'Con Man' will steal your attention; KCK native is focus of fine Cinemax special

Con Man," the latest gem out of Liz Garbus and Rory Kennedy's documentary shop, tells the story of a Kansas City, Kan., native named Jim Hogue. Like many Americans, he wanted to leave the hometown behind and make a fresh start. So he reinvented himself - literally. At Palo Alto High School in California, Hogue stole the identity of a deceased infant and passed for a 16-year-old. He was 26 at the time. Later, posing as a brilliant 18-year-old named Alexi Santana, Hogue got admitted to Princeton University. On a scholarship. He asked Princeton for a deferment because, he said, his mother was dying of leukemia. In fact, at the time Hogue was in prison. "Con Man," airing at 6 p.m. Tuesday on Cinemax as part of its "Reel Life" series (which, by the way, is reason alone to get Cinemax), is a fascinating and sympathetic study of an obviously brilliant guy with a pathological aversion to living by the rules. "Con Man" is also about the person who made the film, Jesse Moss. He had befriended Hogue at Palo Alto High; 15 years later, Moss went looking for him. This film records his cross-country search for the elusive "real" Hogue, who had rarely been seen after serving his last jail sentence. Along the way, Moss interviews classmates and associates who were fooled by Hogue. Most of them still speak of him with awe and respect, even affection. An old friend from KCK astutely compares Hogue's passion for long-distance running to his habit of deception: "When you run, you're telling your body a lie," says the friend. After two years, the filmmaker finally catches up with his subject, now a loner living in one of the most desolate parts of the United States. He seems a broken man but also strangely defiant about his life choices. He tries to pass it off as just his alternative lifestyle. This 55-minute film humanizes the onetime Washington High School track star. Yet I thought Moss could have looked more critically at Hogue. One person says he committed a "victimless crime," but Hogue was a thief as well. "Con Man" mentions his role in a stolen bicycle ring but doesn't bring up a more serious conviction for stealing jewelry (at Harvard, no less). One admirer said that if Hogue hadn't been caught, he probably would've wound up on Wall Street one day. Now there's a comforting thought. Other highlights: To mark its premiere of "Startup.Com," Sundance Channel on Friday airs three documentaries about the rise and fall of e-business. Meet Kaleil and Tom. Best buds from childhood, they brainstorm a can't-miss idea, jump on the dot-com bandwagon - and off we go. "Startup.Com" (8 p.m. Friday) moves at a brisk pace. The cameras follow the two entrepreneurs everywhere: taxicabs, meetings with venture capitalists, media feeds, employee pep rallies, even the bedroom. In more scenes than not, they're on the phone. The venture, which seems to have had a sounder business plan than, say, Enron, grows rapidly. The founders ride this wave to the top - and then come crashing down with it. And we see it all, including the collateral damage done to their lifelong friendship. (Happy ending the film doesn't tell you: They've reconciled and are now in another venture ... rescuing other failed dot-coms.) "E-Dreams" (6:25 p.m.) wants to be another "Startup.Com" but spends too much time joyriding with the founders of Kozmo.com, a delivery service that burned through millions on a business plan that was shaky at best. "Revolution O.S." (5 p.m.) tells the story of a merry band of computer geeks who essentially designed the guts of the e-conomy - the software that drives millions of Internet computers - and then gave it away for free. The "O.S." stands for both "operating system" and "open source," and understanding these terms is essential to staying interested in this film. To its credit, "Revolution O.S." helps us do just that. In other documentary news, HBO's "Taxicab Confessions" returns with an all-new episode from, where else, Las Vegas, at 9 p.m. Sunday. And St. Luke's Hospital and Shawnee Mission Medical Center are home to two of the maternity wards featured in "Labor and Delivery," airing on TLC at 8 tonight. Seems like "The Job" just came back to television, and now it's going away again. So we have to put up with 22 episodes of tired old Drew Carey while settling for six measly instant classics from Denis Leary and the gang. Tells you what kind of mess ABC's gotten itself into, doesn't it? Wednesday's episode at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 9, ends with a cliffhanger. Let's hope "The Job" returns next year - or sooner - and doesn't leave us hanging. @ART CAPTION:At the time he was admitted to Princeton University - under the alias Alexi Santana - James Arthur Hogue was in prison. "Con Man," a fascinating documentary about Hogue's life and crimes, airs at 6 p.m. Tuesday on Cinemax. @ART:Photo @ART CREDIT:HBO