Catch Me if You Can (2002) Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks based on the novel by Frank Abagnale Jr.

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Questioning the Story (Fact or Fiction):

Was the FBI Agent played by Tom Hanks a real person?
No, there is no real Carl Hanratty, Tom Hanks revealed in an interview. There was an agent who was Frank's main contact, but a lot of FBI agents helped catch Abagnale.

Did Frank really escape a VC10 jetliner by removing the toilet and climbing down beneath it, eventually escaping through a hatch onto the tarmac?
The event is in Frank's 1981 memoir, but airline experts say it is impossible. "The entire system is sealed," says Skip Jones of the Aerospace Industries Association.
"No matter what happens in there, you can't get into the rest of the airplane." Payload systems engineer Alan Anderson explains that the toilets are mounted on top of tanks that weigh over 100 pounds, and even if he manage to undo the toilet, he would have to crawl through a pipe four inches in diameter. "A person would have to be pretty small, and it would be messy," says Anderson.

Why did he do it?
Only Frank Abagnale, Jr. can answer this question, and in an interview he said the following, "It begins with my parents’ divorce and its dramatic effect on me. I ran away and suddenly found myself a teenager alone in the world. I had to grow up very quickly and become very creative in order to survive. But what started out as survival became more and more of a game. I was an opportunist, so when I saw an opening I asked myself, ‘Could I get away with that?’ Then there was the satisfaction of actually getting away with it. The more I got away with, the more of a game it became—a game I knew I would ultimately lose, but a game I was going to have fun playing until I did."


Leonardo DiCaprio and Frank Abagnale, Jr. (on the set):

"To look at him, you wouldn’t think he could steal a postage stamp. But he has an almost unconscious way of engaging you with his eyes, with his energy and with his intelligence." - Leonardo DiCaprio

Frank Abagnale, Jr. Speaks (watch the interview):

Frank Abagnale Interview

PLAY: video Watch Frank Abagnale Jr. Speaking - SPLYCED, 37:41
Interview runs approx. 37:41 min. Made available thanks to Auto Network.

Movie Synopsis:


"Catch Me if You Can" tells the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), a successful con artist who at different times impersonated a doctor, a lawyer, and an airplane pilot, passing more than $6 million in bad checks over a range of 26 countries. He became the youngest man to ever make the FBI's most-wanted list for forgery. Hunted and caught in the film by fictional FBI Agent Carl Hanratty (Hanks), Abagnale later escaped. He eventually became a consultant for the FBI where he focused on white-collar crime.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN /***1/4 Movie Review