The Talented Mr. Ripley: A Screenplay

To be young and carefree amid the blue waters and idyllic landscape of sun-drenched Italy in the late 1950s: that is la dolce vita Tom Ripley craves - and the life Dickie Greenleaf leads. Down and out in a dingy New York basement, Ripely is commissioned by Dickie's father, a wealthy industrialist, to journey to Italy and persuade the prodigal playboy to return home to America.
However, on arrival, Ripley is instantly captivated with Dickie's charmed existence: the Amalfi coast, the jaunts to Rome, the jazz clubs, the yachts, the first-class hotels, the first-class life. Dickie and his girlfriend Marge are as delighted by their new friend as he is with them. In Ripley's mind he's become somebody and nothing will ever make him go back to being a nobody.