Plot
Tom Ripley is a young man struggling to make a living in New York City by any and all means, including a series of small-time confidence scams. One day, he is approached by shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf to travel to "Mongibello" (based on the resort town Positano), in Italy, to persuade Greenleaf's errant son, Dickie, to return to the United States and join the family business. Ripley agrees, exaggerating his friendship with Dickie, a half-remembered acquaintance, to gain the elder Greenleaf's trust.
Shortly after his arrival in Italy, Ripley contrives to meet Dickie and his friend, Marge Sherwood. Dickie allows Ripley to stay with him in his summer home. As the two men spend more time together, Marge feels left out. Soon after Ripley arrives, Freddie Miles, a school friend of Dickie's, visits the summer home. Ripley immediately dislikes Freddie. Dickie, concerned about Marge's feelings, becomes more attentive to her, and allows the relationship to become romantic. Ripley, nursing feelings of jealousy, dresses up in Dickie's clothing and practices his mannerisms. Dickie walks in on him and reacts with shock and confusion.
Ripley senses that Dickie has begun to tire of him, resenting his constant presence and growing personal dependence. Ripley has indeed become obsessed with Dickie, which is further reinforced by his desire to imitate and maintain the wealthy lifestyle Dickie has afforded him. As a gesture to Ripley, Dickie agrees to travel with him on a short holiday to San Remo. Sensing that he is about to cut him loose, Ripley decides to murder Dickie and assume his identity. When the two set sail in a rented boat, Ripley beats him to death with an oar, dumps his anchor-weighted body into the water and scuttles the boat.
Ripley assumes Dickie's identity, living off the latter's trust fund and forging communications to Marge to assure her that Dickie has dumped her. Ripley forges checks and changes his appearance to better resemble Dickie to continue the lavish lifestyle he has enjoyed. Freddie encounters Ripley at what he supposes to be Dickie's apartment in Rome and soon suspects something is wrong. When Freddie finally confronts him, Ripley kills him with a heavy glass ashtray in the apartment. He later disposes of the body on the outskirts of Rome, attempting to make the police believe that Freddie was killed in a robbery.
Ripley enters a cat-and-mouse game with the Italian police but manages to keep himself safe by restoring his own identity and moving to Venice. In succession, Marge, Dickie's father and an American private detective confront Ripley, who suggests to them that Dickie was depressed and may have committed suicide. Marge stays for a while at Ripley's rented house in Venice. When she discovers Dickie's rings in Ripley's possession, she seems to be on the verge of realizing the truth. Panicked, Ripley contemplates murdering Marge, but she is saved when she says that if Dickie gave his rings to Ripley, then he probably meant to kill himself.
The story concludes with Ripley traveling to Greece and resigning himself to eventually getting caught. However, he discovers that the Greenleaf family has accepted that Dickie is dead and that they have transferred his inheritance to Ripley – in accordance with a will forged by Ripley on Dickie's typewriter. While the book ends with Ripley happily rich, it also suggests that he may forever be dogged by paranoia. In one of the final paragraphs, he nervously envisions a group of police officers waiting to arrest him, and Highsmith leaves her protagonist wondering, "...was he going to see policemen waiting for him on every pier that he ever approached?" However, Ripley quickly dismisses this and proceeds with his trip.
Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character Tom Ripley. She wrote 22 novels and numerous short stories in a career spanning nearly five decades, and her work has led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her writing was influenced by existentialist literature, and questioned notions of identity and popular morality. She was dubbed "the poet of apprehension" by novelist Graham Greene.
Ripley's Game (1974) is a psychological thriller by Patricia Highsmith, the third in her series about the con artist and murderer Tom Ripley.
The American Friend is a 1977 neo-noir film written and directed by Wim Wenders, adapted from the 1974 novel Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith. It stars Dennis Hopper as career-criminal Tom Ripley and Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Zimmermann, a terminally ill picture framer whom Ripley coaxes into becoming an assassin. The film uses an unusual "natural" language concept: Zimmermann speaks German with his family and his doctor, but English with Ripley and while visiting Paris.
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Anthony Minghella, based on Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel. Set in the 1950s, it stars Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, a con artist who is sent from New York City to Italy to convince Dickie Greenleaf, a rich and spoiled playboy, to return home – however, after failing, Ripley takes extreme measures. Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, and Philip Seymour Hoffman also appear in supporting roles. This film was released forty years after the adaptation that had been made in 1960, Purple Noon by René Clément with Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet and Marie Laforêt.
