The American Friend: Directed by Wim Wenders. With Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, Gérard Blain. Tom Ripley, who deals in forged art, suggests a picture framer he knows would make a good hit man.

American Friends: Directed by Tristram Powell. With Bryan Pringle, Fred Pearson, Michael Palin, Alfred Molina. Reverend Francis Ashby (Sir Michael Palin), a senior Oxford don on vacation alone in the Alps, meets vacationing American Miss Caroline Hartley (Connie Booth) and her companion Miss Elinor Hartley (Trini Alvarado), the blossoming Irish ...

Gradually succumbing to an incurable illness, Jonathan Zimmermann, a humble family man and picture framer, has a chance encounter with the amoral American expatriate and art dealer, Tom Ripley, at an auction in Hamburg.

"The American Friend" is Wim Wenders' great existential thriller about a dying man hired to commit a murder so that his family can be looked after when he's dead. The source was Patricia Highsmith's novel "Ripley's Game" though Tom Ripley is something of a secondary character.

When his American friends come to Oxford to visit, their arrival throws the college into a tizzy and he finds himself in competition with others for not only the role of president but also for the hearts of his friends.

The American Friend: Directed by Wim Wenders. With Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, Gérard Blain. Tom Ripley, who deals in forged art, suggests a picture framer he knows would make a good hit man.

The Friend: Directed by Scott McGehee, David Siegel. With Naomi Watts, Bill Murray, Constance Wu, Ann Dowd. Follows a story of love, friendship, grief and healing, about a writer who adopts a Great Dane that belonged to a late friend and mentor.

Reverend Francis Ashby (Sir Michael Palin), a senior Oxford don on vacation alone in the Alps, meets vacationing American Miss Caroline Hartley (Connie Booth) and her companion Miss Elinor Hartley (Trini Alvarado), the blossoming Irish-American girl she adopted many years before.

The American Friend (1977) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.

Adapting Ripley's Game, the third of Patricia Highsmith's Ripley novels, 1977's The American Friend knits Wenders' ongoing concerns into a thriller in the Hitchcock mold.