The Spanish Prisoner

The Spanish Prisoner (1997) is a David Mamet con-thriller — stream it online on iFILM. Joe Ross has invented a proprietary industrial process worth millions to his company. His reward seems deliberately vague, his boss unreadable. Then a wealthy stranger named Jimmy Dell enters his life, and what starts as casual friendship starts to feel like something else entirely.

Campbell Scott plays Joe with the right kind of careful intelligence that makes his eventual confusion plausible. Steve Martin is cast entirely against type as Dell — no warmth, no comedy, just a smooth and quietly unsettling presence. Rebecca Pidgeon, Ricky Jay and Ben Gazzara fill a world where no one's motives stay clear for long. Mamet wrote the original screenplay himself, building a plot that adds a new layer of deception every twenty minutes.

The film runs on dialogue and misdirection, not action, and it earns every twist by keeping the logic airtight. Watch The Spanish Prisoner (1997) online on iFILM.