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The American Friend

7.2

9,545

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Remake:

Ripley's Game

Original title

Der Amerikanische Freund (The American Friend)

Year

1977

Running time

121 min.

Country

Germany - West Germany (FRG)

Director

Wim Wenders

Screenwriter

Wim Wenders. Novel: Patricia Highsmith

Cast

Music

Jürgen Knieper

Cinematography

Robby Müller

Producer

Co-production Germany - West Germany (FRG)-Germany-France;

Road Movies Filmproduktion, Les Films du Losange, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Bavaria Film, Filmverlag der Autoren, Wim Wenders Productions

Genre

Thriller. Drama | Crime. Neo-noir. Road Movie. Cult movie

Movie Groups

Patricia Highsmith Adaptations

Synopsis

Jonathan Zimmermann, a picture framer in Hamburg is diagnosed as having leu leukemia. Ripley, an American art dealer dealing in forgeries, uses this fact to arrange for a mob associate of his to recruit Zimmermann as a hit man. Zimmermann agrees to this because this would ensure his family's financial future. Zimmermann descends into a nightmare world of deceit and double dealing. The narrative acts as a metaphor for the relationship between American (Hollywood) and post-war German culture. The appearance of several Hollywood directors in cameo roles underlines this.

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Rankings Position

#45 Best German Movies of all time

Awards: 1977: Cannes Film Festival: Nominated for Palme d'Or (Best Film)

1977: César Awards: Best Foreign Film

1977: 3 German Film Award: including Best Director

1977: National Society of Film Critics (NSFC): nominated to Best Cinematography.

1977: National Board of Review (NBR): nominated to Top Five Foreing Films.

1979: Sant Jordi Awards: Best International Performance.

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Critics' reviews

"This is a Wenders masterwork--a chilling tale of painting, crime and forgery"

Michael Wilmington: Chicago Tribune
"Wenders' unsettling compositions are neurotically beautiful visions of a disordered world, but the film doesn't have the nasty, pleasurable cleverness of a good thriller"

Pauline Kael: The New Yorker
"Like Taxi Driver, The American Friend was a new sort of movie-movie — sleekly brooding, voluptuously alienated and saturated with cinephilia."

J. Hoberman: The New York Times
"An absorbing but rarefied, introspective variation on traditional thriller motifs, it's probably not the synthesis between the personal and traditional that Wenders needs"

Gary Arnold: The Washington Post
"There's something cheerfully perverse about filming a thriller and then tossing out the parts that would help it make sense, but Wim Wenders has a certain success with the method in The American Friend."

Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times
"A fascinating mix of director Wim Wenders and author Patricia Highsmith (...) The result is an almost hypnotic suspense film"

Kim Newman: Empire
"Superb adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel Ripley's Game, with Hopper as her amiably cynical hero."

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Ranking Lists Position

30 My Favorite German Movies (42)

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The American Friend

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