"The Flim-Flam Man" is an entertaining comedy drama set in the American South. It's based on a novel by Guy Owen, "The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man." Owen grew up in the Cape Fear area of North Carolina and wrote novels and short stories from his experiences. Mordecai Jones and Curley were two favorite characters that he would write about in two more novels.
In this story, Mordecai is a confidence man, a scammer, a con artist extraordinaire. He plies his skills at cheating, duping and coning people to the level of a trade. Curley is a young soldier gone AWOL from Fort Bragg, NC. He had just five weeks left on his hitch, but couldn't take the ragging of a sergeant any longer so he clobbered him and went AWOL. The two meet on a passing train when Mordecai is thrown out of a boxcar while Curley just hopped the freight car to catch a ride. He jumps off to help Mordecai.
Curley is a natural for the trade, and Mordecai teaches him some of the tricks. They go through a number of cons. At one point, Curley says he doesn't feel right about taking money from honest folks. Mordecai says not to worry, "you can't cheat an honest man." He then sets out to prove his point by the next few cons, and Curley sees that he seems to be right. Of course, Mordecai skirts the issue of outright stealing of a car.
After meeting a pretty debutante, Curley begins to have second thoughts. He'd like to pay his dues, get out of the service and settle down. The film has some funny chase and pursuit scenes with the local sheriff. It has an ending that is satisfactory to Mordecai, Curley, the girl, and her father, with only the sheriff and law left short shrifted.
George C. Scott is very good as Mordecai, and Michael Sarrazin is Curley. Harry Morgan is Sheriff Slade. Sue Lyon is the southern belle, Bonnie Lee Packard, and Jack Albertson plays her father.
In this story, Mordecai is a confidence man, a scammer, a con artist extraordinaire. He plies his skills at cheating, duping and coning people to the level of a trade. Curley is a young soldier gone AWOL from Fort Bragg, NC. He had just five weeks left on his hitch, but couldn't take the ragging of a sergeant any longer so he clobbered him and went AWOL. The two meet on a passing train when Mordecai is thrown out of a boxcar while Curley just hopped the freight car to catch a ride. He jumps off to help Mordecai.
Curley is a natural for the trade, and Mordecai teaches him some of the tricks. They go through a number of cons. At one point, Curley says he doesn't feel right about taking money from honest folks. Mordecai says not to worry, "you can't cheat an honest man." He then sets out to prove his point by the next few cons, and Curley sees that he seems to be right. Of course, Mordecai skirts the issue of outright stealing of a car.
After meeting a pretty debutante, Curley begins to have second thoughts. He'd like to pay his dues, get out of the service and settle down. The film has some funny chase and pursuit scenes with the local sheriff. It has an ending that is satisfactory to Mordecai, Curley, the girl, and her father, with only the sheriff and law left short shrifted.
George C. Scott is very good as Mordecai, and Michael Sarrazin is Curley. Harry Morgan is Sheriff Slade. Sue Lyon is the southern belle, Bonnie Lee Packard, and Jack Albertson plays her father.