The American Friend (Der Amerikanische Freund) 1977

[Rodney-2187]

[Rodney-2187]

I thought this deserved its own thread. One of my all-time favorites.

[don3663]

Nice stills. My dvd looks nothing like that.

[captainron_howdy]

This is certainly a great film!

[Mothravka]

It's up there with Paris, Texas (1984) being the best work by Wim Wenders. Sad that Bruno Ganz passed away almost a year ago.

[Warm Gun]

I have five of his movies. Didn't know about this one. But I see it's another forty dollar Criterion exclusive. Strange that single releases are almost always forty dollars.

[DR Herbert West]

Five stars! Fantastic film.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

I have five of his movies. Didn't know about this one. But I see it's another forty dollar Criterion exclusive. Strange that single releases are almost always forty dollars.

Not sure why that's strange. It's been their MSRP for years for most titles with extras (barebones releases are usually $29.99). Most people never buy at full retail price, but wait for the 50% off sales.

[Warm Gun]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Not sure why that's strange. It's been their MSRP for years for most titles with extras (barebones releases are usually $29.99). Most people never buy at full retail price, but wait for the 50% off sales.

It's strange because it shouldn't cost the same amount of money to produce every release, and some releases will sell much better than others. Also, at some point, they earn back what they paid for the production. I always wait for the 50 percent sales too. Doesn't change the fact that the normal price is forty dollars and that other releases can be bought much cheaper than twenty dollars during sales. It's still a very high price.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

It's strange because it shouldn't cost the same amount of money to produce every release, and some releases will sell much better than others. Also, at some point, they earn back what they paid for the production. I always wait for the 50 percent sales too. Doesn't change the fact that the normal price is forty dollars and that other releases can be bought much cheaper than twenty dollars during sales. It's still a very high price.

They treat their movies the same so have a base MSRP. They aren’t gonna play favorites and charge $70 for Seven Samurai and $20 for American Friend because not as many people heard about American Friend. That’s dumb.

[Warm Gun]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

They treat their movies the same so have a base MSRP. They aren’t gonna play favorites and charge $70 for Seven Samurai and $20 for American Friend because not as many people heard about American Friend. That’s dumb.

It's not dumb. Other studios/labels do it all the time. Check out the prices on some different Lionsgate 4K movies or Sony/Columbia releases or Arrow releases. Disney isn't gonna charge the same for The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog and Mulan (1998) just to be fair. You don't wanna charge more than what most people are willing to pay if you can help it. Criterion would never charge seventy dollars for Seven Samurai anyway, as forty is already quite a lot to most people. Personally, I'm waiting for a Kurosawa boxset before I spend more money.

[Mr. Chaverria]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

Five stars! Fantastic film.

6 stars if it was in the Tokyo Dome.

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If I can be serious for a minute, this was the one Wenders films I didn't get on the sale. I just got so many that I just had to switch it for another directer cuz it was getting Wenders heavy there. But I REALLY want to see this one. The colors interest me.

[Hazel Motes]

I saw it once about 12-13 years ago. I love quite a few Wim Wenders films, but for whatever reason I couldn't connect with this film. I was really bored by it. I need to watch it again though and reassess. I find it off putting that I don't like a film that stars Bruno Ganz AND Dennis Hopper. Not to mention Sam Fuller and Nicholas Ray!