Corrected entry: When Frank Junior is arrested in France, the French police arrive in their cars. At the side of one of their cars it says "Police", even though it's the French police. (01:52:10)
Corrected entry: In the James Bond scene that inspires Frank to purchase identical suits to James in the film, James makes reference to his nemesis and love interest, Octopussy. Octopussy was released in 1983. Frank was caught in France in 1969, 14 years prior to the film that supposedly inspired him to make the purchase.
Correction: James Bond actually says: "O Pussy." The name of the character is "Pussy Galore" and the movie is "Goldfinger" not "Octopussy".
Corrected entry: In one of the bank scenes the camera zooms in on the bills as the teller is counting them out. They are obviously bills with the new larger presidential heads, printed after the year 2000.
Correction: They're regular size.
Corrected entry: Dr. Conners works the night shift 12am - 8 am. It seems highly unlikely that a boy would be riding a bicycle at that time of day to have an accident. (01:14:00)
Correction: Highly unlikely doesn't make it impossible or even a mistake. I would have thought that an accident at night time was considerably more likely.
Corrected entry: In case anyone was wondering, Frank was telling the truth when he said he passed the Bar Exam by studying. He studied for three weeks and took it. He did, however, fail the first two times. But since you were allowed to take it as many times as possible, he just used process of elimination till he passed, and the third time was the charm.
Correction: Wrong. It has been verified that no only did he not bass the bar exam in Louisiana, but that a vast majority of his stories about his crimes and cons was exaggerated or completely made up. Since the bar exam is only given twice a year, it is not possible to pass the bar exam in three tries during the time period Abagnale claims. Also, using process of elimination to pass after multiple attempts doesn't make sense, since the bar exam changes their questions year to year.
Corrected entry: When Handratty is making the first attempt to arrest Frank, he flashes his FBI credentials at the maid at the top of the stairs, but the side with his photo and information is facing Handratty, so the maid only sees the back of the wallet. Intentional, but worth a look.
Correction: This is a common misconception. FBI badges are on the outside of the wallet. Carl quickly flashes the outside badge to show he is a law enforcement officer to the maid, just like a police officer would, to calm her down. When Frank asks to see his credentials in the hotel room, he flashes the outer badge then the inner identity card correctly.
Corrected entry: Towards the end of the movie, in the plane, you can see the green screen reflected in Hanratty's glasses while he is talking to Frank.
Correction: What causes the green light in Hanratty's glasses is actually an anti-reflection coating on his lenses, which many people have on their spectacles. Any bright lights are deflected slightly, so as not to blind the wearer too much (particularly useful when driving at night, for example) - but the reflected light shows up on the outside of the lenses as green. If you look carefully, you can actually spot this on people's glasses in loads of films and TV shows. But I don't know if the anti-reflection coating was available in the 60's, when the movie was set, so it may be a mistake that Hanratty's glasses have it at all. But I'm not sure. Was that exhaustive and tedious enough for you?
Corrected entry: When Frank is told he's like the James Bond of the sky, we see him briefly sitting in the cinema watching a James Bond movie. The problem is that the movie features Roger Moore as Bond, but Roger didn't star in his first Bond movie until 1973, and it would have been Sean Connery in the 1960s.
Correction: The movie Frank watches at the cinema is 1964's Goldfinger (one of the best Bond movies!), with Sir Sean Connery as James Bond.
Corrected entry: When Frank Jr. is talking to Frank Sr in the dirty bar/restaurant, there is a red candle on the table, and nothing else. We then cut to Frank Jr, and cut back to Frank Sr. Now there is an ashtray there as well. It couldn't have just been put there by a waiter, as it has cigarette ends in it. (01:33:25)
Correction: If you look the ashtray is actually under the paper, The paper moves away from the ashtray, the ashtray doesn't appear from nowhere.
Corrected entry: In the scene right after To Tell the Truth, Carl goes to take Frank back to the United States. We are made to believe it is night by the fact that it is dark out when Carl gets out of the car and he tells Frank they are leaving in the morning. When Frank tries to escape, there is sunlight shining through the windows.
Correction: It is dark because of the storm. After some time has passed the rain has subsided and the light you see is the sun peeking out through the clouds. In the morning just refers to the fact that he will get things straightened out so they could leave early tomorrow.
