Catch Me If You Can (Movie Fan-Fiction)

Frank Abagnale (Jr.) transcends his humble American beginnings to become one of the greatest if not the greatest conman in history and may even befriend a funny FBI agent named Carl.

Here's a movie fan-fiction, inspired by Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can" [2002], to offer up something more lighthearted in the wake of all the recent Coronavirus worries. This fan-fiction, like the movie it was inspired by, is very loosely based on actual intriguing events in American history.

Thanks for reading,

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Frank Abagnale (Jr.) wanted an extraordinary life but his American beginnings were humble. He moved as a teenager and was caught trying to pose as a substitute teacher at his new high-school when the unusual instructor got sick, enabling Frank to easily dismiss the actual substitute by convincing the teacher that he was chosen for expediency at the last minute. Frank had an awkward relationship with his eccentric father who was a devout member of a Rotary Club and wanted his son to be excited about that subculture in America. Frank Jr. always felt his father somehow wanted to create a labor shadow over his head and ached to escape to become a man of adventure so that's just what Frank Jr. did.

Frank Abagnale (Jr.) purchased a train ticket out of his neighborhood and ended up hopping around America by writing exquisitely drawn counterfeit back checks and cashing them between institutions before authorities had the chance to map his whereabouts. Frank ended up using his cleverly acquired money to pose himself as a southern lawyer, a major hospital doctor, and finally an airline pilot. As a pilot for Pan Am, Frank Jr. enjoyed galavanting around the world, meeting beautiful stewardesses, and driving fancy cars while seeing terrific places. He'd become a true man of adventure, but of course, all these laurels were sublimely counterfeit, since, of course, Frank Jr. was the consummate conman.

Frank Abagnale (Jr.) was finally being tracked by an unusual but ambitious FBI agent named Carl Hanratty who was determined to use the counterfeit paper-check trail Frank left in his global wake to incarcerate or at least demystify arguably the greatest conman in American history. Carl chased Frank Jr. to an idyllic town in France and found the genius conman running around a closed printing factory playing with counterfeit checks. Carl promised Frank he'd be treated well and offered the chance to work now with the FBI trying to destroy and detect counterfeit money and checks for the government. Frank Jr. had no choice but to accept this proposal of redemption after already having become the American conman of immortal proportions.

FRANK: I guess I became a conman to live a fantasy, Carl!
CARL: You enjoyed running, Frank.
FRANK: I've helped you guys detect check counterfeiting!
CARL: You've been a shocking asset to American bureaucrats.
FRANK: I'll miss my days as a pilot, Carl.
CARL: You couldn't keep running, Frank!
FRANK: The machine malady caught up with me, eh?
CARL: Everybody runs, and nobody escapes psychiatry.
FRANK: I'm a sign of the times then!
CARL: Hey, maybe they'll say you were the 20th Century cowboy!
FRANK: I just don't want to die in a hospital, Mr. Hanratty.
CARL: We all can learn from our colored adventures!

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"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)