Search results
The Spanish Prisoner is a 1997 American neo-noir suspense film, written and directed by David Mamet and starring Campbell Scott, Steve Martin, Rebecca Pidgeon, Ben Gazzara, Felicity Huffman and Ricky Jay. It tells a story of corporate espionage conducted through an elaborate confidence game.
A newspaper clipping from 1904, detailing the attempted Spanish Prisoner scamming of a McKeesport, Pennsylvania man. The Spanish Prisoner is a confidence trick originating by at least the early 19th century, as Eugène François Vidocq described in his memoirs.
- The Ponzi Scheme. If current events have proven anything, it’s that there is no more potentially profitable con game than the Ponzi scheme. The trick dates back hundreds of years, but it was popularized by Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant to the U.S. who swindled investors out of millions in the early 1900s before being arrested.
- The Spanish Prisoner. Ever gotten one of those junk e-mails from a person claiming to be a Nigerian Princess in need of quick cash? If so, then you’re familiar with the Spanish Prisoner, which is a classic form of “advance fee fraud” that attempts to trick unsuspecting marks by promising them a big payday down the road.
- The False Good Samaritan. There might not be any simpler or more ancient con than the so-called “false Good Samaritan”. It usually involves a team of two con men working in tandem, and the victim is usually a lone person walking a city street at night.
- Three-Card Monte. One of the classic short cons, three-card monte is a card game that uses sleight of hand and trickery to swindle victims out of small amounts of cash.
Apr 24, 1998 · The movie does not take place in Spain and has no prisoners. The title refers to a classic con game. Mamet, whose favorite game is poker, loves films where the characters negotiate a thicket of lies.
The Spanish Prisoner. 1997 · 1 hr 50 min. PG-13. Drama · Mystery · Thriller · Independent. When an employee invents a formula that could make his company unimaginably rich, he fears his boss will cheat him, and an intricate con game begins.
- David Mamet
- January 1, 1997
- 110 min
The Spanish Prisoner delivers just what fans of writer-director David Mamet expect: a smart, solidly constructed drama that keeps viewers guessing... and entertained along the way.
- (63)
- Crime, Drama
- PG
The film's secret is not that its characters are schemers, but the precise nature of the trickery that is set in motion. (The title refers to a venerable, multistage con game.) And Mamet, the...
