That '70s Drift: Cons

The more things change ...

WUSA (1970) (C) - Look out; here come the Seventies. The high of the Sixties starts to curdle in this Nixonian psychodrama about an alcoholic drifter settling in a seedy New Orleans and selling his soul at a right-wing radio station that promotes patriotism and conspiracy theories. Paul Newman lends mainstream cred to the counter-culture as gruff Reinhardt, who seems to have no ambitions beyond getting laid and getting a paycheck. Geraldine (Joanne Woodward) helps him with the first part, and creepy Bingamon (Pat Tingle) bankrolls the second.

Anthony Perkins plays Rainey, a somewhat addled photographer and census-taker purporting to working undercover to unravel WUSA's nefarious plot against people of color. It's hard to tell, though, from Perkins' bizarre portrayal, whether Rainey is heroic or mentally ill. The apparent white-power scheme is difficult to decipher, and Paul Newman's disengaged performance doesn't help. Shaky southern accents abound. Reinhardt takes up with some hippies. A climactic rally, where a gunshot rings out, comes off as stagy in the hands of director Stuart Rosenberg (re-teaming with Newman three years after "Cool Hand Luke"). You can sense the seeds of that '70s drift -- what would, in surer hands, emerge in classics like "Play Misty for Me" and "Nashville." But this one is too often a sluggish mess and has limited appeal even in our current neo-fascist revival phase.

PAPER MOON (1973) (B+) - Tatum O'Neal steals the show with a stunning debut in Peter Bogdanovich's valentine to Depression-era grifters. Tatum and dad Ryan O'Neal portray an odd couple (she may or may not be his illegitimate child) scamming their way through the heartland. Bogdanovich shoots in velvety black-and-white and pays fine attention to period detail. (The era he is portraying is closer in time to the movie's release than we are now to the movie.) Ringers like Madeline Kahn (as "dancer" Trixie Delight) and John Hillerman (in a dual role as brothers) help broaden the humor with a dollop of vaudeville.

Tatum O'Neal is a natural as Addie, reclining in bed while lighting up a cigarette and listening to Jack Benny. Ryan O'Neal is charming in a flat '70s way as Moses Pray, the Bible salesman scamming newly minted widows door-to-door. High jinks ensue -- Kahn steals the middle third of the movie -- and the bond between Moze and Addie deepens into mutual respect. Bogdanovich, playing during the heyday of Paramount pictures, engages in a labor of love, producing an instant classic.

BONUS TRACK
"Paper Moon's" title track: