As comedies go, this one is about as low-key as it gets. Though the story clearly has a lot of humor embedded in the characters and circumstances, nothing ever really reaches laugh out loud funny. It’s more the kind of movie you watch with a sly grin constantly on your face. The film’s reputation clearly rests in large part on Tatum O’Neil’s Oscar-winning performance; the astonishing spectacle of a child that young playing a role that well definitely perks up the interest level. So too does director Peter Bogdanovich’s overall vision for the story, in particular the recreation and evocation of Depression-era America, not to mention the rural country in all its simplicity, guilelessness and homeliness (in any and every sense of that term). Also worth noting: this flick breaks the rule that films named after songs are generally bad. Perhaps this isn’t quite the classic the early opinion once had it, but it still gives the viewer plenty of entertainment value for a nickel and dime cost. It won’t be make believe if you believe in it.
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