Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can is a Spielberg movie starring Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Christopher Walken.

It is based on the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr. (played by DiCaprio) and the screenplay was written based off of Frank Abagnale Jr's book.

The story is relatively simple. Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) is a federal agent who tracks down check fraud. Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the son of a prosperous local merchant, Frank Abagnale Sr. (Christopher Walken). Frank Sr. impresses on his son that the only respect you should seek after comes with being monetarily successful. However, Frank Sr. starts to lose his prosperity as his industry becomes obsolete. To compensate he cheats on his taxes and as a result gets audited by the IRS. He also loses his wife to the richest local man in Frank Sr.'s community. Frank Jr. believes that everything, including his father's dignity and respect, will be restored if he makes enough money. Frank Jr. gets a checking account with $20 in it, checks and all, from Frank Sr. as a 18th birthday gift. Frank Jr. runs away to find his fortune and buy his father's life back. However, things are harder than he expects. He starts to cheat with his checks until that is shut down. Frank Jr. starts to learn everything he can about checks and begins to forge checks. As he gets better and better at it the more and more money he makes. As he becomes a pro he comes into the crosshairs of Agent Hanratty. And thus the chase begins. The chase is extreme and takes them across the globe with several close encounters. Agent Hanratty finally catches Frank Jr. The feds offer Frank Jr. a job catching other check fraud perpertraters in exchange for probation. Frank Jr. accepts and works with Agent Hanratty catching check fraud crooks.

In real life the success of Frank Jr. and Agent Hanratty was remarkable. After his probation, Frank Jr., worked with corporations and the banks in beefing up check protection features. Most of today's check protection features are the products of Frank Abagnale Jr.

I enjoy the fact that this movie is based on a true story. I also like the thrill of the chase and the bravado of the criminal. Frank Abagnale Jr. was one smart cookie to have avoided the full attention of a division of federal agents.

I recommend this movie because of the history, the intelligence, and the thrill of the movie subject.

Other information:
Tom Hanks newest movie is Angels and Demons. It is the latest movie by Ron Howard adopted from Dan Brown's book of the same title.
Leonardo DiCaprio will star in a movie titled Shutter Island which is being directed by Martin Scorsese. After the success of Leonardo and Scorsese in The Departed I am excited to see this one.
Chrisopher Walken's newest movie to be released is The Maiden Heist. It will also star Morgan Freeman and William H. Macy. This movie also looks interesting.