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The Talented Mr. Ripley (12-Dec-1999)
Director: Anthony Minghella Writer: Anthony Minghella From novel: The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith Music by: Gabriel Yared Producers: William Horberg; Tom Sternberg Keywords: Thriller Enigmatic sociopath Tom Ripley accepts a commission to fetch an errant millionaire's son from Italy. But once locating Dickie Greenleaf, he exploits the situation to full advantage. Received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. Second adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel, the first being Purple Noon (1960).
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CAST | Matt Damon | ... Tom Ripley | | Gwyneth Paltrow | ... Marge Sherwood | | Jude Law | ... Dickie Greenleaf | | | Cate Blanchett | ... Meredith Logue | | Philip Seymour Hoffman | ... Freddie Miles | | Jack Davenport | ... Peter Smith-Kingsley | | James Rebhorn | ... Herbert Greenleaf | | Sergio Rubini | ... Insp. Roverini | | | Philip Baker Hall | ... Alvin MacCarron | | Celia Weston | ... Aunt Joan | | Rosario Fiorello | ... Fausto | | Stefania Rocca | ... Silvana | | Ivano Marescotti | ... Col. Verrecchia | | Anna Longhi | ... Signora Buffi | | Alessandro Fabrizi | ... Sgt. Baggio | | | Lisa Eichhorn | ... Emily Greenleaf | | Gretchen Egolf | ... Fran | | Jack Willis | ... Greenleaf Chaffeur | | Frederick Alexander Bosche | ... Fran's Boyfriend | | Dario Bergesio | ... Police Officer | | Larry Kaplan | ... Uncle Ted | | Claire Hardwick | ... Gucci Assistant | | Nino Prester | ... American Express Clerk | | Lorenzo Mancuso | ... Bus Driver | | Onofrio Mancuso | ... Priest | | Massimo Reale | ... Immigration Officer | | Emanuele Carucci Viterbi | ... American Express Clerk | | Caterina De Regibus | ... Dahlia | | Silvana Bosi | ... Ermelinda | | Gianfranco Barra | ... Desk Manager Aldo | | Renato Scarpa | ... Tailor | | Deirdre Lovejoy | ... Fighting Neighbor | | Brian Tarantina | ... Fighting Neighbor | | | Napoli Jazz Septet | | Guy Barker | ... Trumpet | | Bernardo Sassetti | ... Piano | | Perico Sambeat | ... Alto Sax | | Gene Calderazzo | ... Drums | | Joseph Lepore | ... Double Bass | | Rosario Giuliuni | ... Tenor Sax | | Eddy Palerno | ... Electric Guitar | | | San Remo Jazz Sextet | | Byron Wallen | ... Cornet | | Pete King | ... Alto Sax | | Clark Tracey | ... Drums | | Jean Toussaint | ... Tenor Sax | | Geoff Gascoyne | ... Bass | | Carlo Negroni | ... Piano | | | Beppe Fiorello | ... Silvana's Fiancé | | Marco Quaglia | ... Silvana's Brother | | Alessandra Vanzi | ... Silvana's Mother | | Marco Rossi | ... Photographer | | | Eugene Onegin Players | | Roberto Valentini | ... Onegin | | Francesco Bovino | ... Lensky | | Stefano Canettieri | ... Zaretsky | | Marco Foti | ... Guillot | | | Ludovica Tinghi | ... Fausto's Fiancée | | Nicola Pannelli | ... Dinelli's Cafe Waiter | | Paolo Calabresi | ... Customs Officer | | Pietro Ragusa | ... Record Store Owner | | Simone Empler | ... Boy Singer | | Gianluca Secci | ... Policeman | | Manuel Ruffini | ... Policeman | | Pierpaolo Lovino | ... Policeman | | Roberto Di Palma | ... San Remo Hotel Desk Clerk |
REVIEWS Review by Walter Frith (posted on 9-Jun-2007) Director Anthony Minghella was challenged to come up an encore to his
runaway 1996 hit 'The English Patient'. That film won nine Oscars, some
of the most in history, and although Minghella will be hard pressed in
the minds of many to top that effort, 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' has a
curious air of looking like Minghella isn't even attempting to top it
and that's a good thing. The same can be said for Quentin Tarantino
when he made 1997's 'Jackie Brown', knowing it would never be as good
as 'Pulp Fiction', Tarantino didn't try to top it and good directors
know their limitations and when their opportunities to exceed present
themselves. The only time a director tries to top a previous effort is
usually when a previous film is made for commercial reasons and studio
interference is instrumental in overkill for its sequel, usually in the
case of a splashy, big budgeted action film or a half baked comedy and
these films usually have a different director than the original film.
