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The American Friend

1977 · TMDB 7.1 · Der amerikanische Freund

Directed by Wim Wenders

Tom Ripley, an American who deals in forged art, is slighted at an auction in Hamburg by picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman. When Ripley is asked by gangster Raoul Minot to kill a rival, he suggests Zimmerman, and the two, exploiting Zimmerman's terminal illness, coerce him into being a hitman.

Why it matters

Wim Wenders's adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's Ripley novels, with Dennis Hopper as the amoral Tom Ripley and Bruno Ganz as a picture framer drawn into a murder plot.

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