatum O’Neal; she’s Ryan’s daughter by his first wife [actress Joanna Moore]; and she is the beguiling star of Peter Bogdanovich’s most enjoyable fourth feature film, Paper Moon .

The first thing that strikes you about Paper Moon is that, like Bogdanovich’s “ The Last Picture Show , it has been filmed in black and white. For a film set literally on the highways and biways of the Middle West during the tail end of the Depression, it is a natural and sensible choice. Few visual effects in film are as chilling and strangely stirring as a broad expanse of gray-colored flatland that meets, a whiter shade of cloud-streaked sky.

Bubbling under the somber skies of “Paper Moon” is a tender comedy, the story of a Bible hustler [Ryan O’Neal] soon outhustled by a brassy, parentless little girl [Tatum O’Neal]. After forming an uneasy partnership based on his car and her wits, Moses and little Addie run cross-country string of scams from five-dollar bill-changing swindles to $500 theft of bootleg whisky. But their success as a bunko team ultimately is secondary to their growing affection for each other, and the picture hangs on whether their relationship will last.

The film is pockmarked with small mistakes—period detail continually is thrust in our faces, Miss O’Neal occasionally is given arch, melodramatic dialog, which undercuts her passionate spontaneity—but they cannot dim Miss O’Neal’s performance … or is it her essence?

She is more than cute. Her role is something special in the well-established tradition of children on film. Children in better American movies— Shane and The Last Picture Show , for example—usually are presented as confused little people hungering for an ideal father figure. And to the degree that members of the audience are themselves still searching for a spiritual father, an ideal code of conduct, the child becomes the locus of their identification with the movie.

Children in European films typically serve a different function. In Italian films—De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief is a prime example—the child, more often than not, is an unspoiled innocent, not yet corrupted by the world, standing as a moral reminder of the purity an adult should seek to regain.

The character of Addie in Paper Moon is a hardy mixture of both these traditions. She is a swindler, no doubt about it—and therein lies her perverse, contemporary charm — but she also is more moral than her adopted father, forever demanding that he act with compassion, that he differentiate between their marks’ need for money. In that way she is more like an adult bottled up inside a children’s size 10 dress.

If that analysis leaves you with the impression that Paper Moon is a somber, message picture, I apologize. It’s just that it is distinguished by its moral tone, and it is the tone that lifts it above the average flim-flam comedy.

Two other performances deserve comment. One is that of Ryan O’Neal, whose presence continually reminds us that Paper Moon is just a movie, and a Hollywood production at that. Part of the problem is an improbable, half-grown mustache. More damaging: in a picture filled with unfamiliar, forlorn faces, O’Neal’s fan-magazine kisser breaks the period realism that Bogdanovich tries so hard to evoke.

And than there’s a young lady I don’t recall having seen in a movie. Her name is P. J. Johnson, and as the hand-maiden slave to a carnival stripper she brings a brashness to the screen that frequently eclipses that of even Tatum O’Neal.

Credit for the performances of the Misses Johnson and O’Neal must be shared with director Bogdanovich, who displays [as in The Last Picture Show ] a talent for revitalizing the morality and visual style of films long past.

Best of all, in Paper Moon he does that while making us smile.

Chicago Tribune , June 15, 1973

• More: Gary Arnold , Gene Siskel , Judith Crist , Movie reviews , Paper Moon (film) , Peter Bogdanovich , Roger Ebert

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Tatum O'Neal's smoke- and booze-filled caper.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Addie and Moze fleece widows, bootleg liquor, esca

Moze and Addie are shot at by police during a car

Moze kisses a woman in the doorway of his hotel ro

Lots of salty language, including "ass,"

Addie, Moze, and Trixie all smoke cigarettes prett

Parents need to know that even though this movie stars a 10-year-old Tatum O'Neal, there's plenty of drinking, smoking (even by Tatum's Addie), and corruption on display. The movie actually starts with Addie's mother's funeral. Some scenes are thematically intense, especially when Ryan O'Neal&…

Positive Messages

Addie and Moze fleece widows, bootleg liquor, escape from the police. Generally, their bond is over being criminal.

Violence & Scariness

Moze and Addie are shot at by police during a car chase. Moze and a guy wrestle and fight, with Moze punching him. Moze is attacked and beaten off-screen and seen beaten, with blood on his face and a split lip. Addie sits in the driver's seat of a car with no brakes.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Moze kisses a woman in the doorway of his hotel room, with Addie looking on. Lots of talk about Addie's mom being a "slut." Moze dates a woman who's a prostitute and Addie tries to talk the woman into turning a trick while Moze is out. Lots of talk of "putting out."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Lots of salty language, including "ass," "damn," "s--t," "son of a bitch," "tits," and "godammit."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Addie, Moze, and Trixie all smoke cigarettes pretty regularly. Once, Moze even lights it for her. Addie's mom died in a drunk driving accident. Several characters drink alcohol, and they steal alcohol, too.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that even though this movie stars a 10-year-old Tatum O'Neal, there's plenty of drinking, smoking (even by Tatum's Addie), and corruption on display. The movie actually starts with Addie's mother's funeral. Some scenes are thematically intense, especially when Ryan O'Neal's character Moze is chased down by corrupt policemen and beaten. Characters are also dragged into the police station for selling stolen bootleg liquor. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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• Parents say (3)
• Kids say (8)

Based on 3 parent reviews

It's all about Tatum

Excellent story, what's the story.

Buddy movies are great fun, and so are caper flicks -- movies where you get to live out a fantasy of not being good; of in fact being really, really bad . For some viewers, PAPER MOON will be the ultimate bad-girl escape film: full of road trips, car chases, money, tricks, and general hijinx. Tatum O'Neal stars in her Oscar-winning role as Addie Loggins, a little girl whose mother has just died and is suddenly thrust into the care of Moze (Tatum's dad, Ryan O'Neal ), a traveling conman whom Addie is convinced is her real father because they have the same chin. While Moze denies it, he does take little Addie under his wing, teaching her to con widows out of money, steal liquor, and generally live a depraved but fun life.

Is It Any Good?

If kids can get past the black-and-white screening created by director Peter Bogdanovich, they may love the pleasure Addie takes in tricking people. And she may have won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, but she's certainly the star of the film. You can thank the writing for that.

Addie, as a street-wise orphan, is smarter, sneakier, and more conniving than her foil of a father figure. As Moze dumbly tryies to get the same $7 out of every widow for a "deluxe edition Bible," Addie adjusts prices based on a customer's financial status and earns them more money. When she feels abandoned by Moze for taking a lover, the "harem slave" Trixie ( Madeline Kahn ), Addie is sharp enough to know that Trixie is a prostitute and makes sure Moze catches her turning a trick. No doubt, Addie (cigarette dangling) lives in a very adult, criminal world, and it's why this movie is a much better choice for teens and up.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about life during the Great Depression. This film makes light of the desperation and dispair of life in the Great Depression, but perhaps now would be a good time to talk to kids about your own family's experience during the Great Depression. How were grandparents and great-grandparents affected by it? This film is a good opportunity to talk about what brought about the Great Depression and how many families made ends meet.

Movie Details

• In theaters : July 24, 1973
• On DVD or streaming : August 12, 2003
• Cast : Madeline Kahn , Ryan O'Neal , Tatum O'Neal
• Director : Peter Bogdanovich
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Friendship
• Run time : 102 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• Last updated : February 23, 2024

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Scott Reviews Peter Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon [Masters of Cinema Blu-ray Review]

Hello, postmodernism.

Paper Moon is as much about the movies as it is about a couple of thieves in the midst of the Great Depression. Director Peter Bogdanovich preceded his career as a filmmaker by studying to be an actor, programming screenings at the Museum of Modern Art, and writing film criticism for  Esquire . Movies are in his blood, and they peek through the edges of  Paper Moon .

Con man Moses Pray (Ryan O’Neal) had hoped to merely pay his last respects to a fun-loving gal when fellow mourners decide it’d only be right for him to take her young, now-orphaned daughter to some relatives in Missouri. Seeing as they’ve got this Depression on, he’s heading that way and, after all, you can trust a man who sells Bibles, his con has left him little room to decline. For her part, Addie (Tatum O’Neal) isn’t exactly obstinate, nor is she particularly accommodating. But she is a lot sharper than she appears. When Mose (he goes by “Mose”) takes her along to a sales pitch, she quickly discovers his ruse, and discovers even quicker how to bolster his operation to their mutual advantage. They are, it turns out, a perfect team.

Born in 1939, Bogdanovich himself had no direct experience with the era he depicts here; it’s all received through the movies, and released here. The actors operate in a performative style, the frames are arranged to remind us of old photographs and films, and the absence of a score – rather than enforce a sense of realism – heightens its artificiality. Even the choice to shoot black-and-white is a postmodern touch; by 1973, even Bergman was shooting in color.

The tone Bogdanovich strikes is not exactly a recreation of a 1940s aesthetic, nor is it precisely in tune with the New Hollywood method of his peers. What it really anticipates is a pervasive aesthetic that took hold in the 1990s and continues through today – where would the Coen brothers ( The Man Who Wasn’t There ,  O Brother Where Art Thou? ,  Raising Arizona ), Alexander Payne ( About Schmidt ,  Nebraska ), or other purveyors of our treasured “mid-range, adult dramas” be without this odd little nostalgia gem?

O’Neal (Ryan division) walks this line between knowing wink and earnest investment quite well, in large part because screenwriter Alvin Sargent makes certain his character, too, is always playing at least two roles. His outward facade may be as a Bible salesman, or father, or just decent guy; his motivations range between the mercenary, lustful, and genuinely gobsmacked. He’s the very model of a two-bit hustler. He has just enough moxie to stay ahead, but not enough to land anything big time. He works overtime to woo a showgirl (Madeline Kahn) who’s lucky to have him. He has a strict $8 limit on the phony Bibles he sells, while Addie knows exactly what more affluent marks will pay.

A postmodern film deserves at least a modern transfer, yet, surprisingly, this is the first time – as far as I can tell – that  Paper Moon has been released on Blu-ray. Masters of Cinema doesn’t waste the opportunity , delivering a gorgeous high-definition transfer that’s pristine and crisp yet very filmic. There is some warping inherent to the source (look at the opening scene, for starters), but, as regular readers know, this is exactly the sort of stuff that revs my engines.

Supplements are bountiful, if not terribly rewarding, as much information gets repeated. Either the commentary track or the three short featurettes (totaling 37 minutes) will suffice; you needn’t invest in both. All were clearly pulled from an earlier release. The booklet, with a new essay by Mike Sutton, may improve matters, but unfortunately I was not able to look at it.

Paper Moon  may not be as “gritty” or “edgy” as its New Hollywood contemporaries, but in many ways, it proved the more influential. It’s also just a hell of a fun romp, sharply written and entertainingly played. Masters of Cinema has served it well in bringing it to Blu-ray.

Scott Nye loved movies so much, he spent four years at Emerson College earning a career-free degree in Media Studies. Now living in Los Angeles, he's trying to put that to some sort of use. OFCS member, film writer, day-tripper.

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Paper Moon Reviews

The picture demonstrates that in the head of a writer given to swooning and to creating swoons a criminal may seem an admirable character.

Full Review | Jan 23, 2024

Bogdanovich has learned the oldest trade in Hollywood -- he doesn't direct the movie, he directs the audience. He doesn't have the tonic vision of the artists he admires, Wells and Ford; he has the commercial acumen of the first-class hacks.

Full Review | Oct 3, 2023

The mix of hard-times drama and cheeky humor sets off the touching relationship between the two survivors.

Full Review | Jun 11, 2023

Father and daughter are a delight when pulling a con together...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 8, 2023

The problem with Paper Moon is that it’s hollow at the center. The central relationship, involving a small-time con man and a tough little girl who practice a Bible-selling racket in the Midwest during the Depression, remains undeveloped and unaffecting.

Full Review | Aug 8, 2022

A small but near-flawless gem—as well as a testament to the kind of eccentric film that could a big hit back then...

Full Review | Feb 11, 2022

Of all the nice things that can be said about Paper Moon, perhaps the nicest is this: it's the first new film in a long while that's as enjoyable as it is good, and absolutely first-rate in both departments.

Full Review | Oct 8, 2021

...grows more and more absorbing as it progresses...

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 25, 2021

It is distinguished by its moral tone, and it is the tone that lifts it above the average flim-flam comedy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 14, 2021

[Paper Moon] is exactly what we have in mind when we talk nostalgically of what movies "used to be"--meaningful rather than metaphorical, engrossing rather than exploitative, humanistic in their comedy and their sentiment.

Full Review | Jun 12, 2020

O'Neal leaves a continent-sized impact crater in the center of the film, delivering an instantly iconic performance none have been able to replicate.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | May 18, 2020

Peter Bogdanovich, using all of the hootchie-kootchie at his command, plus Ryan O'Neal, and even more importantly, O'Neal's nine year old daughter Tatum, has made an ingratiating comedy.

Full Review | Jul 10, 2019

Shot in black and white by the versatile cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, this has a mix of folksiness and precise craft that anticipates the Coen brothers, aiming to charm and succeeding.

Full Review | Sep 15, 2018

Sweet, playful, reverberant - this is a perfect movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jun 3, 2015

Part of an incredible 1970s career run for the director Peter Bogdanovich, Paper Moon remains a high point, not just for the talent involved behind the scenes and in front of the camera, but also for Hollywood.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | May 14, 2015

From its opening monochrome close-up of nine-year-old Addie Loggins at the barely attended outdoor funeral of her mother, Peter Bogdanovich's Depression-era road movie Paper Moon (1973) is dominated by the presence of Tatum O'Neal.

Full Review | Sep 16, 2013

A cute little family drama about a young con artist and her father as they build a grifting empire.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 15, 2011

What's most interesting about Paper Moon is that it has the tone and timbre of a comedy, but the setting and style of the film are somber and more reminiscent of a European art film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 17, 2011

Tatum O'Neal's smoke- and booze-filled caper.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 18, 2010

It is very fussy about period detail, and goes to some length to evoke the dim days of Depression America, while just about everything else is left to slide.

Full Review | Aug 17, 2010

Classic Movie Review: ‘Paper Moon’ (1973)

Christopher Lewis

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Details: 1973, USA, Cert PG, 103 mins

Direction: Peter Bogdanovich

With: Ryan O'Neal and Tatum O'Neal

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Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart and stars from the golden age of Hollywood lived again as Peter Bogdanovich regaled the audience at the National Film Theatre with tales from his new book, Who the Hell's in It?. Here's a full transcript.

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Paper Moon [1973] Review – A Whimsical and Extremely Satisfying Dramedy

American New Wave director Peter Bogdanovich (also a critic and film historian) was a skilled cinematic craftsman. His first four films made between the years 1968 and 1973 belonged to entirely different genres. The debut feature Targets (1968) was a taut thriller about an insane sniper killing off strangers on the street. The Last Picture Show (1971) – nominated for 8 Oscars – is a bittersweet tale set in the suburbs of small-town Texas which set the precedent for this dramatic sub-genre. In What’s Up Doc? (1972) Mr. Bogdanovich took on the classic and distinct Hollywood genre of screwball comedy. It was followed by the director’s most famous work Paper Moon (1973), a road-movie/dramedy set in the Great Depression era. Director Bogdanovich later made some quality films like All they Laughed (1981), Mask (1985) and Noises Off…(1992) but nothing came close to his earlier best works: The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon, the later one was treasured and so memorable, thanks to the performance of little Tatum O’Neal.

Based on Joe David Brown’s novel ‘Addie Pray’, the script for the film was written by Alvin Sargent (who won 2 Oscars later for ‘Julia’ and ‘Ordinary People’). Peter Bogdanovich states he coerced the writer to do a lot of re-writing to bring the classic, perfectly sculpted three-act structure to the narrative. Paper Moon was original to be directed by John Huston while Paul Newman and his daughter Nell were in talks of playing the central characters. But when Bogdanovich came on-board he insisted on Ryan O’Neal (Barry Lyndon) who had given two big hits at the time – Love Story (1970) and What’s Up Doc? Nine-year-old Tatum O’Neal – Ryan’s daughter – had never before acted in her life but went on to win Supporting Actor Oscar (and the youngest one to do so).

Related to Paper Moon – JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 COMMERCE QUAY, 1080 BRUSSELS [1975] REVIEW: UNDERSTANDING THE PATTERN-OF-LIFE

Peter Bogdanovich, who often lionized old-school film-makers like Orson Welles and John Ford, believed in their rule of getting the cast right. And among the director’s works, Paper Moon has the most perfect cast (right up to the girl who plays Imogene). Traditionally child actors win awards by pushing our sentimental buttons, but Tatum’s performance has the unbelievable raw energy and subtlety of a seasoned actor. Director Bogdanovich has expressed that he had a hard time working with the little girl and went through numerous takes to ‘manufacture’ the subtlety. Manufactured or not, that precious precocious look on Tatum’s face provides genuine heart to this incredibly funny movie.

Shot in glorious black-and-white, the film opens in the dusty roads of small-town Kansas, 1935. Nine-year-old Addie Loggins (Tatum O’Neal) is attending her mother’s funeral as Moses Pray (Ryan O’Neal) drives his derelict car to pay respects. The neighbors commented on how Moses’ and Addie’s jaw looks the same. Addie wonders if Moses could be her pa as it was between him and two other local guys. Before long, orphaned Addie is saddled with Moses to deliver her to an aunt in St. Louis. Moses is a con-man who scams recently widowed women by selling them overpriced Bibles. Moreover, considering the bleak economic climate of the era, Moses feels it would do no good to have a little girl while doing business. So he uses Addie’s mother’s name to pull some blackmail money and send Addie on a train trip. But she is a tough girl who knows all about the manipulative ways of the adults. She uses foul languages (may not seem foul for our time), and in leisure smokes a cigarette, listens to the radio and discusses the virtues of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Addie beats Moses at his own game of blackmail. However, things turn out better for both when Addie displays what a natural con-artist she is. Moses makes more money than ever, a miracle considering how families are migrating in broken-down trucks to escape from the Great Depression. Of course, the road adventures of these desperate souls through small towns of American Midwest encounter few obstacles.

