Paper Moon (1973) on Netflix
At her mother's graveside, nine-year-old Addie Loggins meets con man Moses Pray, who may be her father. He agrees to drive her to an aunt in St. Joseph, Missouri.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb8.1/1058,317 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Gorham, Kansas, in the mid-1930s, Moses Pray makes his living as an itinerant con man. At the graveside service where nine-year-old Addie Loggins buries her mother, neighbors remark that the girl resembles him and wonder whether he might be her father. He denies it, then agrees to take her to the home of an aunt in St. Joseph, Missouri. Before they leave, Moses persuades the brother of the man responsible for Addie's mother's death to hand over two hundred dollars. Addie overhears the deal and claims the money as hers, so Moses promises to give her the full sum once he has raised it. He visits recently widowed women, telling them their late husbands ordered inscribed Bibles and collecting payment. Addie joins the scheme, posing as his daughter, and shows a talent for it.
Cast
- Desmond Dhoogeas Cotton Candy Man
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Paper Moon (1973)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- At the 1974 ceremony ten-year-old Tatum O'Neal won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the youngest competitive Academy Award winner as of 2025.
- Peter Bogdanovich changed the film's name from Addie Pray after hearing the song "It's Only a Paper Moon" while selecting music, then floated Paper Moon to his friend and mentor Orson Welles, who replied that the title was so good he should not even make the picture and should just release the title.
- The project was originally associated with John Huston and was to star Paul Newman and his daughter Nell Potts, a child actor at the time, but when Huston left the project the Newmans became dissociated from the film as well.
- Bogdanovich added the scene in which Addie has her picture taken in a paper moon solely so that the studio would allow him to use the title.
- In September 1974 a television series based on the film premiered on ABC with Jodie Foster cast as Addie; it was not a ratings success, and its thirteenth and last new episode aired that December.
- In The Simpsons episode "The Great Money Caper", Homer and Bart's attempt to con Ned Flanders with a personalised Bible unravels when Ned realizes how similar the con is to the one in Paper Moon.
- Joby Harold, head writer of the television series Obi-Wan Kenobi, looked at Paper Moon and Midnight Run as influences for the relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Leia Organa after her rescue.
