Don’t Be So Political is a monthly film series that engages with films through a political lens. Each screening is preceded by an expert Q&A. Hosted by Zach Wortzman
“I swallowed my gold tooth.”
A fast talking grifter swindles his way through the depression with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter. They make a sucker of everyone they meet, run afoul of the law, and have to save each other’s skin.
Moses Pray (Ryan O’Neal) seizes on people’s vulnerabilities and backs his way into driving the young orphaned Addie Loggins (Tatum O’Neal) across the state to her aunt’s. She quickly outs him as a conman and gets caught up in his rackets. They stay one step ahead of the Depression by any means necessary, scruples be damned. The real-life father and daughter duo make one of the best odd-couples ever set to screen and radiate charm through the scenic black and white cinematography. Peter Bogdanovich’s crowd pleasing favourite won Tatum O’Neal a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award at age ten (the youngest ever), a nomination for the very funny Madeline Kahn as Trixie Delight, and another nomination for screenwriter Alvin Sargent.
The grift: the only thing more American than the infomercial. Described as a nation of salespeople, the old American adage goes, “there’s a sucker born every minute.” And in the last decade, we have seen the rise of the grifter from the periphery of society to the mainstream, dominating media, politics, and everything in between. Often a symptom of a slow economy, grifting has been taken to new heights with digital and cryptocurrency, a bottomless supply of products, and positions of prominence.