Related to Paper Moon – JOHNNY GUITAR [1954] – AN EXTRAORDINARY MYTHICAL WESTERN CLASSIC

“Two good actors, no cutting, and a lot of movement in the background. It isn’t distracting. It gives you the feeling of life going on. This, therefore, becomes more real. That’s my idea of a good scene,” says Bogdanovich whose classical approach to film-making unmistakably instills brisk pacing and sharp humor. The thing about road movies is that the journey can easily turn boring. In Paper Moon, Bogdanovich perfectly judges the narrative’s flow to decide when to go for emotions and when to change the track. As I mentioned earlier, the director neatly demarcates Addie and Moses’ trip into three acts: the first showcasing the development of a unacknowledged father-daughter relationship; the second act devoted to humorous conflict between Addie and money grabbing Miss Trixie (Madeline Kahn), under whose spell Moses falls over, and the final act leads to the duo’s run-ins with a bootlegger (John Hillerman) which finishes with pleasantly sentimental ending. Peter Bogdanovich paces each episode beautifully and cuts to next before it gets stale. Despite being an adventurous comedy, it is to the director’s credit that we are bestowed with some excellent poignant scenes. For example, the scene when Kahn’s Trixie respects Tatum’s Addie while also recognizes the girl’s hate for her. We really feel for the character who would be otherwise pigeonholed as a ‘floozie’.

Director Bogdanovich’s decision to go for deep-focus and uninterrupted takes with fast, overlapping dialogues was a huge gamble, especially with an inexperienced kid actor. But not only he got it right (after numerous takes), those scenes add veracity and sense of urgency to the narrative. The scene (at the end of 1 st act) when Ryan and Tatum have a big argument over the bibles while driving through dusty roads in the middle of Kansas has gained notoriety over the years on how many days and takes it took to get it perfect. On screen, this particular scene still looks brilliant. It nudges us to consider the unspoken father-daughter connection between them. Bogdanovich eschews background details for the benefit of characters, but what keeps our eyes glued to them is the nuanced usage of subjective camera techniques. Since the directors have the two right actors for the role, the mere frustrating or soulful gaze that passes between them forges an emotional connection with viewers. Of course, a huge chunk of credit must go for this to Tatum O’Neal’s hilariously original performance. She easily steals every scene from her father and established actor Ryan (due recognition must be given to his frustrated and furtive glances which also adds a lot to the character dynamics).

There’s not a shade of unnecessary dramatics or contrived emotions or the notion to glamorize defiance in Tatum’s acting. Both Bogdanovich and his actors make us strongly believe that under lesser hands the film would have been pathetically cutesy. Eventually, Paper Moon doesn’t confine itself to the comedy genre. Like the comedies from the silent era, there’s a sad undercurrent in Addie and Moses’ journey. Their existential frailty accentuated by the uncertain period works as a potent force that drives the surface comedy. There’s also an extra layer of sadness to the film which could be discerned after knowing how the O’Neals and Bogdanovich fared in Hollywood after this glorious cinema.

Paper Moon (105 minutes) is a heart-warming and hilarious period piece that’s blessed with endlessly charming performances and terrific direction. It’s definitely one of the best films in the greatest decade of American cinema.

Paper Moon Links – IMDb , Rotten Tomatoes

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Arun Kumar is an ardent cinebuff, who likes to analyze movie to its minute detail. He believes in the transformative power and shared-dream experience of cinema.

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Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, peter bogdanovich, photos & videos, technical specs.

A bible salesman teams up with an orphan girl to form a money-making con team in Depression-era Kansas.

Best Supporting Actress

Award nominations, best writing, screenplay, the essentials - paper moon.

Pop Culture 101 - Paper Moon

Trivia - paper moon - trivia & fun facts about paper moon, trivia - paper moon - trivia & fun facts about paper moon, the big idea - paper moon, behind the camera - paper moon, critics' corner - paper moon, critics' corner - paper moon, noble willingham (1931-2004).

I don't have your two-hundred dollars no more and you know it. - Moses Pray

Then get it! - Addie Loggins

I got scruples too, you know. You know what that is? Scruples? - Moses Pray

No, I don't know what it is, but if you got 'em, it's a sure bet they belong to somebody else! - Addie Loggins

I need to go to the shithouse. - Addie Loggins

She always has to go to the bathroom. She must have a bladder the size of a peanut. - Addie Loggins

I want one child's price ticket. - Moses Pray

That will be $11.45. - Station Master

I want you to send this here telegram to Miss Billie Roy Griggs of Cosmo Road, St. Joseph: "Train arriving 9:52 AM and bringing love, affection, and $20 cash." Oh, make that "$25 cash", and sign it just "Addie Loggins". - Moses Pray

10 words, that will be eighty-five cents more, that will be $12 and 30. - Station Master

$12 and 30, huh? You better say in that message there "Love, affection, and $20 cash." - Moses Pray

Originally starred 'Newman, Paul' and daughter Nell Potts, but this changed when original director 'Huston, John' bowed out and was replaced by Peter Bogdanovich.

The character of Addie is one of only two Oscar-winning roles played by two Oscar-winning performers: Tatum O'Neal in the theatrical film and Jodie Foster in the Paramount/ABC TV series. The other such role is Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando in The Godfather and Robert De Niro in Godfather: Part II, The (1974).

When Addie is going to meet Moses and a businessman on the corner (near the end of the film) she walks out of the hotel and does a little skip before hitting the street. According to Bogdanovich, Tatum O'Neal was very proud of this little skip - she thought of it on her own.

Bogdanovich has said that the long, one-take sequence where Addie and Moze fight in the car about running out of Bibles took 2 days and 39 takes to get right. It was shot on a one-mile stretch of road just before hitting a very modern portion of the town, so each time a line was flubbed, they would have to turn everything around and drive back.

Miscellaneous Notes

Re-released in United States on Video June 20, 1995

Based on the Joe David Brown novel "Addie Pray" (Boston, 1971).

Feature film debut for Tatum O'Neal.

Released in United States Spring April 1973

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1973 Directed by Peter Bogdanovich

These aren't everyday people and this is no ordinary movie.

During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl—who may or may not be his daughter—and the two forge an unlikely partnership.

Tatum O'Neal Ryan O'Neal Madeline Kahn John Hillerman Jessie Lee Fulton Noble Willingham Randy Quaid P.J. Johnson James N. Harrell Burton Gilliam Hugh Gillin Desmond Dhooge Art Ellison Lila Waters Bob Young Jack Saunders Jody Wilbur Liz Ross Yvonne Harrison Ed Reed Dorothy Price Eleanor Bogart Dorothy Forster Lana Daniel Herschel Morris Dejah Moore Ralph Coder Harriet Ketchum Kenneth Hughes Show All… George Lillie Floyd Mahaney Gilbert Milton Tandy Arnold Dennis Beden Vernon Schwanke Rose-Mary Rumbley

Director Director

Peter Bogdanovich

Producers Producers

Peter Bogdanovich Frank Marshall

Writer Writer

Alvin Sargent

Original Writer Original Writer

Joe David Brown

Casting Casting

Gary Chason

Editor Editor

Verna Fields

Cinematography Cinematography

László Kovács

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Gary Daigler Ray Gosnell Jr.

Lighting Lighting

Richmond L. Aguilar

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Bobby Byrne

Production Design Production Design

Polly Platt

Set Decoration Set Decoration

James H. Spencer John P. Austin

Sound Sound

Frank E. Warner Kay Rose William C. Carruth Richard Portman

Costume Design Costume Design

Makeup makeup.

Rolf Miller

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Dorothy Byrne

The Directors Company Saticoy Productions Paramount

Releases by Date

09 apr 1973, 29 apr 1973, 09 may 1973, 01 jun 1973, 31 oct 1973, 01 nov 1973, 12 dec 1973, 13 dec 1973, 20 dec 1973, 09 mar 1974, 01 oct 2003, 09 oct 2003, 25 may 2015, releases by country.

• Theatrical 14 IMDB
• Physical 14 Videolar mj.gov.br
• Theatrical U
• Theatrical 12

Netherlands

• Theatrical AL
• Physical AL DVD
• Theatrical M/12
• Theatrical 18
• Physical PG DVD
• Premiere PG Hollywood, California
• Premiere PG New York City, New York
• Theatrical PG

102 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Patrick Willems ★★★★½ 6

A scowling 9-year-old girl smokes cigarettes and does crimes. What more could anyone want from a movie?

Review by KYK ★★★½ 10

tatum o'neal charges that rich lady $24 for a bible. i ran that through an inflation calculator and $24 in the 1930s would amount to about $420 today............ok, werk

Review by demi adejuyigbe ★★★★½ 8

A soft smile of a movie. The little :') emoticon come to life. I can't wait to watch it again. After four films I'm ready to say it– this Bogdanovich guy ("Peter" to his friends) has really got something! Hope he makes more movies. I'm a Bogdanofan!

Review by sydney ★★★★★ 5

I can't think of many other films that stay heartwarming without being corny so gracefully. It is SO RARE to see a film that can make you laugh and cry without manipulating you into it - there is no swelling music here, no trademark Hollywood "LOOK AT THIS! FEEL SOMETHING!" close-ups. An impeccable period piece with a delicate soul.

Review by ele 🪷 ★★★★★ 14

“ we just have to keep on veering, that's all .”

this movie is so many things to me. It’s my anxiety forcing me to miss days and days of school. It’s me waking up at 6am and begging my dad not to make me go because I just can’t deal with it all again today. this movie is my dad driving me all around our small town, and into the city, and up and down every highway. It’s my dad stopping at every yard sale along the way looking for a record or a book I might like. It’s me turning channels on the radio in the passenger seat with the windows down. It’s us arguing back and forth about the…

Review by liam f ★★★★½ 1

Ryan O'Neal casually handing his nine-year-old daughter a lit cigarette has got to be one of the funniest images ever committed to celluloid

Review by PTAbro ★★★★½ 11

Peter Bogdanovich not only evokes the look of the 1930s with the costumes, sets, and props of Paper Moon , but the feel as well; sweeping, graceful pans, stark close-ups, and plenty of low-angle shots all feel as if little Addie Pray went right on to star in a Little Rascals short once filming wrapped here. It is amazing that the decision to film in black and white is one of the least noticeable aspects of its imitation of a bygone era of film-making.

