R0BTRAIN's Bad Ass Cinema: Spielberg's Running Men, Part 2

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In mid 2002, Steven Spielberg came out with a film that most directors would have been satisfied to be their complete output in a single year. Minority Report starring Tom Cruise was a fantastic Science Fiction film that came out amidst one of the most successful movie Summers in recent history, both financially and artistically. On both terms, Minority Report was indeed a success, taking in over $358 million worldwide and knocking out critics. Roger Ebert even named Minority Report the best film of 2002, a year that included Y Tu Mama Tambien, Adaptation, The Quiet American, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Signs, and Gangs of New York.

But Spielberg was not done with audiences and critics that year. The Beard had another ace up his sleeve and delivered a wonderful Christmas present to those looking for a great end of the year film. Spielberg would keep the theme of a “man on the run”, but instead of the future, he would look to the past for his inspiration. Indeed, Spielberg would even tell the story of an actual man and his experiences avoiding the law. The film would turn out to be one of the most fascinating films the director has ever made.

Catch Me if You Can Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Martin Sheen, and Christopher Walken. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Catch Me if You Can is the incredible story of Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), a real life con man who was able to pose as a Pan Am pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer for several years before finally being caught by the F.B.I. The story of his life is a wonderfully enchanting screen caper and one of Spielberg’s most lighthearted romps. One of the most interesting pieces of trivia about the film is that initially Spielberg was not even intended to direct the picture.


Initially, Gore Verbinski was assigned to direct the film. The cast at the time included James Gandolfini as well as Ed Harris and Chloë Sevigny considered for major parts. Leonardo DiCaprio was always intended for the lead, but delays on his picture Gangs of New York caused many others to drop the project. After Verbinski left the picture, it’s hard to imagine that Steven Spielberg would not have been the first in line to helm the movie, but apparently David Fincher, Cameron Crowe and Lasse Hallström were all asked first. The film and star that finally hit theater screens were both worth waiting for.


Leonardo DiCaprio has one of his best performances here. His portrayal of Abagnale’s evolution from high school student to small time crook, to one of the biggest con men in history is fascinating to watch. When we actually first see him, it is near the end of his journey. Frank is a broken man in custody in a French prison.

As the film flashes back to his early days, DiCaprio is really able to get across Abagnale’s early carefree attitude and how it all comes crashing down with the divorce of his parents. I’m sure showing how this breaking up of Abagnale’s family deeply affected him is one of the major aspects of the story that attracted Spielberg to the project. The director’s own parents split up when he was a child and that moment has been eluded to in several of Spielberg’s films including E.T., Close Encounters of the third Kind, War of the Worlds, and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.


It is this split that has Abagnale beginning his journey into crime. He begins by writing cold checks, but quickly turns to forging them. His small time crime turns very big once he starts conning his way into getting jobs with fake credentials. The movie really kicks into gear as Frank begins to impersonating a Pan Am pilot. This allows him to travel around the country and brilliantly avoid detection.

The odd thing is how DiCaprio is somehow able to exude a sweet innocence in this man even though he is swindling companies out of millions of dollars. His reactions are childlike at times as he surprises even himself at how well he is able to lie out of a sticky situation. This is a full on exhibition of DiCaprio’s charisma. The actor was even able to win over Frank Abagnale Jr. himself, who initially was unsure of how suave the actor could be.


The key to an audience siding with Frank instead of the authorities is how well the film makers are able to get across that many of us would like to have that very life. Frank is able to live a carefree life without the worries of keeping a job. He simply moves on to the next place. An amazing sequence even has Frank seeing Goldfinger, then buying Bond’s suit and Aston Martin from the movie. When being tailored for Bond’s grey suit, he goes by the alias Mr. Fleming. He then ends the evening with a beautiful girl worthy of Ian Fleming’s hero.


The film isn’t completely one sided as far as portraying the F.B.I. agents after him. Tom Hanks plays Carl Hanratty, the lead agent heading up the investigation against Frank. Hanks performance is extremely likeable as the character is a sort of book worm, but confident in his role as the country’s leading expert in fraud. Hanks’ Boston accent and body movement have him looking very convincing as this over the hill agent whose family has left him. Carl is a very hard working man, fighting through a middle management type position. We feel a connection with Carl as Hanks’ “everyman” personality shines through this man who has worked hard his whole life to get where he is.

It’s a credit to the film makers that they’re able to have the two actors share the screen time without either one really (for lack of a better word) stealing the scenes. We root for Frank because he’s so charismatic, but when Hanratty meets resistance from the upper echelon of the Bureau we are still completely behind him also. It’s an odd dichotomy with the two characters that keeps the momentum for the film high for the first two thirds of the picture.


The last third of the film slows down considerably. Frank tries to reconnect with his father (Christopher Walken), but finds the man he idolizes completely broken. The divorce, which did so much damage to Frank, Jr., has done equally as much to destroy Walken’s character. The role of Frank Abagnale, Sr. earned Walken an Academy Award nomination and perhaps should have earned him the actual award. Not since The Deer Hunter have I really seen Walken play a character that was this much of an emotional wreck. He’s able to exude so much pathos in his later scenes that it’s hard not to feel real sorrow for him.


It is this important moment in his life that makes Frank want to give up his running…sort of. In his travels, Frank finds Brenda Strong (Amy Adams) a naïve and lovely young girl that falls madly in love with him. Of course he’s posing as a doctor at the time, which is part of the quandary of Frank’s life. Is she in love with him or his fake persona? At any rate, he decides to try and make a go of family life. Frank even sweet talks her father, played by Martin Sheen into letting him join his law firm.


Everything is grand for Frank until Carl’s noose around him finally tightens. The relationship between Carl and Frank goes through an interesting evolution as the film progresses. Initially, the two are very much a cat and mouse, with Carl nearly catching his prey several times. Then slowly the two find a sort of bond. Carl has lost his family and Frank has lost his parents. The two find a connection that leads to an odd place for an F.B.I. Agent and a fugitive.


Spielberg stages this film masterfully. The director and his cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, make the 1960’s look absolutely gorgeous from picturesque care free Florida to a glossy Louisiana to a cold and harsh New York City. There is not a single element in the film that does not feel absolutely authentic. In fact, Frank Abagnale, Jr. even personally made changes in the film so as to verify its authenticity.


With Catch Me if You Can Spielberg was able to make his most lighthearted film in years. Frank Abagnale Jr.’s tale of crime is the most whimsical tale the director had woven since the original Jurassic Park. After the serious side Spielberg had shown in Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, and A.I., audiences seemed hungry for Spielberg adventures that contained more elements of fun. Spielberg was able to give them that with both films produced in 2002. Spielberg’s “running men” films took in over $700 Million combined worldwide. For most directors, having two successful movies in the same year would have been a career highlight, but for Steven Spielberg 2002 would mark the second time in a trifecta of times this would happen.

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.