Violent content: Hanratty and other agents burst into various buildings and rooms with guns drawn. An FBI agent recounts an assignment which required him to cross-dress. His mother has an affair and gives Frank money so that he won’t tell his father. It’s implied that Frank sleeps with his fiancée. A nurse passionately climbs on top of Frank in his office at the hospital, but they’re interrupted by the intercom calling him to the emergency room. Frank and a girl kiss each other in bed while wearing underwear. The worst involves a fling with a stewardess during which audiences see a shaking food chart and hear orgasmic moans before the camera pans over to the couple (no explicit nudity is shown). Some scenes involve a kiss and a fade, but others are more explicit. Sexual content: Frank beds multiple partners, including a “high-class” prostitute. Frank’s mother works part-time at a church. At one point Frank presses a fake check in a Gideon’s Bible. When asked to pray before dinner, he instead recounts an inspirational story his father told about a mouse escaping from a bucket of cream by churning it into butter. Spiritual content: Frank lies about being a Lutheran in order to impress the parents of the girl he wants to marry. Frank displays deep love for both of his parents and is heartbroken by his father’s untimely death. Hanratty relentlessly pursues justice for Frank, but doesn’t allow him to die when he’s imprisoned in a foreign country. (The agent mistakenly thinks he’s lying.) Despite kicking Brenda out of the house for her failings, her parents are shown to have a loving marriage (and that love spills over toward Brenda when she arrives at their house on Frank’s arm). He yearns to quit his life of crime, even going so far as to tell Hanratty where he can be found. Frank comforts a woman who’s been rudely rebuffed by her employer. Frank’s mom offers to repay the debt her son has racked up. Many other positive themes and deeds appear. Also, early interactions between Frank and his dad imply that Frank’s scheming found its genesis in his father’s poor example. When Hanratty calls the con game “living the lie” and tells Frank repeatedly that “the house always wins,” meaning he’ll eventually have to pay for his sins. His criminality destroys his romance with Brenda, his peace of mind and his health. Frank calls Hanratty every Christmas because he has no one else to talk with. Brenda bursts into violent sobs when talking about the anger her parents direct toward her.Īlthough Frank’s criminal exploits are often humorous, daring and inventive, his lifestyle is ultimately shown to be lonely and unfulfilling. (His dad refuses, thinking his son’s escapades are glamorous and exciting.) Meanwhile, it’s implied that Hanratty is an incorrigible curmudgeon and workaholic because of his divorce. After many failed attempts, Frank tries to find a way out of his compulsive behavior by pleading with his father to command him to stop stealing. Desperately wanting to repair his damaged home, Frank decides he’ll use anything to make things better-even ill-gained wealth. Frank runs away when his tax-dodging father and adulterous mother split. Brenda (a nurse Frank falls in love with) has been disowned by her parents for having an abortion. Many characters are estranged from their relatives. Catch Me If You Can repeatedly portrays familial disintegration as grim and emotionally crippling. Positive elements: The matter of broken families and their restoration is at the heart of this Steven Spielberg film. Frank pursues elusive emotional wholeness with fortune, fame and girls galore, while Hanratty doggedly follows Frank. Determined to repair his fractured family by making enough money to lure his wayward mother back, he begins impersonating people who make a lot of dough, then forges payroll checks from the companies at which he finds himself “employed.” The chase is on. Faced with the overwhelmingly dismal prospect of his parents’ divorce, Frank ran away from home at the age of 16. And he’s not even old enough to buy liquor. Frank not only forges checks, he forges lives. Agent Hanratty might be one of the best bank fraud men in the Bureau, but he’s never met a suspect like this. During the 1960s he forged and altered such numbers to the tune of nearly $4 million in five years-much to the chagrin and ulcer-inducing anxiety of FBI Agent Carl Hanratty. It’s the routing and account numbers at the bottom of a check. Nothing more than a random string of numbers, right? Or maybe a complicated computer code? Or the conclusion of an irrationally intricate mathematical calculation? Frank Abagnale Jr.
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