Lee Eisenberg During the 1970s, Wim Wenders became one of the directors most associated with the new German cinema. He had already directed a few movies when he released "Der amerikanische Freund" ("The American Friend" in English). This adaptation of one of Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels casts Dennis Hopper as the main character. In this outing, he's an art forger who recommends a dying friend (Bruno Ganz) to carry out a murder. The whole sequence on the train has to be seen to be believed, as does the sequence on the subway.I haven't seen very many of Wenders's movies, but I've liked every one that I've seen. His best is "Until the End of the World", but "The American Friend" is also an impressive piece of work. Along with the plot it's an insightful look at 1970s Hamburg. Specifically, it's a look at the city's grittier side. But more than anything, this movie makes me want to see more Wenders movies. Really good one.

Jona1988 I have read all the Ripley books and loved them. Always when seeing a film based on a book you have made up a picture of how it should be. The American Friend is very loosely based on the third book Ripley's game. Knowing that, I tried to take it just as a film on it's own, inspired by the book rather than based on it. I found it worked because even if this isn't at all as I imagined it when reading the book, I really liked this film. They have taken parts of the book and managed to turn it to a great, interesting and I think pretty different kind of thriller than the usual once. The American Friend is not better than the book but I wouldn't call it much weaker either, rather calling it different. Dennis Hopper is quite a lot different than Tom Ripley in the books and really great as the character they decided to make in this. He manages brilliantly to create the kind of character that one doesn't really know what to think of. He is mysterious, seams cold but then suddenly shows and emotional side that makes me think is it fake and what is he going to do. However Ripley is not the character which the main focus is on in this film, he is the mysterious background person. The lead is Bruno Ganz as Jonathan, which is also the character which one gets the real relation to. Ganz is great in make the right feel of the character, as viewer I feel really strong for what he is going through. As the main focus of the story he is the one I think you should strongest relate and be interested to follow. He succeeds brilliant in giving the film the real depth that it impresses with. The style of it also is something that not only works great but at least for me gives somewhat of a special feel. With many book adaptations the real interest for me resides in wanting to see how a story I already know looks like physically. Where sometimes I'm just irritated in the changes from the source material. In The American Friend I'm just focusing on what twists it itself will take. This is I shall state once again because they have brilliantly created something of it's own. The suspense scenes work great, to the level of being kind of frightening on and psychological level. Even if the suspense stuff is great I feel it is the character psychological weight that make this so gripping, the emotional depth is so impressive. It is a thriller but not the average kind. Sad rather than frightening, emotionally tough rather than suspenseful. The American Friend both amazingly impressive and interestingly different. 8/10

Michael Neumann It's difficult to tell if this multi-national thriller is meant to be taken seriously; at times it seems less an attempt at genuine suspense than subtle mockery of commercial movie-making formulas (the title itself carries a hint of satire). Adapting Patricia Highsmith's novel 'Ripley's Game' for the big screen, Wim Wenders grafts his patented Euro-road film style to a convoluted crime drama concerning a Hamburg artist (Bruno Ganz) with a rare blood disease, persuaded by one gangster to murder another. The scenario is consistently interesting if more than a little vague, with the plot hinging on Ganz's willingness to trust an obviously dishonest stranger when told that his disease is fatal, even after his own doctor reassures him otherwise. Hitchcock it isn't, but Wenders' moody urban angst gives way to moments of tension (and weird black humor) during the caper itself.

dead47548 Simply hypnotic. The only other film to have this kind of impact on me is Naked. It entrances you from start to finish and you can't even think about looking away. Much like Naked, this effect comes primarily from the score which is flawlessly haunting and ominous making you well aware that there is sincere danger ahead. The magnificent symbolisms can be found everywhere from something as simple as a man falling in front of Ganz to something as complex as the way picture frames are used throughout the whole picture. The cinematography is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable I've ever witnessed. I struggle to think of more unique and beautiful shots throughout an entire film. The story itself is simple and unique, portraying someone honest and normal placed into a series of dangerous and very dark events.Bruno Ganz is a tour de force, in a performance that exceeds his in Downfall, as the leading everyman who gets caught up in a life of peril before he even begins to realize it. Things happen to him so fast that you can't help but feel sympathetic towards him and pray that he can get himself out of a jam. The ending is one of the most painful I've ever had to endure. Dennis Hopper proves that he can subtly display deep emotional pain just as well as charismatic, explosive insanity. Wenders and the cast are so incredibly tuned into one another that he can just place the camera on their face for five minutes and you can see every single emotion running through the character and these emotions through the screen and into you, making you feel exactly what the character is feeling. It's one of the most unique and authentic experiences I've had watching a film. The incredible amount of tension should also be noted. I've never had such a feeling of tense pain as I did during the subway scene. It creates an unheard of sensation that runs through you and your body begs for closure before you collapse to the intensity. The fact that Wenders does all of this without a single word of dialogue is truly admirable.