Hacker Cinema
Catch Me If You Can
2002 · Film · 141 min
Directed by Steven Spielberg
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.
14 positive1 mixed26 neutralfrom 41 commenters
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43 comments on Hacker News
I guess it's a sign of getting old when I see the world classic and expect Gone With the Wind and Casablanca, but instead the list has Arrival, The Martian, and the Bourne Identity. The Sixth Sense is on the list for the US and it's a movie I coincidentally rewatched last night, again finding it to be a masterpiece.
In any case, very different list in Canada: Rocketman, Ford v Ferrari, Little Miss Sunshine, Catch Me If You Can, Jurassic Park, and the Proposal.
Ghost in the Wires is one of all time favorite reads, and I still hope to see it as a dramatized film. It would be a fun “period piece” taking the audience through the 80’s and early 90’s, with some hilarious social engineering scenes (kinda like Catch Me If You Can) and tense moments where the audience roots for Kevin. I really think a film adaptation would help introduce his story to a new generation and be a nice tribute to his legacy.
I don't buy this. Watching hi-res remasters of old films (Alien, Catch Me If You Can, Jurassic Park) you get incredible definition without damage to suspension of disbelief.
I think this comment[1] above really highlights what bothers me about modern shows and movies, but in short it's not the high def, it's how it's used.
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46062911
I was going to say, were movies really that good in 2002?
Catch Me If You Can
Gangs of New York
The Pianist
City of God
Yes, yes they were lol. It is almost hard to believe those all came out in the same year.
Imagine in 2025 having to pick if you want to see The Pianist or City of God? It is just so unthinkable
In the Catch me if you Can movie, Leo diCaprio’s character wears a surgeon’s gown and confidently says “I concur”.
What I’m hearing here is that you are willing to get your surgery done by him and not by one of the real doctors - if he is capable of pronouncing enough doctor-sounding phrases.
Routing and account numbers at the bottom of a check are semi-private and nefarious actors can abuse them. See the movie/book Catch Me If You Can about Frank Abigail.
This reminds me of how the film Catch Me If You Can about a credit card / pilot con man was in itself a con and the whole story was made up. It's great, the author did not actually commit any of the crimes he "confessed" to, and at best there's a civil case of the claim of the story being true events not in fact being true. But I hope the filmmakers had a good laugh about the irony.
I really enjoy the process of ripping a disc to my hard drive, especially the process of finding the right combination of VapourSynth filters to clear up and fix any issues done in the mastering process. I also have discovered some interesting extra features.
An interesting DVD set was the first season of The IT Crowd, which has base64 encoded subtitles. It was a fun little project to OCR those, combine them together, and then decode them.
In terms of interesting DVD commentaries, Goodfellas and Catch Me if You Can have commentaries with the actual criminals who are the subject of the film, which gives an interesting perspective. There was also a hidden commentary track on one of The Simpsons episodes where the writers go into details about why there was a drop off in quality on the show. Actually the commentary tracks on The Simpsons episodes are generally excellent.
A fraudster who by all accounts continued fraud by making up a life story filled with largely fictional details (including that he worked with the FBI)? Some people are like George Santos and exaggerate constantly in addition to constructing wholesale false stories about themselves.
It’s fascinating how easy it is to fall prey to a fraudster when they claim they’ve gone legit. You’re probably better off believing they’re still a fraudster.
https://louisianavoice.com/2021/04/26/new-book-further-debunks-myth-of-scam-artist-frank-abagnale-jr-of-catch-me-if-you-can-book-movie/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale#Relationship_with_the_Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation
He really does do movies like that, doesn't he? Stuck in the airport in the terminal, stuck on a remote island in castaway, even chasing decaprio in catch me if you can...
Maybe I should try some more Scorsese. Which movie do you recommend? I'll make an exception to my rule for the purpose of education :-)
If he was attempting to do what you describe with TWWS, I think he missed the mark. It seemed to express a a general nihilism rather than some message about how criminals ruin their own lives.
Things that would have made the movie better, in my eyes:
- At least one female character who was more than an object (Bechdel test was failed by a mile)
- Any scene with the perspective of any of the victims (the people whose lives Belfort destroyed are totally out of frame all movie)
- If Belfort's supposedly convincing / charismatic speeches were even slightly persuasive or entertaining (he did not sell me that pen at all)
- Less time wasted with blurry camera stumbling around on drugs
The funny thing is that I loved Catch Me if You Can when I first saw it and went to see TWWS hoping for more of that. So... maybe TWWS was more real. Crime does pay, and financial criminals are not geniuses, just bog-standard douchebags, and they get a slap on the wrist when they're caught and the world keeps spinning. Perhaps THAT is the message.