Besides being a technical marvel, what else does Paper Moon have going for it? It turns out, plenty:

One of the defining characteristics of good acting is appearing as if you're not acting at all. Tatum O'Neal…

Review by Collin Taylor ★★★★½ 2

My god, this movie is just so enjoyable.

Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 3

The relationship between Ryan O'Neal and Tatum O'Neal is so effortlessly charming in Paper Moon . Besides the obvious influence of their real-life father/daughter dynamic, it's clear that their banter and humor is informed by an authentic experience, no matter how different it is from any depiction of the Great Depression. That balance of sharp wit and underlying sadness makes for one hell of an emotional movie, especially when considering Peter Bogdanovich's craft behind the camera. Having László Kovács as the DP certainly doesn't hurt either. Not quite a total coin-flip of The Last Picture Show and its ruthless pessimism, this is nonetheless an adorable film that somehow never flinches from tangents of more overtly melancholic flourishes. The key performance for embodying this energy is Madeline Kahn, who continues to be one of the greatest scene stealers in cinema history.

Review by Aaron Michael ★★★★½

Daddy Ryan O'Neal is so hot I can't handle this

Review by Laura ★★★★

addie is a queen for only letting moze scam rich people!!!

also films about children & adults bonding on the road is truly becoming one of my favorite tropes ( alice in the cities, paris, tx). they are filled with the most wholesome vibes, which i think we all need right now :’)

Review by Chris 🍉 ★★★★½ 2

well. add him to the list of hot reluctant father figures whose hearts open up as the film progresses aka the best trope in film

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Movie Review

US Release Date: 05-09-1973

Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich

Starring ▸ ▾

• Ryan O'Neal ,  as
• Tatum O'Neal ,  as
• Addie Loggins
• Madeline Kahn ,  as
• Trixie Delight
• John Hillerman ,  as
• Deputy Hardin/Jess Hardin
• P.J. Johnson ,  as
• Randy Quaid as

Tatum and Ryan O'Neal in Paper Moon

Director, Peter Bogdonavich scored big in 1972 with the comedy What's Up Doc?.   He followed it up with the dramedy, Paper Moon .  He reteamed with Ryan O'Neal, Madeline Kahn and Randy Quaid.  The biggest key casting though, was with then 10 year old Tatum O'Neal, Ryan's real life daughter.

The movie opens with a funeral.  A woman has died leaving her 9 year old daughter, Addie, with no one to care for her.  A man, Moses, whose relationship to the deceased is only implied, stops by the grave to pay respect.  He is not exactly sad, but she must have made some impression that he felt compelled to stop by and place some flowers.  Moses gets talked into taking Addie on a road trip to her aunt's home.

Addie asks Moses, but he denies that he is her father.  Along the way Addie comes to learn that Moses is a con man.  His routine is to sell Bibles to widows, telling them their husband ordered it shortly before they died.  The widows are so touched that they pay whatever price he asks.   Although Moses initially sees Addie as a huge inconvenience, she quickly proves what a great asset to his cons she can be.

With Addie's innocent looks, she pulls the wool over everyone's eyes.  Moses goes from looking like a slick car salesman to a trusting single father.  Everything seems to be going swell for them.   The country is in the throes of the great depression, but they are riding high on one con after another.  Then however, Moses gets horny.

Madeline Kahn stole What's Up Doc from Barbra Streisand and she again steals every scene she appears in here.  Trixie Delight is a gold digging whore.  Moses meets her working as a dancer in a traveling carnival.  She and her maid take up with Moses and Addie.  Moses is blinded by lust while Addie sees right through her.  Addie asks the maid, "Imogene, what do you suppose Miss Trixie'd do if somebody offered her $25 to put out." Imogene, answers, "Ooo Wee! You crazy? For that much money, that woman'd drop her pants down in the middle of the road!"

Trixie however, sees right through Addie as well.  At one point Addie refuses to continue traveling with Trixie.  They have a private conversation where Trixie knocks off the act and says to Addie, "You're going to ruin it for me aren't ya?"  Right she is, as Addie, with the help of Imogene ends up sabotaging their relationship.

Although the film has many laughs, it turns dramatic near the end when Moses and Addie get caught up with some bootleggers and the police.  Then there is of course the moment when they finally arrive at Addie's Aunt's home.

Real life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum have a great rapport.  Often she seems smarter than him.  Their moments together are movie magic.  "I got scruples too, you know. You know what that is? Scruples?"  Moses says angrily to Addie, who answers with just as much attitude, "No, I don't know what it is, but if you got 'em, it's a sure bet they belong to somebody else!"

Tatum and Ryan O'Neal in Paper Moon .

Eric, does Moses get talked into taking Addie with him, or was that his plan all along when he stopped, so that he could get his hands on that $200? Everything he does, apart from his time with Trixie, is designed to get his hands on money. He does nothing without an ulterior motive.

The whole movie is so superbly done that to single out one part of it seems unfair, but I have to single out Tatum O'Neal as Addie. She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar and remains the youngest Oscar winner (not counting 6 year old Shirley Temple's honorary Oscar in 1935). And it was no gimmicky win. She fully deserved the award, with my only complaint being that she is in reality the leading actress in this movie and not the supporting one. Her performance is the gold standard of child performances. Her Addie is absolutely brilliant. Watch her face after she pulls the trick on Trixie. She knows she succeeded and it had to be done, but she knows how much it's going to hurt Moze. There have been actors with decades of experience who are unable to match the genuine realism and depth she brings to her part.

I agree with you Eric that Kahn is a comic scene stealer and generates laughs during her brief time onscreen, earning an Oscar nomination of her own. The moment she and Addie share on the hillside is perhaps her best scene. It's the only time in the film where she drops her facade. It's when she finally comes clean with Addie that Addie agrees to come down the hill and get back in the car.

The reason this movie works so well is the relationship between Addie and Moze. He's gruff and seems uncaring, while she tries to maintain a tough, grownup facade on the outside, while clearly remaining a young girl on the inside. They show their affection for each other by bickering and arguing and they maintain that attitude right up until the end where instead of sharing a warm reunion, they continue just as before with Addie demanding her $200.

Bogdanovich and his team do a great job with the look of the film. The black and white cinematography (legend has it that Orson Welles gave the director and crew tips on making it look good) suits the story perfectly and I can't imagine it any other way. I mean, I know that the depression wasn't really in black and white, but we picture it that way.

This is a movie that can make you laugh and maybe even a bit misty-eyed. It's a brilliant film and one of my all time favorites.

I agree wholeheartedly with my brothers. Paper Moon is wonderful. It perfectly captures the look and feel of the Great Depression. Black & white old fashioned cars riding along dusty back roads across open plains; the final shot is reminiscent of a Chaplin ending. In fact this movie shares similarities with  The Kid .

Tatum O’Neal deserved the Oscar for giving the best performance of her career, especially when you consider that this was her very first role. Not since Jackie Coogan had a child actor had such an impact in a movie. In her hands Addie is a fully fleshed out character right from her first scene. It’s kind of sad that Tatum started at the top and had nowhere to go but down.

Ryan O’Neal is equally appealing although his role is less showy. His Moze is a basically kind-hearted flimflam man. You can see his emotional attachment to Addie and although the movie never states it unequivocally (it isn’t necessary) in my heart he is her father. His reluctance to leave Addie at the end can be read as either proof of his affections for her or simply as him not wanting to break up a moneymaking team. I concur with both Eric and Scott about the brilliance of the relationship between these two; even when it tugs at the heartstrings it is never embarrassingly sentimental.

As for Madeline Kahn, she does indeed run away with every second of screen time in which she appears. She was not only funny as hell but also a very talented actress and the speech she gives to Addie on the hillside is her finest moment. I love how she goes on and on about “Bone Structure.”

P.J. Johnson deserves a mention as Trixie’s maid Imogene. She tosses off some great lines at her employer’s expense, like when she tells Addie (speaking about Trixie) “I tried to push her out of a window in Little Rock once.”

Paper Moon is a nearly perfect movie. Oh and Eric, you forgot John Hillerman. He’s in both this film and What’s Up Doc too.  

Photos © Copyright Paramount Pictures (1973)

© 2000 - 2017 Three Movie Buffs. All Rights Reserved.

