Catch Me If You Can
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
Distributed by	DreamWorks SKG
Release date(s)	December 25, 2002
Running time	141 min.
Language	English
Budget	$52,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 motion picture set in the 1960s. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted by Jeff Nathanson loosely from the book by Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding. Catch Me If You Can movie psoter. ... Steven Allan Spielberg KBE (born December 18, 1946)[1] is an American film director and producer. ... Steven Allan Spielberg KBE (born December 18, 1946)[1] is an American film director and producer. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Jeff Nathanson is an American film writer, producer, and director. ... Frank William Abagnale, Jr. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Christopher Walken (born March 31, 1943) is an Academy Award-winning American film and theatre actor. ... Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an Oscar-nominated American film and television actress. ... Martin Sheen (born August 3, 1940) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning American actor. ... Williams conducting the London Symphony Orchestra during the recording of the score for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. ... Janusz Zygmunt Kamiński (born June 27, 1959) is an Oscar winning cinematographer and film director who has photographed all of Steven Spielbergs movies since 1993s Schindlers List. ... The DreamWorks Boy on the Moon Logo DreamWorks SKG (Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen) is a Big Ten studio in the United States of America which develops, produces, and distributes films, music, and television programming. ... December 25 is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 6 days remaining in the year. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... This is a list of film-related events in 2002. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... Steven Allan Spielberg KBE (born December 18, 1946)[1] is an American film director and producer. ... Jeff Nathanson is an American film writer, producer, and director. ... Frank William Abagnale, Jr. ...

The movie states that it was inspired by the true life story of Abagnale; however the movie diverges somewhat from the real events as reported in Abagnale's book on his exploits.

It is also arguably Spielberg's most offbeat film. The film was a critical and commercial success and is well regarded for John Williams' score and its unique title sequence. The lead actors were 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. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This example of a title sequence, from long-running serial drama Another World, was seen from 1966 to 1981, making it one of the longest-running continuous title sequences on television. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Christopher Walken (born March 31, 1943) is an Academy Award-winning American film and theatre actor. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ...

Tagline: The true story of a real fake.

Plot

The film is based on the pursuit of a man wanted for fraud.

The film begins with an FBI agent, Carl Hanratty Jr. (Tom Hanks), arriving at a French jail in 1969 to meet an imprisoned and sick Frank, who attempts to escape. The scene flashes back six years earlier. Frank's father, Frank Sr. cons a woman to lend him a suit for Frank Jr., who later guises as a driver for Frank Sr. to get a loan from Chase Manhattan Bank. When the loan is denied (due to IRS tax evasions by Frank Sr.), the family is forced to move from their grand home to a small apartment, with tension building between the family; it also appears that his mother is having an adultery affair with the bank agent as well. Frank Jr., during a point of feeling he will not fit in at his new school, poses as a substitute teacher in a French class for a short time. Eventually, tension builds between Frank’s mother and father, who eventually file for divorce. Frank runs away from home, using checks that his father gave him. When Frank runs out of money, he begins to use con tricks. Eventually, Frank’s cons bring him more success as he impersonates an airline pilot. He ends up forging Pan Am payroll checks and after a small amount of time ends up stealing over 1.3 million dollars. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... The Chase Manhattan Bank, now part of JPMorgan Chase, was formed by the merger of the Chase National Bank and the Bank of the Manhattan Company in 1955. ... Seal of the Internal Revenue Service Tax rates around the world Tax revenue as % of GDP Part of the Taxation series        “IRS” redirects here. ... Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) was the United States principal international airline from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991, and was credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry. ...

"Airline pilot" Frank Abagnale

Meanwhile Carl Hanratty, a humorless FBI bank fraud agent, begins to track down Frank with little help from his superiors, as most of them do not look at bank fraud seriously. While investigating a hotel, Carl discovers that Frank is in the hotel and runs into his room to arrest him. Not knowing who Carl is, Frank says his name is Barry Allen and that he is from the Secret Service, saying that he has just caught the perpetrator. It is not until after Frank has left that Carl realizes he has been fooled. Later, at Christmas, Carl is still working when Frank calls him, attempting to apologize for duping Carl. Carl rejects his apology and laughs when he realizes that Frank actually called him because he has no one else to talk to. Frank hangs up, and Carl continues to investigate, suddenly realizing that the name “Barry Allen” is from The Flash comic books and that Frank is actually a minor. Image File history File links 09catchme. ... Image File history File links 09catchme. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... Because of both the secrecy of secret services and the controversial nature of the issues involved, there is some difficulty in separating the definitions of secret service, secret police, intelligence agency etc. ... Barry Allen is a fictional character, a superhero in the DC Comics universe and the second Flash. ... The Flash. ...