This reminds me of the story from A Scanner Darkly. One of the characters tells a story about a con artist who was pretending to be a famous con artist. His whole shtick was going around to talk shows recounting how he had played all these outlandish characters and conned people out of all kinds of money, in the end the only character he ever played was that of a con artist.
Maybe that story was based on the Catch Me If you Can guy, but I think possibly not because A Scanner Darkly came out before that movie.
How about I change it to another Leonardo DiCaprio movie without that connotation - "Catch me if you can?"
> I do know of two cases of "fake programmers" (...) the person was able to sneak under the radar at Google for multiple years before someone realized that the person never actually wrote any code and tasks only got completed when they got someone else to do the task. The person who realized eventually scheduled a pair programming session, where they discovered that the person wasn't able to write a loop, didn't know the difference between = and ==, etc., despite being a "senior SWE" (L5/T5) at Google for years.
I thought this only happens in tv shows. Was it more like Big Head from HBO Silicon Valley (the company forgot about the employee) or Frank Abagnale from Catch Me If You Can (conman who managed to fake his identity and credentials)?
Frank Abagnale, the Catch Me If You Can guy, did exactly that. The whole book is made up. https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a36338912/catch-me-if-you-can-frank-abagnale-true-story-lie-con/
I guess you're too young to remember when ALL transactions involved trust. Cheques didn't even have any kind of verification whatsoever, you just handed them out and the shops had to just hope they would clear... if they did not, the payee could obviously get into trouble with the law, but criminals still found creative ways to get away with it... watch the movie "Catch me if you can" to see one of the most entertaining abuses of cheques in history.
> Catch Me if You Can is still a great movie, even if Abagnale lied about the whole thing. I mean, "inspired by a true story" or "based on a true story" movies already deviate pretty severely from history in many cases.
I think this crosses a line. It's not a matter of reordering events or combining characters or even inventing small events to drive home a conceptual point. All of those are fairly accepted in the memoir and historical drama genres as changes which seek to clarify. Essentially, it's ok to misrepresent the facts of the truth if it's helping communicate the spirit of the truth.
If what this author is alleging is true, then whole aspects of Abengale's story and ethos are totally fabricated. For example, a big part of Abengale's story is how he used his abilities as an autodidact to outwit the heavy handed systems of professional credentialism (becoming a pilot, a doctor, a lawyer). Once having pulled the wool over the eyes of the elite, he fleaced these wealthy suckers for no more than they could afford.
In reality, he may have simply been a stalker, who leveraged people's kindness to steal considerable amounts of their small nest egg. That's a pretty different story. Because it fundamentally changes Abengale's relationship to his victims. What he is doing goes from being bold and clever and reckless to being predatory and petty and cruel.
> “I remember just having this nagging feeling and that something just wasn’t quite right about [the movie ‘Catch Me If You Can’],” Logan said. “And that was that.”
A reasonable perspective to have about every dramatized based-on-a-true-story blockbuster, you'd think.
Catch Me if You Can is still a great movie, even if Abagnale lied about the whole thing. I mean, "inspired by a true story" or "based on a true story" movies already deviate pretty severely from history in many cases.
Here's a question though: did the writers feel they had to stick somewhat close to the "truth?" Did it cause them to make some choices they might not have if they were writing about a totally fictitious conman? And, if indeed those things happened, would the movie have been even better if they had total freedom? Or did the movie thrive in part due to its constraints? All unanswerables of course but an interesting train of thought. Reminds me of how the first three Star Wars films are the best despite their limited budget and Lucas' relatively constrained freedom of direction.
There have been several cases of people posing as doctors without any qualifications ("catch me if you can" is a movie about a famous case for example).
Its seems that Minority Report was in the can from July 2001 though you could imagine the amount of post-production required for that movie which would lead to it being released almost a year later. Catch Me If You Can was filmed between February and May 2002 to be released on December 25th. It seems like a busy year but doable,
Spielberg only stepped in to direct after Gore Verbinski dropped out because the film was delayed due to DiCaprio working on Gangs of New York. Verbinski's original casting had James Gandolfini as Hanratty and Ed Harris as Frank Sr. Verbinski ended up doing The Ring instead. Its amazing how much of Hollywood production is a string of almosts and conflicting schedules.
I wouldn't characterize Katzenberg as a founder in the 'startup founder' sense we're used to talking about here on HN. DreamWorks was essentially built to do exactly what he had already been doing at Disney: Make and/or distribute big blockbuster films. Film production is a pretty standardized thing, as is distribution, so if you know how to make movies then you can just plug into the distribution ecosystem and off you go!
Building and distributing apps is, however, not a consistently repeatable solved problem. Unlike movies, scale, budget, stars, and connections don't dramatically increase your chances of success... even if the content is great.
So no, I don't think Katzenberg has the type of "founder" experience that would naturally give him an advantage in learning how to understand a market that he has no experience with.
