CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

By the time he was arrested in 1969, Frank Abagnale Jr., had stolen close to $3 million in fraudulent checks, making him one of the richest conmen under the age of 30 up to that point. During his sentence he used his eye for phony checks to help the FBI, especially Carl Hanratty, the agent leading his arrest, catch fakes. After his sentence ended his talent became a career which brought him even more millions than he had stolen. That says more about justice than Abagnale’s character but the story, published in 1980 as a book written by Abagnale himself, is full of the sour irony Hollywood loves. Sure enough, Abagnale sold the film rights before a year could pass since publication. But the project stayed on back burner for almost twenty years. It wasn’t until 1990, in fact, that Michael Shane first optioned the book but soon tossed it back to the storeroom as he went on to develop Magellan Filmed Entertainment. There it remained until 1997 when Paramount’s Bungalow 78 Prods came along with screenwriter Jeff Nathanson and offered to co-produce an adaptation, taking it to DreamWorks, where it attracted Leonardo DiCaprio for the role of Abagnale by the summer of 2000. At the time the forerunners for director were Gore Verbinski and David Fincher.

            At the time, the studio’s priority was to begin production before anticipated strikes by the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild in the early summer of 2001. By July of that year, however, threats of the strikes amounted to nothing, Verbinski had backed down from production in late 2000 fearing he would be unable to start shooting in time after DiCaprio’s stay in Rome became prolonged when filming for Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York met with delays.  When Lasse Hallstrom backed down in the summer of 2001, Steven Spielberg was beginning to look like a viable option, though his heart was set on Big Fish and Memories of a Geisha.

            “This movie wasn't even on my radar until, you know, the product was purchased,” Spielberg said. “I didn't even know the history of the project, didn't know this incredible journey the project had taken. I didn't realize that Frank had actually bought and sold his book four times. I mean, which is very Frank. But, I didn't realize any of this until we were in production on the screenplay that Walter Parkes supervised.”

Spielberg was soon taken by Abagnale’s story, however, remarking, “I was like the many people who fell under the seductive influence of the real Frank William Abagnale, Jr., just through his book. And when you meet him, you understand in a second how he could pull the wool over your eyes and convince you that he was a doctor or a lawyer. I was fascinated by the unique way he came of age. I really believe he was very strongly affected by the divorce of his parents. There are all sorts of ways kids act out against divorce, and Frank just happened to act out in a way that was so original, it was worth making a movie about. Personally, I have always loved movies about sensational rogues, like the Newman/Redford classics Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. They were breaking the law, but you had to love them for their moxie. "

            Were it not for the presence of Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio as the relatively well-mannered cat and mouse, Catch Me if You Can would hardly garner a whisper in any overview of Spielberg’s body of work, so few of the director’s hallmarks being present and the magic relegated to a scant few moments. It works, but unexcitedly so, much like clockwork. If it’s worth anything it’s for the innovative things it does with DiCaprio and Hanks.

            Carl Hanratty is a plum role for Hanks and he captures the dour agent’s stiffness with a good eye for eccentricities as well as sense of fair play. The movie, unfortunately, gives Hanks little space to expand with what he is capable of, but the seed of a compelling performance is ever present. Perhaps, though, Hanratty is best played as a tough oddball to read, the mystery surrounding the workings of his mind only adds to his mystique. There is something brewing beneath that reptilian shell. He is humorless, but not boring and clearly invigorated by the challenges of the chase. Abagnale is his Professor Moriarty; the criminal who can finally outsmart him. Without him, Hanratty hungers stimulation. When not occupied with a worthy foe, Sherlock Holmes turned to cocaine. Chinese take-out is Hanratty’s drug of choice. Moriarty almost killed Holmes (indeed, that was Doyle’s intention for “The Final Problem” until fans demanded otherwise) but, nonetheless, was Holmes’s most formidable opponent, often complimenting the sleuth for his mastermind and allowing him to write a farewell letter to his friend Watson. Holmes missed the old criminal after he fell to his death from Reichenbach Falls, now lacking an adversary worthy of his genius. Likewise, Hanratty is impressed by Abagnale’s intelligence, certainly the slickest teenager he has chased. Hanks recognized Hanratty’s ego as the primary driving force.

“Carl Hanratty loves that stuff; he lives and breathes it. So when he comes across this paperhanger, as they're called, who is remarkably intelligent and certainly an above-average check forger, Carl makes it his life's mission to, well, catch him if he can,” he said.

            Take the first time Hanratty meets Abagnale. Hanratty has tracked him to a hotel, but by the time he breaks down the door to his suite, Abagnale has now taken on the identity of a Secret Service agent, also investigating the fraudulent checks. Hanratty buys the story and lets him go only to discover he’s been duped once Abagnale has escaped. He is frustrated and humiliated, but not without a hint of amusement.

            Hanks explained further, “Carl is so impressed with the style and panache of his quarry that he's doubly astounded to discover how young he is. Carl suddenly realizes that he is just a kid, incredibly gifted but ultimately a child, who is in the midst of an adventure that is bigger than he is. Carl comes to feel almost protective of Frank. I mean, he treats him like a criminal-he's going to arrest him and send him to jail-but at the end of the day, he sees a fragile human being who is worth trying to redeem somehow.”

            “Carl Hanratty eventually becomes the only person who Frank Abagnale trusts, which is ironic given the fact that Carl is the one who is aggressively trying to put him in jail. There is a certain element of Carl becoming something of a father figure to Frank because he ends up being the only real guidance that my character has,” DiCaprio added.

