Der amerikanische Freund

Without wanting to overstretch the title, one of several points of reference in Wenders' adaptation of a novel by Patricia Highsmith can already be heard here: American film history. Numerous allusions and playful quotations are amalgamated into the film: Music, objects, places and motifs as well as the mood-setting color scheme and the casting of American directing greats such as Samuel Fuller and Nicholas Ray in important supporting roles. Playing a painter who has been declared dead, the latter delivers previously supposedly unknown paintings that Ripley (Dennis Hopper), a wealthy American, sells at a high price. When Ripley meets the seriously ill picture framer Jonathan (Bruno Ganz), he talks him into carrying lucrative contract murders. (mg)