The American Friend ( Der amerikanische Freund ) ( L'ami américain )

The American Friend (DVD) (*)

$25.99

Original Title: Der amerikanische Freund
Alternate Title: L'ami américain
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
Ceasar Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
German ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
120 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.66:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu

Movie filmed in 1977 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )
Germany ( Germany, Central Europe )

Directed By:
Wim Wenders

Written By:
Patricia Highsmith
Wim Wenders

Actors:
Dennis Hopper ..... Tom Ripley
Bruno Ganz ..... Jonathan Zimmermann
Lisa Kreuzer ..... Marianne Zimmermann
Gérard Blain ..... Raoul Minot
Nicholas Ray ..... Derwatt
Samuel Fuller ..... Der Amerikaner
Peter Lilienthal ..... Marcangelo
Daniel Schmid ..... Igraham
Sandy Whitelaw ..... Arzt in Paris
Jean Eustache ..... Freundlicher Mann
Lou Castel ..... Rodolphe
Andreas Dedecke ..... Daniel
David Blue ..... Allan Winter
Stefan Lennert ..... Auktionator
Rudolf Schündler ..... Gantner

Synopsis:

Today a cult film, The American Friend is based on the novel Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith and won the German Critics Prize in 1977. Frame maker Jonathan (Bruno Ganz) believes he is dying from a blood disease and his American friend, displaced cowboy Ripley (Dennis Hopper), decides to use his illness to his advantage. Ripley introduces him to a gangster who proposes to the dying man that he should become a professional mob assassin, assuring a large legacy for his wife and children. Since he is facing death anyway, what has he to lose? Ripley had originally intended to allow Jonathan to do the dirty work that he didn't feel like doing, but has second thoughts when he becomes friends with the doomed man.

Tom Ripley has a sweet deal with an art forger. The forger creates the paintings; Tom sells them. But another criminal business associate wants Tom to go in for an even riskier enterprise: murder. Tom suggests his associate ask a local picture framer instead. That man has a fatal disease, or so it's rumored. More, he has a wife and kid that surely he wouldn't want to leave penniless. Let this picture framer be a hit man, and no one will suspect. The terminally ill craftsman may agree to the misdeed, and several more, but he'll end up needing Tom Ripley in a pinch.

Jonathan Zimmermann, a picture framer in Hamburg is diagnosed as having leukemia. Ripley, an American art dealer who deals in forgeries, uses this fact to arrange for a mob associate of his to recruit Zimmermann as a hit man. Zimmermann agrees to this to 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.

This product was added to our catalog on Friday 06 July, 2012.