Dickie was COMPLETELY in the right...
...in every word and action on the boat,the films best scene. And those who call him a sociopath,his reaction to Silvanas suicide was very human,he got tears in his eyes and showed his hothead-side. Dickie is TOO good to him.
When they meet Freddie,I don´t think Freddie has said anything yet but he knows
Tom is an opportunist and a leech.
Dickie is actually not rude but seems embarrassed to blow Tom off,says he can borrow his Jacket and encourage him to sightsee....when Tom reminds Dickie off when the train leaves,Freddie laughs but Dick is not patronizing.
Tom wanting to share a bath with him was not even a dealbreaker,he tolerated it,not even thinking about the gay angle THEN,since he was so extremely in love with himself. He just found it weird....hitting Tom with a towel as nothing disturbing just had happened. But THE VERY UNDERSTANDABLE dealbreaker was Tom dancing like a queer to May I? in Dickies´clothes? How would you have reacted? If he got a gay vibe,I´m not so sure,he mostly found it awkward and irritating that Tom had used half his wardrobe.... That he use people and throw them away becomes more of a fact stated by the audience in seeing his relationship with Tom then something we actually get proof of.
Though his face often reeks of restrained contempt,Dickie bites his tongue on many occasions,not wanting to hurt Tom. Confessing Silvana was pregnant was nice fleshing out but it didn´t fit,he had growd tired of Tom by then and in the next scene he suggests their last trip.
Dickie is more perceptive and clever then we think,its just his narcississm and manic behaviour that keeps him from seeing the real potential danger. Tom LIED both about Princeton AND liking Jazz,Dickie sniffed that out,big lies that would really piss me off. If Dickie really is upset...doubt it,he seems more satisfied with being right regarding"we had a bet." Dickie should have thrown Tom away for those lies alone but so content with himself,he does not even hear the alarming words"I´ve gotten to like everything about the way you live. It´s one big love affair!!" Dickie doesn´t throw everyone away,he wants to throw Tom away and can we blame him? He´s a cheater,he deserved an asskicking but death at the hands of a pathetic,whiny,insecure psychopath? No way.
When they´re out on the boat,Dickie does his best to keep his disdain and annoyance to a minimum,he is way too polite for way too long. Basically every word outta Toms´mouth is borderline-psychotic/delusional.
"We can split the rent on a house and when we´re there.we´re there....especially with the Marge problem. You just blame me. You love ME,you´re not marrying me." That last line sends shivers up my spine everytime. Dickie has now reached his limit,responding with a hilariously honest"Tom,I DON´T love you. To be honest,I´m a little relieved you´re going. You can be a leech..."
FINALLY! Someone tells the delusional creep like it is. And Tom gets emotional,like all sociopaths,he projects his own view of himself on others"I´m not pretending to be somebody else and you are."
Tom seems to think being sexually and emotionally rejected gives him a free pass to say whatever he wants. Dickie just replies -Boring,To Toms pathetic ramblings. He KNOWS there´s something like when they played chess. -"Oh no,no,we´re brothers...hey!" Scumbag..YOU talked about brothers,Dickie seemed disturbed by it! Dickie looks genuinely confused-What evening? Meaning he either didn´t care Tom was gay or hadn´t really noticed...or cared,he was so used to positive attention from everyone,arrogance was his fatal flaw.
When Tom starts rambling about fu--ing Marge,ruining everybody,knocking up Silvana,even annoyed his fallen hero would switch from sax to drums,Laws acting(with no dialog) is magnificent,with the camera focusing on both characters. First he just laughs at how absurd Tom is. Then the insults get worse and he is like-Is this leech for real,giving Me crap?,face getting wrinkly.
He just turns his head and stares him down,let those who like to talk talk....when he finally lashes out and reacts,that is the movies highlight. With the threat of punching Tom,crybaby shivering as he is bitchslapped,that is just very satisfying...of course one punch=bruise would destroy the plot and Dickie is killed in the silliest of ways,"accidental" at first and he then says-I´ll kill you...you know,to make it selfdefense and crap on Highsmiths vision of Tom wanting his identity.
Still,Dickie was not a good person,he was flawed but he was much more direct,forgiving and didn´t want to be cruel,Tom created his own hell by living in a psycho-bubble were it was a fact he and Dickie was an item,more or less....Dickie is the films hero if it has one cause who the hell gave that leech the right and authority to lecture and discipline Dickie about his lifechoices just cause Dickie said he didn´t love him? All of us would react the same.
PS. An essay could be written about the difference between the book-Dickie or Phillippe Greenleaf from over-rated Purple Noon. Both are basically just unassuming murdervictims,easy targets,just lambs to the slaughter. Law´s Dickie and the boatscene symbolize everything that made the characterchanges so great. Arrogant,selfloving,manipulative yet brutally honest,manic, volatile,tolerant,polite,unfaithful....his Dickie is another animal altogether and becomes the perfect foil and antagonist instead of the bland book one.
Both Law and Damon deserved Oscarnoms,glad atleast one of them got one. Was Dickie in the wrong of his treatment of Tom or was he way too harsh and cruel?