For the benefit of those who haven't seen the film, 'The Spanish Prisoner' is a con game playing to a victim's vanity and greed. I didn't know that before watching the picture, but have seen the modern day, internet equivalent in action that goes by the name of a Nigerian Money Transfer. Same idea, you'll get rich if you shell out some cash to help out a 'rich' unfortunate in a foreign country. Sure, and there are bridges in New York City you can buy too.

This was a compelling and intriguing story up to the point when Joe Ross (Campbell Scott) knew he was duped. Then it sort of fell apart under it's own complexity. What gave it away was one main thing. In a glaring unforced error in screen writing, Ross's contact at the FBI accepted his cold call and agreed to meet him at a questionable location. Ross, who was smart enough to come up with 'a process' that would control the global market for his company, didn't have an inkling that the odds of getting face time with an agent were virtually nil on the basis of an anonymous phone call. That one instance lowered the credibility factor of the story for me, and then it was a patient wait to see how it all played out.

One thing though, I'd never seen Steve Martin in a serious role before and I thought he did a great job as the enigmatic Julian 'Jimmy' Dell. His role was critical in setting up the scam, the grift as it were, The Spanish Prisoner trap for Ross. I liked what he had to say about good people/bad people, that people generally look like what they are. I've often come to that same conclusion myself, it's sort of an intuition you get about someone who might not be playing it straight with you. I thought Jimmy Dell was giving off that vibe even while being generous to a fault with Ross. But if you're looking for that switch with the red bound book containing 'the process', you're not going to see it. The camera never leaves the book when it was positioned on the ledge by the phony FBI agent and then handed back to Ross. You just have to take it on faith that the scam was pulled off.

So without analyzing things too thoroughly the film is a good enough mystery flick, but still, it's the little things that bother me. Like the switch Joe Ross himself made with the Budge tennis book. It turned out to be a maguffin of sorts with no bearing on the outcome of the story, just like Jimmy Dell's 'sister' ruse. And in the end, Joe Ross WAS the victim of an elaborate scam because his process notes were gone along with his expected big time pay day. Some days, it just doesn't pay to chew through the restraints.

This is a film I probably never would have seen in the first place. However, I was on an airplane with nothing to do and this was the in-flight film, so I reluctantly watched. The first thing that really struck me was that Steve Martin was a prominent character but the film was in no way a comedy. Second, and this really hooked me, was that the writing was very good and quite creative--something I would have expected had I known the film was by David Mamet. Because the film has many twists and turns and surprises, I won't even try to explain the plot--just watch it for yourself. About the only negatives were a few of the twists seemed a tad difficult to believe and Campbell Scott wasn't the most compelling actor in the world as the lead. Still, the film was well-written and unique--and I liked that enough to watch the film again--something I very rarely do.

Joe Ross (Campbell Scott) is a brilliant designer who created The Process to control world market. He has come to this tropical island location with Susan Ricci (Rebecca Pidgeon) and George Lang (Ricky Jay) to sell it to his boss Mr. Klein (Ben Gazzara). He wants assurances of a big bonus. Then he's approached by Jimmy Dell (Steve Martin). There's also an FBI agent Pat McCune (Felicity Huffman).

This is a very over written script from director David Mamet. It's all about the process (forgive the phrase) and not about narrative. The big money making Process is never explained. It's about manners and style. The Mamet dialog is sometimes so amazing because it fits the movie. This movie is like some kind of stage play on a Caribbean resort. It's all so very fake and somewhat stiff. This is a smart movie written by a very smart man except it's a little too smart for its own good.