CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Der amerikanische Freund" or "The American Friend" is a German movie from almost 40 years ago. Director Wim Wenders adapted the Patricia Highsmith novel for his screenplay here. Highsmith has been in talks recently again because she also wrote the base material for the pretty popular new movie "Carol". But back to this one. I may be a bit biased as I like Wim Wenders and I like lead actor Bruno Ganz even more. Do not be confused by the cast list here. Dennis Hopper may be listed first because of his big name, but this film is Ganz' character's story and Hopper is only a major supporting player, just like Lisa Kreuzer, who plays the female protagonist in this 2-hour film.I personally felt the movie never achieved real greatness or extraordinarily memorable moments and scenes, but it was still an atmospheric watch from start to finish. It was pretty tense, very suspenseful and I also liked the locations they chose for the scenes. Apart from that, Ganz carries this film strongly from start to finish and he also physically looks exactly like he would fit into an American film of this genre. My favorite scene was probably when he commits the first murder, but runs away despite being instructed to stay calm and not act differently. The train scenes afterward were very good too. Then again, this should not come as a surprise as everybody who knows Ganz knows that he is a truly gifted character actor.All in all, I recommend the watch. People who appreciate the likes of "The Untouchables", "Dog Day Afternoon", "The French Connection" or "The Conversation" can certainly check this film out and they will not be disappointed. I personally also had to think of "Breaking Bad" on one or two occasions. A man who is sure that he dies gets deeper and deeper into the abyss of crime in attempts to get money for his family. Of course, he was already a criminal before things got serious in contrast to Walter White. But maybe others do not see this parody. Maybe it is just me. Anyway, thumbs up for "The American Friend". I recommend it, even if it is not my favorite from the director. That would still be another Wenders-Ganz collaboration "Der Himmel über Berlin".

Alex-Tsander I will admit that I watched this film having previously, repeatedly, watched and loved the later "Ripleys Game" with John Malkovitch as the eponymous eminence gris. So I cannot consider the Wenders version without comparison. Really though there is no comparison.I am staggered at how Wenders fans at this site seem to be preoccupied by the directors brilliance...as indicated in other work.I prefer to try to see what is before me. It isn't impressive.Compared to the Malkovitch rendition, Hopper is utterly unbelievable. Malkovitch is the cool, manipulative, patrician sophisticate and sociopath that fits Ripleys form. When he talks art we believe it. Hopper is just a bumbling joke. In no sense can we believe the proposition that such a flake could succeed as a player in the world of fine art dealing. He wouldn't get through the door. Ray Winstones clubland villain in Ripleys Game is totally believable. The French guy in this movie is just a vacant nothing, the echo of a fart that Winstone might deposit in passing. The American gangland henchmen are utterly ridiculous. They don't have a muscle between them and are as menacing as a tea lady. The fight scenes are a pathetic joke, reminiscent of something out of a Sixties spy spoof, one tap on the head and a guys dead. Yeah! The movie is padded out with empty scenes that serve no discernible function, such as Hopper playing with a polaroid camera. One senses Wenders trying to create "iconic" images, Ganz leaning bout of a train cab screaming...but they just don't work. How the heck would he gain access to the train cab anyway? The whole thing is amateurish, pretentious and glib. Nothing has substance. Its badly edited. Sloppily shot. Inconsistently lit. The music is dire and doesn't segue properly with the cuts of each scene.Ganz is superb, but Hoppers "performance" undermines that. He looks like he thinks the film is some funny foreign farce that he will take part in just for the fee but indicates his disrespect via various tells in expression amounting to a suggestion that he is playing "tongue in cheek" yet flatly without irony. I greatly enjoy him in other movies, even B-movies, but in this he was embarrassing to watch.I suspect that most of the high scorers here would agree with at least some of my opinions had they seen the movie without knowing its author.

