The Big Picture When one thinks of Tom Ripley, the career con artist at the center of Patricia Highsmith's series of books, they imagine a cool, calculating chameleon able to charm his way into high society by looking the part and then learning how to play it. The image Highsmith created in readers' minds has largely borne itself out in the actors who have played the character in various screen adaptations, including Matt Damon in The Talented Mr.
Release Date September 28, 1977 Director Wim Wenders Cast Dennis Hopper , Bruno Ganz , Lisa Kreuzer , Gérard Blain , Nicholas Ray , Samuel Fuller , Peter Lilienthal , Daniel Schmid Runtime 128 Minutes Main Genre Crime Writers Patricia Highsmith , Wim Wenders Expand Dennis Hopper Was an Unconventional Choice To Play Tom Ripley By the time Wenders got around to adapting Ripley's Game, there had only been one previous on-screen iteration of the character: Alain Delon in Purple Noon.
Yet it's just that outsider quality that makes Hopper's interpretation of the character so compelling. Ripley is, first and foremost, resentful about his social status, and that resentment grows whenever he's made to feel as if he doesn't belong in the upper crust. Hopper's Ripley is pegged as an outsider on sight, despite his best efforts to fit in.