The Con Is the Story

Grifters, marks, and the beautiful lie.

A heist steals things; a con steals trust. These films run on charm, misdirection and the terrible pleasure of watching a mark walk willingly toward the trap. The best of them pull the same trick on you — you don't realize you've been played until the final reveal.

Thriller Crime Twist-in-the-end
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Created: August 1, 2026

The Collection

The Sting

The Sting

1973
1
The Sting
1973
1
The Sting
IMDb 8.3 / 10
Director George Roy Hill
Cast Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw
Box Office $156,000,000
Why Newman and Redford build an entire fake betting parlour to fleece one gangster. The blueprint for e…
Paper Moon

Paper Moon

1973
2
Paper Moon
1973
2
Paper Moon
IMDb 8.1 / 10
Director Peter Bogdanovich
Cast Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Madeline Kahn
Box Office $30,900,000
Why A Depression-era grifter and a maybe-daughter work small-town scams in luminous black and white. Th…
House of Games

House of Games

1987
3
House of Games
1987
3
House of Games
IMDb 7.2 / 10
Director David Mamet
Cast Lindsay Crouse, Joe Mantegna, Mike Nussbaum
Box Office $2,585,639
Why Mamet's ice-cold debut: a psychiatrist is drawn into the world of con men and discovers the longest…
Matchstick Men

Matchstick Men

2003
4
Matchstick Men
2003
4
Matchstick Men
IMDb 7.3 / 10
Director Ridley Scott
Cast Nicolas Cage, Alison Lohman, Sam Rockwell
Box Office $36,906,460
Why Nicolas Cage's twitchy con artist meets the daughter he never knew, and Scott lets you forget you'r…
Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can

2002
5
Catch Me If You Can
2002
5
Catch Me If You Can
IMDb 8.1 / 10
Director Steven Spielberg
Cast Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken
Box Office $164,615,351
Why A teenage Frank Abagnale forges his way through pilot, doctor and lawyer while an FBI man chases th…
Nine Queens

Nine Queens

2000
6
Nine Queens
2000
6
Nine Queens
IMDb 7.9 / 10
Director Fabián Bielinsky
Cast Ricardo Darín, Gastón Pauls, Graciela Tenenbaum
Box Office $1,222,889
Why Two Buenos Aires con men, a set of forged stamps, and a plot that keeps folding in on itself. Argen…
The Grifters

The Grifters

1990
7
The Grifters
1990
7
The Grifters
IMDb 6.9 / 10
Director Stephen Frears
Cast Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening
Box Office $13,446,769
Why Three con artists — mother, son, lover — circle each other with Jim Thompson's noir venom. In this …
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

1988
8
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
1988
8
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
IMDb 7.4 / 10
Director Frank Oz
Cast Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenne Headly
Box Office $42,039,085
Why Michael Caine and Steve Martin bet on who can swindle a rich woman first. The rare con comedy where…
The Spanish Prisoner

The Spanish Prisoner

1997
9
The Spanish Prisoner
1997
9
The Spanish Prisoner
IMDb 7.1 / 10
Director David Mamet
Cast Campbell Scott, Ricky Jay, Rebecca Pidgeon
Box Office $9,593,903
Why Mamet again, because no one distrusts people better. An inventor is courted, flattered and slowly s…
American Hustle

American Hustle

2013
10
American Hustle
2013
10
American Hustle
IMDb 7.2 / 10
Director David O. Russell
Cast Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper
Box Office $150,117,807
Why Con artists forced to run a sting for the FBI, all perms and polyester desperation. Everyone is pla…
Focus

Focus

2015
11
Focus
2015
11
Focus
IMDb 6.6 / 10
Director Glenn Ficarra
Cast Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro
Box Office $53,862,963
Why Will Smith's veteran con teaches a protégée the trade, and the film keeps pickpocketing your certai…
The Brothers Bloom

The Brothers Bloom

2008
12
The Brothers Bloom
2008
12
The Brothers Bloom
IMDb 6.7 / 10
Director Rian Johnson
Cast Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo
Box Office $3,531,756
Why Two con-man brothers plan one last elaborate score on a lonely heiress. Johnson turns the con into …
Six Degrees of Separation

Six Degrees of Separation

1993
13
Six Degrees of Separation
1993
13
Six Degrees of Separation
IMDb 6.8 / 10
Director Fred Schepisi
Cast Will Smith, Stockard Channing, Donald Sutherland
Box Office $6,405,918
Why A young con man talks his way into wealthy Manhattan homes by claiming to be Sidney Poitier's son. …
Bad Education

Bad Education

2019
14
Bad Education
2019
14
Bad Education
IMDb 7.1 / 10
Director Cory Finley
Cast Hugh Jackman, Ray Romano, Welker White
Why Hugh Jackman's beloved school superintendent is quietly embezzling millions, exposed by a student r…
Glengarry Glen Ross

Glengarry Glen Ross

1992
15
Glengarry Glen Ross
1992
15
Glengarry Glen Ross
IMDb 7.6 / 10
Director James Foley
Cast Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin
Box Office $10,725,228
Why Real-estate salesmen conning desperate buyers and each other, in Mamet's brutal aria of the hard se…

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