There is a restlessness in the human spirit to always be on the move, to travel, to explore, to experience the new. The appeal of adventure stories touches a deep mesmerizing chord in us that goes back at least to the Odyssey, is present in Pilgrim's Progress, continues to the modern day in the innumerable novels, real-life travel stories and films. Paper Moon, of course, is one of those road trip films. Yet, director Peter Bogdanovic seems to have intuited, rather than thought of this well spring theme of Paper Moon. There are other instances of Bogdanovic's seeming ignorance of cinematic techniques that he uses in the film. He died of complications of Parkinson's, one sequela of which is dementia.
"What can I tell you about the picture?" 7:58 below.
"It's about the love of a child for her father, which is not really reciprocated."
-Art<-->Life-
Tatum, [in] her 2004 book A Paper Life: Ryan, the late star of Love Story and Bogdanovich’s screwball comedy What’s Up Doc?, was in the throes of a drug problem. “Once so loving and funny, he had grown crazily moody,” O’Neal later recalled. He would allegedly tell her: “I just don’t like you, Tatum.”
In 2011, Ryan and Tatum were interviewed together, talking about the making of Paper Moon. Starting at 1:13 below Tatum says, "Just one thing I haven't really said much is that there was a part of the script and I asked my dad to help me read it...it said that I had to say I love you to him in the movie and I looked...and [said] 'I can't say that...'"
In two interviews, one that I listened to, another I read, Bogdanovich exhibits perfect ignorance of song lyrics acting as another voice.
"Could you talk about some of the music choices or how you put the soundtrack together?" 13:18 here.
"...I chose songs that were popular at that time...I tend to use the songs as kinda counterpoint...If I have a sad scene I use a happy song."Boganovich was 79 years old at the time of that interview (he died three years and three months later), 78 when the interview below was published, and he sounds not sharp mentally, doddering, forgetful, and repeats the same stories to his interviewers, all signs of mental decline, but God, he did not use songs merely to set a mood or as mood counterpoint in Paper Moon, he used the lyrics to the songs as background voices, as opera does. It is an additional layer of depth to the film which, to my knowledge, is unique. And there is absolutely no doubt that that is what he (or perhaps the music director without his knowledge? (impossible)) does. In addition to the examples given in previous posts,
(It Will Have to Do) Until the Real Thing Comes Along (1936)
I'd work for you, I'd even slave for you
I'd be a beggar or a knave for you (whatever that is)
And if that isn't love, it'll have to do
Until the real thing comes along
I'd gladly move the earth for you
To prove my love, dear, and it's worth for you
The audience question above asked him to "talk about some of the music choices" he made...Does he have to be hit over the head with it? Does the question have to specify "lyrics" to bring him to the point?
In 2017, a year before, when Bogdanovich was 78 he was interviewed by a fellow craftsman, Jon Watts.
Here he is hit over the head with it, and he still doesn't get it (or doesn't remember):
Watts: [Laughs] Every time I watch Paper Moon, I pick up something new. I was watching it again last night and one thing I realised this time was how often you use a song and cut it off in the middle of a line. The songs that are playing never resolve in the scene. At the hotel, Addie is listening to ‘A Picture Of Me Without You’, and it cuts right before it says “you”. And then there’s the scene later on when they’re spying on the bootlegger for the first time and there’s ‘Nobody’s Darlin’ But Mine’, and right as the lyrics say, “My momma’s dead in heaven, my daddy...” you cut. The songs never finish the sentence.
Bogdanovich: The whole idea was to make it feel like it’s realistic, the action is just happening. But I stole the idea of using no score
Pause: What are you fucking talking about? You used a musical score, a very intricate musical score. Unpause.
from Rear Window, Hitchcock’s picture. He has a score at the start and at the end, but all through the rest of the picture, nothing. Just sounds — a record playing or something.
I give up.
I’ve used it for virtually all the pictures I’ve made. I think I used a score in At Long Last Love and Nickelodeon. The next picture I’m going to direct is a fantasy film that has ghosts in it and I might use a score for that.
-The Case for Intuition, Not Forethought-
In his interview, Jon Watts suggests, There’s one art-direction touch that I’m curious [about] how intentional it is. There are always these ghostly women in the background. Like at the diner in the Coney Island hot dog scene, there’s an ad of a woman in the background behind Ryan. And in the scene near the end with the piano, on the piece of sheet music there’s this picture of a woman. And then there’s a third example when they’re about to do the scam with the bootleggers — she’s reading a magazine and it has a picture of a woman smoking on it. So it feels like there’s these ghostly versions of a mom throughout the movie.
Bogdanovich: That’s really good, I’m going to use that! I didn’t think of it.
Watts: And the city is almost deserted. I guess everyone’s at church... But there’s a building that’s half knocked down. It feels ghostly and spooky. I took all that with the ghostly mother idea that is throughout the scenes.
Bogdanovich: I’ll buy that from you!
-Origins-
I was sent a script called Addie Pray which was based on a book. It wasn’t too good but there were two scenes in it that were wonderful: the café scene and the scene on the hill with Trixie. Those two scenes were the only two scenes that remained after the rewriting. But they were so damned good that I said to myself, “Jesus, I could do something with this.” I saw the whole thing as some kind of anti–Shirley Temple movie. I read the book and there were some things that weren’t in the script that I put back in and some things that I took out. We didn’t come up with an ending until we shot it. I finally came up with it the night before we shot it. We had that great location, that wonderful road, and we knew she was going to come after him but we weren’t sure how, so I came up with that line about the $200, which got me out of a lot of trouble.
...
...it was the end of the first act where they have this big argument about the Bibles. It’s really the scene where they sort of admit that they care about each other without saying it or admitting they’re going to stay together. It’s one of those scenes where they don’t say what they mean but hopefully you get the point.
I don't know where the first act ends. And they argued from the first bible deal about control. But a "big argument about the bibles" and the first that ends with some acknowledgment of caring for each other is this, after the third bible sale:
Addie showing that she cares for Moze:
After going around the state on the map of potential train stations, the argument ends with Moze segueing artfully from dropping Addie off to continuing with her for business.
Bogdanovich:
When Ryan’s character says, “I ain’t your pa,” I always figured from the first frame he really was her father. He’s just not going to cop to it.
Bogdanovich:
Tatum was eight years old and didn’t have any idea what the hell we were doing, and she sort of cared less. She’d never had any discipline in her life.
