 The American Friend 1977  N/R, 127 min.
Genre: Drama / Mystery / Thriller
aka: Der Amerikanische Freund
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Dennis Hopper, Lisa Kreuzer, Gerard Blain, Nicholas Ray, Samuel Fuller, Jean Eustache, Peter Lilienthal, Daniel Schmid, Rudolf Schundler, Sandy Whitelaw, Lou Castel, Heinz Joachim Klein, David Blue, Rosemarie Heinikel
This psychological thriller stars Dennis Hopper as Tom Ripley who sells forged paintings. Jonathan Zimmerman (Bruno Ganz) suffers from a fatal illness, and Ripley persuades him to become the paid killer of a French Mafioso. Zimmerman plans to use the money to support his family after his death. But, one murder leads to another.
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Beyond the Clouds 1995  N/R, 110 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni, Wim Wenders
Cast: John Malkovich, Kim Rossi Stuart, Ines Sastre, Sophie Marceau, Chiara Caselli, Peter Weller, Fanny Ardant, Irene Jacob, Vincent Perez, Jean Reno
Four short stories linked with an underlying theme of "the true image of that absolute and mysterious reality that nobody will ever see" make up this complex effort. Unfortunately, the beautiful cinematography is marred by the film's unbelievable tales.
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 Buena Vista Social Club 1999 N/R, 105 min.
Genre: Documentary
Director: Wim Wenders
Set mostly in Havana, this documentary culminates in a 1998 Carnegie Hall concert, which serves for a reunion of aging pop musicians. The documentary is a great mix of sounds from recording studios, live performances and interviews. Good music–good film.
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Don't Come Knocking 2005 R, 125 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Sam Shepard, Jessica Lange, Tim Roth, Gabriel Mann, Sarah Polley, Fairuza Balk, Eva Marie Saint, Mike Butters, Julia Sweeney, Marley Shelton, Raymond O'Connor, Kurt Fuller
His days are long passed as a Western movie star when 60-year-old Howard Spence (Sam Shepard) sees the folly of his drug and alcohol lifestyle and sets out on a journey to reconnect with his past. To his surprise, he discovers that he fathered both a son, Earl (Gabriel Mann), and a daughter, Sky (Sarah Polley), during his early days of filmmaking in Montana.
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The End of Violence 1997 R, 122 min.
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Bill Pullman, Andie MacDowell, Gabriel Byrne, Loren Dean, Traci Lind, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Udo Kier, Rosalind Chao, K. Todd Freeman, John Diehl, Chris Douridas, Soledad St. Hilaire, Nicole Ari Parker, Daniel Benzali, Samuel Fuller
Surveillance expert Ray Bering (Gabriel Byrne) looks out on Los Angeles via secret TV cameras and watches impotently as Hollywood producer Mike Max (Bill Pullman) is kidnapped, escapes, and hides out with a Mexican family. Numerous subplots evolve in this confusing story.
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Faraway, So Close! 1993 N/R, 140 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Otto Sander, Bruno Ganz, Peter Falk, Solveig Dommartin, Nastassja Kinski, Willem Dafoe, Roberto Benigni, Horst Buchholz
In this remake/sequel to Wenders' classic "Wings of Desire," the angels still hover over Berlin and bring their kind of magic to the people in a now-unified Germany. Mikhail Gorbachev, the ex-Soviet head, makes a cameo appearance with philosophical comments. A pretty good follow-up to the original.
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Hammett 1983 PG, 97 min.
Genre: Mystery
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Frederic Forrest, Peter Boyle, Marilu Henner, Roy Kinnear, Elisha Cook Jr., Lydia Lei, R.G. Armstrong, Royal Dano, Richard Bradford, David Patrick Kelly
Writer/detective Dashiell Hammett (Frederic Forrest) becomes involved in a real-life mystery in this recreation of the 1930s' era detective fare.
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Kings of the Road 1976  N/R, 176 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: In the Course of Time
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Rudiger Vogler, Hanns Zischler, Lisa Kreuzer, Rudolf Schundler, Marquard Bohm, Hans Dieter Trayer, Franziska Stommer, Patric Kreuzer, Peter Kaiser, Michael Wiedemann, Wim Wenders
Movie projector repairman Bruno (Rudiger Vogler) travels from one small-town theater in West Germany to another while living in his beat-up truck. One day, a VW Beetle speeds by and ends up in the river. The occupant Robert (Hanns Zischler) gets out of the car after his half-hearted attempt at suicide, is picked up by Bruno, and they take off together as Bruno continues his route. This is the ultimate road movie by Wim Wenders that makes statements on many matters that occupied the lives of people living through the Cold War and the changes in society that were taking place.
