Movies with Con Artists: Essential Films
The con artist subgenre explores the art of deception through characters who live by their wits, manipulating trust and exploiting human psychology for profit. Our curated watch list spans from the Golden Age of Hollywood through contemporary cinema, showcasing how filmmakers have explored themes of identity, trust, and moral ambiguity.
The list includes everything from lighthearted romps like The Lady Eve to morally complex character studies like The Talented Mr. Ripley, from Mamet's cerebral mind games in House of Games to Spielberg's crowd-pleasing Catch Me If You Can. Whether focused on small-time hustlers or elaborate long cons, these films reveal that the con artist genre is fundamentally about human nature: our desires, our vulnerabilities, and the masks we all wear.
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The Lady Eve
A clever con artist sets her sights on a wealthy but naive heir, but complications arise when she genuinely falls for her mark. When her scheme is exposed, she devises an elaborate revenge plot involving a false aristocratic identity.
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Nightmare Alley
A drifter joins a traveling carnival and becomes entangled in the dark world of fortune tellers and con artists, leading him down a dangerous path of ambition and deception.
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The Hustler
A talented but self-destructive pool hustler challenges the legendary Minnesota Fats to a high-stakes match that will test both his skill and character.
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The Flim-Flam Man
A charming con artist takes on a young Army deserter as his protégé, and together they pull off various scams across the rural South while being pursued by a determined sheriff. As their schemes become increasingly dangerous, the young man begins to question whether a life of crime is worth the consequences.
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The Sting
A novice con artist teams up with a seasoned grifter to pull off an elaborate revenge scheme against a dangerous mobster in 1930s Chicago.
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Paper Moon
During the Great Depression, a charming con man reluctantly teams up with a precocious young girl who claims to be his daughter, leading to an unlikely partnership as they travel across the American Midwest.
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Trading Places
A wealthy investor and a street-smart hustler have their lives completely switched as part of a cruel social experiment conducted by two wealthy brothers.
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The Color of Money
Former pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson mentors a talented but cocky young player named Vincent, teaching him the art of hustling as they tour pool halls together. Their partnership eventually deteriorates, leading to a confrontation where mentor and student face off as rivals.
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House of Games
A psychiatrist becomes entangled in the dangerous world of con artists when she tries to help a compulsive gambler, only to discover that nothing is as it seems.
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Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Two con artists, sophisticated Lawrence and crude Freddy, compete in a high-stakes swindling contest to determine who gets to stay in their luxurious French Riviera territory. Their target is an American heiress, with the winner claiming both the money and the right to remain in town.
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A Fish Called Wanda
A hilarious heist comedy where a jewel thief's carefully planned diamond robbery becomes complicated when multiple parties scheme to double-cross each other for the loot.
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The Grifters
A small-time con artist finds himself caught between his estranged mother and new girlfriend, both skilled grifters with their own dangerous schemes.
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The Spanish Prisoner
An inventor of a revolutionary secret process becomes paranoid and isolated when he suspects that both his colleagues and his corporation are plotting against him in this intricate psychological thriller.
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The Talented Mr. Ripley
A calculating young man named Tom Ripley is hired to travel to Italy and bring back a wealthy playboy, but becomes dangerously obsessed with infiltrating his target's luxurious lifestyle. What begins as a simple mission spirals into a web of deception and identity theft.
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Nine Queens
Two con artists attempt to pull off an elaborate scheme involving a sheet of counterfeit rare stamps called the "nine queens" and an unsuspecting collector.
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Catch Me If You Can
Based on a true story, a brilliant young con artist successfully impersonates a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and prosecutor while cashing millions in fraudulent checks, all while being pursued by a determined FBI agent.
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Confidence
A skilled con artist and his crew discover they've accidentally swindled money from an accountant working for a dangerous crime boss. Now they must pull off an even bigger con to stay alive and settle their debt while evading both criminals and law enforcement.
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Matchstick Men
A neurotic con artist's carefully planned life is turned upside down when his estranged teenage daughter suddenly enters his world, forcing him to balance his criminal schemes with unexpected fatherhood.
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Criminal
Two con artists team up to pull off an elaborate scam involving a fake Silver Certificate and a wealthy currency collector. Their carefully planned scheme becomes complicated when personal relationships and family obligations interfere with the job.
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The Brothers Bloom
Two master con artists embark on one final elaborate scheme, targeting a wealthy and eccentric heiress in a romantic adventure that spans the globe.
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American Hustle
A charismatic con artist and his alluring partner are coerced by an unpredictable FBI agent into an elaborate sting operation targeting corrupt politicians and organized crime figures in 1970s New Jersey.
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The Best Offer
A world-renowned antiques expert and auctioneer who lives a solitary life finds his carefully ordered existence transformed when he's hired to evaluate a mysterious woman's priceless art collection. As he becomes emotionally involved with his enigmatic client, his passion threatens to upend everything he thought he knew about himself.
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Focus
An experienced con artist takes a novice under his wing, but their romantic involvement complicates things when she later resurfaces as competition in the high-stakes world of deception.
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The Good Liar
A seasoned con man targets a wealthy widow in what he believes will be his greatest score, but their growing relationship complicates his carefully laid plans.
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I Care a Lot
A cunning legal guardian makes a living by exploiting elderly clients under her care, but her scheme backfires when she targets the wrong person.

Nightmare Alley
An ambitious carnival con man with a talent for manipulation becomes entangled with a cunning female psychologist in this dark psychological thriller about ambition and deception.
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Other Film Series
Bruce Dern
A prolific character actor known for intense villain roles and complex antiheroes across six decades of cinema.
Dirty Harry
San Francisco Inspector Harry Callahan's uncompromising approach to justice across five iconic cop thrillers.
Madea
Tyler Perry's comedy-drama series featuring the outspoken and larger-than-life Mabel 'Madea' Simmons as she intervenes in various family situations.
Miss Marple
Theatrical adaptations of Agatha Christie's amateur detective Miss Marple, featuring Margaret Rutherford's iconic 1960s series and Angela Lansbury's standalone film.
No Retreat, No Surrender
A trilogy of standalone martial arts action films connected only by title and shared themes of underdog fighters facing overwhelming odds.
Peter Bogdanovich
Influential American filmmaker and film critic who emerged as a key figure of the New Hollywood movement with his masterful early 1970s films.