Catch Me if You Can

Catch Me if You Can is an entertaining con-man drama that tells the true and rather incredible story of the 17-year-old master swindler Frank W. Abagnale.

It is disappointment and despair that make the teenage Frank run away from home, for his family is falling apart. With great ingenuity and equally great luck, Frank passes himself off in turn as a supply teacher at his new school, an airline pilot, a junior doctor and a prosecutor, and he finances his life of luxury by forging cheques. Nobody questions a cheque from a well-groomed and charming young man in uniform.

The dutiful and humourless FBI agent Carl Hanratty is hot on his heels, however, and getting the lad behind bars becomes almost an obsession for the tireless agent. In the relationship between the two, the film hints at an element of tragedy, for in time it is actually only the agent who seems to care about the young man.

The film is no tragedy, though, for it is often rather funny when Frank emphatically gives his pursuers the slip. Most impressive is the film's re-creation of the late sixties. It is pure nostalgia trip - a somewhat long and superficial one, but also an immensely elegant and snappy one.