Family in Paper Moon

Paper Moon (1973) is the fictional and hilarious documentation of an unlikely family. Though he vehemently denies it, Moses Pray is Addie’s father. At first it’s just their jaws that look similar, but as the film progresses, we discover that Addie is in every since a perfect mixture of her father and mother: an adventure loving con-man and a dolled up bar girl with a sweetheart. The discovery of these two identities are the ultimate goal for Addie. Bogdanovich favors finding one’s identity within family over all other pursuits, including moral ones.

Several scenes in the film are indicative of prioritizing family over morality. When Moses falls for Trixie Delight, taking him away from their business and more importantly, close relationship, Addie takes action. She approaches the solution to the problem from a completely morally bankrupt perspective: she will lie to Trixie, her father, and the bellhop in a scheme that will get her father to walk in on a sex scandal. A traditional narrative would punish Addie. After all, she is actively fighting against her father’s wishes in a horrible scandal that involves matters she does not fully understand. But Bogdanovich lets Addie walk away free from judgement, and both her and Imogene are able to return happily to their families. Addie devises an escape plan from the police, one which eventually comes back to punish Moses, but still gives way to their ultimate freedom and unity as a family. The final sequence may be the best example. Addie is given a morally upright lifestyle with her Aunt, one that is comfortable, clean, and by all right, ‘healthy’. But it is not with her true family, and more importantly, is not aligned with the personalities of both her mother and father. Addie runs from her Aunt’s house and joins Moses again on the road.

A unique aspect of Paper Moon is the actual father and daughter relationship between Ryan O’Neal, who plays Moses, and Tatum O’Neal, who plays Addie. Their comfortability is extremely apparent on screen, and allows for both Ryan and Tatum to deliver astounding performances, especially in the case of such a young performer as Tatum. The film also becomes, in many ways, a documentary about Ryan O’Neal introducing his daugher to his own career. Much like Moses in the film, O’Neal is going on a sort of professional journey with his daugher, where he is coaching her and also learning from her in the field of acting (a profession that could be considered as risky as bible selling!). The film works in this way on two levels. Fictionally, it is a story about two characters choosing family over all other ultimate goals, and in real life, it shows the O’Neals sharing a professional experience and relationship as a means of coming together as father and daughter.