Der Amerikanische Freund

The American Friend (German: Der Amerikanische Freund) is a 1977 film by Wim Wenders, loosely adapted from the novel Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith. The film is of the neo-noir genre, and features Dennis Hopper as career criminal Tom Ripley and Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Zimmermann, a terminally ill picture framer whom Ripley coerces into becoming an assassin. The source novel Ripley's Game (1974) was cinematically adapted a second time as Riple... more

The American Friend (German: Der Amerikanische Freund) is a 1977 film by Wim Wenders, loosely adapted from the novel Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith. The film is of the neo-noir genre, and features Dennis Hopper as career criminal Tom Ripley and Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Zimmermann, a terminally ill picture framer whom Ripley coerces into becoming an assassin. The source novel Ripley's Game (1974) was cinematically adapted a second time as Ripley's Game (2002). In A Girl and a Gun: The Complete Guide to Film Noir, David N. Meyer says, "Though the plot may not make a whole lot of sense the first time around — and the thick European accents of a couple of the major actors doesn't help — The American Friend is worth the effort. Few movies from any era or genre offer such rich characters, realistic human relationships, gripping action sequences, or sly humor." The film was also entered into the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. Highsmith herself had mixed feelings about the film, however; she... less