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"Things
that happen in real life are sometimes a hundred times more
fascinating than anything a person could make up off the
top of his head,"
- Leonardo DiCaprio
Questioning the Story (Fact or Fiction):
Was the FBI Agent played by Tom Hanks a real person?
No, there is no real Carl Hanratty, Tom Hanks revealed
in an interview. There was an agent who was Frank's main
contact, but a lot of FBI agents helped catch Abagnale.
Did Frank really escape a VC10 jetliner by removing the
toilet and climbing down beneath it, eventually escaping
through a hatch onto the tarmac?
The event is in Frank's 1981 memoir, but airline experts
say it is impossible. "The entire system is sealed,"
says Skip Jones of the Aerospace Industries Association.
"No matter what happens in there, you can't get into
the rest of the airplane." Payload systems engineer
Alan Anderson explains that the toilets are mounted on top
of tanks that weigh over 100 pounds, and even if he manage
to undo the toilet, he would have to crawl through a pipe
four inches in diameter. "A person would have to be
pretty small, and it would be messy," says Anderson.
Why did he do it?
Only Frank Abagnale, Jr. can answer this question, and in
an interview he said the following, "It begins with
my parents’ divorce and its dramatic effect on me.
I ran away and suddenly found myself a teenager alone in
the world. I had to grow up very quickly and become very
creative in order to survive. But what started out as survival
became more and more of a game. I was an opportunist, so
when I saw an opening I asked myself, ‘Could I get
away with that?’ Then there was the satisfaction of
actually getting away with it. The more I got away with,
the more of a game it became—a game I knew I would
ultimately lose, but a game I was going to have fun playing
until I did."
Leonardo
DiCaprio and Frank Abagnale, Jr. (on the set):
(Click
Image to Enlarge)
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"To
look at him, you wouldn’t think he could steal
a postage stamp. But he has an almost unconscious way
of engaging you with his eyes, with his energy and with
his intelligence." - Leonardo DiCaprio |
Frank
Abagnale, Jr. Speaks (watch the interview):
Movie
Synopsis:
"Catch Me if You Can" tells the true story of Frank
Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), a successful con artist
who at different times impersonated a doctor, a lawyer, and
an airplane pilot, passing more than $6 million in bad checks
over a range of 26 countries. He became the youngest man to
ever make the FBI's most-wanted list for forgery. Hunted and
caught in the film by fictional FBI Agent Carl Hanratty (Hanks),
Abagnale later escaped. He eventually became a consultant
for the FBI where he focused on white-collar crime.
CATCH
ME IF YOU CAN /***1/4
Movie Review
Watch
the Catch Me If You Can Movie Preview:
Message Board (Discuss the Film):
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at CTF's Trailer Page for the Film
