FLIM FLAM FILMS
We all like to be fooled (if it doesn’t cost too much) and to see others take the bait.  Herewith are the best flicks about scams, flim-flam movies. 
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) is based on Lee Israel’s book of the same name. In this film we’re in on the scam from the start, only wondering if they’ll get caught.  Melissa McCarthy portrays the woman who gets really good at forging the signature of authors and creating valuable editions. Richard Grant plays her abetter, often taking their forgeries to dealers for cash. This is a fascinating story well played. Both actors were nominated for Oscars, but lost to Olivia Colman for The Favourite and Mahershala Ali for Green Book.
The Sting (1973), which won the Oscar for best movie, has both Paul Newman and Robert Redford, and Scott Joplin’s wonderful ragtime music. The story lets you in on the scam but still manages to fool the ill-tempered victim (Robert Shaw) and most of the audience (me included). So, at the end, you get this wonderful jaw-dropping jolt of understanding and it all falls into place. Loads of fun.
George C.Scott stretched a bit as The Flim Flam Man (1967) but you eventually buy into his character and enjoy yourself as he charms and cheats his way across the South. Michael Sarazin is his too-honest apostle. We’re in on most of the scams; the fun is in watching him work them.
House of Games (1987) is director-writer David Mamet's successful venture into Alfred Hitchcock territory. Nothing is as it seems and you are kept guessing to the end. Joe Mantegna is the con man and Lindsay Crouse the psychologist who is in over her head. Mamet's dialogue is always slightly stagy, but you get over that in 10 minutes and are trying to figure out who is doing what to whom. 
Under Suspicion (1992) is a snappy, surprising little con game of a movie with Liam Neeson (before he was anybody) as a down-at-the-heels PI and Laura San Giacomo as his employer. Her late husband was a famous painter and some of his canvasses are missing. Neeson is on board to recover them and thinks he knows how
to come out  with more than his salary. Neat turns in the plot right to the end.
Paper Moon (1973) features the irresistible father-daughter team of Ryan and Tatum O’Neal (Oscar, Best Actress). Tough con-man Ryan finds orphan Tatum is a fast learner and soon she is better at their various scams than he is. Funny, touching without too much schmaltz, and a lot of fun.
All of the movies in this column are available on DVD. All but House of Games  and Under Suspicion are fine for kids eight and up.