Director Report Card: Steven Spielberg (2002) Part Two

24. Catch Me If You Can

Some stories are too good to let go of. In 1980, convicted fraudster Frank Abagnale Jr. published his autobiography “Catch Me If You Can.” The colorful story – of how Abagnale ran away from home as a teenager and began a lengthy career of impersonating pilots, doctors, and lawyers while cashing hundreds of fake checks – immediately attracted attention from Hollywood. The project cycled through different producers and studios for years. Early on, Dustin Hoffman was attached to star. At one point, David Fincher was going to direct. Eventually, Gore Verbinksi was set to direct with Leo DiCaprio and James Gandolfini starring, and Steven Spielberg producing. Scheduling issues threatened DiCaprio's involvement and Verbinksi exited. At this point, Spielberg himself took over the project. The real life Frank Abagnale Jr. eventually said that he always thought Spielberg was the only man for the job, so maybe this was meant to be all along.

In 1969, check forgers and conman Frank Abagnale Jr. is apprehended in France by FBI agent Carl Hanratty. Hanratty has been chasing Abagnale for years. In 1963, upon learning that his parents were divorcing, sixteen year old Frank left home. He impersonated a pilot and began cashing bogus checks. Thus began a intercontinental career of travel and ripping people off. After having a run-in with Hanratty that he barely escaped, Frank switched to impersonating a doctor, even coming very close to marrying one of his nurses. After that con ran its course, he switched to pretending to being a lawyer. All the while, he thinks back to his separated mom and dad and frequently teases the FBI agent on his tail. Even after being caught, Frank is looking for his next scheme...

A few times over the years, Steven Spielberg has expressed interest in directing a James Bond movie. It's never happened, for a lot of different reasons. (The Broccolis being reluctant to hand their franchise over to an auteur being a big reason why.) Unable to ever work on an official 007 project, “Catch Me If You Can” emerges as Spielberg's homage to the super-spy series. It's right there in the film, with Frank seeing “Goldfinger” and then going out and buying the same suit and car Connery had. Beyond Bond, the film is generally Spielberg's homage to the swinging sixties. The glamour of air travel in that decade is heavily featured, as are the fashion and music of the day. “Catch Me If You Can” is as invested with a love of the pop culture version of this time period, much the same way Spielberg has paid tribute to the forties and fifties.

Early on, we spy a “Flash” comic book on young Frank's bedside table. Later, while traveling around the country, he assumes the identity of “Barry Allen.” The comic book connection is fitting, as “Catch Me If You Can” is a movie all about people with secret identities. An inspiring moment for the boy is the day his dad uses tricky techniques to impress the bank. Later on, Frank discovers his mother is having an affair, her asking her son to cover for her infidelity. Along his journey, Frank meets a glamorous model who soon reveals herself to be a call girl. The sweet little nurse he seduces reveals she had an abortion as a teenager. Even one of the FBI agents working alongside Carl talks about going undercover before. Frank is the most prolific bullshiter in the film but “Catch Me If You Can” is all about deception and double lives.

With one notable exception. Carl Hanratty is introduced dryly marching through the methods of check fraud, to a room of bored FBI agent. While his co-workers trade ribald stories of past adventures, Hanratty dismisses them bluntly. This is a man of such sturdy principals that he comes off almost like a humorless fuddy-duddy. When his boss offers him a chance to step away from the case, he insists on staying on in a similarly direct fashion. In other words, Hanratty is the ideal foil to Frank. “Catch Me If You Can” quickly becomes a story of a master liar being paired against a man of unyielding honesty. In comic book terms, they were destined to become archenemies. 

Lots of movies have been made about double lives and sole honorable men chasing master criminals. What really makes “Catch Me If You Can” special is the unique Spielbergian touches the director brings to the material. Young Frank looks up to his dad, even if the patriarch is struggling with the IRS. When he arrives home and is presented with his parents' divorce, he runs off immediately. All throughout his adventures, Frank is often shown thinking about his parents. Every time he sees his dad, he naively hopes his parents can get back together. One of the final scenes in the film sees a now-mature Frank, at the end of his con man career, returning home and still hoping to see mom and dad together again. Hope springs eternal for this child of divorce, his parents separating being the primary trauma that defines Frank's life and everything he does. This makes “Catch Me if You Can” another entry in Spielberg's examination of this phenomenon, how kids' lives are shaped by their parents' failing marriage. 