Tangentially, I was just looking at Dreamworks' filmography, and it's VERY impressive. My mind is specifically blown, though, that Steven Spielberg released Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can six months apart in the same year. That is... pretty incredible.
Check forging. Was a big problem years ago when checks were widely used; These days they're almost dead so; (See 'Catch me if you can' film if you didn't already!);
FWIW, Frank Abagnale Jr (the guy depicted in the movie "Catch Me If You Can") was asked whether he thought it'd be harder for him to do what he did with technology as it is today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsMydMDi3rI
He suggested that technology makes it easier for the fraudster to come up with the right details, whereas he often had to bluff when he was defrauding people.
The number one thing you can do to help them is talk to them about being conned / scammed. That's by far the most likely way for them to get victimized online, and the only way that's seriously affected anyone I know.
Since they're not technical, their natural self-defense against this kind of this has trouble functioning online. Talk to them about real world analogs to pop-up ads that look like virus scanner alerts, talk to them about people pretending to be someone they know. Hell, show them the movie "Catch me if you can" and explain the same psychological tactics get used online.
Get them to consider "what do I really know, and is this too good to be true" before they talk to anyone, click a link, or buy anything online -- and they will be fine, if their judgement is otherwise unimpaired.
If they're very late in life, or otherwise have trouble with this kind of thing in the real world, there is unfortunately not much you can do to help them, other than force them to only use pre-installed apps on a tablet that you've selected, like you might with a small child. If they're not willing to do that, then it's unfortunately on them. I've had this experience both with my grandfather and a friend who lives with a brain injury, who are responsible for themselves but don't have the judgement necessary to realize how impaired they are.
And of course, make sure the computer is auto-rebooting to get updates, and they know to call you if they get a virus / malware popup they think could be real.
Thanks for that reference, I was sure I've seen that tunnel somewhere before. It was used in Catch me if you can.
https://untappedcities.com/2013/11/19/film-locations-leonardo-dicaprio-jfk-airport-twa-flight-center-terminal-catch-me-if-you-can/
This guy sounds awesome. If there are any aspiring screenwriters out there this would make a great movie. Think Catch Me If You Can but more modern and international.
Frank Abagnale's ("Catch Me If You Can" protagonist) take on divorce gives some insight into his life story [1], and is an interesting counterpoint. A transcript for those who hate watching videos. The transcript starts from the link and transcribes 132 seconds of his speech, up to the 23:57 mark.
--- BGN --- I was one of those few children that got to grow up in the world with a daddy. Now, the world is full of fathers. But there are very few men worthy of being called daddy by their child. I had a daddy; loved his children more than he loved life itself. Steven Spielberg told Barbara Walters the more I've researched Frank's youth, without having met Frank, I couldn't help but put his father in the film through the likes of Christopher Walken.
My father was a man who had four children---three boys and a daughter. Every night at bedtime, he'd walk into your room. He was 6'3". He would drop down on one knee, kiss you on the cheek, pull the cover up, and he'd put his lip up on your earlobe. And he'd whisper deep into your ear, "I love you. I love you very much."
He never, ever, missed a night.
As I grew older, I sometimes fell asleep before he got home. But I always woke up the next morning, knew he had been at my bedside.
Years later, my older brother joined me in my room, temporarily; he was in the Marine Corps. He was 6'4". He played semi-pro football for Buffalo. But my father would walk around to his bed, hug him, kiss him, whisper in his hear he loved him.
When I was 16 years old, I was just a child. All 16 year olds are just children. Much as we'd like them to be adults, they're just children. And like all children, they need their mother, and they need their father. All children need their mother and father. All children are entitled to their mother, and their father. And though it is not popular to say so, divorce is a very devastating thing for a child to deal with, and then have to deal with the rest of their natural life.
For me, a complete stranger, a judge, told me I had to choose one parent over the other. That was a choice a 16 year old boy could not make. So I ran. How could I tell you my life was glamorous? I cried myself to sleep 'til I was 19 years old. I spent every birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day in a hotel room somewhere in the world where people didn't speak my language. --- END ---
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsMydMDi3rI&feature=youtu.be&t=1305
I bumped into this talk today: Frank Abagnale: "Catch Me If You Can" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsMydMDi3rI
He became an FBI agent and works with data breaches. So after entertainingly describing his life story he does mention the Equifax breach at the 37m mark.
He paints a very negative picture of Equifax.
Its well worth watching the whole thing, and not just skipping to his FBI Agent opinion of Equifax.
Sounds like a story for another "Catch Me If You Can" kind of movie.
stock image of a woman : "Hi I'm the CEO ..."
"please wait until our experts choose a special name for your baby ..."
Where goes the line of white lies?
Reminds me of "Catch Me If You Can" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" movies.
