The Talented Mr. Ripley

Revealing mistake: When Ripley is leaving New York, there is the shot of the ship sailing out of the harbour. Check out the water - one layer has been 'cloned' on top of another.

Revealing mistake: During the scene on the boat while Ripley is reading the book, Paltrow gets out of the water and walks to where she is leaving a trail of wet footprints. If you notice there is already one set of footprints that have not dried from an earlier take.

Revealing mistake: The letter which is typed on the Olivetti portable typewriter (certainly an accurate model for this period) is obviously a modern laser-printed letter, not from a manual typewriter.

Continuity mistake: When Tom, posing as Dickie, rents a place in Rome, and after Tom kills Freddie, the police are all over him. Marge visits and Tom, as Dickie, asks the policeman to ask her to come back later, leaving Tom alone with the detective. But as Marge creeps up the stairs to see Dickie, the policeman is suddenly with Tom and the detective, even though the policeman had left and Tom had closed the doors. The policeman should not have been there.

kh1616

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Freddie Miles: I want this job of yours, Tommy. I was just saying, you live in Italy, sleep in Dickie's house, eat Dickie's food, wear his clothes, and his father picks up the tab. If you get bored, let me know, I'll do it.

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Question: Maybe I missed a major plot point, but why exactly does Tom kill his lover at the very end?

Krista

Chosen answer: Tom and his lover, Peter, are travelling on a boat. Meredith, who knows Tom as Dickie, is also on the boat. If they were to meet her while together, Tom's false identity would have been revealed. Peter would have been able to figure out that Tom actually murdered Dickie.

marfbody

Answer: He had to kill him. Tom couldn't kill Meredith because she wasn't travelling alone, and Peter was.

ChristmasJonesfan

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