---
title: 'The American Friend (1977)'
type: 'film'
director: 'Wim Wenders'
released: '1977-05-26'
runtime_minutes: 121
genres:
  - 'Drama'
  - 'Crime'
countries:
  - 'Germany'
  - 'France'
canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/movies/the-american-friend-1977'
review_count: 0
imdb: 'https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075675/'
publisher: 'CinePixo'
---

# The American Friend (1977)

1977 · 121 min · Drama, Crime · Germany, France

Original title: Der amerikanische Freund

## Synopsis

The American Friend is a 1977 neo-noir film written and directed by Wim Wenders, adapted from the 1974 novel Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith. It stars Dennis Hopper as career-criminal Tom Ripley and Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Zimmermann, a terminally ill picture framer whom Ripley coaxes into becoming an assassin. The film uses an unusual "natural" language concept: Zimmermann speaks German with his family and his doctor, but English with Ripley and while visiting Paris.

## Credits

- **Director:** [Wim Wenders](https://cinepixo.com/people/wim-wenders)
- **Screenplay:** [Wim Wenders](https://cinepixo.com/people/wim-wenders), [Patricia Highsmith](https://cinepixo.com/people/patricia-highsmith)
- **Original Music Composer:** [Jürgen Knieper](https://cinepixo.com/people/jurgen-knieper)
- **Producer:** [Renée Gundelach](https://cinepixo.com/people/renee-gundelach)
- **Director of Photography:** [Robby Müller](https://cinepixo.com/people/robby-muller)
- **Editor:** [Peter Przygodda](https://cinepixo.com/people/peter-przygodda)

## Cast

- [David Blue](https://cinepixo.com/people/david-blue)
- [Gérard Blain](https://cinepixo.com/people/gerard-blain)
- [Jean Eustache](https://cinepixo.com/people/jean-eustache)
- [Sandy Whitelaw](https://cinepixo.com/people/sandy-whitelaw)
- [Lou Castel](https://cinepixo.com/people/lou-castel)
- [Wim Wenders](https://cinepixo.com/people/wim-wenders)
- [Dennis Hopper](https://cinepixo.com/people/dennis-hopper)
- [Peter Lilienthal](https://cinepixo.com/people/peter-lilienthal)
- [Gerty Molzen](https://cinepixo.com/people/gerty-molzen)
- [Rosemarie Heinikel](https://cinepixo.com/people/rosemarie-heinikel)
- [Lisa Kreuzer](https://cinepixo.com/people/lisa-kreuzer)
- [Nicholas Ray](https://cinepixo.com/people/nicholas-ray)
- [Rudolf Schündler](https://cinepixo.com/people/rudolf-schundler)
- [Daniel Schmid](https://cinepixo.com/people/daniel-schmid)
- [Samuel Fuller](https://cinepixo.com/people/samuel-fuller)

## Criticism on CinePixo

No reviews published yet.

Source: https://cinepixo.com/movies/the-american-friend-1977
Film facts: Wikidata (Q694781); synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reviews, themes and notes are the work of this site's members.