Catch Me if You Can
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| Catch Me If You Can | |
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| Directed by | Steven Spielberg |
| Produced by | Steven Spielberg, Walter F. Parkes |
| Written by | Jeff Nathanson, Stan Redding, Frank W. Abagnale |
| Starring | Leonardo DiCaprio Tom Hanks Christopher Walken Amy Adams Martin Sheen |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Janusz Kaminski |
| Editing by | Michael Kahn |
| Distributed by | DreamWorks SKG |
| Release date(s) | December 25, 2002 |
| Running time | 141 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $80,000,000 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 film set in the 1960s. It was co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted by Jeff Nathanson loosely from the 1980 book by Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.
The movie states that it was inspired by the true life story of Abagnale, but diverges considerably from the real events as reported in his book.
The film was a critical and commercial success and is well regarded for John Williams' score and its title sequence created by Kuntzel+Deygas. The lead actors are Leonardo DiCaprio (as Abagnale) and Tom Hanks (as his FBI pursuer), with a supporting role by Christopher Walken (as Abagnale's father). Williams and Walken were nominated for Academy Awards.[1]
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[edit] Plot
The film begins in 1969, with FBI agent Carl Hanratty Jr. arriving at a French prison to meet the sick Frank Abagnale Jr, who attempts to escape from the prison. The scene flashes back to six years earlier. Frank's father cons a woman into lending him a suit for Frank Jr., who later acts as a driver for Frank Sr. in a ruse to get a loan from Chase Manhattan Bank. When the loan is denied (due to a series of IRS tax frauds by Frank Sr.), the family is forced to move from their grand home to a small apartment, with tension building within the family.
Frank soon realizes that his mother is having an adulterous affair with his father's friend and feeling that he will not fit in at his new school, poses as a substitute teacher in his French class for a short time. Eventually trouble builds between Frank’s mother and father, who file for divorce and ask Frank to choose who he will live with. Horrified, Frank runs away from home, using checks that his father had given him. When Frank runs out of money, he begins to use confidence scams. Frank’s cons grow ever bolder and he even impersonates an airline pilot. He forges Pan Am payroll checks and succeeds in stealing over 2.8 million dollars.
Meanwhile Carl Hanratty, the nearly humorless FBI agent, begins to track down Frank in spite of his superiors not attaching much importance to the case (as most of them do not take bank fraud seriously). Tracking Frank to a hotel, Carl discovers to his surprise that he is still resident and breaks into his room to arrest him. Emerging from the bathroom and knowing only that Carl is from the FBI, Frank pretends to be Agent Barry Allen of the United States Secret Service and brazenly claims to have just caught the suspect himself. It is not until after Frank has escaped that Carl realizes he has been fooled.
Later, on Christmas Eve, while Carl is working in the office late and alone, Frank calls him to apologize for tricking him back at the hotel. Carl announces that it doesn't work that way and, to Frank's horror, Carl realizes the reason for the call: Frank has no one else to talk to. Frank hangs up, and Carl continues to investigate. He later discovers that the name “Barry Allen” is from The Flash comic books and that Frank is actually a teenage minor.
Frank, meanwhile, has not only changed to impersonating a doctor (complete with a forged Harvard Medical School degree) in Georgia, but is romancing Brenda Strong (Amy Adams), a Southern belle who works as a hospital nurse. He proposes marriage to her, at least partly to try to engineer a reconciliation with her parents who have disowned her since she had an abortion. The two travel to meet her parents in Louisiana. Announcing to them not only that he is like them a Lutheran but that he is a qualified laywer as well as a doctor. Frank soon joins Brenda's father (Martin Sheen) as an assistant prosecutor after passing the Bar exam.
When Hanratty tracks him down and arrives at their engagement party to arrest him, Frank admits the truth to Brenda, shows her all his stolen money and asks her to run away with him. Although shocked, she accepts his offer and agrees to meet him two days later at the airport. However, when she arrives as planned, he sees a devastated Brenda being coached by FBI agents, who have surrounded the airport. Realizing that Carl has convinced her to turn against him, Frank escapes on a flight to Europe after fraudulently recruiting a bevvy of trainee air hostesses from a local high school.
Seven months later, Carl angrily tells his boss that Frank has been forging checks all over the Eastern Hemisphere. Arguing that Frank is out of control, he requests permission to track him down in Europe. When his boss denies him permission, Carl takes one of Frank’s bogus checks to professional printers who suggest it can have been printed in only a handful of European countries. Remembering from an interview with Frank’s mother Paula that she was born in France, Carl travels to her birthplace of Montrichard and he finds Frank there, on Christmas Eve, inside a massive printing factory. Carl tells Frank that the French police outside will kill him if he doesn’t surrender quietly. Frank assumes he is joking at first, but Carl vows that he is not lying. Frank handcuffs himself and Carl takes him outside, where, seeing no police, he compliments Carl on his ability to fool him. Almost immediately, however, the French police arrive and escort Frank to prison.
