The American Friend
by Wim Wenders
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Andreas Dedecke, G?rard Blain, Ismael Alonso, Jean Eustache, Lou CastelDirector: Wim Wenders
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog; German (Original Language)
Format: Color, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled
Running Time: 125 minutes
Release Date: 1998-01-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: New Yorker Video
Studio: New Yorker Video
VHS Movie Reviews of The American Friend
Movie Review: Gripping, non-stop tension
Summary: 5 Stars
The tension is so palpable here that it's a character in and of itself.
Tom Ripley, as played by Dennis Hopper, feels truer to his EASY RIDER role than the character in the novel upon which the movie is based, as some critics have said. I say "feels truer" because I haven't seen the first or read the second, but I believe those critics.
But that doesn't matter. Not at all. This movie is about Jonathan Zimmerman, as played by Bruno Ganz. Every time he's on the screen, which is most of the time, you're just gripped in both your mind and your gut and you can't turn away, reach down for a drink of water, hit pause and go to the bathroom, or anything.
I'm one of those weird animals who's just as comfortable with Hollywood crap as I am with literary classics. My wife's non-American and anti-Hollywood. We were both equally blown away by this film.
And by the way, the plot isn't predictable. Don't even think that. But it does organically unfold from the characters, so it's true. Gotta love it.
Summary of The American Friend
A thriller that's nearly devoid of thrills? That's not a complaint--it's what makes The American Friend one of the most stylish (and, at the time, most expensive) films to emerge from the New German Cinema of the 1970s. Loosely adapting Patricia Highsmith's mystery novel Ripley's Game, director Wim Wenders shifted priority from plotting to character, emphasizing a richly colorful and atmospheric approach to locations in Hamburg, where a picture-framer (Bruno Ganz) is lured into an assassination scheme involving a mysterious Frenchman (Gerard Blain) and the titular American friend, Tom Ripley (played by Dennis Hopper, a far cry from Matt Damon's portrayal of the same character in The Talented Mr. Ripley). The plotting is vague to the point of irrelevance; Wenders prefers to maintain the aura of mystery, as opposed to generating any conventional suspense, and expresses his affection for American movies by casting favorite directors Nicholas Ray and Samuel Fuller in pivotal supporting roles. The result is an intoxicating example of cinematic cross-pollination. --Jeff ShannonArt House & International VHS Video
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