The Spanish Prisoner (1997)

88% of critics liked it
(59 reviews)
79% of users liked it
(7,211 ratings)

Writer-director David Mamet crafted this unusual, Hitchcockian thriller in which no one is who they appear to be. Campbell Scott is Joe Ross, who has just created a "process" that stands to make his company and his boss, Klein (Ben Gazzara), millions of dollars. At a clandestine meeting in the… More Writer-director David Mamet crafted this unusual, Hitchcockian thriller in which no one is who they appear to be. Campbell Scott is Joe Ross, who has just created a "process" that stands to make his company and his boss, Klein (Ben Gazzara), millions of dollars. At a clandestine meeting in the Caribbean, Ross discusses the details of the process with company executives. There, purely by chance, or so he believes, he meets the wealthy, enigmatic Jimmy Dell (Steve Martin), and the two strike up an unusual friendship. Dell informs Ross that he's naïve to believe that his company will fairly compensate him for his valuable work. Upon returning home, Ross becomes paranoid that Dell is right, and he takes steps to protect his invention, becoming unsure if he can trust Klein or even his own love-struck assistant (Rebecca Pidgeon). When Ross discovers that Dell has lied to him about his identity, he contacts the FBI -- he then finds himself set up as a murder suspect who learns, almost too late, to trust no one. The title of the film refers not to any of the characters but to a classic con artist's scam. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 52 min.
Directed By: David Mamet
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

In Theaters: Sep 8, 1997 Wide
On DVD: Oct 6, 1998
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Critic Reviews

Leonard Klady, Variety
David Mamet has a penchant for sleight-of-hand thrillers, and The Spanish Prisoner is his craftiest to date.
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
The Spanish Prisoner shares with Glengarry Glen Ross a vision of life as a cosmic con game in which the victimizers feed the fantasies of the victims.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
There's something fresh, even restorative, in watching an American studio movie that doesn't treat the movie-going audience like a bunch of gullible marks.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Mamet brings more than a decade's worth of filmmaking experience to his latest project, and his skill as a director has improved considerably.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
It rolls its sleeves above its elbows to show it has no hidden cards, and then produces them out of thin air.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
It...has an appealing, ironically rarefied look that the filmmaker measures out carefully, in a story that begins with a seaplane and ends with a ferry.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
One exceedingly well-crafted piece of manipulation that keeps the audience strung along with every intricate turn of the plot.
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
The result is rather frustrating -- the story works but feels oddly hollow, almost like a con game itself.
, Film4
This is probably Mamet's most purely enjoyable film since the gangster comedy Things Change.
Derek Adams, Time Out
David Mamet's most consistently enjoyable film to date is a cool, typically clever con-trick drama packed with deliciously inventive twists that get ever more convoluted and unnerving as the plot proceeds.
Dragan Antulov, rec.arts.movies.reviews
A reminder that even intelligent films can be exercises of style over substance.
Brian Mckay, eFilmCritic.com
A substandard con flick that is surprisingly lightweight for a David Mamet film. In fact, it's so watered down that it feels more like a forgettable T.V. Movie-of-the-week.
Carlo Cavagna, AboutFilm.com
In David Mamet's world nothing is what it seems and nobody talks like a real person. The stylized dialogue is not a flaw--it's part of the entertainment. Mamet keeps you and star Campbell Scott guessing until the final moments.
Eugene Novikov, Film Blather
A very impressive movie, The Spanish Prisoner entertains mightily.
John R. McEwen, Film Quips Online
An intriguing whodunit about murder and computer software, The Spanish Prisoner fails because for the most part, its actors aren't up to the task, and Mamet is unable to educate them properly.
Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks
David Mamet's latest contraption has its satisfying moments, but the film is rarely more than just that: a contraption.
Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer
By the end, the story does overrun the characters; but we only know them in a superficial way, so it seems natural for them to be secondary to the plot.
Kevin N. Laforest, Montreal Film Journal
Truly a great film, much smarter than most thrillers.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

Good twisty drama.
Ken S

Mamet takes a page from the Hitchcock hand book.
Pierluigi P

Mamet plays to be Hitchcock like he did in his first feature. The results are pretty good, a fine and engaging thriller that unravels its clues patiently and keeps you guessing what is going to happen next.
Alice S

Exciting in parts, but completely filled with McGuffins. How does Joe not notice the book was switched? Why does he touch the murder weapon? Why does Susan pin that shamrock on him? It's all just to further the plot with canned suspense as it hurtles toward a <i>deus ex… More
Exciting in parts, but completely filled with McGuffins. How does Joe not notice the book was switched? Why does he touch the murder weapon? Why does Susan pin that shamrock on him? It's all just to further the plot with canned suspense as it hurtles toward a <i>deus ex machina</i> ending.
Bruce B

Don't know how this one ever got by me. Don't let title throw you. Steve martin Played a great part. Its worth seeing and adding to your collection.
Alec B

Anyone who didn't see the con coming midway through the movie is probably braindead. The Spanish Prisoner is one of the more interesting films about how an innocent man gets tricked by a bunch of really smart people with way too much damn time on their hands. What I liked was the… More
Anyone who didn't see the con coming midway through the movie is probably braindead. The Spanish Prisoner is one of the more interesting films about how an innocent man gets tricked by a bunch of really smart people with way too much damn time on their hands. What I liked was the slow exectution of the material. It would be easy for any director to make it really flashy, but this film walks at a slow pace from scene to scene. I was a big fan of Steve Martin in this, I like when actors step out of what is normally expected of them and Martin does it very well here. Not a perfect film, but and interesting piece of work from David Mamet without any four leader words, which is unusual for him.
Doctor S

The more I think about events in 'The Spanish Prisoner,' the less I like it so I'd better write this review while it's still at 2 stars. I simply don't buy these elaborate con schemes that involves everyone with a speaking role. 'Criminal' is… More
The more I think about events in 'The Spanish Prisoner,' the less I like it so I'd better write this review while it's still at 2 stars. I simply don't buy these elaborate con schemes that involves everyone with a speaking role. 'Criminal' is another example. The fact that this swindle relies completely on a mathematician stumbling across the business card of someone he met briefly on vacation while thumbing through a friend's scrapbook redefines implausible. And that's just one of the many machinations required for this scheme to work! David Mamet's script is typically wry and stilted, but Mametspeak requires a certain delivery to pull off and as such David is not a very good director of his own material. Rebecca Pidgeon in particular comes off very badly as a line reader. Try 'American Buffalo' instead for a much better example of a Mamet con story onscreen.
Anthony V

Mamet?s intelligent script keeps you guessing until the end.