Frank, meanwhile, has not only changed to becoming a doctor and being a lawyer (inspiring Carl to continuously ask Frank how he cheated on the Bar Exam), but has fallen in love with a nurse, Brenda (Amy Adams), a Southern Belle who works with him in the hospital. It is to Brenda that he eventually admits the truth about himself and asks her to run away with him. However, he later realizes that she has turned him in and escapes on a flight to Europe. Six months later, Carl shows his boss that Frank has been forging checks all over the hemisphere and that he’s out of control, and wants permission to go to Europe to look for him. When his boss denies him permission, Carl brings Frank’s checks to professionals who deem that the check was printed in France. Remembering from an interview with Paula, Frank’s mother, that she was born in Montrichard, France, Carl goes there where he finds Frank, and tells him that the French police will kill him if he doesn’t go with Carl quietly. Frank assumes he is joking at first, but Carl promises Frank he would never lie to him, and Carl takes him outside, where the French police escort him to prison. A bar examination is an series of tests conducted at regular intervals to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in a given American examination usually consists of the following: complicated essay questions concerning that jurisdictions law; the Multistate Bar Examination, a standardized, nationwide examination containing generalized... There are two notable people who are referred to by the name Amy Adams: Amy Adams (singer) Amy Adams (actress) This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... A southern belle (derived from the French belle, beautiful is an archetype for a young woman of the American Old Souths antebellum upper class. ... Montrichard is a town and commune in the Loir-et-Cher département, in France. ...

The scene then flashes forward to a plane returning Frank home from prison, where Carl informs him that his father has died. Consumed with grief, Frank escapes from his plane and goes back to his old house, where he finds his mother with the man she left his father for, as well as a girl that Frank realizes is his sister. Frank gives up and is sentenced to prison, getting visits from time to time by Carl. During one such visit, Frank easily deduces the identity of a forger by glancing at some checks Carl is carrying as evidence. 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, to which Frank accepts. Though enjoying his semi-freedom and professional job, Frank misses the thrill of the chase and even attempts to fly as an airline pilot again. He is cornered by Carl, who insists that Frank will return at the end of the weekend, since there is no one chasing him.

On Monday, Carl is nervous that Frank has not appeared to work yet and is almost regretful at assuming too much about Frank. However, Frank soon shows up and Carl informs him about their next case. During the examination, Carl asks Frank how he cheated on the Bar Exam, to which Frank replies that he didn’t – he had studied for only two weeks and actually 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 investigate their next case. A bar examination is an series of tests conducted at regular intervals to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in a given American examination usually consists of the following: complicated essay questions concerning that jurisdictions law; the Multistate Bar Examination, a standardized, nationwide examination containing generalized...

Music

For details, see Catch Me if You Can (soundtrack).

Catch Me if You Can is the original soundtrack of the 2002 Academy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated film Catch Me if You Can starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen and Amy Adams. ...

Awards

The movie was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Original Score (John Williams) and Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Walken). Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... The Academy Award for Original Music Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. ... Williams conducting the London Symphony Orchestra during the recording of the score for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. ... The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is one of the awards given to male actors working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... Christopher Walken (born March 31, 1943) is an Academy Award-winning American film and theatre actor. ...

Cast

• Leonardo DiCaprio - Frank William Abagnale, Jr.
• Tom Hanks - FBI Agent Carl Hanratty
• Christopher Walken - Frank William Abagnale Sr. (Frank's Father)
• Martin Sheen - Roger Strong
• Nathalie Baye - Paula Abagnale (Frank's mother)
• Amy Adams - Brenda Strong
• James Brolin - Jack Barnes
• Jennifer Garner - Cheryl Ann

This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Frank William Abagnale, Jr. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Christopher Walken (born March 31, 1943) is an Academy Award-winning American film and theatre actor. ... Martin Sheen (born August 3, 1940) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning American actor. ... Nathalie Baye (born July 6, 1948 in Mainneville, Eure, France) is an award winning French actress. ... Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an Oscar-nominated American film and television actress. ... James Brolin (born on July 18, 1940) is an American television, film, character actor, producer, and director. ... Jennifer Anne Garner [1] (born April 17, 1972) is a Golden Globe Award- and SAG Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated American film and television actress, and producer. ...

Trivia

Leonardo DiCaprio and real Frank Abagnale.

• Frank W. Abagnale himself has a cameo appearance on the movie as a French policeman, as revealed by the list of cast concluding the movie. Abagnale had sold the movie rights for his book in 1980.
• 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.
• The initial scene of the movie recreates the real Abagnale's appearance on the 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 Kitty Carlisle is from the original show.
• 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. The building, designed by Eero Saarinen, opened in 1962 and was an instant icon of architecture. It had been closed since TWA's demise in 2001. In 2005, construction started behind the famed terminal to incorporate it with JetBlue's new terminal. It is set to re-open in 2008.
• Leonardo DiCaprio was sick throughout most of the filming of Catch Me If You Can
• The movie is being remade into a Broadway musical^[1], with the same choreographer and director as the Tony Award winning "Hairspray" and the second Steven Spielberg film to be adapted into a Broadway musical (after The Color Purple).
• This is one of the few movies in Tom Hanks' long movie 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.
• The Simpsons episode "Catch 'Em If You Can" parodies the film.
• 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 man who Hanratty is based on is named Sean O'Riley.
• 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.
• Jennifer Garner shot her scenes in one day.
• Martin Sheen and Leonardo DiCaprio would be reunited in The Departed.

