Joe Ross is a rising star. He’s designed a process that will make his company millions. He wants a bonus for this work, but fears his boss will stiff him. He meets a wealthy stranger, Jimmy Dell, and they strike up an off-kilter friendship. When the boss seems to set Ross up to get nothing, he seeks Dell’s help. Then he learns Dell is not what he seems, so he contacts an FBI agent through his tightly-wound assistant, Susan Ricci. The FBI asks him to help entrap Dell. He accepts, a sting is arranged, but suddenly it’s he who’s been conned out of the process and framed for murder. Bewildered and desperate, he enlists Susan’s aid to prove his innocence.

The Spanish Prisoner (1997)
  • Rating: (13,644 votes)
  • Taglines:Can you really trust anyone? » It's the oldest con in the book. »
  • Runtime:110 minutes
  • Director: David Mamet
  • Country:USA
  • Actors:
    Joseph A. 'Joe' Ross
    Campbell Scott
    Julian 'Jimmy' Dell
    Steve Martin
    Susan Ricci
    Rebecca Pidgeon
    Mr. Klein
    Ben Gazzara
    George Lang
    Ricky Jay
    Pat McCune
    Felicity Huffman
    Businessman
    Richard L. Friedman
    Businessman
    Jerry Graff
    Businessman
    G. Roy Levin
    Resort Concierge
    Hilary Hinckle
  • Genres:Drama, Mystery, Thriller
  • Producers:
    Letty Aronson
    co-executive producer  
    J.E. Beaucaire
    executive producer  
    Jean Doumanian
    producer  
    Sarah Green
    co-producer  
  • Plot: Joe Ross is a rising star. He's designed a process that will make his company millions. He wants a bonus for this work, but fears his boss will stiff him. He meets a wealthy stranger, Jimmy Dell, and they strike up an off-kilter friendship. When the boss seems to set Ross up to get nothing, he seeks Dell's help. Then he learns Dell is not what he seems, so he contacts an FBI agent through his tightly-wound assistant, Susan Ricci. The FBI asks him to help entrap Dell. He accepts, a sting is arranged, but suddenly it's he who's been conned out of the process and framed for murder. Bewildered and desperate, he enlists Susan's aid to prove his innocence. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
The Spanish Prisoner
  • User's comment:one of the year's best films by anonymous

    "The Spanish Prisoner" comes closer to Hitchcock than anything I've seen in a long, long time. The cast is excellent; I haven't seen Campbell Scott in a movie since he was much younger, but he really turned in a great performance, loaded with nuance and subtlety. Steve Martin is truly outstanding--I think it's fair to say that this is one of his career's best performances. The only clunker is Rebecca Pidgeon; her character is poorly written, and she's not much of an actress. Just between you and me, I think she only got the job because she's sleeping with the director (she's Mamet's wife). Ed O'Neill even shows up halfway through the film with a nice cameo.

    I don't want to give away much about the story for those who haven't seen TSP, but it really is amazing. Many of the plot twists actually made me laugh--not because they were ridiculous, but because they were so ingeniously crafted and actually plausible. Since he wrote AND directed the movie, though, David Mamet let himself get away with a few bad lines and one or two hokey plot devices. In the greater context of the movie, however, they're forgivable.


  • Quotes: Susan Ricci: It shows to go you, you never know who anybody is. Joe Ross: Funny old world. Susan Ricci: Funny old world? Dog my cats!
  • Also known as: La prisonnière espagnole (Canada - French title), La prisonnière espagnole (France - imdb display title), A Trapaça (Brazil - imdb display title), A spanyol fogoly (Hungary - imdb display title), Die unsichtbare Falle (Germany), Espanjalainen vanki (Finland), Ha-Oketz Ha-Sfaradi (Israel - Hebrew title), Hiszpanski wiezien (Poland - imdb display title), Il prigioniero (Italy), Ispanyol Mahkum (Turkey - imdb display title, Turkish title), Konspirationen (Sweden), La formula (Italy), La trama - The Spanish Prisoner (Spain - imdb display title), La trampa (Mexico), Mannen fra St. Estephe (Norway), O Prisioneiro Espanhol (Portugal), Prisionero del peligro (Argentina), Spanski zapornik (Slovenia), Spanski zatvorenik (Serbia), Stimeno paihnidi (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title),

What do you think of this movie? Leave a comment.