Corrected entry: When Carl is talking on the phone after seeing Frank Abagnale Sr, the phone booth shakes each time he touches the window as if it was not attached on the ground. (01:19:50)
Correction: Not all phone booths were sturdy. Depending on how old it is it could be very shaky and basically coming off the ground.
Corrected entry: During a scene early in the movie when Frank begins perfecting his check cashing scam, there is a closeup shot of bills being counted out by a bank teller. In that shot, some one dollar bills (Washington) are followed by some two dollar bills (Jefferson) and then fives (Lincoln), tens, etc. This scene is set in the early 1960s and two dollar bills were not first printed until the 200th anniversity (commonly known as the Bicentential) of the United States in 1976.
Correction: Two dollar bills did exist during the 60's. The first Two dollar bill came out in 1862. In 1928, the bill had Jefferson on the front. The 1963A series had Jefferson on the front and Monticello on the back. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._two_dollar_bill.
Corrected entry: In the movie's version of how Frank is eventually caught, Hanratty charts Frank's movement's on a map of Europe. He tells the other agents that Frank is probably heading back to France because he's running out of checks and needs to print more. This seems unlikely as Frank could print hundreds if not thousands of checks at one time - enough to last a number of years.
Correction: True, he could have printed hundreds of checks at a time, which would have lasted a number of years; but it has to be remembered that the police, FBI, Banks etc became more and more aware of Check forgery, and therefore changed the checks regularly. Frank was most likely aware of that, and did not waste time and money printing more checks than he could use in a certain period of time.
Corrected entry: Riverbend Apartments in Atlanta, Ga. is located on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. However, in the party scene at Frank's apartment, an ocean and a beach can be seen in the background, not a river. (Atlanta, Ga. is about a 4 hour drive to either the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic)
Correction: A hazy shot of the city is seen in the background, not an ocean or beach. The only water shown is the apartment complex pool.
Corrected entry: When Tom is talking to Frank's mother and she offers the Sara Lee cake, the other officer keeps reaching for the fork and in the background you can see Tom holding papers. In the next shot, Tom grabs the fork and has no papers. After Tom gives the officer the fork, the papers are back. (01:09:00)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Frank Jr.'s mother spills wine on the rug, Frank Jr. is told to get a towel. He runs quickly into the kitchen, however, when he returns he walks in slowly holding a glass of milk. (00:12:05)
Correction: Frank has a towel in his left hand, the milk is in his right.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Frank is talking to Brenda's father in Brenda's parents' home, he appears to be on the left side of the couch (as you face him on the screen), yet in the next shot, he is on the other end of the couch, and Brenda's father then sits next to him on the left. It would have made sense if Frank was shown moving over to make room, but instead, it's as if he was sitting at that end of the couch all along.
Correction: Frank initially sits more towards the middle (if not the right side) of the couch.
Corrected entry: Fugitives who flee the United States fall under the jurisdiction of the State Department, not the FBI. Agent Hanratty has no jurisdiction in France. Even if Abagnale's apprehension were a joint effort, at least one agent of the State Department would have gone along with him.
Correction: The film never claims Hanratty was alone. There well could have been a member of the State Department present at Frank's capture, but Hanratty (due to their past incidents/relationship) was the one to perform the actual arrest. Just because an agent didn't speak did not mean one wasn't along in France.
Corrected entry: Carl and Frank Jr. flew home to LaGuardia Airport. However, LaGuardia is a domestic airport only (except for nearby Canadian cities, such as Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal). Coming home from France, they'd have flown to JFK.
Correction: Frank merely points out that they are flying over LaGuardia, not necessarily landing there.
Corrected entry: When DiCaprio is walking into Miami International Airport with the new stewardesses, there is a shot of the entry into the airport. Just above the sign reading "Miami International Airport" flies the state flag of Alabama. (01:47:45)
Correction: The flag outside Miami International Airport is correctly the flag of FLORIDA, not Alabama. The Alabama flag is white with a red "X" across it. The Florida flag is also white with a red "X" across it, but the Florida flag also has the State Seal in the middle of the "X". The Alabama flag has no such seal. The flag at the airport has the Florida seal in the middle.
Correction: Police is also a French word, and French police cars do say 'Police'.
Sereenie