Later, on the plane extraditing Frank to the United States, Carl informs him that his father has died accidentally. Devastated, Frank escapes from the plane in incredible fashion just as it touches down and returns to his old home. Here he finds his mother with her second husband, as well as a young girl who Frank realizes is his half-sister. Before he can even speak to his mother, however, the posse of police arrive in pursuit and Frank surrenders.
Frank is tried, convicted and given a long prison sentence, but whilst in prison receives regular visits from Carl. During one of these visits, Frank easily deduces the identity of a forger by glancing at a check that Carl shows him. Impressed, Carl then arranges for Frank to be allowed to serve out the remainder of his sentence working for the check fraud department of the FBI under Carl's custody. Although Frank is out of prison, he is chained to his desk-job he misses the thrill of his old life and even attempts to pose as an airline pilot once again. Just as he tries to run again, he meets Carl at the airport. Carl allows him to go free, predicting that Frank will return to work on Monday since there is no one chasing him.
Back in the office on Monday morning, Carl is nervous when Frank doesn't appear for work on time. He is afraid that he has run away and ruined both their lives. But Frank soon shows up and asks Carl about their next case. Bristling, Carl demands to know how Frank cheated on the Bar Exam in Louisiana, to which Frank replies that he didn’t – he had studied for only two weeks and genuinely passed the exam. Astounded, Carl asks him "Is that the truth, Frank?" to which Frank merely smiles. Carl smiles back and the two continue to their investigation work together.
Lastly, it is revealed through scrolling text that "Frank has been happily married for 26 years" had three sons, lives in the Midwest with his family, is still good friends with Carl, caught some of the world's most elusive money forgers and gets millions of dollars each year because of his work creating unforgeable checks.
[edit] Production
Gore Verbinski was originally going to direct the film, with Spielberg producing, but Verbinski had to leave the project at the last minute due to scheduling conflicts possibly with the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
James Gandolfini was originally set to play Carl Hanratty but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.
Frank W. Abagnale himself has a cameo appearance on the movie as a French policeman, as revealed in the movie cast list. Abagnale had sold the movie rights for his book in 1980.
The initial scene of the movie recreates the real Abagnale's appearance on the TV game show To Tell the Truth. New footage of DiCaprio and other actors replaces the original contestants, but the footage of host Joe Garagiola and panelist Hasanain Hussain are both from the original show.
[edit] Filming
The picture was filmed in just 56 days in early 2002 at more than 140 locations around the United States (New York, Los Angeles) and Canada (Montreal, Quebec City). One of the locations used was the old TWA Terminal 5 building at JFK International Airport in New York City, also called TWA Flight Center.
Leonardo DiCaprio was sick throughout most of the filming of Catch Me If You Can
[edit] Musical adaptation
- Main article: Catch Me if You Can (musical).
A Broadway musical adaptation, with a book by Terrence McNally and music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, is currently being worked on. A staged reading was held in July 2007 with Nathan Lane and Christian Borle, and Annaleigh Ashford reading for Brenda Strong. Another staged reading was scheduled for February 2008.[2][3]
[edit] Awards
The movie was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Original Score (John Williams) and Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Walken).
[edit] Cast
- Leonardo DiCaprio ..... Frank William Abagnale, Jr.
- Tom Hanks ..... FBI Agent Carl Hanratty
- Christopher Walken ..... Frank William Abagnale Sr.
- Martin Sheen ..... Roger Strong, Brenda's father
- Nathalie Baye ..... Paula Abagnale, Frank's mother
- Amy Adams ..... Brenda Strong, Frank's fiancee
- James Brolin ..... Jack Barnes
- Jennifer Garner ..... Cheryl Ann
- Ellen Pompeo ..... Marci
- Candice Azzara ..... Darcy
[edit] Details
- This is one of the few movies in Tom Hanks' career where he did not receive top billing for a starring role; it was his first since 1988's Punchline that he took second billing.
- While at the end of the film, a title card informs the viewer that Carl Hanratty and Frank Abagnale remain "friends to this day," in reality, the character of Hanratty is actually based on a man called Joe Shea and who is referenced in the book as Sean O'Riley. The movie also largely dramatised their relationship. See Comparison with the book.
- Abagnale's birthdate is April 27, 1948 — but early in the film, we can see DiCaprio changing his character's birthdate on a document from March 13, 1948.
- The real Frank William Abagnale, Jr. appears briefly in the film playing the role of the senior French policeman who detains DiCaprio at his makeshift printing factory.
- Abagnale's escape from the aircraft bringing him home from France by unscrewing panels in the cabin toilet, wriggling through the internal fuselage, dropping out of the undercarriage bay as the aircraft is touching down, and then running across the airport apron to freedom, as been said to be extremely unlikely. The episode also appears in the book, although the book does not have Abagnale under police guard or even in FBI custody. Such a scenario has been soundly ridiculed by experts in the airline industry. [4]
- When flying over LaGuardia, Frank identifies one of the runways as "runway 44" this, however, is not a real runway identifier as it would indicate an impossible heading of 440 degrees.
[edit] Cultural references
- The Simpsons episode "Catch 'Em if You Can" parodies the film.
