Paper Moon
|
Our Price: $12.99 Availability: Usually ships in 10 to 11 days Buy Used: from $6.90 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Paper Moon
Movie Review: ...If You Believe In Me.
Summary: 5 Stars
My husband and I watched PAPER MOON with our 11 year old daughter the other night. What a fun, sweet, thoroughly enjoyable family movie. I can't think of a better way to spend an evening at home.
Filmed in the early `70s in black and white, PAPER MOON tells the story of recently orphaned 9-year old, Addie, who falls in with con man Moses Pray. As it turns out, Addie is perhaps a better con than Moses is, and the two of them set out to relieve some unsuspecting widows of their butter and egg money. While swindling their way across the mid-west and surviving a series of hilarious misadventures, Addie and Moses develop a genuine affection for each other, and learn the true meaning of what it is to be a family.
Ryan and Tatum O'Neal both give outstanding performances as the erstwhile father and daughter. In fact, Tatum won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in PAPER MOON, the youngest actress to do so. Other cast members, including Madeline Kahn and John Hillerman are equal to the task; all the performances complement each other perfectly. The chemistry between all of the characters is genuine and very believable.
The black and white print adds to authentic feel of the film. You really believe that you are driving around the dust bowl during the Great Depression. Costuming, sets, and locations are all dead-on Depression era, and lend to realism of this film. Additonally, there is no sound track to this film. You hear every chirp of a cricket, every creak of a stair, every rumble of a car motor. This really puts the viewer there, in the movie, in the story.
Full of a wonderfully effective combination of sentimentality, humor, and cynicism, PAPER MOON stands the test of time. Watch this film with your family. I guarantee, no matter what the age, everyone will enjoy the evening. In fact, my oldest enjoyed this film so much that she "forgot it was in black and white."
Movie Review: Great '70s flick with the look and feel of the '30s ...
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw this movie in 1994 on AMC (American Movie Classics). My mother told me about it and that she saw it when it was in theaters. I really loved it and always will. Tatum O'Neal was terrific as Addie, the orphaned girl who goes around the country with Moses Pray, who is a con artist selling bibles(played by Ryan O'Neal). They were both great in this movie. Any person who sees this movie for the first time will almost get the impression that it was made in the 1930s, but will be told that it was made in '73. The movie does have the period look and feeling, such as the fashions, the music heard in the movie, and the cars that were around from that era. And yes, the film is shown in black and white to give it the period look and feel. I have always found Addie to be funny, especially in the scene in the cafeteria when she and Mose are eating, and she is griping about wanting her $200 (that made me laugh). I also thought Madeline Kahn was funny as well, who played Miss Trixie Delight. The scene where Miss Trixie walks up the hill to talk with Addie (and trips on it) made me laugh as well. PJ Johnson (who played Imogene, Miss Trixie's maid), was brilliant as well. Their screen time was minimal, but they were funny. Peter Bogdanovich did great directing the film as well. There are some special features, as well, such as widescreen viewing, Peter's commentary during the film, which is interesting, because he will fill you in on how certain scenes were done, etc. There is also a documentary that profiles the making of the movie, which makes a nice addition to this movie. Any person who is a fan of this movie must get it and add it to their movie collection. Kudos to the actors for their great performances in this movie and Peter Bogdanovich for his directing. Way to go!! This will always be one of my most favorites!Movie Review: A great film overall, but not sure if it's a family film
Summary: 5 Stars
This review is for the 2003 widescreen DVD release by Paramount.
A wonderful film in many respects and gets my highest rating. The story doesn't lose any steam during the entire film and there are lots of great performances including the one by Tatum O'Neil who won an Oscar for her supporting role.
The plot is about a con man, Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neil), who sells personally engraved Bibles at inflated prices to the survivors of recently deceased spouses. He preys on the emotions of the spouses to buy the Bibles, convincing them with lies that their dead spouses had order these Bibles for them. Along the way, Moses attends a funeral where a mother has died leaving behind a young girl named Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neil). People attending the funeral notice that Moses slightly resembles the young girl and they ask him to help Addie find her way to her next of kin. From that point on the Addie is convinced that they belong together, and the relationship works great magic through the rest of the movie. Madeline Kahn also helps make this a very entertaining movie.
The attention to detail of the period with the music, costumes and props make it a feast for the eyes and ears. It was also filmed in black & white and for being set in the Depression Era, it works quite well. My only critical comment is that there was some profane language and a few adult situations which would disqualify it for family viewing which is a shame, because otherwise an entire family could really enjoy it. One nice DVD bonus is by Peter Bogdanovich who gives about 30 minutes of commentary regarding the preparation and filming of the movie.
Movie: A
DVD Quality: A
Movie Review: Too Charming to Dislike
Summary: 5 Stars
With a subtle directorial hand, Peter Bogdanovich just let his thespians do their jobs here, and thus they carried the whole film into the amazingly charming entertainment that it is today. Are there any deep, philosophical messages to analyze here? Perhaps not, but it's certainly touching and the final scenes will have many viewers holding back tears because of the fact that ten-year-old Tatum O'Neal has successfully and seemingly effortlessly endeared herself to them. The pairing of Moses and Addie truly do make for one of cinema's most memorable love-hate relationships, and by the finale it's terrible for anyone to have to watch it come to an end. And could the Academy have been anymore flat-out right here by awarding Tatum O'Neal Best Supporting Actress? It's obviously one of the most audacious wins in the history of the Awards, and a deserved one at that. Bogdanovich didn't mind simply placing his camera in one set location and just leaving it there because he had the fullest confidence that his cast would make the film compelling, but some stylization is evident here nonetheless. It's interesting to watch shots that withdraw from the action completely, framing its characters from a vast distance. And it truly seems as if this movie couldn't have been filmed in anything other than the stark black-and-white, which is iridescently brought to life anyway thanks to each and every performance.
Some aspects of the story do border on ridiculousness, of course - are we to believe that Moses and Addie simply had great luck in finding these amazingly gullible people? But it doesn't really matter in the long run anyway, because `Paper Moon' will really make you smile.
Movie Review: Best-directed child performance of all time
Summary: 5 Stars
Tatum O'Neal's Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, won at the age of ten, was not only inappropriate (she actually has more screentime than her dad, putative lead actor Ryan O'Neal), it remains controversial. But the award really has to be seen as a tribute of sorts to director Peter Bogdanovich, who exacted an astonishingly assured, deadpan comic performance out of her, and then built an almost perfect piece of cinema around it. In the 1970s, when tough, gritty films were the flavour of the day, this seemingly simple, depression-era comedy, filmed in sepia-toned black-and-white, seemed way out of place. But this movie has it all: period detail, brilliant dialogue, wonderful performances, and elegantly economical storytelling. This DVD is especially valuable for Bogdanovich's commentary track, which is almost a master class in filmmaking, explaining how everything from filtered or wide-angle lenses, deep-focus cinematography, cutting on motion, or creating intimacy or tension through camera set-ups, can be used in service of the story. Bogdanovich also notes where he had to coach Tatum, and where she also simply surprised him by being preternaturally skillful or creative. There's one long scene shot in a moving car, full of dialogue and other "business" (as Bogdanovich refers to his actress' handling of props) between Tatum and Ryan, that is played without cuts, and, while Bogdanovich notes how many takes it took, he is also generous enough to acknowledge his child star's skill in pulling it off. As an honour to an entire film built around what may be the best-directed child performance of all time, Tatum's Oscar was well-deserved.