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Most American movies of the nineteen‐thirties took the Depression for granted. Occasionally Hollywood made socially conscious films but the general run of screwball comedies and gangster melodramas was primarily designed as escapist entertainment. They were less about the life and hard times of the period than unselfconscious souvenirs of them. View Full Article in Timesmachine »

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• During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
• Set in the midwest of the depression-era, Paper Moon follows Moses Pray and Addie Loggins - one a con artist, the other, the young girl who's the daughter of a woman who's just passed away. The pair meet when 'Mose' stops by the sparsely-attended funeral in Kansas of a woman he once knew (we never see her). In attendance, is the woman's young daughter, Addie, whom Moses agrees to transport to St Joseph, Mo -- for money, of course. Mose - an inveterate hustler, has been working ostensibly as a representative of the Kansas Bible Company - who picks his marks from the obits, and tries to sell - at exorbitant prices - the decedents' spouse the custom bible they'd previously ordered. Wise beyond her years, Addie picks up on Moses' grift, and very quickly, she and Mose become a team. Traveling from town to town, making money in every dishonest way imaginable, and looking for the ultimate score. The colorful characters they meet along the way make the film all the more interesting. One in particular - Miss Trixie Delight - an exotic dancer who Mose rescues from a traveling carnival and the girl who works for her, poor, suffering Imogene. Addie sees Miss Delight as a potential rival, and she concocts a plan with Imogene to free themselves of her. The film's peppered with regional dialogue, one of the most memorable line's uttered when Mose is forced to wrestle a backwoodsman in order to trade his new car for the hillbilly's battered old truck; "make him say calf-rope, Leroy!" one of the observers calls out. Paper Moon, directed by Peter Bogdonovich is adapted from the novel, "Addie Pray" (1971) by Joe David Brown. — MARK FLEETWOOD <[email protected]>
• Sometime during the Great Depression, Moses Pray is at the sparsely attended graveside funeral service in Gorham, Kansas for a woman he knew, he tasked, albeit reluctantly, with taking the deceased woman's nine year old daughter, Addie Loggins, to live with her only kin, her maternal Aunt Billie, in St. Joseph, Missouri, despite Moses and Addie not knowing each other. In private, Moses and Addie acknowledge that he could very well be her biological father. On the surface, Moses is a bible salesman for the Kansas Bible Company. However what Addie quickly learns is that Moses is a con artist, his primary penny ante scam being to scan the obituaries for recently deceased males, and approach the deceased man's family claiming that the deceased man had purchased a name engraved bible for a loved one (named in the obituary) so that Moses can collect the exorbitant fee for the bible, the loved one rarely refusing to pay as the bible is a final memory of the deceased. Out of circumstance, Moses is forced to keep Addie with him a bit longer than directly driving her to St. Joe, he in the process involving her in his cons, especially as he discovers that she may be more adept at it than he is. Their initially antagonistic relationship softens over time as they rake in more and more money, to the point that their general talk is that they will end up together truly as father and daughter. But a happily ever after could be threatened by a number of encounters, including with: Trixie Delight and Imogene, a young woman who Moses has a thing for, and her maid, with Trixie not being as much a lady as she would like to portray herself as being; and a number of targets of their cons who may take drastic action to show Moses they do not take too lightly to be swindled. — Huggo
• Kansas, 1930s. 9-year old Addie Loggins's mother has just died, leaving her alone (she never knew her father). Moses Pray is a con man and initially uses Addie's misfortune to make some money off a third party. With that done, he tries to pack her off on a train to her aunt in Missouri, but Addie won't have any of that. They set off for her aunt's place by car, with neither having much time for the other, initially. — grantss
• When Moze is unexpectedly saddled with getting the 9-year-old Addie to relatives in Missouri after the death of her mother, his attempt to dupe her out of her money backfires, and he's forced to take her on as a partner. Swindling their way through farm country, the pair is nearly done in by a burlesque dancer and an angry bootlegger. — Jwelch5742
• It is the early 1930s, and a small funeral service is underway at the gravesite of Essie May Loggins. In attendance are two female acquaintances and Addie ( Tatum O'Neal ), the 9-year-old daughter of the deceased. Arriving late for the service is Moses Pray ( Ryan O'Neal ), a suave-looking younger man. It becomes clear that Essie May was a somewhat "loose" woman, and that Moses was one of her lovers. One of the women at the funeral says she notices a resemblance between Moses and Addie, and wonders if Moses is not the girl's father. Moses denies this, but the women persist in questioning him. When they find out that he is heading in the direction of Missouri, they convince Moses to deliver Addie to her aunt and uncle in St. Joseph. Moses is frustrated with this responsibility, but he sees an opportunity in it as well. Moses is a con man, and he uses his own knowledge of Essie May's affairs to blackmail a local man; he takes Addie in to briefly meet the man and then suggests that he may have fathered the child and that Moses could press the issue now that Essie May is dead. Instead of taking responsibility for the child, the man pays Moses $200 to keep quiet, and Moses uses the $200 to buy himself a new car, as well as a train ticket to St. Joseph for Addie. However, Addie is no innocent child. She overhears the conversation that Moses has with his victim, and she refuses to be used in a con game without any compensation: she demands the $200 that Moses acquired, arguing that it's rightfully her money. Moses is furious that Addie is sharp enough to figure out what was going on, and afraid that she might actually blow the whistle on him, he agrees to get her $200 back. After sending a telegram to Addie's relatives saying that she will be delayed, Moses takes Addie with him while he goes to make back her hush money. Addie learns that Moses' hustle is posing as a Bible salesman. He looks in the obituary section of the local newspaper, goes to the homes of men who have recently passed away, and informs their widows that their husbands ordered a Bible with the woman's name printed on the inside. While Moses is talking to a woman named Pearl, Addie finds material in the car with which he printed her name on the inside of the Bible. Touched that her deceased husband intended to buy her a gift, Pearl gives Moses the money for the Bible, and Moses' con is clear to Addie. Moze (as Addie refers to him) is annoyed with having to take Addie along with him on the road, and she reveals herself to be wise beyond her years at every turn. She carries a cigar box with her containing her only possessions in the world, other than her radio. Addie herself thinks that Moze is her father, and she reminds him of this several times, but he denies it consistently. Moze dislikes Addie being involved in his con, but he soon learns that she is an asset when he attempts to hustle a widowed woman into buying a Bible and suddenly a lawman appears in the house, questioning Moze about his business and his identity. Addie saves the day by rushing up to the house and charming the policeman, and she even ups the price of the Bible on the spur of the moment. In another instance, Addie takes pity on a woman who appears at her door surrounded by young children; Addie refuses to allow Moze to take the woman's money and leaves the Bible for her anyway. Moze is angry with Addie for interfering in his affairs, but Addie understands now that she is partners with Moze, and their con turns into profitable business. Moze also teaches Addie different con techniques, such as how to talk sales clerks out of money, and Addie's charm works well for them. Things take a different turn when Moze and Addie visit a traveling carnival and Moze acquires a girlfriend named Trixie Delight ( Madeline Kahn ). Trixie appears in the carnival as a 'harem girl', and there is a suggestion that she does a little more than just dance for the male patrons. Moze informs Addie that Trixie and her personal maid, Imogene ( P.J. Johnson ), will be traveling with them from now on, and Addie is furious to have their relationship interrupted by Trixie, who is a loud, obnoxious woman. Addie becomes sullen and ignores Trixie until she has a frank conversation with the girl; Trixie admits that she can never hold onto a man for very long, and that if Addie is patient, Moze will soon tire of her and she will move on. Addie seems to accept this proposition, until Trixie talks Moze into buying a very expensive new car; Addie looks in her cigar box and finds all of their money gone. This is the final straw for Addie, and she immediately plots Trixie's downfall. Enlisting the harried Imogene to help her, the two of them arrange for Trixie to be caught in a compromising position with the desk clerk of the hotel where they are staying. For her part in the scheme, Addie gives Imogene enough money to get back home to her family, and after Moze catches Trixie in bed with the clerk, he immediately collects Addie and abandons Trixie. From here, Addie and Moze seize another opportunity: while staying at a small hotel in a rural area, Addie notices a bootlegger conducting business quietly. His customers approach him and he retrieves their liquor from a small shed in back of the hotel. Addie and Moze get the idea to climb into the shed and steal some of the liquor, then sell it back to the bootlegger. Although their scheme works, they do not know that they have been found out by a man lurking in the shadows nearby. As they leave the hotel in their car, they are pursued by a sheriff who takes them into custody. While at the sheriff's station, Moze and Addie are questioned relentlessly. Although he knows what they did, he cannot prove anything--Addie has hidden the telltale cash they made in her hat. The sheriff intends to keep Addie and Moze locked up until he can pin something on them, so Addie spontaneously comes up with a plan; she steals back the keys to their car and urges Moze to make a break for it. Together they rush outside and make a quick getaway. Pursued by the sheriff and his men, they manage to make it across the border into Missouri, where the sheriff has no jurisdiction and cannot arrest them. Realizing that their car will make them conspicuous, Moze spots a dilapidated old truck outside a farm and rouses the inhabitants of the shabby farmhouse. Making up a reason, he informs them that he needs to swap vehicles and that he will give them the brand new car in an even trade for their broken down truck. The men refuse to trade, saying that the new car is no use to them since it cannot haul anything, so Moze offers to wrestle for it. The men can't resist the challenge and send their best 'wrassler', Leroy (Randy Quaid), to take on Moze. Moze quickly takes the match, however, by playing dirty, and he 'wins' the right to drive off in the beat-up truck. Now that the two of them are in Missouri, the issue comes up about Addie's original destination: her aunt & uncle's house. Moze instead suggests that this is no longer necessary; they will conduct business as usual, as they are partners. Both of them are happy with this decision, as they don't really want to be separated. Moze quickly sets up an opportunity for a very big score involving a wealthy gentleman, and he tells Addie that this will net them enough money to finally get out of the con business. Moze sets out to meet their mark, with Addie to follow later, but he is intercepted by the sheriff from Kansas and his men; while they cannot arrest Moze for his crime in Kansas, they are only interested in revenge, and they chase Moze down and beat him severely. Addie knows something is wrong when Moze is nowhere to be found, and she finds him beaten and bloodied, lying in a stairwell. Now that violence has found him, Moze has a change of heart about having Addie along in this lifestyle; he will take her to live with her aunt and uncle after all. Addie promises that she will not cry about separating from Moze, but when he drops her off at the house, she is less than enthused about living there. Addie's aunt ( Rose-Mary Rumbley ), is a flighty woman who treats Addie like the child she is, and Addie is put off by her cloying and overly cheerful attitude. Meanwhile, Moze has set off up the road in the broken down truck, which stalls out and leaves him sitting there. He is down on his luck, but even more, he is heartbroken about Addie leaving. Suddenly he looks up into his rear view mirror and sees her, off in the distance, running toward the truck. Although he is glad to see her, he puts on a stern face and stares her down, telling her "I told you, I don't want you riding with me no more." Addie is hurt at first, but then she stares back at him and says "You still owe me $200." Moze is flustered, and the truck begins to drift away while he isn't looking. Addie shrieks in warning, and they both run after it. Together they climb inside and drive off to a new destination.

