Catch Me If You Can

Character mistake: Carl, carrying his gun, goes up the outside staircase before entering Frank's apartment. When he encounters the frightened cleaning woman, he flashes his F.B.I. badge at her to identify himself. However, he only shows her the back of the black I.D. wallet, which has no markings on it.

raywest

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Suggested correction: This was undoubtedly an intentional choice by the filmmakers. Given that most of Carl's work takes place in an office, it's entirely plausible that he would feel nervous when stepping into the field to apprehend a suspect. The scene emphasizes his anxiety through several deliberate actions: he fumbles for his gun, incorrectly displays his badge, and even holds it upside down if you look closely. These details subtly underline Carl's unease in high-pressure situations.

jshy7979

Factual error: In the scene where Handratty hits the button to stop the press, suddenly individual checks come flying up from the press. This could not happen. On such a large press the checks would be printed several up on a large sheet of paper, to be cut down after printing is completed. (01:53:10)

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Paula Abagnale: Just tell me how much he owes and I'll pay you back.
Carl Hanratty: So far, it's about 1.3 million dollars.

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Trivia: Frank Abagnale's father was, in real life, a straight honest law abiding citizen, and not the shonky con-man as depicted in the movie.

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Question: After Frank is essentially forced to abandon Brenda in order to avoid not getting caught at the airport he resumes his farce as a pilot and recruits young women as his accompanying stewardesses. Roughly how long does this thing with the stewardesses possibly last? Did he really risk to include them in his "trip" around the world to various countries to continue his fraud because obviously he abandoned them at some point and ended up in France where he was caught.

Answer: It lasts several months. The stewardesses were juniors and seniors from the University of Arizona, whom he fake-recruited for a PR project for Pan-Am (they were not supposed to be real stewardesses, but dress like them and be photographed in various European capitols). Frank was frequently being asked where his "crew" was, so he thought it would lend him credibility.

This is inaccurate. When he leaves Brenda, he calls the university immediately and says that he will be stopping by the next morning, and we see that they return to Miami International Airport. So, it was definitely not the University of Arizona. And I don't recall anyone asking Frank where his crew was; the question he got was what kind of equipment he was on. As far as the ladies are concerned, he likely left them right there in Miami. Much easier to keep a low profile on his own.

jshy7979

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