Catch Me If You Can
Video

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Frank's mother spills red wine on the carpet the stain shifts altogether once the next shot shows his parents dancing. (00:12:00)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Frank's parents have been informed of their son's impersonation of a French teacher, Frank is seen through the window of the office. At this point, when he flashes a cheesy grin, his hair is a mess - presumably to remind us that he is still only a young, cheeky schoolboy. However, upon his parents leaving the office, Frank's hair is perfectly styled again in a neat side parting. (00:21:30)

Continuity mistake: When Frank's parents are meeting with his principal after he pretends to be a teacher his mother is smoking a cigarette and is exhaling smoke, but when she looks at Frank there is no smoke at all in the air. (00:21:30)

Continuity mistake: When Frank's parents are meeting with the principal, you can see Frank through the open blinds. When they leave the office the blinds are closed. (00:21:30 - 00:22:25)

jairodrigue

Continuity mistake: When Frank Jr. Is getting fitted for his pilot's uniform (because he lied and said he lost his other one), after the tailor finishes and tells him the cost, there are only two rank bars on his sleeves. Then, when he walks out in the uniform, there are three bars on the sleeves. Considering he says he lost his uniform in his first week as a copilot, he wouldn't have been given an extra bar before leaving. (00:34:35)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Frank Jr. gives car keys in a small gift box to his dad in a restaurant, his dad puts the car keys back into the small gift box and places it on the table in front of Frank. In the next few shots the gift box is sometimes completely closed and sometimes a little bit open (as if the keys got stuck in between). (00:46:05)

Continuity mistake: When Frank Abagnale Sr. unwraps the gift of car keys from Frank Abagnale Jr., he places the yellow ribbon on his right side, on the table. In the next shot, it is lying on the left side. (00:46:05)

Continuity mistake: When Frank meets with his wife-to-be's mother and father, it's night time. When Frank and the father are talking after dinner, it is light out, but the characters are in the same outfits. (01:22:30 - 01:31:25)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: When Frank meets with his wife-to-be's mother and father, it's obviously day time.

Continuity mistake: During the wedding, when Frank says to Brenda that they have to go, the amount of checks changes during the scene. (01:39:40)

Dr Wilson

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Carl comes to the engagement party to arrest Frank, it is so windy that when the window in the bedroom is left open, money is flying all around. However, the shots of the party outside show a calm night with no wind at all. (01:41:20)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Handratty is arresting Frank in France, Frank is about to run out the door with the cheques and Handratty says he will be killed if he runs out. As Frank walks back toward Handratty , Frank's arm position as he's holding the cheques goes from right-over-left to left-over-right as the shot changes, and the cheques are piled in his arms completely differently from one shot to the next. (01:56:02)

Continuity mistake: About 3/4 of the way through the movie, it shows Frank and Handratty on a plane back to the US. Frank has been resting his head on a small pillow against the window and pulls it down. Next shot, he pulls it down from the window again. (01:57:55)

Continuity mistake: As the plane lands in New York, there is a brief shot of the landing gear where a modern wide jet engine nacelle is visible. In all other shots the correct long skinny 60's style nacelle is seen. (02:00:45)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Frank is pulling down the second suitcase of money from the top of the bed canopy while talking frantically to Brenda, the large portion of the suitcase is initially on top when the suitcase is put on the bed. But when the camera returns to another shot of the suitcase as Frank is opening it, the large portion of the suitcase is on the bottom.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Both portions of the suitcase are exactly the same.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Frank is pretending to be a Doctor at the bedside of the kid who has just had a bicycle accident a nurse hands him a swab. While he talking to the other Doctors the swab is visible but when the shot changes his arms are suddenly folded and we can no longer see it.

tw_stuart

Continuity mistake: When Frank Jr. and Sr. are going to the Chase Manhattan Bank, the same white truck drives behind them twice.

Dr Wilson

Continuity mistake: In the scene after Frank gets his uniform, when he is walking on the sidewalk the overhead shot shows a wet sidewalk, but in the next shot you can see behind Frank that the sidewalk is now dry.

Continuity mistake: There is a scene where Leo is at a hotel and meets Jennifer Garner, the 17 model. Then when he is recruiting flight attendants at a school, you see Jennifer Garner again but this time as one of the school girls.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: She is not in the recruiting scene. Jennifer Garner is featured in that one scene at the hotel, and is never seen in the movie again.

jshy7979

Video

Continuity mistake: When he pretends to be a doctor, and a he has to give advice on what to do with this patient, a woman gives him some kind of tool. He holds it in his hands, and towards his face, in a 'thinking' pose. Then the camera changes and the object is suddenly gone. The camera then jumps back to the previous position where he had the tool, but it's also gone in that frame. He's now just having his arms crossed.

Factual error: On the plane, while being escorted by FBI agents, Frank Jr sees New York's LaGuardia Airport and says, "There it is, LaGuardia Airport, runway 44." A runway numbered 44 is impossible. No runway can be numbered over 36 because there are 360 degrees in a circle. (01:58:25)

More mistakes in Catch Me If You Can

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.

More quotes from Catch Me If You Can
More trivia for Catch Me If You Can

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.

More questions & answers from Catch Me If You Can

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.