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Paper Moon Reviews

• 77   Metascore
• 1 hr 42 mins
• Drama, Music, Family, Comedy
• Watchlist Where to Watch

A travelling Bible salesman is tasked with taking an orphaned girl to her family. The two have more in common than they first realize and after becoming a quick pair of con artists the orphan is loathe to give the life up.

Bogdanovich's warmest film, featuring charming performances from real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O'Neal. Driving a Model-T roadster in the Depression year of 1936, O'Neal stops to pay his respects at the funeral of one of his former girlfriends. Neighbors explain that the woman's death has left an "adorable" 9-year-old daughter an orphan and beg him to take the child to relatives in St. Joseph, Missouri. O'Neal takes Tatum O'Neal along with him and almost instantly regrets his generosity. The little girl smokes, swears, and exhibits altogether unchildlike behavior. After taking sly vengeance on the brother of the man who caused the death of Tatum's mother in a car accident, defrauding him of $200, O'Neal buys a new car and then takes Tatum to a train station, buying her a ticket for St. Joseph. Rather than get on the train, she creates a scene in the station restaurant, screaming that O'Neal owes her $200. Since he got it from the family that inadvertently caused her mother's death, she asserts, it is therefore her rightful inheritance--and he's probably her father to boot. O'Neal gives in and takes her along on his roadway adventures through Kansas and Missouri, where he works a variety of con games on the gullible rurals. PAPER MOON offers brilliant, bittersweet images and an entertaining story. The O'Neals are excellent, but Madeline Kahn almost steals the film in a small turn as a travelling floozy. Bogdanovich's direction is fast, furious, and full of fun. As with THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, the director opted for black-and-white cinematography (beautifully done by Kovacs) in a world swimming in color celluloid, to achieve an historical feel. "I have more affection, more affinity for the past," Bogdanovich later stated. "Since I am more interested in it, it comes easier for me." This was Tatum O'Neal's film debut, and no one would ever forget it, especially Tatum O'Neal, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance (over costar Kahn). For Bogdanovich, the grown-up little girl provided "one of the most miserable experiences of my life." The picture was filmed on location near Hays, Kansas, and St. Joseph, Missouri. The highly effective musical backdrop for the picture is a procession of period tunes from the record collection of Rudi Fehr.

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• FILM DECADES

Paper Moon (1973)

Paper moon movie review.

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Ryan O’Neal and wonderful Tatum, Paper Moon is a 1973 comedy drama film and one of the finest ever films set in the amiable decade of the 1930s.

It tells the story of con man Moses who meets Addie at her mother’s funeral and has to take her to her aunt’s home. Along the way they steal together and form a beautiful bond. This story is typical for screwball comedies of the period it depicts. It is rather simplistic, but executed perfectly with a sense of excitement and charm all the way. The beginning perfectly introduces you to the characters and the finale is one of the most touching and endlessly satisfying conclusions. It perfectly wrapped it up with a lot of style, superb final line and great camera work. If I have a flaw here, it is that the plot is sometimes too action oriented and it somehow loses its steam in the second half after the fantastic first one. But it quickly rebounds with terrific ending.

The characters are wonderfully developed thanks to some excellent character development at work here. Moses is excellent as this deceiving, but lovable man and his constant bickering and irritating nature lends to much of the movie’s humor. As for Addie, she is of course the star here with some excellent quotes and a superb performance from Tatum. She is such a realistically portrayed child with a lot of charisma, charm and perfect comic timing. And the relationship between the two is warm, but grounded with never a cheesy moment. But I have to give a shout out to Trixie as she is the standout supporting player here. What a terrific character! She is very refreshing for her redneck and stupid attributes and those provide many humorous moments in the film. Especially her laughing scenes and her accent, all of which ridiculous and super funny.

All those characters are amazingly depicted as the actors all did a fantastic job. Madeline Kahn brought the hilarious character of Trixie perfectly to life with an extraordinary performance. But this is Tatum O’Neal ‘s show and she steals every scene she is in. She gave such a nuanced, grounded and professional performance that it is such a miracle that a 10 year old child can be such an amazing actress. It is a shame she never repeated that and kind of disappeared after this role. She got her naturally deserved Oscar for the role and this is definitely one of the finest child performances ever in film history. However, Ryan O’Neal gave a so-so performance and her daughter certainly stole his thunder which is insane. He sometimes was great, especially in the irritated mode where he was believable, but he was not as believable in the angry mood as well as the serious one. He gave an annoyingly polarizing performance and he is the biggest problem the movie never overcomes because I never bought his face in this period as well which was problematic as he is the protagonist.

Now, the humor. It is beautiful with a lot of hilarious and wonderfully charming moments that bring a smile to your face and at times even true laughter. And it is perfectly in line with the period’s comedies and I only wish there was more of it in the movie as it kind of went down dramatic road as it progressed. What also makes it believable and charming is its terrific sense of what 1930s and those films should look and especially feel like which can be attributed to the amazing directorial work from Peter Bogdanovich. He did a phenomenal job, perfectly tying everything together in a smooth pace. Paper Moon benefits from a great attention to detail which wonderfully brought this charming period to life.

It also has that imminent sense of wonder and excitement along with the charming essence of it. But the cinematography is absolutely stunning with a phenomenal camera work and many shots that are absolutely breathtaking. The stark black-and-white scenery is startling and especially the ending is beautifully shot. It lifts the movie to a whole new level.  The tone is deftly handled and the shift from comedy to drama feels natural. The choice of songs is also fantastic, again adding to that 1930s feel. And the dialogue is great with a lot of highly memorable lines.

With superb lines, beautiful cinematography, lovable characters, deft tone and script, incredibly touching finale and a fantastic acting from Tatum O’Neal who provides one of the finest child performances ever, Paper Moon is an utter delight from start to finish and although it’s at times too action oriented and Ryan’s performance is polarizing, it hugely benefits from Bogdanovich’s stellar direction, a great attention to detail, bringing to life 1930s beautifully, breathtaking imagery and a charming story with very endearing characters. It is undoubtedly one of the best films set in this period.

Rating – 4,5, more stories.

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, rebel moon - part two: the scargiver.

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Will there ever be a version of “Rebel Moon—Part 2: The Scargiver” that makes the movie and its franchise seem essential? Director and co-writer Zack Snyder has already tried to whip up his fanbase by teasing “R-rated” versions of the first two entries in his ongoing “ Star Wars ” ripoff cycle, a lifeless homage to that other IPed-to-death sci-fi series. The well-covered struggle to release the Snyder cut of “ Justice League ” notably improved what was only ever a passable super-programmer. It’s also established an unfortunate precedent for how “Rebel Moon” is now being advertised, as a victim of its own release strategy.  

Unfortunately, while I can’t review a version of “Rebel Moon—Part 2: The Scargiver” that I wasn’t allowed to see, I can say that I doubt more (or just more extreme) violence and sex will improve this joyless expansion of the previous movie’s Kurosawa-sploitation space opera. The shortcomings that kept the first “Rebel Moon” from ever taking off are still apparent in its sequel, particularly Snyder’s disinterest in his actors’ performances as well as this movie’s vast array of bland visuals and flavorless dialogue. Like the last one, the latest “Rebel Moon” looks like it was rushed through production to compete with whatever “Star Wars” series is now streaming on Disney+. The Snyder faithful may see something in “Rebel Moon—Part 2: The Scargiver” that the rest of us can’t, but that doesn’t make this tired sequel any less puny.

Previously on “Rebel Moon”: A group of misfit rebels banded together and seemingly defeated the Imperial Space Nazis, led by the goofily accented Regent Balisarius ( Fra Fee ) and the lanky rage-case fascist Atticus Noble ( Ed Skrein ). Noble was killed at the end of “Rebel Moon—Part 1: A Child of Fire,” but even the end of that movie hinted that he wouldn’t be dead for long. Sure enough, he’s back again and now angry enough to retaliate against the smalltown farmers of Veldt, an idyllic moon with Smallville-style fields of space-grain, Oshkosh B’gosh catalog-ready space-farm children, and “Asterix”-type longhouses, too. 

Who will save the people of Veldt, represented here by the young and ripped hunter Den ( Stuart Martin ) and the older but also chiseled Hagen (“ A White, White Day ” star Ingvar Sigurdsson )? The same motley crew as last time, still led by the scowling ex-general Titus ( Djimon Hounsou , the generically mysterious Kora ( Sofia Boutella ), and her unconvincing love interest Gunnar ( Michiel Huisman ), the last of whom is also from Veldt. In case you’re wondering what else has changed since the last “Rebel Moon”: there’s a scene where our heroes share what they’re really fighting for, which they emphasize through momentum-throttling, voiceover-smothered flashbacks. 