Even though “Catch Me If You Can” handles an emotional topic, the film maintains a breezy and light-hearted tone throughout. This is largely thanks to the hugely energetic visual techniques Spielberg and his team engineer. From the art deco animated opening credits on down, the movie is imbued with a youthful energy. The editing, from Michael Kahn, is top notch. Several montages devoted to Frank's techniques – whether that be him forging checks or trying different cons at different locals – perfectly cut between each other and build on one another. Tension is expertly created as Frank considers his escape options while Carl is below at an engagement party. The choice to hold on Frank's face or wait when to reveal where he is, makes “Catch Me If You Can” such a rewarding experience. The film is a crash course in all the ways editing can increase suspense.

As its title implies, “Catch Me If You Can” is essentially a chase movie, about two men pursuing each other. Considering some of his best films more-or-less fall into this category, it's not surprising that Spielberg and his team can engineer some great sequences. The scene where Frank and Carl first meet, in a hotel room where he attempts to outfox the agent, nicely balances the chummy energy between this two with a quiet tension. This adds to the theme of doubles and dual identities in the film, while also being a corker of a sequence. The film has a fittingly thrilling climax too, when Frank makes a daring escape from an airplane as it touches down. Watching the details of the escape come to light sure is a lot of breezy fun. 

Of course, even a director as good as Spielberg can't totally resist the clichés of the cop-chases-criminal genre either. Despite being on opposite sides of the law, Frank and Hank do form a kinship of sorts. The con artist calls the FBI agent at Christmas every year, taunting him but also doing it because he's lonely. The idea that law enforcement and the criminals they pursue are more alike than different is an idea explored in roughly every cop movie ever made. This becomes especially explicit in the scene where Carl catches Frank the first time, inside a counterfeit money printing factory in France. This scene involves the agent performing a similar con on the con man. Now, it's a good scene, with a bristling tension underneath its sweaty interactions. Yet it also feels like something that could've appeared in any number of similarly themed films.

Something most other movies like this don't have is stars of this caliber though. Spielberg shows a clear understanding of the winning qualities of his leading men. Leonardo DiCaprio is baby-faced as Frank Jr., which suits a young man whose looks are very deceiving. DiCaprio is, naturally, incredibly charming. He inhabits the role of a slithering conman, able to act his way out of almost any scenario and fool just about anyone once, with absolute ease. Leo is also a heartthrob, obviously. His youth and beauty also helps sell the inherent vulnerability too. If “Catch Me If You Can” is a movie about secret identities, it never lets us forget that Frank's original identity is a hurt teenage boy, trying to outrun his broken home.

Tom Hanks, in his second collaboration with Spielberg, is also well utilized as Carl. Sporting a comically exaggerated New England accent, Hanks plays the FBI agent as an unfailingly honorable man. In the hands of a less charming performer, the character would come off as smothering in his strictness or perhaps even bland. Hank's innate likability instead makes the agent a compelling everyman, who works hard at his job because he believes in it. The middle-aged and dough-bodied Hanks also makes an ideal physical foil to the young and gorgeous Leo. As the two become friends as much as rivals, you can't help but feel yourself getting attached to the characters too.

A prime supporting cast is assembled too. Christopher Walken got an Oscar nomination for his role as Frank's father. It utilizes Walken's slithery charm and one-of-a-kind screen presence perfectly, as Frank Sr. is something of a con man too. Yet Walken's deep blue eyes reveal the weight he carries inside, from his failed marriage and troubled finances. Walken speaks volumes with just a few lines, dripping with multiple meanings. There's also a line of recognizable faces in the roles of the various girls Frank seduced along his way. A young Amy Adams is the nurse he almost marries. Elizabeth Banks is a bank teller he tricks. Jennifer Garner is the call girl he has a memorable interaction with. You'll notice each of them are in the kind of roles that would make their careers: Adams as a girl-next-door type who contains volumes, Banks as a quirky but determined worker, and Garner as a double agent of sorts. Another example of the director's ability to recognize star factor when he sees it. 

Powered by a jazzy score from John Williams, that knows when to scoop on the emotions as well, “Catch Me If You Can” is pretty much a delight from start to finish. It's a breezy time at the movies, awash in groovy style while also containing enough pathos to tug at the heartstrings. Some fine performances and an excellent presentation further seals the deal. By the way, in 2021, it was determined that the real life Frank Abagnale Jr. had fabricated most of the story from his autobiography. If someone admits to being a conman, a liar, and a cheat, don't be surprised when the outrageous story he tells you turns out to be largely embellished. This doesn't change any of the factors that makes “Catch Me If You Can” a wonderful motion picture. In fact, it might even improve it in a sense. What could be more fitting for a story like this than for it to all be based on a great big lie? [Grade: B+]