Matt Damon. A talented actor and writer. How many of you remember that
he DID win as Oscar for 1997's 'Good Will Hunting' as the film's
co-author along with Ben Affleck and Damon gave a dynamite, hard edged
Oscar nominated performance in it and the same year, played a young and
determined lawyer battling the odds in Francis Coppola's 'The
Rainmaker'. Damon couldn't have looked more different in those two
films and now plays the heavy in a film that asks us to be happy with
who we are and to truly not covet anything that belongs to somebody
else. Set in the 1950's and based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith,
'The 'Talented Mr. Ripley' has an aristocratic look of Hitchcockian
elegance and doomed fate for many of its characters and treats the
subject of murder as a chilling and memorable nightmare for the
audience and the people up on the screen. Tom Ripley (Matt Damon). We
see early that he isn't happy with who he is because he borrows a
Princeton University jacket one afternoon for a reception in New York
City where he plays the piano and is approached by a rich husband and
wife who ask if he ever knew their son Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) at
Princeton. They offer to pay Tom's expenses to Europe with the hope
that he can go to Italy and convince their son to return to America.
Tom's trip to the continent of culture is made difficult by his
encounter with Dickie. When he does find him, he turns out to be a
wholly rude and obnoxious lout. A man who thinks he is too good for his
own country and slices through his fortune with great comfort without
any appreciation of how he got it (from his rich parents) and treats
only his girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) with the slightest amount
of courtesy. Key to the plot are two other characters who are in the
mix of things to add tension and authenticity to the film's plot. They
are a wealthy woman traveling in Europe (Cate Blanchett), who befriends
Tom, and Dickie's equally obnoxious peer Freddie Miles (Philip Seymour
Hoffman). Matt Damon's performance as Tom Ripley is rather low key but
this is a clever choice and decision on the part of both Damon and
Minghella for allowing it to be that way since the film's second half
has a different and totally appropriate look and we, the audience, are
treated to a film with a slow beginning that picks up later rather than
one that starts off great and then loses steam. Mingehella uses a very
even handed approach to the material and illustrates his characters as
a cross between high art and the bankrupt culture of criminal violence
and never lets one element rise above the other. His lavish and
exquisitely filmed scenes around the European scene are marvelous to
watch and director of photography John Seale, who won the Oscar for
'The English Patient', uses lighting as mood swings that look almost as
good as the personalities of the film's human contributors. It's almost
as if the camera is a character in itself. An unusual and impressive
feat that looks original and the film has lethal shots of beauty (and
sometimes horror) at almost every turn. The film will have problems
however, when it comes to Oscar nominations. Jude Law's character
disappears too quickly and Matt Damon has been upstaged this year by
too many other good performances. Minghella also will suffer
comparisons to 'The Englsih Patient'. It will be a sub-conscious thing
with Academy voters who would sing a different tune if this film had
not been in the shadow of another so revered. What does all of this add
up to? For me, one of the ten best films of 1999 since it pays tribute
to great films of the past, has a shocking and unexpected criminal
twist for layers of superlative suspense and teaches us all to be happy
with who we are, something so many of us have forgotten, often because
of our overlearned and under appreciated existences which in many cases
are a lot better than we give them credit for. Visit FILM FOLLOW-UP by
Walter Frith
Review by Jerry Marcolina (posted on 21-Apr-2009) I saw this film in theaters when it first came out in 1999, and initially didn't think it was all that successful. I never gave the film another thought until I watched it again in 2009 and thought it was brilliant. Matt Damon does a fantastic job of being a human facade in many different ways. He has "almost" everyone fooled, but "Marge" Gwyneth Paltrow, is too clever to escort her way out of the film without finally telling "Tom Ripley" AKA Matt Damon that she knows that indeed it was he that killed her beloved boyfriend and husband to be, which The Talented Mr. Ripley see's right through. They are boating and when Tom Ripley hits the final chord by telling Senor Greenleaf that he really knows that he is something he is NOT!, Greenleaf gets offended and clobber's Tom Ripley which then sparks Tom to killing off Greenleaf and assuming his identity. He did alot of scamming for the thousand dollars that Dickie Greenleaf's father gave him. What most people don't know is, that at the final curtain call... so to speak, (the end of the movie), he still has Marge fooled and Tom seems to finally realize @ that point that he may not continue this act any more. Tom Ripley and "Marge's" date from the opera are together at the very end of the movie and if you pay close attention, it's not obvious, but Tom kills more than once in this film, he also killed his musical friend...WHY?, I suppose he wanted to continue his life as an imposter! ....However, it was a very clever movie.....
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