4 ms·

Catch Me if You Can is still a great movie, even if Abagnale lied about the whole thing. I mean, "inspired by a true story" or "based on a true story" movies al

Catch Me if You Can is still a great movie, even if Abagnale lied about the whole thing. I mean, "inspired by a true story" or "based on a true story" movies already deviate pretty severely from history in many cases. Here's a question though: did the writers feel they had to stick somewhat close to the "truth?" Did it cause them to make some choices they might not have if they were writing about a totally fictitious conman? And, if indeed those things happened, would the movie have been even better if they had total freedom? Or did the movie thrive in part due to its constraints? All unanswerables of course but an interesting train of thought. Reminds me of how the first three Star Wars films are the best despite their limited budget and Lucas' relatively constrained freedom of direction.

elliekelly 5y ago
From the article it doesn’t really sound like the story had any basis in truth at all. The movie was simply “based on a story” or “inspired by a story”.
- swiley 5y ago
  I didn't enjoy the movie because it was true, I enjoyed it because it was executed well and John Williams wrote the score. It could be entirely fictional and still be just as good a movie.
  - LargeWu 5y ago
    Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is in the same category. I don't really care if any of it was true, they're both phenomenal flicks.
    - DonHopkins 5y ago
      Don't you believe that Chuck Barris, host of the Gong Show, secretly worked as an assassin for the CIA??! Next you're going to tell me that The Unknown Comic wasn't really unknown, and his name was actually Murray Langston. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Comic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Comic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BBZVQ4zBcU&ab_channel=RBArchives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BBZVQ4zBcU&ab_channel=RBArc...
nashashmi 5y ago
Right. They were the people who investigated the story first. And they didn’t catch the lie? Maybe they were in on it too.
DubiousPusher 5y ago
> Catch Me if You Can is still a great movie, even if Abagnale lied about the whole thing. I mean, "inspired by a true story" or "based on a true story" movies already deviate pretty severely from history in many cases. I think this crosses a line. It's not a matter of reordering events or combining characters or even inventing small events to drive home a conceptual point. All of those are fairly accepted in the memoir and historical drama genres as changes which seek to clarify. Essentially, it's ok to misrepresent the facts of the truth if it's helping communicate the spirit of the truth. If what this author is alleging is true, then whole aspects of Abengale's story and ethos are totally fabricated. For example, a big part of Abengale's story is how he used his abilities as an autodidact to outwit the heavy handed systems of professional credentialism (becoming a pilot, a doctor, a lawyer). Once having pulled the wool over the eyes of the elite, he fleaced these wealthy suckers for no more than they could afford. In reality, he may have simply been a stalker, who leveraged people's kindness to steal considerable amounts of their small nest egg. That's a pretty different story. Because it fundamentally changes Abengale's relationship to his victims. What he is doing goes from being bold and clever and reckless to being predatory and petty and cruel.
- hluska 5y ago
  I think this is a central problem with trying to tell a con man’s story. There’s nothing particularly bold left over when you consider they always leave victims behind. It seems predatory and cruel because it is!
- PeterisP 5y ago
  IMHO "based on a true story" applies also if you're sticking to literally true facts but intentionally omitting other facts and misrepresenting in order to get an entirely opposite impression. I mean, you're twisting the story, but it's definitely still based on that story; and only facts can be true or false, but the interpretation, ethos and "spirit of the truth" is essentially arbitrary; you may consider that the facts drive home a particular conceptual point, but everyone is free to try and use them to drive home an entirely opposing conceptual point. It's a lie if the facts are not literally true, but representation and alternate interpretations of them is permissible even in nonfiction, and absolutely fair game in fiction.
everdrive 5y ago
>"inspired by a true story" or "based on a true story" movies already deviate pretty severely from history in many cases. The only twist in this case may be that it's the conman making everything up rather than the movie producer / writer / director. "Based on a true story" almost always means, "totally made up, but doesn't contain any scifi or magic, unless it's about an exorcism."
- anthony_romeo 5y ago
  There’s an order to it: “Based on a true story”: loosely based on a book “Based on true events”: loosely based on some news articles “Inspired by true events”: The writer heard your story and thought of a more interesting one
  - melling 5y ago
    Hidalgo was another “based on a true story” that wasn’t true https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2004/03/is-hidalgo-really-based-on-a-true-story.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2004/03/is-hidalgo-reall...
    - bena 5y ago
      Hidalgo was truly a story Hopkins told and the movie was based on that. Seriously though, I think that movie was what really broke the "based on a true story" thing for me. There's no real criteria for claiming something is based on a true story, you only need a tenuous grasp to reality. Basically, you can make the claim that Avengers Endgame is just as much based on a true story as Hidalgo if you wanted to.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
  - tedeh 5y ago
    "Inspired by the real world": The writer has heard some stories and made up another interesting one. That is definitely the weakest one, and the default that doesn't need to be stated usually.
dd36 5y ago
Fargo is accurate. They said so.
cheaprentalyeti 5y ago
"...despite their limited budget and Lucas' relatively constrained freedom of direction..." Despite or because of?
croes 5y ago
The problem is the film is based on fictional events that never happened. So there no true part in it because the base was a lie.

