Product: The American Friend [VHS] (1977)
Rating: 3.0
Awesome movie, disappointing lack of features
I loved this movie when it first came out back in the days of my misspent youth, and it has not paled over the years. It's still a great movie, with excellent performances all around, especially by Bruno Ganz, several decades before Downfall brought him back to the attention of US moviegoers. If this product was just about the movie, I would give it 5 stars without any hesitation.Sadly, it's not just about the movie :( it's about this DVD version, and unfortunately, that is where it all falls down. The product information will tell you that this movie has subtitles. Unfortunately, this is extremely misleading. People speak many languages in this movie, and yes, the german and the french are indeed subtitled (even when they are perfectly clear even to this very indifferent speaker of french). However, the spoken english is NOT subtitled, despite the fact that the DVD menu actually identifies the subtitles as "english." Dennis Hopper is an awesome actor, but ahem, sometimes, he mumbles, and I found whole sections of the english dialogue practically incomprehensible for lack of subtitles :( If you are like me and prefer to watch any movie with subtitles, please be aware that the english dialogue in this version is absolutely devoid of subtitles, despite being advertised as subtitled.