All atmosphere - only the bare minimum of character motivation provided.

I remember liking this when I saw it thirty-odd years ago. I remember it for being suspenseful at times, overlong and slow in its pacing, and featuring good performances from Ganz and Hopper. It also has a nice little acting part for director Sam Fuller.

The various interesting disparate elements - the comedy, the thriller moments, the arthouse stylings, the marital drama - never really coalesced for me. I enjoyed the film but overall was left feeling a tad unsatisfied.

#908

Maybe not as interesting as I expected it to be, but there are some absolutely brilliant sequences. This is one of those Dennis Hopper performances where he grabs the film by the balls and doesn't let go. Bruno Ganz is very good too.

For a Ripley film he seems to be pretty much a catalyst for another story, and it doesn't help that Hopper doesn't much fit the role. Still, Ganz gives an excellent performance and if the film fully committed to making him the centre it would help. As it is we get moods and reactions but not much insight, particularly into the major turning points in the film. The film gets points for style and creating a mood, but the elements don't fit together all that well.

Stunningly directed thriller sets up its pieces very slowly and deliberately (perhaps too much so) for the first third, but it emerges as an exciting, unsettling experience. Hopper is perfect as an enigmatic, subtly sinister Ripley, and Ganz matches him as the tortured hero. Oddball touches by Wenders especially in the colour scheme and eccentric camera angles, makes this a fascinating film, and very much rooted in the art house cinema of the 70s. Far superior to the 90s-00s Ripley films.

i hate wenders and ganz, hopper was good in this tho

Not especially interesting, but not boring, either. I thought the first hour could have been trimmed down to a half-hour without losing much.

Charmingly bizarre little movie

Tribute to the American gangster film helped introduce Wenders to American moviegoers. Hopper is the typical Wenders protagonist, a strange man in a strange land looking for a connection. Great, creepy thriller.

I really can't even tell what I was supposed to take from this. It just felt like a bunch of disconnected sequences with two cool actors.

Atmosphere

Wenders has developed a cult following for this film about people operating outside the law.

I really liked the movie. The atmosphere of suspense and nostalgia are present all the time. Bruno Ganz is great in the role of Jonathan, as well as Dennis Hoper (Ripley) ... the film works well across the web of murder and internal conflicts (for both, Jonathan and Ripley) ... But for the film work for those who read the book, is best forget the Ripley´s Highsmith ... there are striking differences between them.