Product: The American Friend [VHS] (1977)
Rating: 4.0
Hopper and Ganz Shine In Ripleys Game
I saw this movie when it was first released on VHS years ago. The reason I rented it was because I was in a big Dennis Hopper phase and trying to watch just about everything he had done. This was during the time of him cleaning up and his resurgence with Blue Velvet and directing Colors. I must say that the movies I watched usually broke down into two categories. The first was the early Hopper portraying the weakling son of the bad man. The other was the very messed up and drug addicted Hopper which had its highlights as he rambled to a great performance in Apocalypse Now but most were really bad movies that were hard to watch. All that said, I must say that Wim Wenders adaptation of Ripleys Game 'American Friend' was a huge suprise and ended up being one of my all time favorites. It also introduced me to the great actor Bruno Ganz. But in this movie Hopper is his equal and they both turn in fascinating performances. Of course this movie was out before The Talented Mr. Ripley with Jude Law and Matt Damon. Since I had never read the books I had nothing to go on. Wim Wenders direction is great and the story is interesting and just keeps you focused. Ganz is great as the German frame maker who owns a little shop and who meets the strange, complex and brilliant shady Tom Ripley (Hopper). Hopper is involved in the criminal underworld. One of his enterprises is the selling of fake art. He tricks Ganz into doing some 'wet work' for his criminal friends by getting him involved in a murder for hire plot because they spin a scheme that has him believe that his physical condition (a blood disease that is controlled)is much worse and that he only has a limited time to live. In time manipulation morphs into a kind of friendship between the two.I won't go any further because I don't want to spoil the story for anybody who wants to watch. This is a good foreign film but refreshingly is easy to follow and has quite a bit of English dialogue. I believe a good bit of the movie takes place in both Germany and in France (haven't seen it in a long time).One last funny story about this movie. A girl I was dating rented The Talented Mr. Ripley when it first came out. I watched it and liked it very much. I told the story of a young Tom Ripley and it was excellent. A few years later I picked up another copy of American Friend and viewed it. As I was watching I caught Hoppers characters name, Tom Ripley. I immediately realized that the big hit movie of the day 'The Talented Mr. Ripley's' or at least its main character had been done years before in a brilliant Wim Wenders adaptation 'American Friend'. So I did a google search and found this is an adaptation of the novel 'Ripleys Game'. I guess this movie has been remade recently with John Malkovich as Ripley in the feature film Ripleys Game. Also I understand that the Ripley character has also been done by Alain Delon in one of the earliest adaptions of Ripley.