Peter Bogdanovich · 1973 · road

Peter Bogdanovich's 1973 film, from Joe David Brown's novel Addie Pray, shot in black and white on location across Kansas. A Bible salesman who works the obituaries agrees to deliver an orphan to her aunt in St Joseph, and the drive takes the whole picture - because she turns out to be better at the con than he is.

1. 1
   Gorham

   A graveside in the wind with almost nobody at it, and Moze Pray turning up in a Model A to pay respects to a woman he knew once - and being asked, on the strength of a similar jawline, to take her nine-year-old to Missouri.

2. 2
   Hays

   The county seat, and the grain mill where Moze gets two hundred dollars out of the brother of the man who killed her mother - and Addie, listening at the window, works out exactly what has happened and wants her money.

3. 3
   McCracken

   The Bible racket run properly: reading the death notices, calling on the widow, and producing a deluxe edition the deceased supposedly ordered as a surprise - and a child who prices each one by the quality of the house.

4. 4
   Wilson

   The Midland Hotel, and Miss Trixie Delight from the carnival with her maid Imogene - and Addie and Imogene arranging, with some care and no mercy at all, for Moze to find her upstairs with the desk clerk.

5. 5
   Plainville

   The bootlegger swindle: buying whisky with the man's own money and selling it back to his brother, who is the sheriff - which works beautifully right up to the moment it stops working.

6. 6
   White Cloud

   Main Street in the northeast corner of the state, and the law catching up - Deputy Hardin and his brother, and a chase that ends with the Ford in a ditch and the pair of them running for the state line.

7. 7
   Rulo Bridge

   Over the Missouri and out of Kansas jurisdiction - where the deputies, unable to arrest him, beat him instead and take everything he and Addie have saved, which is the low point of the picture.

8. 8
   St Joseph

   He delivers her to the aunt's house as agreed and drives away, which is what he set out to do - and she comes down the road after him and points out that he still owes her two hundred dollars, and that his truck is rolling away.