Among other acknowledged influences on the “Rebel Moon” movies, Snyder claims kinship with the graphic-design-forward and stoner-friendly “Heavy Metal” brand of comics, an inspiration that Snyder teases in Martin’s character name (named after Richard Corben’s serialized space-barbarian “Den” comics). I don’t see it, and it’s not because Martin isn’t obviously trying to emphasize the sheer immensity of his emotions. I imagine that Den never lives up to his namesake because of of Snyder’s blunted vision and not Martin or his performance. For supporting evidence, see how often intensity and action figure poses stand in for character and detail in just about everyone else’s performances.

More is often less in “Rebel Moon—Part 2: The Scargiver,” not only when it comes to the movie’s sweaty, vein-activating performances, but also its over-exaggerated and under-choreographed action scenes. Kora and Gunnar’s overblown romance is also defined by bold, sweeping hints at romantic passion, like when he unbelievably confesses to her what motivates him: “It was you. It was losing you.” Never mind the gawky adolescent phrasing and the unbelievably flat line-reading—this gesture towards big-ness exemplifies the Snyder-y style of “Rebel Moon,” a series whose sound design is always more convincing, in both its nuance and sheer volume, than whatever’s on-screen. 

Seeing “Rebel Moon—Part 2: The Scargiver” in a theater would probably be the best way to go, since that way you can hear the movie loud enough to imagine you’re watching something better. Then again, the fact that Netflix produced both movies—their most expensive production of 2023!—and is apparently now releasing at least two cuts per installment, suggests that not many people will be able to see this movie beyond their living rooms. In this light, it’s hard to imagine the necessity of a separate R-rated version of either movie. 

The problem with the “Rebel Moon” movies isn’t that they need to be bigger or heavier to be better. If everything else feels as anemic and negligible as the non-sexual scenes in a floppy, overproduced porno, then I don’t think that adding more of everything will greatly enhance anything. 

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

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Film credits.

Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)

Rated PG-13

123 minutes

Sofia Boutella as Kora

Michiel Huisman as Gunnar

Ed Skrein as Atticus Noble

Djimon Hounsou as Titus

Bae Doona as Nemesis

Staz Nair as Tarak

E. Duffy as Milius

Anthony Hopkins as Jimmy (voice)

• Zack Snyder
• Shay Hatten

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Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver immediately flatlines

Where does Zack Snyder’s Netflix franchise go from here?

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Last December’s Rebel Moon Part One: A Child of Fire was a paint-by-numbers space opera filled in with Zack Snyder ’s maximalist colors. Pitched as “ Seven Samurai but make it Star Wars” (literally, to Lucasfilm ), the finished product was at best a violent B-movie mashup and at worst an expensive Asylum-esque mockbuster. Not a great movie, but a little promising? Its most glaring omission: an ending. After two hours of hero Kora (Sofia Boutella) wrangling a crew to defend a farming planet from Imperium forces, the showdown didn’t actually go down; Snyder held on to the payoff for Part Two: The Scargiver .

Unfortunately, anyone buckled in for a propulsive action-forward finale should adjust expectations: The Scargiver , now on Netflix, is a blaring stinger sustained for two hours. The characters in A Child of Fire were basically walking, talking RPG class types, but, you know, they went places — from space brothels to ranch planets to the inner sanctums of the Imperium. In Part Two , Snyder and his co-writers, Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten, contain, and suffocate, the drama on Veldt, the home to an agrarian society defined by the Malickian poetry of touching wheat. An hour is spent preparing for war, with obligatory training montages and vapid reflections on the state of the universe. The back half is brown-hued, smoke-filled militaristic combat occasionally cut through by red-plasma gunfire. It is ugly, it is repetitive, it is severely lacking in stand-up-and-cheer moments.

Help, the Rebel Moon franchise has fallen and it can’t get up!

But for real... what happened here?

After nodding off with 20 minutes to go, waking up, rewinding, and then watching to the end, I found myself more infuriated than expected as Junkie XL’s percussive anthem wailed over the credits. There was potential here. I don’t count myself among Snyder’s biggest fans, but Dawn of the Dead remains excellent, his Justice League redux was a major improvement , and his first Netflix movie, Army of the Dead , won me over. I had low expectations after A Child of Fire , but in theory, The Scargiver was a final act where a splash-page-maker could really go to town. A down-and-dirty bare-bones sci-fi action movie should be a check for Snyder to cash. Instead he delivered a bare-bones, dirty downer of a movie.

There is so much potential glimmering through the dust of the two Rebel Moon movies. Sofia Boutella has action bona fides and can convincingly plow through hordes of bad dudes in patented Snyder slo-mo — and she does it with a tangible humanity. Her character, Kora, went from the adopted daughter of the Emperor Palpatine stand-in, Belisarius, into a high-ranking Imperium officer, into an on-the-run fugitive who hopes to redeem herself by protecting the people of Veldt and dismantling galactic tyranny. The conflict is all hand-wavy, but Boutella sells it as pulp melodrama in A Child of Fire . The Scargiver gives her nothing to build on.

Snyder is genuinely smart about casting. Djimon Hounsou is in full powerhouse mode in the sequel, and even gets a chance to sing a war ballad halfway through (in a hybrid of African languages native to his home country of Benin). Doona Bae continues to whup with dual swords in The Scargiver . Ed Skrein’s detestable Atticus Noble is even more of a stock Snarling Villain after having his brain restarted and, well, he’s trying.

That’s the main issue: There is tons of talent on display, all plugged into rote characters and sloppy action.

In the first half of the movie, Snyder gathers his band of heroes around a table on the eve of war to tell their backstories — and they all look and feel exactly the same! Each member of the team stood in front of an explosion at a pivotal moment in their past. Every planet they hail from is covered in soot. Every memory is explained with the same visual vocabulary. I am all for slow cinema, but even Paul Schrader would give up on this level of expositional torture.

As Snyder told me last year during press rounds for A Child of Fire , the Rebel Moon movies were his chance to go weirder than ever before. “I was looking for something that was really pushing the sci-fi fantasy elements to their extreme,” Snyder said. There’s only one scene in The Scargiver that comes remotely close to capturing that big talk, when we finally get to see the royal assassination that forced Kora to go on the run. In the background of the scene is an Imperium string quartet playing diegetic horror muzak during what becomes an even bigger reveal. Why would they keep playing when people are getting straight-up murdered? Who cares, this is cinema. Snyder is right to let the bizarre rip instead of overexplaining the why, but there’s nothing remotely that “extreme” before or after the scene.

Snyder’s background is fine arts, specifically painting, and you see it in the chiaroscuro speed-ramping that litters his filmography. But the closest The Scargiver gets to anything arty is that you could compare it to Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son , in that it’s near monochromatic and feels like someone biting your head off. Starting with Army of the Dead , Snyder took over shooting his own films on top of directing them, and it feels like a loss in the Rebel Moon sequel — not only is there a lack of vision when it comes to frames, but even the geography and pace feel slippery. Action movies made on a fourth of Scargiver ’s budget are higher-impact than the swords-versus-guns combat we see in the thick of the battle on Veldt. If the idea was to do what Star Wars couldn’t, Rebel Moon should be going harder than Rogue One or Andor .

Rebel Moon Part Three, anyone?

Rebel Moon was supposed to be Netflix’s big franchise, a Star Wars-level “universe” to explore. Supposedly Snyder, Johnstad, and Hatten have mapped out six films in the saga, and Netflix preemptively poured money into Rebel Moon spinoff comics and a video game (with a theoretical TTRPG project canceled over reasons beyond quality ). After Snyder delivered his first two movies, the company threw millions at promotional events and marketing , a sign that it had... something . Maybe The Scargiver will defy reviews, be a huge hit for Netflix, and spawn intended sequels — Part Two doesn’t have a post-credits scene but uses its final beat to explain just where the story will go next in a potential Part Three . They left that in.

One major roadblock ahead of Snyder just came into view only after the release of Part One . A new producer, Dan Lin ( It , the Lego movies) has stepped in to take over Netflix’s film program, and a recent report on The Hollywood Reporter suggests he is looking to go smaller with the slate, not bigger. While Netflix flaunted Rebel Moon Part One ’s immediate No. 1 status upon arrival, the long-term numbers didn’t add up to such an undeniable hit that Lin would have to greenlight the sequels. In fact, THR noted in the report on Lin’s tenure that Rebel Moon premiered to just half the audience of the Julia Roberts-led sci-fi chamber drama Leave the World Behind — an apt title for what might happen next in the Rebel Moon franchise.

There is at least a little more Rebel Moon material waiting in the wings; as Snyder has promised from the beginning, R-rated cuts of A Child of Fire and The Scargiver were prepared in tandem with the PG-13 versions that exist now on the platform. In a previous interview with Polygon , Snyder said those versions, while more violent, are also “a deep dive into the universe — it’s a lot more,” adding that “it’s almost like the story takes place in a slightly different dimension than this movie that’s about to come out.”

Let’s hope so! The swampy version of The Scargiver currently on Netflix inspires little faith in what could be mined from the Rebel Moon franchise in the future. Maybe this was Snyder’s plan all along, to put out a halfhearted PG-13 edit of his movie so that the richer, more emotionally potent R-rated storytelling could really shine. Or maybe he simply lost the thread as he remixed one too many influences. Ultimately, if Rebel Moon ends with The Scargiver , it means the best Rebel Moon story has yet to come: the one Snyder will tell about “what was supposed to happen in Rebel Moon Part Three ,” parceled out over his next decade of interviews.

