The American Friend (1977)

Jonathan Zimmermann (Bruno Ganz) believes that he will soon die of leukemia. The unscrupulous American Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper) learns of this and exploits Zimmermann’s illness for his own purposes. He introduces Jonathan to the underworld figure Minot, who offers to hire the terminally ill man as a professional hitman. He is to be paid appropriately for his work and thus enabled to leave something behind for his wife and their child. What does he have to lose, since he is going to die anyway?

A friendship develops between the two very different men, and this ultimately leads Ripley to intervene when Zimmermann proves incapable of carrying out an additional murder.

In 1977, “The American Friend” won the German Film Critics Award, as well as Gold in two categories of the German Film Academy Awards, and is now considered a cult film. Wenders adapted Patricia Highsmith’s novel “Ripley’s Game” for the film.

The cast of Wenders’ film includes not only the directors Dennis Hopper and Gérard Blain—many of the supporting roles of gangsters are also played by fellow directors, such as Hollywood legends Samuel Fuller and Nicholas Ray, as well as Peter Lilienthal, Daniel Schmid, and Jean Eustache.

• 1977 German Film Critics Association Award
• Gold Best Director Award at the 1978 German Film Academy Awards
• Gold Best Editor Award at the 1978 German Film Academy Awards (Peter Przygodda)
• Silver Award at the 1978 German Film Academy Awards (further full-length Feature Film)