Image File history File links 08catchme. ... Image File history File links 08catchme. ... Frank William Abagnale, Jr. ... Martin Scorsese appears briefly in an uncredited role in this scene from his feature film Taxi Driver. ... Gregor Verbinski (b. ... Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a movie of adventure and romance set in the Caribbean during the seventeenth century. ... James R. Gandolfini (born September 18, 1961) is a three-time Emmy award winning Italian-American actor known for multifaceted portrayals of conscientious yet often inherently sinister characters. ... Nipsey Russell, Peggy Cass, Bill Cullen and Kitty Carlisle from the 1969-78 version. ... Joseph Henry Garagiola, Sr. ... Kitty Carlisle in Die Fledermaus, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1933 Kitty Carlisle Hart (b. ... The Twa, also known as Batwa, are a pygmy people who were the oldest recorded inhabitants of the Great Lakes region of central Africa. ... John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK), originally known as Idlewild Airport and colloquially known as JFK, is an international airport located in Jamaica, Queens, in southeastern New York City about 12 miles (19 km) from Lower Manhattan. ... The TWA Flight Center Building - thin-shell structure by Eero Saarinen TWA Flight Center was the original name for the Eero Saarinen designed terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport for Trans World Airlines. ... Saarinens Gateway Arch frames The Old Courthouse, which sits at the heart of the city of Saint Louis, near the rivers edge. ... This article is about Hairspray, the musical that started performances on Broadway in 2002. ... Steven Allan Spielberg KBE (born December 18, 1946)[1] is an American film director and producer. ... The Color Purple is a 1982 novel by Alice Walker which received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. ... Punchline is a 1988 film starring Tom Hanks and Sally Field. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Catch em If You Can is the 18th episode of The Simpsons fifteenth season, first aired on April 25, 2004. ... April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 248 days remaining. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... is the 72nd day of the year (73rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Jennifer Anne Garner [1] (born April 17, 1972) is a Golden Globe Award- and SAG Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated American film and television actress, and producer. ... The Departed is an Academy Award-winning 2006 film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson. ...

Box office Reception

BoxOfficeMojo.com: Film's reported budget: $52 million Est. Marketing Costs: $35 million Domestic Gross: $164 million Worldwide Gross: $351,112,395

Comparison with the book

Compared to the actual events described in Abagnale's book Catch Me If You Can, the movie can be described as loosely based on true events. It's worth noting that the book itself was also loosely based on the true events for dramatic effects as well. 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, who 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"). General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Standard atomic weight 15. ... A cyanotic newborn, or blue baby Blue baby syndrome (or simply, blue baby) is a laymans term used to describe newborns with cyanotic conditions, such as: Cyanotic heart defects Tetralogy of Fallot Dextro-Transposition of the great arteries Hypoplastic left heart syndrome Methemoglobinemia On November 29, 1944, the Johns...

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. Hospital volunteers working in a reception Hospital volunteers work without regular pay in a variety of health care settings, usually under the supervision of a nurse. ...

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. Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) was the United States principal international airline from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991, and was credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry. ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ...

The movie also dramatizes the capture of Abagnale in his mother's hometown Montrichard, France (outside 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 a Pan Am stewardess who had recognized Abagnale. Montrichard is a town and commune in the Loir-et-Cher département, in France. ... Montpellier (Occitan Montpelhièr) is a city in the south of France. ... A police officer is a warranted employee of a police service. ...

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 much 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. Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from...

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 film's portrayal of the annual Christmas phone calls between the two never occurred. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...

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.

Further reading

• Abagnale, Frank, with Stan Redding. Catch Me If You Can. 2005, Mainstream Publishing (paperback). 219 pages.

External links

• Official movie site
• Catch Me If You Can at the Internet Movie Database
• Catch Me If You Can at Rotten Tomatoes
• Real Frank Abagnale vs. movie character
• 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

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... // == Macromedia Flash == ==]] Using Macromedia Flash 8 (bundled in Studio 8) in Windows XP. Maintainer: Adobe Systems (formerly Macromedia) Latest release: 8 / September 30th, 2005 OS: Windows (no native Windows XP Professional x64 Edition support), Mac OS X, Linux (i386 only, via wine [1]) Use: Multimedia Content Creator License: Proprietary Website...

References