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‘Rebel Moon: Part Two –– The Scargiver’ is an Embarrassing, Sloppy Sequel

Zack Snyder delivers the second part of his ambitious sci-fi story yet still somehow disappoints, the issues of the first still very present here.

Sofia Boutella as Kora in 'Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver.' Photo: Clay Enos/Netflix © 2023.

On Netflix on Friday, April 19th, ‘ Rebel Moon: Part Two –– The Scargiver ’ sees director Zack Snyder offering up the second chapter of his expansive, war-happy space adventure, this time with a narrowed focus and slightly more coherent storyline.

Yet, like the first part, it doesn’t work, falling into the feeling of a lower-rent ‘ Star Wars ’ movie that disappoints on many levels.

Does ‘Rebel Moon: Part Two –– The Scargiver’ fly?

(L to R) Staz Nair as Tarak and Djimon Hounsou as General Titus in 'Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver.' Photo: Netflix © 2024.

If you watched the first part of ‘ Rebel Moon ’ and had your socks knocked off at its audacious, sweeping scale and intense science fiction action… Then good for you. But we wonder if we watched a different movie.

For those who found that outing an unoriginal slog filled with cliches and tropes and wondered if a follow-up could do the impossible and actually come off worse, then… Zack Snyder is here to unfortunately confirm that suspicion.

Because ‘The Scargiver’ somehow manages to be full of battles and stakes and yet completely devoid of authentic emotion or reaction. True, some of the heroes here don’t make it out alive, but you honestly will not care. And the rest? Pure noise and bolted-together nonsense.

Related Article: Director Zack Snyder Talks 'Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver'

Script and direction.

Director/writer/producer Zack Snyder on the set of 'Rebel Moon.' Photo: Clay Enos/Netflix © 2023.

The script for ‘The Scargiver’ simply and obviously continues what ‘A Child of Fire’ began –– Sofia Boutella ’s Kora has returned to the pastoral moon of Veldt with the warriors she thinks could defend the place. But bafflingly (due to some poorly explained Motherworld policy), she seems to believe that all will be well since she managed to slay Admiral Noble ( Ed Skrein ). Alas! Not only is Noble not dead thanks to some slightly Darth Vader-like medical treatment, but he’s also boiling with vengeance towards Kora and is only too happy to take it out on Veldt.

Yet the new movie somehow manages to waste even the vaguest spark of an idea, any potential value buried in a mire of off-the-peg motivational speeches that would make someone giving out advice at a Holiday Inn conference room cringe. Even seasoned performers such as Anthony Hopkins cannot make this stuff work.

(L to R) Elise Duffy as Milius and Staz Nair as Tarak in 'Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver.' Photo: Netflix © 2024.

The pacing is also way off, the first third of the movie stilted and awkward, grinding to a halt as various characters fill the people of Veldt (and, by extension, whoever is watching and not already asleep by that point) in on their backstories. There are zero surprises to be found here, except perhaps from Staz Nair ’s Tarak, who it turns out is these days often shirtless but used to be a buttoned-up prince whose people used giant warbirds in the hope that they can battle spaceships –– it did not go well for them! Yet even that seemingly impressive sequence feels like Snyder borrowing, in this case from himself, as it has echoes of the opening scenes of ‘ Man of Steel ’.

Snyder also still indulges himself on the visual front –– for every impressive location shot or beautiful looking sequence of a ship against a giant ringed moon, there are a hundred generic moments of laser blast fire and such an overload of slow-motion that you could watch the movie on fast forward and large chunks of it would appear to be playing at normal speed. A director having a stamped-on style is one thing. A filmmaker lazily going to the well so many times that it quickly runs dry is quite another.

Performances

Ed Skrein as Atticus Noble in 'Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver'. Photo: Netflix © 2024.

‘Rebel Moon’s returning cast don’t manage to spin the material into gold any more than they did the original. In many ways, they’re even more stranded among their director’s indulgences.

As we mentioned above, the initial chunk of the film splits its time between Ed Skrein’s Darth V… Sorry, Admiral Noble being angry (Skrein still at least seems to be having fun swallowing scenery) and either the warrior characters spinning their wheels talking about their background, or long, dull sequences of farming that make it all look like a Budweiser commercial.

Doona Bae as Nemesis in 'Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver.' Photo: Netflix © 2024.

Sofia Boutella carries the lion’s share of the character work, her own backstory an entirely unsurprising tale of betrayal, but even she’s stranded in a character who appears to have two modes: violent fighter or mopey love interest.

The likes of Bae Doona , Djimon Hounsou and E. Duffy likewise remain entirely wasted in their supporting roles, whose character development is relegated to fighting or worrying.

Everyone else is an archetype in search of a character, less active participants than human props.

Final Thoughts

Sofia Boutella as Kora in 'Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver'. Photo: Netflix © 2024.

An utterly disappointing follow-up to the first ‘Rebel Moon’ that we didn’t think was possible, this easily limbos under the low bar set by that movie. A waste of time, money and actors, it is reduced to embarrassingly cringeworthy moments such as a quartet still playing dramatic music in the same room as a king is being portrayed or long, battering sequences of war machines shooting at people.

This so wants to aim for the quality and majesty of movies such as the recent ‘ Dune: Part Two ’ but ends up hitting ‘Dumb: Part Two’. Snyder has already talked about, and leaves us with, hints of further stories to come, but that’s not something to anticipate after this.

‘Rebel Moon: Part Two –– The Scargiver’ receives 5.5 out of 10 stars.

Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver

What is the plot of 'Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver'?

Kora (Sofia Boutella) and the surviving warriors prepare to fight and defend their new homeworld Veldt against the Motherworld.

Who is in the cast of 'Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver'?

• Sofia Boutella as Kora / Arthelais
• Djimon Hounsou as Titus
• Ed Skrein as Atticus Noble
• Michiel Huisman as Gunnar
• Doona Bae as Nemesis
• Staz Nair as Tarak
• Fra Fee as Regent Balisarius
• Elise Duffy as Millius
• Anthony Hopkins as the voice of Jimmy

(L to R) Sofia Boutella as Kora, Michiel Huisman as Gunnar and Ed Skrein as Atticus Noble in 'Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver'. Photo: Netflix © 2024.

Other Movies Directed By Zack Snyder:

• ' Dawn of the Dead ' (2004)
• ' 300 ' (2006)
• ' Watchmen ' (2009)
• ' Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole ' (2010)
• ' Sucker Punch ' (2011)
• ' Man of Steel ' (2013)
• ' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ' (2016)
• ' Zack Snyder's Justice League ' (2021)
• ' Army of the Dead ' (2021)

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‘Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver’ Review: Zack Snyder’s Space Opera Descends Further Into A Black Hole Of Nothingness

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Valerie Complex

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SPOILER ALERT: This review reveals details of both Rebel Moon movies. Slow-motion scenes that sputter story pacing? Check.

Poorly developed characters? Check.

Plot holes bigger than the Milky Way? Check.

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The headache-inducing journey of part two begins with exposition from Jimmy, who gives a rundown of past events and what lies ahead for Veldt. The bargain-basement guardians of the galaxy, who include Kora aka The Scargiver (Boutella), Gunnar (Huisman), General Titus (Hounsou), Nemesis (Bae), Prince Tarak (Nair) and Milius (Duffy), have returned to help stage an uprising they plan to execute in five days’ time when the Imperium Army comes back to the moon for grain. Kora reports to the village that Admiral Atticus Noble (Skrein) is dead, but little does she know, he’s been resurrected aboard the dreadnaught ship that hovers around Veldt’s orbit.

As everyone prepares to fight, Kora reveals the part she had to play in the assassination of the King and Princess Issa, which caused her to leave Balisarius (Fra Fee) behind and go on the run. What follows is 70-minutes of slog. Slow-motion scenes of characters farming, even more exposition, and loud explosions.

Also the makeup and hair are given little attention to detail, which is surprising because the actors and characters in Snyder’s films usually look stunning. Here, everything looks caked and glued on, almost as if the budget had run low. Actually, on every level it seems like more money was pumped into part one than into The Scargiver .

Snyder does deserve some credit for his diverse casting choices, but the failure to highlight this cast’s strongest attributes is apparent. Boutella should be leading Hollywood’s biggest action franchises because she understands the genre and knows how to execute fight choreography while making it look sleek. Hounsou is an actor’s actor, and a two-time Oscar nominee; he knows what he’s doing, but deserves to work with material worthy of his talents. Hopkins as Jimmy, who does less than nothing in the entirety of Rebel Moon , is still the best element the film has to offer. Look, attaching Oscar winners and nominees to your film does not make it prestigious. Good storytelling is what gives a film prestige!

The man has made great films: Dawn of the Dead is one, and while it may not have aged well, 300 still stands out as a decent comic book adaptation. The Snyder Cut of the Justice League isn’t perfect, but it’s beautiful to look at (and so are the actors). In the Rebel Moon saga, it’s just a whole lot of nothing. It’s 4 hours and 15 minutes I’ll never get back.

Title:   Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver Distributor: Netflix Release date:  April 19, 2024 Director:  Zack Snyder Screenwriters:  Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten  Cast: Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Doona Bae, Stars Nair, Elise Duffy, Anthony Hopkins Rating:  R Running time:  2 hr 2 min

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