Ripley Under Water is a 1991 psychological thriller by Patricia Highsmith, the last of five novels featuring Tom Ripley, "an intelligent, cultured gentleman who dabbles in art, music and, occasionally, murder".
Tom Ripley is a fictional character in the Ripley series of crime novels by American novelist Patricia Highsmith, as well as several film adaptations. He is a psychopathic career criminal, con artist, and serial killer. The five novels in which he appears—The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley, and Ripley Under Water—were published between 1955 and 1991.
Ripley Under Ground is a psychological thriller by Patricia Highsmith, the second novel in her Ripliad series. It was published in June 1970.
Purple Noon is a 1960 crime thriller film starring Alain Delon, alongside Marie Laforêt and Maurice Ronet; Romy Schneider, Delon's girlfriend at the time, makes a brief cameo appearance in the film. The film follows Tom Ripley, a young American sent to Italy to convince wealthy playboy Philippe Greenleaf to return home. As Tom becomes obsessed with Philippe's luxurious lifestyle, he devises a plan that will allow him to take over Philippe's life.
This Sweet Sickness (1960) is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith, about a man who is obsessed with a woman who has rejected his advances. It is a "painful novel about obsessive imaginary love".
Andrew Scott is an Irish actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, his accolades include a British Academy Television Award and two Laurence Olivier Awards, along with nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.
The Boy Who Followed Ripley is a 1980 psychological thriller by Patricia Highsmith, the fourth in her series about career criminal Tom Ripley. In this book, Ripley continues living quietly on his French estate, Belle Ombre, only obliquely involved in criminal activity. His idyll is shaken when he meets a teenaged boy who is hiding from the police.
The Room is a 2003 American independent romantic drama film written, directed, and produced by Tommy Wiseau, who also stars in the film alongside Juliette Danielle and Greg Sestero. Set in San Francisco, the film is centered around a melodramatic love triangle between amiable banker Johnny (Wiseau), his deceptive fiancée Lisa (Danielle), and his conflicted best friend Mark (Sestero). The work was reportedly intended to be semi-autobiographical in nature. According to Wiseau, the title alludes to the potential of a room to be the site of both good and bad events. The stage play from which the film is derived was so named due to its events taking place entirely in a single room.
Ripley's Game is a 2002 thriller film directed by Liliana Cavani. It is adapted from the 1974 novel Ripley's Game, the third in Patricia Highsmith's series about the murderous adventures of the anti-hero Tom Ripley. John Malkovich stars as Ripley, opposite Dougray Scott and Ray Winstone. The film grossed $6.2 million on a budget of $30 million, making it a box-office failure; although it received positive reviews. Highsmith's novel was previously adapted in 1977 as The American Friend by director Wim Wenders, starring Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz.
The Cry of the Owl is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith, the eighth of her 22 novels. It was first published in the US in 1962 by Harper & Row and in the UK by Heinemann the following year. It explores, in the phrase of critic Brigid Brophy, "the psychology of the self-selected victim".
Ripley Under Ground is a 2005 German-British-French crime thriller film directed by Roger Spottiswoode and based on the 1970 second novel in Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley series. It stars Barry Pepper as Ripley and features Willem Dafoe, Alan Cumming, and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles.
Johnny Flynn is a British actor and musician. He starred as Dylan Witter in the Channel 4 and Netflix television sitcom Lovesick and is also known for his performances as David Bowie in the 2020 film Stardust; Mr. Knightley in the 2020 film Emma; and a young Nicholas Winton in the 2023 film One Life.
William Horberg is an American film producer and chair emeritus of the Producers Guild of America on the East coast. He is executive producer of The Queen's Gambit, a television miniseries released on Netflix for streaming on October 23, 2020. Some of Horberg's films include Anthony Minghella's adaptations of the novels The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain. He also produced the Fallen Angels series for Showtime from 1993 to 1995.
The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made is a 2013 non-fiction book written by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, in which the former details the troubled development and production of the panned 2003 cult romantic drama The Room, his own struggles as a young actor, and his relationship with The Room director Tommy Wiseau.
Ripley is an American neo-noir psychological thriller miniseries created, written and directed by Steven Zaillian, based on Patricia Highsmith's 1955 crime novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. Starring Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley, with Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood and Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf, the eight-episode limited series is the first adaptation of Highsmith's novel to a series.
List of works by or about Patricia Highsmith, American novelist.
