Everything Catch Me If You Can Doesn't Tell You About The True Story

Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of the memoir "Catch Me If You Can" is a wild ride that explores the life of con-man and check fraudster Frank Abagnale Jr. While the film was made in good faith and only claims to be inspired by the book, the veracity of Frank's story have been disputed by journalists as early as 1978 and are still being refuted 20 years after the film was released.

Abagnale's 1980 memoir was ghost-written by crime reporter Stan Redding and, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, contains a disclaimer, stating, "This book is based on the true-life exploits of Frank Abagnale. To protect the right of those whose paths have crossed the author's, all of the characters and some of the events have been altered, and all names, dates and places have been changed." Abagnale wrote on his website at the time of the film's release that he was only interviewed four times by Redding and that the story was dramatized in the manner the editor wanted.

The timeline was further altered and condensed by screenwriter Jeff Nathanson, who stated, "I don't know if anyone will ever know the actual truth." A sentiment echoed by Abagnale himself when he told the Los Angeles Times, "Basically, I felt the movie was more accurate than the book, but in the final analysis only I really know." Join us while we parse out everything "Catch Me If You Can" doesn't tell you about the true story.

Unlike in the film, Frank Abagnale Sr. (Christopher Walken), and his wife, Paula Abagnale (Nathalie Baye), separated when Frank Jr. was 14. After his parent's divorce, young Frank lived with his father. During this time, Frank Jr. began using his father's credit card to pay for items he couldn't afford.

Frank Sr. discovered the dishonesty when he received the bill. In this initial instance of Frank misusing credit, he charged upwards of three thousand dollars to his father's card. After being caught, Frank was sent to a school for wayward boys and set out on his own after this experience when he was 16-years-old (per the Los Angeles Times).

Although this betrayal of his father is left out of the film, we get a hint of the duplicity Frank Jr. is capable of when he transfers to a public high school in New York City, posing as the substitute French teacher on his first day of class. This interlude posing as a French teacher may also be a subtle reference to the time Frank purportedly spent posing as a sociology professor at Brigham Young University in Utah, which is an interlude from the memoir that was left out of the film (per The Salt Lake Tribune).

In "Catch Me If You Can" Frank Abagnale Jr. claims to have passed millions of dollars in forged payroll checks while posing as a Pan Am pilot during the late '60s, but he was only charged with several counts of forgery and theft before being sentenced to 12 years in prison in the U.S. As reported in an article by the Daily Mail, the nonfiction book "The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can" suggests Abagnale's stint impersonating a Pan American pilot only lasted a matter of months, rather than years as it was portrayed in the memoir and film. Logan, the author of this expose, maintains the forged Pan Am checks totaled less than a measly $1,500.

The interesting thing about Abagnale's story is everything transpired long before the invention of the internet. As such, his incredible adventures have built into a folk hero type of tale over the years. In fact, there is very little substantiated evidence to support his claims. However, like a snowball, the stories grew, slowly taking on a life of their own every time they were told. Shows like "To Tell The Truth" and "The Tonight Show" took Abagnale at his word, while investigative journalists like Stephen Hall with The San Francisco Chronicle began debunking Abagnale's story as early as 1978, after Abagnale's appearance on "The Tonight Show" (per WHYY).

Brenda the candy striper, played with sweet vulnerability by Amy Adams in Spielberg's movie, doesn't exist in real life. Abagnale wrote on Broadway, "The character of Brenda Strong is based on an Eastern Airlines flight attendant I dated while living in Louisiana, which fit into the story Spielberg wanted to tell about my life between the ages of 16 and 21. We were never engaged, as I was too young to even think about that."

The information provided by Alan C. Logan in his nonfiction book suggests this character might be based on Paula Parks, a Delta Airlines flight attendant. Allegedly, Abagnale stalked Parks to her home state of Louisiana, charming his way into the lives and home of Parks' parents in Baton Rouge. As reported in a Daily Mail article about Logan's book, Abagnale allegedly moved in with the Parks family briefly at the beginning of 1969 before being arrested for theft and forgery in Baton Rouge in February 1969.

In an interview with The Irish World, Logan said, "He [Abagnale] was also convicted of stealing from a local family and he was facing 12 years in the State Penitentiary in Louisiana. But he was treated lightly. But in any case, Abagnale, already a recidivist at this point, was given the 12 years as probation and psychiatric treatment. Instead he fled to Sweden and France."

Frank Abagnale Jr. was arrested multiple times before he was apprehended in France in October 1969 (per Daily Mail). He had already done a significant stint in prison before fleeing to Europe, according to journalist Alan C. Logan's book debunking Abagnale's wild stories.

Abagnale was arrested in Eureka, California with a stolen car in June 1965, making the local paper, Eureka Humboldt Standard. As reported by The Herald Statesman, a month later the 17-year-old was arrested in Tuckahoe, New York, and charged with forgery of a $350 check he allegedly stole from a service station to pay for a trip to Florida. These arrests resulted in Abagnale being confined to the Great Meadow Correctional Institute starting in July 1965. He was briefly paroled in 1967 but then sent back until December 1968 (per Daily Mail).

After being arrested and jailed in Baton Rouge in February 1969, Abagnale was released on parole in June of the same year before absconding to Europe, where the film finally depicts Abagnale being arrested by FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) for the very first time. However, it was French authorities that arrested Abagnale for theft and swindling after an airline stewardess recognized him and alerted Interpol that Abagnale was in France. Abagnale's arrest led to him spending time in a French prison before being sent to a prison in Sweden, which was accurately depicted in the film.

Frank Abagnale Sr. didn't die before his son was brought back to America from Sweden, as was depicted in the film. However, Frank Sr. died before Frank Jr. was released from the Virginia prison where he served time. Frank Jr. never saw his father again after running away at 16. In a speech Abagnale gave at Google, he talks about his experiences as a young man. Regardless of whether you believe Abagnale's version or what Alan C. Logan lays out in his nonfiction book, one thing is abundantly clear — Abagnale regrets never seeing his father again. Abagnale speaks about his father with warmth, casting Frank Sr. in a positive light, emphasizing he was a loving father.

This might be why Abagnale has responded so warmly to Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can." In the film, Abagnale visits his father repeatedly during the years he was on the run. In an interview with IGN, Spielberg addressed this discrepancy, saying, "When Frank ran away from home, he never saw his father again. And I wanted to continue to have that connection where Frank kept trying to please his father; by making him proud of him; by seeing him in the uniform, the Pan-American uniform." 

Jeff Nathanson, the scriptwriter for the film, said, "There are, of course, different kinds of truths" (via Wausau Daily Herald). This film revealed Abagnale's emotional truth — that he was a lonely kid who never got to see his father again and wished he had. Abagnale told The Wausau Herald, "It was a more serious film than I thought it would be. And a lot more accurate."