Catch Me If You Can
Movie, 2002, The 2000s, Set in The 1960s
Catch Me If You Can is #21 of 35 in release order and #21 of 35 in chronological order in the Steven Spielberg.
The story
A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor. An FBI agent makes it his mission to put him behind bars. But Frank not only eludes capture, he revels in the pursuit.
Catch Me If You Can recap
Catch Me If You Can (2002) follows teen con artist Frank Abagnale Jr., who poses as a pilot, doctor and lawyer as an FBI agent chases him through the 1960s. Steven Spielberg directs from Abagnale's memoir. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank, who runs away from home at 16 when his parents divorce and his father, Frank Abagnale Sr. (Christopher Walken), is ruined by tax trouble. He learns to forge cheques and passes himself off as a Pan Am co-pilot to cash them across the country. Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), a dogged FBI bank fraud agent, picks up his trail. Frank reinvents himself as a paediatrician in Georgia and gets engaged to a nurse, Brenda Strong (Amy Adams), and passes the Louisiana bar exam to work for her father. Every Christmas Eve he phones Carl. When the FBI raids his engagement party, Frank escapes, recruits trainee flight attendants as cover and flies to Europe. Catch Me If You Can follows Minority Report and precedes The Terminal.
Catch Me If You Can ending explained
Catch Me If You Can ends with Frank working for the FBI. Carl tracks him to a printing village in France, where he is arrested and jailed, and on his flight home Carl tells him his father is dead. Frank slips off the plane and finds his mother with a new family, then surrenders. In prison, he helps Carl crack a cheque case, and Carl gets him released into the FBI's fraud unit. When Frank tries to fly off again, Carl lets him choose, and he comes back. Captions say the two men remained friends.
Post-credits scenes
No. Catch Me If You Can has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can is streaming on Paramount+, Peacock, and Kanopy in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 8.1/10, Rotten Tomatoes 96%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Minority Report, before The Terminal.
- Chronological order: after Minority Report, before The Terminal.
Cast
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale Jr.
- Tom Hanks as Carl Hanratty
- Christopher Walken as Frank Abagnale
- Martin Sheen as Roger Strong
- Nathalie Baye as Paula Abagnale
- Amy Adams as Brenda Strong
- James Brolin as Jack Barnes
- Brian Howe as Earl Amdursky
- Frank John Hughes as Tom Fox
- Steve Eastin as Paul Morgan
- Chris Ellis as Special Agent Witkins
- John Finn as Assistant Director Marsh
Directed by Steven Spielberg.