Bruno Ganz, Daniel Schmid, Dennis Hopper

A dying man reluctantly takes on a job as a hit man in order to have money to leave to his widow.

Flixster Users

81% liked it

836 ratings

Critics

88% liked it

16 critics

Unrated, 2 hrs. 7 min.

Directed by: Wim Wenders

Release Date: June 24, 1977

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DVD Release Date: January 7, 2003

Stats: 172 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (172)


  • February 26, 2009
    beautifully shot and atmospheric thriller based on ripley's game with a great performance by bruno ganz. i admit i found it hard to imagine hopper as ripley but he was quite good too. and
    it seems to be making a statement about u.s vs. europe. don't trust the americans? hmm...
  • January 28, 2009
    A brilliant art house noir by Wim Wenders, adapted from Patricia Highsmith's Ripley's Game. Bruno Ganz plays Jonathan Zimmermann, a picture framer with an incurable blood disease, whose precariousness of health is manipulated by Dennis Hopper's Tom Ripley, a sociopa...( read more)thic art dealer seeking to recruit a contract killer for a gangland associate. Eager to provide his wife and son with some financial security before his 'imminent' demise, Zimmermann is sucked into the criminal underworld.

    Wenders' presentation is dazzling enough to prevent us from scrutinising the rather implausible plot too closely. There are a couple of artsy digressions - unfortunate, because Robby Müller's stunning photography ensures that the film would have been just as aesthetically pleasing without them - but, happily, Wenders doesn't let them get in the way of the story. I could have done without some of Hopper's trademark nutty behaviour - he's Dennis Hopper, right! I'll buy the fact that he's crazy sight unseen - but it's fun to see him playing opposite Nicholas Ray, the director who gave him an early break with Rebel Without a Cause. Curiously, the protagonist here is called Zimmerman(n) and the film closes with Ripley mumbling the lyrics to Bob Dylan's I Pity the Poor Immigrant. Coincidence?
  • March 11, 2007
    I watched this film as it was part of the German expressionim era and starring Dennis Hopper. Plus, a young Bruno Ganz as the German picture framer.

    What I loved was the use of the locationswith the atmospher of the film. From Hamburg to the far end of Germany this creates a u...( read more)nqiue film for me. I enjoyed the use of language withing the film. You have Tom Ripley( played by Dennis Hopper), American and will only speak English but German on some occasions. You also have Bruno Ganz's character and the frenchman( Gerad Blain talking English which i found made the film more familiar to English-speaking countries and certainly you'e able to realte to the character more. Also, you start to understand the impact of the english language, not just through England and America but through Europe.

    Certainly the plot is done very well in this and the cross- pollination of the two speaking countries is effective in the story progressing. Overall i recomend this movie to people who wouldn't nessacerily watch a foreign film and hopefully they will watch more in the future. A great thriller to watch filled with suspense, intrigue.
  • July 22, 2006
    I approached this film with some trepidation as I was less than impressed with the last Wenders film I watched (Paris, Texas which I found to be rather indulgent). Whilst this film does carry his trademark long pauses and rambling narrative, it contained just enough of a surreali...( read more)sti edge to hold my interest over the 2 hour plus running time.

    The plot itself is rather drawn out but essentially it's about the relationship between quiet frame-maker Jonathon Zimmerman (Ganz) and the fraudulent art dealer Tom Ripley (Hopper). Zimmerman it seems is suffering from a terminal illness and his condition is manipulated by a mysterious American mobster who convinces him that he's dying. Fearful that he will be leaving his family without any financial support, Zimmerman agrees to carry out an assassination for a large lump sum. However, things begin to spiral out of control and he soon finds himself increasingly reliant on the eccentric Ripley.

    This is an uncoventional a thriller you'll likely to see as it lacks the conventional action sequences and is broody in pace. The films strengths however lie elsewhere, in particular the solid performances by the two leads (Hooper's haunted look was no doubt a result of his long term alcohol problem).
  • November 10, 2009
    Kinda okay, kinda slow, kinda a movie.
  • July 10, 2009
    Una movie de Wim Wenders. Un moribundo consigue trabajo como asesino a sueldo para conseguir dinero fácil antes de partir de este mundo. Dennis Hopper es el amigo gringo que le ayuda a ejecutar a las víctimas.
  • June 14, 2009
    An unusual and definitive 70s film. It has a slow pace that creeps up on you and totally pays off. There's also a level of suspense that is quite surprising. Here Wenders finds a perfect balance between his German roots and his love for American movies. Dennis Hopper is also very...( read more) effective in it.
  • May 5, 2009
    Gets better & better the more you think about it
  • April 2, 2009
    "what the did my heart in Hollywood " a film about films ...marvellous
  • November 26, 2008
    nominated for best foreign film by NBR

Critic Reviews


October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

There's something cheerfully perverse about filming a thriller and then tossing out the parts that would help it make sense, but Wim Wenders has a certain success with the method. full review

View more Der Amerikanische Freund (The American Friend) reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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