Check out these threads:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=450702, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4060887
Also my personal list of favorites that entrepreneurs should watch (although not necessarily about technology):
Glengarry Glen Ross - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/
Moneyball - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210166/
The Pursuit of Happyness - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454921/
Jerry Maguire - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116695/
Catch Me If You Can - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264464/
Embezzlement is 'white collar crime' and has happened for a long time (and been the focus of movies). Cheque fraud is also 'white collar crime' and Catch Me If You Can came out in 2002. You're just associating more public scrutiny (and therefore more government focus) on banks / investing / Wall Street with a greater focus on "white collar crime."
Twenty first century version of Catch Me If You Can.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264464/
Completely offtopic, and I don't mean anything negative about you when I say this, but I'm always interested in the response when people attribute a director to the success of a movie based on a book.
Did you know that the movie was based on Frank Abagnale's book (also entitled "Catch Me If You Can", or did you just prefer Spielberg's version?
Especially in this case, where the movie is so close to the book, it's questionable. Just like in Sin City, the adaptation is so true to its source material, if you liked one, you're pretty well assured of liking the other.
The book is also really good (didn't actually watch the movie)
http://www.amazon.com/Catch-Me-If-You-Can/dp/0767905385
I also enjoyed Kevin Mitnick's book The Art of Deception, also on "Social Engineering"/con artists.
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Deception-Controlling-Element-Security/dp/076454280X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329393790&sr=1-1
As a socially awkward person myself, that's what I liked from the article.
Also, the author is of Indian origin, being from Uruguay myself, I'd guess we might have more class/social status awareness; most wouldn't dare crash an Elton John party.
I also agree that he found out for himself some things that other subcultures had already found out, for example I think Kevin Mitnick says something about suits and the right attire in his book The Art of Deception, the Pick Up Artists probably say something of the sort, and many books and movies about scamsters also highlight it (Catch Me If You Can comes to mind).
Though I might not like what he did, I admire the skill itself, and more honest applications of it. Anyone who finds the article interesting should watch "Catch Me if You Can" a movie about a criminal who uses these techniques to steal money.
Sneakers (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/8710). The film's aged a little, but it's nice to watch a fairly funny hacking film that doesn't dress up hacking into 3D flying GUIs, Hack the Planet or hacking a TLA with a gun put to your head, while getting head.
Brewster's Millions always cheers me up around Christmas, as does Trading Places (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/9749), both of which are slightly business related (although not exactly real-world related).
Someone else posted the pursuit of happyness (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/7605), when I stick that on it comes across as a bit schmaltzy for me but has a good message.
A beautiful mind (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/1112) is another great film about an incredibly smart but tortured genius who makes a massive contribution to economics.
Catch me if you can (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/1798) is based on the true story of a fraudster who ripped off banks for tons of money and did all kinds of amazing things with it. It's a great romp and I'd highly recommend a first watch.
Life is beautiful (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/5583) is hardly an uplifting film but is incredible and if it doesn't make you thankful for what you have, then I'd question whether or not you have a soul.
Not really. Your skills and what you apply said skills to don't overlap.
What's a dilemma is that we only hear about these people when they apply their skills to evil. If he'd done a career in bank security, it's very likely we'd never have heard a word about what he did.
> I am pretty sure that the star wasn't made without exploiting other people
Sure, that's why it belongs to, and should belong to, the austrian people.
> That story is a film worthy.
Catch me if You Can II: The Austrian Job :)
Why the down-modding? His comment isn't even relevant.
> Not only is this chick completely irresponsible, but this "trip" is a joke.
The 'chick' that spent her last bit of money on plane ticket was someone that the two creators of that site met on a plane trip, not someone who is embarking on this journey. If you're referring to the two creators of that site, then how is this 'experiment' (though I use the term loosely) irresponsible?
> He's going to be living in an airport for a month, all for what? No one cares about people who live in airports, nor do they care about the fascinating lives of airplane passengers.
The popularity of the movie 'The Terminal' (and somewhat similarly 'Catch Me If You Can' -- strangely enough also starring Tom Hanks) indicates otherwise.
> social networking media web 2.0 garbage
What does this site have to do with social networking? They are planning on doing something, then blogging about it, and possibly being popular enough to earn some advertising revenue. The cherry on top would be endorsement money from JetBlue. I fail to see how that is 'social networking' anymore than the rest of the web.
That comment added nothing to the discussion, other than a poorly formed 'get off my lawn' opinion. If all it takes to gain popularity on HN is copping a curmudgeonly attitude, then we're starting to go downhill in my opinion.
Catch Me If You Can seems like a good movie to learn about business. This guy managed become "successful" talking his way to success.
I quote successful cause he basically scammed a lot of people.
I was just thinking that, or maybe a TV series. This is great stuff. It reminds me of Catch Me If You Can.