The American Friend (German: Der amerikanische Freund) is a 1977 neo-noir film written and directed by Wim Wenders, adapted from the 1974 novel Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith.

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.

He is involved in an artwork forgery scheme, in which he drives up auction prices of supposedly newly-found—but really newly-produced—paintings by an artist who has faked his own death.

Leading a double life causes tension in Zimmermann's marriage, as Marianne does not believe his cover stories of traveling and getting paid for experimental treatments.

Moments later, he dies at the wheel and the car goes out of control, but Marianne pulls the emergency brake and survives.

Wenders was a fan of Patricia Highsmith and wanted to make a film based on one of her novels, especially The Cry of the Owl or The Tremor of Forgery.

When he learned that the rights to these novels, and Highsmith's others, had been sold, he met with the author, and she offered him the unpublished manuscript of Ripley's Game, which was published in 1974.

Wenders credits Hopper's performance and onscreen relationship with Ganz with inspiring the title The American Friend.

[2][3] Initially, Wenders wanted to cast John Cassavetes as Ripley, but he declined, suggesting Hopper for the part.

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 25 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average score of 7.3/10; the site's "critics consensus: reads: "The American Friend is a slow burning existential thriller that does justice to the Patricia Highsmith source novel.

"[4] Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, writing: "[Wenders] challenges us to admit that we watch (and read) thrillers as much for atmosphere as for plot.

"[6] In A Girl and a Gun: The Complete Guide to Film Noir, David N. Meyer says of the film: "Though the plot may not make a whole lot of sense the first time around—and the thick European accents of a couple of the major actors doesn't help—The American Friend is worth the effort.

Few movies from any era or genre offer such rich characters, realistic human relationships, gripping action sequences, or sly humor.

[11] It was selected as the West German entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 50th Academy Awards, but was not chosen as one of the five final nominees.

These films (all written and directed by different people) do not form an official series, and none were made with the intention of explicitly preceding or following the others.