Waste of time

Truly Dreadful Film

The greatest movie ever!

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

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.

During the 1970s, Wim Wenders became one of the directors most associated with the new German cinema. He had already directed a few movies when he released "Der amerikanische Freund" ("The American Friend" in English). This adaptation of one of Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels casts Dennis Hopper as the main character. In this outing, he's an art forger who recommends a dying friend (Bruno Ganz) to carry out a murder. The whole sequence on the train has to be seen to be believed, as does the sequence on the subway.I haven't seen very many of Wenders's movies, but I've liked every one that I've seen. His best is "Until the End of the World", but "The American Friend" is also an impressive piece of work. Along with the plot it's an insightful look at 1970s Hamburg. Specifically, it's a look at the city's grittier side. But more than anything, this movie makes me want to see more Wenders movies. Really good one.

A very own adaptation of a novel by Patricia Highsmith, where Wim Wenders mixes the American thriller with a European existential universe. The film can even be considered a tribute to Hollywood cinema, though others see a veiled criticism of Americanization of Germany and Europe.The film shows us a very different Ripley and is more focused on the action antagonist, Jonathan. A strong feature of the film is the existence of rich characters and realistic human relationships and abrupt changes of the action energy.But the film is also an intelligent psychological study, cleverly presenting fear, envy, selfishness and friendship, which define the relationship between the two men, each of them, in a different manner, doomed by fate. And that is one more approach to film noir. The wonderful camera work of Robby Muller and the subtly pressuring soundtrack by Jurgen Knieper contribute to the atmosphere of suspense and paranoia that we feel throughout the movie. Finally, highlight for the wonderful sequence of Jonathan's escape from the subway, seen through the battery of televisions that broadcast images from the security cameras.

Loosely based on the novel Ripley's Game and made by German Director Wim Wenders under the title Der amerikanische Freund the film stars Bruno Ganz (Downfall, Unknown) as Jonathan, a picture framer with a terminal blood disease. Jonathan meets a wealthy American Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper) who deals in art forgery. Jonathan, knowing what Tom does wants nothing to do with the American and initially refuses to shake his hand. Later, Tom is approached by a French criminal named Raoul (Gerard Blain) who asks Tom if he is willing to commit a murder against a rival gangster. Tom refuses but suggests Jonathan as he has no connections and may be willing to do the job for money so that he has something to leave his wife (Lisa Kreuzer) and young son after his imminent death. Jonathan reluctantly agrees after being manipulated by the criminals but his actions set him and Tom on a path towards destruction.The plot was often incomprehensible and was wildly improbable but this was almost forgotten due to the enormous amount of tension and intrigue. The plot takes a back seat in a way, in favour of creating the emotions and apprehension surrounding it. I found it unlikely, even for a dying man, that Jonathan would go along to Paris and kill someone for some gangsters who he didn't know and the final third made no sense whatsoever but the rest of the film though was delightful.The two central relationships in the film felt heartfelt and real. Lisa Kreuzer was excellent as Jonathan's concerned wife. It was obvious that she cared a great deal for her husband but wasn't going to put up with lies and deceit. The fact that Jonathan was willing to travel Europe as a hired assassin in order to provide for his family after his death showed that the feelings worked both ways. The second relationship between Tom and Jonathan changed several times during the film. Beginning with distrust and hostility then towards feelings of mutual respect and admiration and back again, their relationship twists and turns throughout. You always have the feeling though that Jonathan is being taken advantage of, even when it appears that he is not. The characters were all well drawn and the relationships were rich. Jonathan and Tom's buddy relationship was often strange but always satisfying.One of the things I liked about the film was its setting, Hamburg. Jonathan and his family live near the docks or the German city and the streets reminded me of New York in Taxi Driver. They were sort of run down and forgotten but with obvious vibrancy. Much of the city was still flattened by the bombs of thirty years before and this added to the feeling of desolation and waste. The film was also shot on location in Paris and New York, something unusual for the time outside a Bond Film or something similar. I also really enjoyed how the film slipped between English and German in such an effortless way. It was barely noticeable and added realism.The acting was superb throughout. It is such a shame that Bruno Ganz is best known for saying silly things on YouTube as he is a fantastic actor with over fifty years experience behind him. Dennis Hopper was really cool as the American abroad and was excellent in the role and as I've already mentioned Wenders regular Lisa Kreuzer was also brilliant. The fact that all three actors performed in two languages just adds to their excellence.www.attheback.blogspot.com