Catch me if you Can . . .

This past week was pretty much a lost one for me -- I spent it at home sick. I did have a chance, however, to see the movie, Catch me if you can, based on the story of Frank Abagnale a convicted con artist.

The movie is about the relationship between the con artist, with DiCaprio playing Frank Abagnale, and FBI agent Carl Hanratty (played by Hanks). I was especially interested in Hanks' character as he spends much of the movie just missing out on catching his man (who by the way was only 16 when he started his schemes). The movie had Handratty withstanding every abuse possible from the sleight of hand of Abagnale, yet also shows leadership in the way the FBI agent tries to get the con man to change his thinking. For example, one late scene has Abagnale, after being given the opportunity to trade his jail cell to work for the FBI, reverting back to his old ways and leaving town as a bogus pilot. Handratty is there and confronts the young man but does not stop Abagnale. My conclusion was that Handratty was trying to get Abagnale to make the choice to come back -- it had to be Frank's choice, not imposed by authority.

So I was interested to learn more about this Carl Handratty character. But there is no Carl Handratty, though his character is largely based on that of FBI agent Joe Shaye.

In fact, director Steven Speilberg probably changed the name because of license they took in creating the character. There was no one agent focused on Abagnale, but a whole team. The Handratty character was created to tell us about Abagnale. Actually, the decision by Speilberg makes sense because it is his job to tell a story -- otherwise it is a documentary.

Still, I came up empty, and a little disappointed, in my search for that true, unconventional leader. Beware of those words "based on a true story."