I'm guessing, not much. It's my understanding that this movie is based on Frank's retelling of events. Given that Frank is a career thief, con man, fugitive, and all around BS artist, how much of "Catch Me If You Can" do you think is factually accurate?
shareWell, one thing that is false is he never saw his father again nor spoke to him after running away. In the movie, they see each other time and time again.
Frank was impressed with the movie even though there's a lot that didn't happen
Kristen, can you tell me some of the bigger instances where the movie played fast and loose with the facts? Thanks.
shareFrank Abagnale himself said that he never called the Feds on Christmas eve as depicted in the movie. In his words "They once lost track of me for two years. Why would I be dumb enough to give them a fresh trail to follow?"
shareAlso Tom Hanks character, Hanratty was a made up character for the movie. He's actually a composite of several agents who chased Frank over the years.
shareAccording to Frank Abagnale, the movie is ~80% accurate.
Go to Youtube and watch some of Abagnale's talks. He's quite smooth, even if he's no longer a con.
Frank Abagnale said the book was 80% true not the movie.
shareThe book was excellent. Read it waaaay back in highschool. Got away with some absurd things after that too. Learned wrong lesson. I believe it.
shareI still have my original copy which is good. I looked at a copy they released after the movie came out. They took out the whole last chapter/epilog because it conflicted with the movie's ending. Funny thing is the table of contents and the page count still list it as still being in the book.
shareI loaned my copy out so much that it disappeared. My memory is a little vague. I thought the movie dealt with Frank eventually working with them, teaching. It has been awhile.
shareThe movie had the FBI working with him. In real life, after a series of failed 9 to 5 jobs, he started his own security firm teaching whoever pays him enough how to avoid his type of scams.
shareBTW: I believe in real-life he is still a wanted criminal in most countries but they can't extradite him from the USA.
shareRiiiight! It has been 30 years since I read it. The book and the movie are blending in my memory it seems.
shareI just watched his talk and he worked for the fbi for 40 years, first as an undercover field agent and later as an instructor.
shareMy guess is that the book is full of exaggerations. And then movie script was written with the purpose of making an entertaining story, not always being faithful to the book.
shareI agree. You start with a guy who lied to puff himself up, then run it through the Hollywood treatment. There was very little left that was accurate.
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