The American Friend (1977)

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Patricia Highsmith's psychotic creation, Thomas Ripley, is still in Europe, played by the seemingly psychotic Dennis Hopper. Wim Wenders takes a promising basic plot and injects it with "art."

The cinematic Thomas Ripley was made famous by Matt Damon in Anthony Minghella's watchable "The Talented Mr. Ripley," and about half a dozen other cinematic incarnations. Ripley is now selling paintings by a thought-dead but very alive artist, smuggling them from New York City to Europe. At one auction, Jonathan Zimmermann (Bruno Ganz) from Hamburg, a lowly picture framer, spots one of the painting's flaws, although it is bought by the rich Allan Winter (David Blue) anyway. Ripley overhears that Jonathan suffers from a blood disease and does not have long to live. Under Winter's name, Ripley sends a condolence telegram to Jonathan, who has a wife, Marianne (Lisa Kreuzer) and a young son, and is concerned for their welfare after he is gone. Frenchman Raoul (Gerard Blain) comes to Jonathan with a proposition- kill a known gangster in Paris and Jonathan's family will be set for life.

Wim Wenders does have a wonderful quirky direction, especially in two hit sequences. The subway shadowing and the violence of the train hit are brilliantly shot, save some weak effects as Ripley dangles outside a moving passenger car. The problem is that Wenders takes forever to get things going, and when they do, they are not very interesting. Hopper is an inspired choice as Ripley, the viewer is never sure of his motives, just that he is enjoying all the attention, and Ganz is great as the rather dumb Jonathan. It is also unknown why Jonathan is asked to do a second hit, his image on security cameras during the first hit never pans out with any sort of manhunt or investigation. Also, the forging painter, Jonathan's doctor, and one of the mobsters all have a shock of white hair and look exactly alike. This only adds to the constant confusion that permeates the plot. The fact that the focus is on Jonathan, instead of Ripley, leads to some very boring stretches and obvious metaphorical scenes- Jonathan puts a frame around his neck, indicating to everyone he is being "framed," his illness and his killing get worse as the film goes on.

This film had been remade as "Ripley's Game," the original novel's title, with John Malkovich as Ripley. That film made more sense than this ponderous adaptation.

Stats:
(1977) 128 min. (* *) out of five stars
-Directed by Wim Wenders
-Written by Wim Wenders based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith
-Cast: Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, Gerard Blain, Samuel Fuller, Sandy Whitelaw, Nicholas Ray, Peter Lilienthal, David Blue, Lou Castel, Jean Eustache, Daniel Schmid, Andreas Dedecke
(Not Rated)