            Abagnale, in turn, plays as fairly as he can with Hanratty and resents embarrassing him. From the start the relationship seems destined to end in partnership if not friendship. Catch Me if You Can is, after all, a vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio and the film can’t afford to make him despicable. He takes a sympathetic approach to Frank Abagnale and makes him a charismatic fake with a broken childhood. The film wouldn’t work otherwise, and DiCaprio can play vulnerable rogues as good as anyone. For the film’s purpose of asking the audience to be merciful in our judgment of Frank Abagnale as well as demonstrating just how he got away with so much for so long, the casting of DiCaprio could not possibly go wrong. Who else could charm his way through flight stewardesses, pretty young bank tellers, and the shy rich girl played by Amy Adams? And, at the same time, who else could bring such sensibilities to a man who made millions as a fake?

            The best moments in Catch Me if You Can involve Abagnale’s relationship with his father (Christopher Walken), a man who also tried to fast-talking his way through life, but never explored the option of dishonesty and as a result lost his business and his wife, inadvertedly leaving his son with one lesson, honesty will get you nowhere.

            The significance of Frank Abagnale Sr. to his son was best described by producer Walter F. Parkes, who recommended Walken for the part. “The key person in Frank's life was his father,” he said. “In our film he is a kind of modern Willie Loman. He's an extremely charismatic man whose attempts to grab onto the American dream elude him every time. There is great poignancy in that.”

There is much to learn about Abagnale from the Abagnale household, but Spielberg decides not to dig deep. He goes out of his way to keep the tone fluffy and fleeting, which is fine as far as it goes. He made clear his intention to go for lighter fare. But he tries to have it both ways, amusing us with Abagnale’s escapades while trying to make us want to hug him. But Spielberg never realizes the need to slow down and give the audience a chance to reflect on Abagnale and what made him who he is if he wants a heart to the picture.

Parkes stressed how difficult it was to find the right tone, “What was both exciting and tricky about Catch Me if You Can was that it falls between several genres,” he said. “There are times of searing drama, but at its heart, it is more of a comedy. So it was a challenge, both in the writing and in the execution of the movie, to somehow encompass all of those facets.”

            Spielberg found the humor, but not the heart. One scene in particular reflects how inadequate his speed is for the sentiments he wants. Late in both the movie and in his criminal career, a sickly and saddened Abagnale, with the FBI in close pursuit, staggers over to his childhood home where his mother has remarried and built a new life after his father’s death. Abagnale is now a destroyed man, robbed of the only man he ever trusted, his health poor, and no escape left (both literally and figuratively). A frosty window separates this forlorn figure from the festivities of Christmas inside the house. Indeed, the world within, of opulent Christmas trees, holiday music, and Christmas joys is a world he can no longer return to, so much so that his mother never even notices him outside. It’s the film’s most potent moment, but Spielberg is too hurried to let the inherent heartbreak to sink in. He makes his point and runs off before it penetrates.

            That he misses the human factor is a pity but Spielberg’s intention from the moment Catch Me if You Can landed on his lap was to take a break and have fun.

            “I had just finished shooting Minority Report and was in something of a dark place,” the director explained. “I thought this would be a breath of fresh air for me. I enjoy that whiplash sensation of going from a film like Jurassic Park to a Schindler’s List and now from Minority Report to Catch Me if You Can.”

 To that end the movie is a modest success, thanks largely to the two fun lead performances and a delightfully intimidating Martin Sheen as Amy Adams’s bullying rich daddy.

“Martin brought an immediate power and solidity to the role,” Parkes said. “He has that kind of intimidating presence, which is very important in that it gives Frank a certain amount of anxiety to deal with.”

 Finally, the period recreations never become a distraction.

“This was the age of the jet set,” observed Hanks. “Literally, you could get on a jet plane and be on the other side of the world in a matter of hours. For my generation, it was the height of glamour: colors looked cooler and everything was very bold and stylish.”

To capture both the essence of the era and the bouncier tone of the film, Spielberg made greater use of lighting than is customary and even instructed John Williams to tone down his soundtrack.

“John did something he's never done before,” Spielberg later said. “He wrote music in the idiom of progressive jazz, which was very popular in the 1950s and '60s.”

“In my past work with Steven, we have had large orchestras and broad themes,” Williams recalled. “But on this particular film, we don't have that kind of canvas. It's more intricate. The story is light and amusing, but is also about a serious subject, so the music had to have different shades. It's comedic one moment, and then tense as the FBI closes in on Frank. One particular figure who I think dominated the American film music scene in the 1960s was Henry Mancini. He typified the best of that stylish, jazzy approach to films that we now associate with that period so nostalgically. I actually was the pianist in Henry Mancini's orchestra at the beginning of both of our careers. I played on the Peter Gunn recordings and on Breakfast at Tiffany’s and was very close to him personally, as well as musically.”

Despite his avowed comfort in the 40s, Spielberg does a fine job of the 60s, its sounds, colors, though his heart seems to be less involved here than his true passion projects, a sad result of the manner in which the project was forced into his hands. All things considered, however, he pulls off a commendable effort for what was almost certainly an unexpected interruption in his schedule no matter how taken in he was by Abagnale’s escapades. His approach to Catch Me if You Can is uninspired but the end result is not unpleasant, a rare circumstance indeed. It’s a Spielberg time-filler, no more no less.