[edit] Box office reception
The film's reported budget was $52 million, and estimated marketing costs were $35 million. Domestic Gross: $164 million; Worldwide Gross: $351,112,395. [5]
[edit] Reception
Catch Me if You Can was received very well by film critics,scoring a 96% "certified fresh" on movie-critic site Rotten Tomatoes based on 186 reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stating that "although it isn't Spielberg's best, it is without a doubt an enjoyable film to watch."
[edit] Comparison with the book
| Catch Me If You Can: The Amazing True Story of the Youngest and Most Daring Con Man in the History of Fun and Profit | |
| Author | Frank Abagnale |
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| Subject(s) | Autobiography |
| Publisher | Wheeler Pub |
| Publication date | 2003 |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-1587244360 |
Compared to the actual events described in Abagnale's book Catch Me If You Can, the film can be described as loosely based on true events. The book itself is also loosely based on the true events for dramatic effect. Abagnale himself has appraised the film as about 80% accurate while noting (as Spielberg advised him) that it would be impossible to put five years of one's life on screen without compressing or altering the details. Consequently, many exploits from the book are omitted, merged together, or shifted chronologically.
Abagnale has said that the movie's portrayal of his father, Frank Sr., is quite different from the actual man, whom Abagnale describes as "honest as the day is long," a hard worker, and not at all ego-driven.
In the movie, Abagnale voluntarily leaves the hospital where he has been posing as a doctor. In real life, he was scared into leaving after almost letting a baby die of oxygen deprivation (Abagnale had no idea what the nurse meant when she said there was a "blue baby").
In the book, Abagnale, posing as a doctor, has a romantic liaison with a nurse considerably older than he is. In the movie, the girl he seduces is young, perhaps a candy striper rather than a nurse. In the movie, he confesses all to the young candy striper/nurse and asks her to run away with him, only to find at the rendezvous point that she has alerted the FBI. In the book, it is a stewardess girlfriend who calls the police and nearly gets him arrested after his confession.
One of his exploits covered in the movie, forging checks in France, shows Abagnale running the checks off himself. Actually, he had the father of one of his girlfriends print the checks. The father, who owned a print shop, had no idea that he was printing unauthorized documents; Abagnale had given him a sample (real) Pan Am paycheck requested a "sample run." The 10,000 checks he provided were far more than even the profligate paperhanger Abagnale needed.
The movie also dramatizes the capture of Abagnale in his mother's hometown Montrichard, France (at the aforementioned print shop), with dozens of police and patrol cars appearing. Abagnale in real life was captured in a grocery store in Montpellier by two armed and uniformed police officers, tipped off by an Air France stewardess who had recognized Abagnale.
The beginning of the film portrays Frank at the end of his 6 month sentence he served under draconian conditions in France with unruly long hair and extremely poor health and from there is extradited directly back to the States. In actuality, he was then deported to Sweden to serve six months in much more humane conditions and narrowly avoided being sent to Italy to face imprisonment in conditions very similar to what he experienced in France before being released to the United States.
On the flight back, Tom Hanks' character, Carl Hanratty, reveals to Frank that his father has been dead for nearly two years, precipitating Frank's escape from the plane. In reality Frank's father was still alive, but died shortly before his release, and Frank was not allowed to attend the funeral as he was considered an escape risk.
The film shows Frank fleeing the airport to his mother's house, only to learn that she has remarried and has a little daughter. In real life, his sister was two years younger than he was, and was also the daughter of Frank Sr. The real Abagnale, after escaping from the plane, made it all the way to Montreal and was attempting to board a flight to South America when he was apprehended.
In the movie, Abagnale becomes bored with his 9-to-5 job after his release from prison and goes off on another exploit. There is no evidence of it in the book (the book ends as Abagnale evades capture by the FBI after being deported from Sweden back to the U.S.). Abagnale did, however, escape both from the airplane that returned him to the United States and from the first jail he was held in there.
The relationship between Abagnale and the FBI agent, expanded as a plot device in the movie, is never explored in the book. The book does discuss the main agent responsible for his case—Sean O'Reilly in the book, Carl Hanratty in the movie, and Joe Shea in real life—but there was no contact between the two prior to Abagnale's return to the United States. In particular, the annual Christmas phone calls portrayed in the film never occurred.
Whereas the movie evades or soft-pedals the sexual aspects of Abagnale's motivation (even offering several more complex or Oedipal reasons), Abagnale happily confesses in the book that most of his early cons were fueled by his libidinous desire to be with (and bed) women. The numerous liaisons mentioned (though not graphically) are mostly downplayed in the movie. Whereas Abagnale comes of age sexually at 15 in the book, the movie suggests he was inexperienced with women until he posed as a pilot for Pan-Am.
[edit] Further reading
- Abagnale, Frank, with Stan Redding. Catch Me If You Can. 2005, Mainstream Publishing (paperback). 219 pages.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official movie site
- Catch Me If You Can at the Internet Movie Database
- Catch Me If You Can at Rotten Tomatoes
- Abagnale's own comments on the movie, from the website of his company
- Article discussing the opening title sequence
- The title sequence on its creator's website (Flash required)
- Movie stills
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