goldgreen Wim Wenders' film has all the hallmarks of having been concocted deliberately for lovers of European art house, but it is not convincing. The plot is straight out of Hitchcock, an ordinary family man(Bruno Ganz)meets a mysterious, menacing enigma (Dennis Hopper) who leads him out of his safe world on a series of dangerous missions in other big cities(Paris/ Munich). There is a sub-plot around the use of frames and perception, that plays on the Ganz's characters job in a picture framer/ restorer, but I would have been oblivious to this if I had not read the notes that came with my DVD. The real problem arises in that Bruno Ganz treats the role seriously and puts some convincing angst into the ghastly situation he is put in, but Dennis Hopper clearly does not take the film seriously. Reportedly he came to blows with Ganz for his refusal to learn his lines and his mumbling, mock-mad acting style only ends up killing the impact of his dialogue. Either Hopper felt a European film was beneath him or he knew that Wenders plans were too pretentious to be taken seriously. Wenders is also apparently incapable of shooting a single attractive scene. He makes Hamburg bleak, New York uninteresting and even manages to make Paris ugly.

Jackson Booth-Millard From director Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas), based on the novel Ripley's Game, which I know was turned into a film with John Malkovich, this film featured in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, so I naturally wanted to see it. Basically Swiss picture framer Jonathan Zimmermann (Downfall's Bruno Ganz) from Hamburg, Germany is slowly dying of the blood disease leukaemia, and American art forger Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper), and they are introduced to each other at an auction. French criminal Raoul Minot (Gérard Blain) approaches Tom, he wants him to kill a rival gangster, but he refuses, but the criminal presses him that he owes him, so Minot suggests the idea to Jonathan, offering a lot of money to give his wife Marianne (Lisa Kreuzer) and son after he dies. Zimmermann originally turns down the offer, but remembering he may not have long to live, and tricked by Minot into thinking he is dying sooner than he think, he does agree to the murder. He manages to shoot the man in question at an underground train station without notice, and Ripley visits him before and after this happens to have a picture framed, Jonathan has no idea he is involved in the scheme, but the two become good friends. Tom is appalled by Minot after he wants Zimmermann to kill another rival gangster, this time on a moving train by strangulation, but he agrees again, only after he makes sure his wife will get the money whatever happens to him. He does not expect Ripley to be on the train as well though, and he commits the murder instead, along with a bodyguard, and after some near misses with passengers and other criminals on the train they do get away with it. When they return home Tom confesses to Jonathan his involved in the scheme, he declines an offer to take his money for the hit and he wants nothing more to do with his friend, he advises Jonathan he should tell Minot he acted alone. Ripley is later contacted by Zimmermann because his wife is becoming suspicious of his recent activity, she also believes the American man is corrupting him, also he believes the mafia are looking for him after some mysterious phone calls. After Minot tells Jonathan his flat has been bombed, and Tom takes him with him to the mansion where assassins are meeting them, they are ambushed but manage to kill the gunmen, and they plan a long distance journey to dump the bodies. Jonathan's wife tells him that he was deceived about his medical condition, and he agrees to have a proper talk about things after they have got rid of the bodies in the ambulance they have taken. They stop on a beach and Tom with them pours petrol all over the ambulance and sets it alight, but Jonathan and his wife drive off without him, but while driving on the road Jonathan suddenly loses consciousness, they crash, the wife is alive but he has died, and Tom is seen sitting on the dock, while Minot watching him walks away. Also starring Nicholas Ray as Derwatt, Samuel Fuller as American mobster, Peter Lilienthal as Marcangelo, Daniel Schmid as Igraham, Jean Eustache as Friendly man, Rudolf Schündler as Gantner, Sandy Whitelaw as Doctor in Paris and Lou Castel as Rodolphe. Hopper is great as the American Friend of the title, i.e. a loner with crime connections, and Ganz is also great as the man slowly dying and committing acts against his morals for the money he needs for his family, the story does has a resemblance to Strangers on a Train in moments, I will admit I got confused in the tiniest moments, but overall there were some exciting and eye-catching sequences that grip you, and overall it is a very watchable crime drama. Very good!