THE AMERICAN FRIEND
1977

Director:
Wim Wenders

Screenplay:
Wim Wenders based on the novel "Ripley's Game" by P. Highsmith

Director of Photography:
Robby Müller

Editor:
Peter Przygodda

Music:
Jürgen Knieper

Production Design:
Heidi Lüdi

Cast:
Bruno Ganz
Dennis Hopper
Lisa Kreuzer
Gérard Blain

Guest Cast
Appearances:
Nicholas Ray
Samuel Fuller
Peter Lilienthal
Daniel Schmid
Jean Eustache
Sandy Whitelaw
Lou Castel

Festivals/Awards:
1977 German Critics Prize
1978 German Film Prize in Gold for Director und Editor
1978 German Film Prize in Silver for Production

Producer:
Wim Wenders

Production:
Road Movies Filmproduktion/Berlin Wim Wenders Produktion Les Films du Losange/Paris

Length:
126 min.

Format:
35mm Colour

Original Title:
Der Americkanische Freund

Original Language:
German/English

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.

Jonathan's 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.