For Father's Day, I'm recommending this '70's classic for which the 9-year-old Tatum O'Neal won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (which is really a crime in itself, because she's the clear lead of this movie and carries the whole thing on her shoulders, but as usual, the Academy rarely recognizes lead performances from child actors). In this Depression-era story, Tatum stars as an orphan who teams up with a con man who may or may not be her father, and the two of them scam their way through the midwest, posing as bible salesmen. The magic of this movie comes from the chemistry between the real life father-daughter pairing, which is genuine, funny and completely charming, but especially because Tatum O'Neal is just so perfect as the street smart, cigarette smoking, wise beyond her years urchin who really wants to hang out with her dad and will stop at no lengths to do so. Peter Bogdanovich directed it as a kind of throwback to road movies from the 1930's, and the gorgeous black and white cinematography is a tribute to that as well. Enjoy this one. It's pretty much impossible not to.
Original 1973 Trailer:
