We meet nine year old Addie at her mother's graveside service which is sparsely attended because, as we learn, her mum was a loose woman, given to taking up with strange men in the local bar... one of whom was presumably Addie's father. She was recently killed by a drunk driver leaving Addie an orphan. Near the end of the service, a man- Moses Pray- pulls up in his rather battered Model A, come to pay his respects. A few of the neighbour ladies speculate that he might be Addie's actual father, something Mose denies strenuously. He does, however, agree to take Addie to her mother's sister in Missouri, an act of kindness which seems out of character until his ulterior motive presents itself. He goes to see the business owner/brother of the man who accidentally killed Addie's mother and blackmails him into giving him $200, telling him that it's for Addie. He then uses some of the money to repair his car, and buys a train ticket to Missouri; his idea of keeping his promise to take Addie to her aunt is to stick her on a train then drive away, having pocketed the rest of the $200 for his own use. While waiting for the train to arrive, Mose buys the two of them lunch in a nearby cafe and it's here that Addie, quiet and watchful up to this point, decides that she's not having it. She refuses to get on the train and- loudly- demands that he give her her $200.
I recently watched the 1973 film Paper Moon which is adapted from the 1971 novel Addie Pray and stars real life father/daughter duo Ryan and Tatum O'Neal. It is set during the Great Depression and is filmed in black and white, giving a feeling of actually being a period piece, as does the soundtrack, which is great and- you guessed it- includes the song It's Only A Paper Moon. We meet nine year old Addie at her mother's graveside service which is sparsely attended because, as we learn, her mum was a loose woman, given to taking up with strange men in the local bar... one of whom was presumably Addie's father. She was recently killed by a drunk driver leaving Addie an orphan. Near the end of the service, a man- Moses Pray- pulls up in his rather battered Model A, come to pay his respects. A few of the neighbour ladies speculate that he might be Addie's actual father, something Mose denies strenuously. He does, however, agree to take Addie to her mother's sister in Missouri, an act of kindness which seems out of character until his ulterior motive presents itself. He goes to see the business owner/brother of the man who accidentally killed Addie's mother and blackmails him into giving him $200, telling him that it's for Addie. He then uses some of the money to repair his car, and buys a train ticket to Missouri; his idea of keeping his promise to take Addie to her aunt is to stick her on a train then drive away, having pocketed the rest of the $200 for his own use. While waiting for the train to arrive, Mose buys the two of them lunch in a nearby cafe and it's here that Addie, quiet and watchful up to this point, decides that she's not having it. She refuses to get on the train and- loudly- demands that he give her her $200. Outmaneuvered by the nine year old, Mose reluctantly ends up driving across country with her to Missouri, and Paper Moon becomes a road trip movie, with a twist. Moses Pray is a con man; he travels from town to town and, having read the local paper's obituaries, goes to the houses of the recently widowed claiming to be a Bible salesman. The deceased husband, he explains, bought a Bible from him just a while before his death, as a present for his wife (Mose has a stamp pad which he uses to stamp the widow's name in gold on the flyleaf of the Bible). He regretfully informs the widow that her late husband had put a deposit down on the Bible but that the balance is still owing. He doesn't however, he hastens to say, expect her to pay for it; under the circumstances he will take the loss. But of course, nine times out of ten the widow, touched by the thought that her husband had bought something for her, and wanting something to remember him by, purchases the Bible. The back of Mose's car is filled with them as he travels about, fleecing gullible, grieving widows. Inevitably Addie becomes involved in the con, and Mose is unnerved to find that she has a natural talent for deception. His Bible scam becomes more successful than it's ever been, but of course as the trip to Missouri goes on, shenanigans ensue, mostly caused by Mose's weak and shady character. He takes up with a carnival floozy named Miss Trixie Delight who ends up traveling with them, much to Addie's disgust though she does form a friendship with Imogene, Miss Trixie's longsuffering maid. The two of them conspire to bring down the cut rate Jezebel with remarkable success. Mose also gets it into his head to make extra money by trying to cheat a local bootlegger in one of the towns they're in. This goes extremely badly, ending in arrest, escape, and Mose and Addie having to go on the run. Will Mose and Addie make it to Missouri? Will he actually leave her with her aunt? Or will Mose end up in jail- or worse- before they can cross state lines? (To Be Continued...)
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