elliekelly 5y ago

From the article it doesn’t really sound like the story had any basis in truth at all. The movie was simply “based on a story” or “inspired by a story”.

swiley 5y ago
I didn't enjoy the movie because it was true, I enjoyed it because it was executed well and John Williams wrote the score. It could be entirely fictional and still be just as good a movie.
- LargeWu 5y ago
  Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is in the same category. I don't really care if any of it was true, they're both phenomenal flicks.
  - DonHopkins 5y ago
    Don't you believe that Chuck Barris, host of the Gong Show, secretly worked as an assassin for the CIA??! Next you're going to tell me that The Unknown Comic wasn't really unknown, and his name was actually Murray Langston. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Comic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Comic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BBZVQ4zBcU&ab_channel=RBArchives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BBZVQ4zBcU&ab_channel=RBArc...

nashashmi 5y ago

Right. They were the people who investigated the story first. And they didn’t catch the lie? Maybe they were in on it too.

DubiousPusher 5y ago

> Catch Me if You Can is still a great movie, even if Abagnale lied about the whole thing. I mean, "inspired by a true story" or "based on a true story" movies already deviate pretty severely from history in many cases. I think this crosses a line. It's not a matter of reordering events or combining characters or even inventing small events to drive home a conceptual point. All of those are fairly accepted in the memoir and historical drama genres as changes which seek to clarify. Essentially, it's ok to misrepresent the facts of the truth if it's helping communicate the spirit of the truth. If what this author is alleging is true, then whole aspects of Abengale's story and ethos are totally fabricated. For example, a big part of Abengale's story is how he used his abilities as an autodidact to outwit the heavy handed systems of professional credentialism (becoming a pilot, a doctor, a lawyer). Once having pulled the wool over the eyes of the elite, he fleaced these wealthy suckers for no more than they could afford. In reality, he may have simply been a stalker, who leveraged people's kindness to steal considerable amounts of their small nest egg. That's a pretty different story. Because it fundamentally changes Abengale's relationship to his victims. What he is doing goes from being bold and clever and reckless to being predatory and petty and cruel.

hluska 5y ago
I think this is a central problem with trying to tell a con man’s story. There’s nothing particularly bold left over when you consider they always leave victims behind. It seems predatory and cruel because it is!
PeterisP 5y ago
IMHO "based on a true story" applies also if you're sticking to literally true facts but intentionally omitting other facts and misrepresenting in order to get an entirely opposite impression. I mean, you're twisting the story, but it's definitely still based on that story; and only facts can be true or false, but the interpretation, ethos and "spirit of the truth" is essentially arbitrary; you may consider that the facts drive home a particular conceptual point, but everyone is free to try and use them to drive home an entirely opposing conceptual point. It's a lie if the facts are not literally true, but representation and alternate interpretations of them is permissible even in nonfiction, and absolutely fair game in fiction.

everdrive 5y ago

>"inspired by a true story" or "based on a true story" movies already deviate pretty severely from history in many cases. The only twist in this case may be that it's the conman making everything up rather than the movie producer / writer / director. "Based on a true story" almost always means, "totally made up, but doesn't contain any scifi or magic, unless it's about an exorcism."

anthony_romeo 5y ago
There’s an order to it: “Based on a true story”: loosely based on a book “Based on true events”: loosely based on some news articles “Inspired by true events”: The writer heard your story and thought of a more interesting one
- melling 5y ago
  Hidalgo was another “based on a true story” that wasn’t true https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2004/03/is-hidalgo-really-based-on-a-true-story.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2004/03/is-hidalgo-reall...
  - bena 5y ago
    Hidalgo was truly a story Hopkins told and the movie was based on that. Seriously though, I think that movie was what really broke the "based on a true story" thing for me. There's no real criteria for claiming something is based on a true story, you only need a tenuous grasp to reality. Basically, you can make the claim that Avengers Endgame is just as much based on a true story as Hidalgo if you wanted to.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- tedeh 5y ago
  "Inspired by the real world": The writer has heard some stories and made up another interesting one. That is definitely the weakest one, and the default that doesn't need to be stated usually.

dd36 5y ago

Fargo is accurate. They said so.

cheaprentalyeti 5y ago

"...despite their limited budget and Lucas' relatively constrained freedom of direction..." Despite or because of?

croes 5y ago

The problem is the film is based on fictional events that never happened. So there no true part in it because the base was a lie.