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The American Friend (1977)

Directed by Wim Wenders · Cinematography by Robby Müller

128 min61 frames

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Stills, screencaps & shots from The American Friend

16 of 61 frames — the full set is searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, color and mood with a free account.

The American Friend (1977) movie still: wide — A spacious room features a large pool table with balls scattered across the felt. Two men hold cues…The American Friend (1977) movie still: fullbody — A man lies on a bed covered in vibrant red satin fabric. He holds a portable transistor radio…The American Friend (1977) movie still: establishing — A vast green agricultural field sits beneath rolling hills under a heavy overcast sky. An…The American Friend (1977) movie still: medium — A dark apartment interior featuring a wooden table under a low-hanging lamp. A woman sits at the…The American Friend (1977) movie still: wide — A dark subterranean transit area with intersecting metal escalators featuring bright blue side…The American Friend (1977) movie still: wide — An urban intersection with aged multi-story tenement buildings painted in muted, contrasting colors.…The American Friend (1977) movie still: establishing — A snowy urban intersection features tall apartment blocks and a distant church spire. A…The American Friend (1977) movie still: closeup — A dimly lit room interior features a small rectangular mirror beside an illuminated scenic…The American Friend (1977) movie still: wide — A wide, flat tidal area with a wet surface reflecting the cloudy sky. An ambulance is towing a small…The American Friend (1977) movie still: establishing — A dark city street at night features a restaurant and low-rise buildings against skyscrapers.…The American Friend (1977) movie still: medium — A long, curved concrete tunnel illuminated by a series of receding overhead fluorescent lamps. A…The American Friend (1977) movie still: wide — A modern transit station interior features orange textured wall tiles and metallic structural beams.…The American Friend (1977) movie still: medium — A man sits in the passenger seat of a vehicle during golden hour light. The sun glows brightly…The American Friend (1977) movie still: fullbody — A long, dimly lit indoor passage features patterned carpeting and rows of recessed ceiling…The American Friend (1977) movie still: medium — A metal bridge structure overlooks industrial brick buildings under a clear daytime sky. A younger…The American Friend (1977) movie still: medium — A dark, dimly lit security room features a single mounted CRT television screen. The monitor…
The American Friend (1977) — © Road Movies, Wim Wenders Productions

The American Friend — official trailer

What is The American Friend about?

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.

The American Friend 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.

Second paragraph from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where can you watch The American Friend?

US availability for The American Friend (1977). Data by JustWatch, listings on TMDB. Availability changes — check the provider for current listings.

Who stars in The American Friend?

Who made The American Friend?

What does the cinematography of The American Friend look like?

Across 61 sampled frames, The American Friend builds its coverage from medium shots (46% of the sample), with wide compositions (25%) carrying much of the rest. Cinematographer Robby Müller keeps 49% of it in soft, low-key light. 54% of the frames play at night or in the failing light of dusk. Vintage glass shapes the frame.

What is the color palette of The American Friend?

The dominant colors across the sampled frames of The American Friend (1977) are #0c0f0d, #33302b, #514f4d, #261913, #ac9572, #4c493a — measured from the per-frame color data FrameThrower extracts for every film.

  • #0c0f0d
  • #33302b
  • #514f4d
  • #261913
  • #ac9572
  • #4c493a

See the full The American Friend colour palette — every hex with its share, plus warmth, saturation and luminance.

A reference database for filmmakers

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Techniques in this film

More films by Wim Wenders

Cast, trailer and streaming data from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.