Jonathan Zimmermann, a German picture-framer, is dying of a rare blood disease. Despite his illness, the happily married Jonathan does his best to live each day to the fullest with his wife and child. But when Tom Ripley, a cunning American gangster, learns of Jonathan's sickness, he convinces the dying man--deeply concerned about his family's financial future--to work as a hit man for a big payoff. Will Jonathan get in over his head by making a deal that could ruin what's left of his life? German director Wim Wenders delivers a sensitive, film-noirish tribute to the American gangster film, based on the novel RIPLEY'S GAME by Patricia Highsmith.
Film screened at 1977 New York Film Festival, and at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.
DVD Features:
Region 0
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.77
Letterbox - 1.77
Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 - German
Dolby Digital 5.1 - German
Additional Release Material:
Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Audio Commentary: Wim Wenders - Director, Dennis Hopper - Star
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Text/Photo Galleries:
Biographies
Director of Photography
Robby Müller: Director of Photography
Source Writer
Patricia Highsmith: Novelist - "Ripley's Game"
Costume Designer
Isolde Nist: Costume Designer, THE AMERICAN FRIEND
Review 1:
"A moody and entrancing film."
Source: Premiere
p.116 07/01/2004
Review 2:
"...[A] complex and nuanced adaptation....Dennis Hopper makes an amiably psychotic Ripley..."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.66 08/01/2003
Review 3:
"...[One] of the most interesting American underworld movies of recent years....An extremely beautiful film..."
Source: New York Times
p.15 09/24/1977
Review 4:
"...A French-flavored thriller about friendship, isolation, and its own moody self..."
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.134 03/21/2003
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