Screen Hustles, Grifts and Stings identifies recurrent themes and techniques of the con film, suggests precedents in literature and discusses the perennial appeal of the con man for readers and viewers alike. Core studies span from film (Catch Me If You Can, Paper Moon, House of Games) to television (Hustle), from Noir (The Grifters) to Romantic Comedy (Gambit). Frequently, the execution of the con is only finely distinguishable from the conduct of a legitimate profession and, challengingly, a mark is often shown to be culpable in his or her undoing. The best con films, it is suggested, invite re-watching and reward the viewer accordingly: who is complicit and when? How and where is the con achieved? When is the viewer party to the con? And what, if any, moral is to be drawn?
- ISBN10 1137466898
- ISBN13 9781137466891
- Publish Date 16 December 2015 (first published 15 December 2015)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Palgrave Macmillan
- Imprint Palgrave Pivot
- Format eBook
- Pages 112
- Language English
- URL 10.1057/9781137466891