The American Friend

The American Friend
German film poster
German	Der amerikanische Freund
Directed by	Wim Wenders
Written by	Wim Wenders
Based on	Ripley's Game 1974 novel by Patricia Highsmith
Produced by	Wim Wenders
Starring	Dennis Hopper Bruno Ganz Lisa Kreuzer Gérard Blain
Cinematography	Robby Müller
Edited by	Peter Przygodda
Music by	Jürgen Knieper
Production companies	Road Movies Filmproduktion Wim Wenders Productions Les Films du Losange Westdeutscher Rundfunk[1]
Distributed by	Filmverlag der Autoren
Release dates	26 March 1977 (1977-03-26) (Cannes) 24 June 1977 (1977-06-24) (Berlin)
Running time	127 minutes
Countries	West Germany France
Languages	German English
Budget	3 million DEM

The American Friend (German: Der amerikanische Freund) 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.