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Land of Plenty 2004 N/R, 120 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Michelle Williams, John Diehl, Shaun Toub, Wendell Pierce, Richard Edson, Burt Young, Yuri Elvin, Jeris Poindexter, Rhonda Stubbins White, Bernard White, Matthew Kimbrough, Gloria Stuart
Paul Jeffries (John Diehl) served with the Special Forces in Vietnam, and his niece, Lana (Michelle Williams), worked as a missionary in the Middle East. They use their past experiences to deal in their own unique ways with the effects of the events of September 11, 2001.
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Lisbon Story 1994  N/R, 105 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Rudiger Vogler, Patrick Bauchau, Vasco Sequeira, Canto e Castro, Viriato Jose da Silva, Joao Canijo, Ricardo Colares, Joel Ferreira, Sofia Benard da Costa, Vera Cunha Rocha
Phillip Winter (Rudiger Vogler) arrives in Lisbon after receiving a call for help from his friend, the director Friedrich Monroe (Patrick Bauchau), who needs help finishing his film. But when Winter arrives, there is no sign of Monroe and, while searching for his friend, Winter makes use of sound equipment with which he captures the sounds of Lisbon and meditates on the nature of cinema.
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The Million Dollar Hotel 2000 R, 122 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Jeremy Davies, Mel Gibson, Jimmy Smits, Peter Stormare, Amanda Plummer, Gloria Stuart, Tom Bower, Donal Logue, Bud Cort
While investigating the possible murder of a billionaire's son, FBI agent Skinner (Mel Gibson) moves in on a group of misfits living in a decrepit hotel in L.A. and becomes so emotionally involved with the tenants that it threatens his investigation.
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Paris, Texas 1984  R, 150 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Aurore Clement, Hunter Carson, Bernhard Wicki, Tom Farrell, John Lurie, Sam Berry, Claresie Mobley, Viva, Justin Hogg, Jeni Vici
This excellent film tells the story of Travis Clay Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton) who returns after four years to try to win back the love and respect of his son Hunter (Hunter Carson) he left behind. Accomplishing this, the two of them go in search of their missing wife and mother (Nastassja Kinski).
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The Scarlet Letter 1972 N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Senta Berger, Lou Castel, Hans Christian Blech, Yella Rottlander, Yelena Samarina, William Layton, Rudiger Vogler, Tito Garcia, Jose Villasante, Alfredo Mayo
This is a good Wim Wenders rendition of the Nathaniel Hawthorne classic tale. Wenders' characterization of the early immigrants' biases and customs is interesting, and the acting is likewise good. It tells the story of Hester Prynne (Senta Berger) who is disgraced after having a sexual encounter and must wear the letter "A" on her blouse, and of the Reverend (Lou Castel) living with his indiscretion but sworn to secrecy by Hester.
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The State of Things 1982  N/R, 125 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Allen Garfield, Samuel Fuller, Paul Getty III, Roger Corman, Patrick Bauchau, Isabelle Weingarten, Geoffrey Carey, Rebecca Pauly, Geoffrey Carey, Jeffrey Kime
This film is a remake of Roger Corman's "The Day the World Ended" is a tribute to the producer and tries to present an insider's perspective of the film industry.
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Until the End of the World 1991 R, 178 min.
Genre: Drama / Sci-Fi / Adventure
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Solveig Dommartin, William Hurt, Sam Neill, Max von Sydow, Rudiger Vogler, Jeanne Moreau, Chick Ortega, Lois Chiles, Adelle Lutz, Jean-Charles Dumay, Eddy Mitchell, Allen Garfield, David Gulpilil
As the world worries about a nuclear satellite crashing on Earth, Claire (Solveig Dommartin) has a car accident with bank robbers who then give her some of their heist to drop off in Paris. Along the way, Claire meets an American, Sam Farber (William Hurt), who is trying to elude the CIA. They hit it off until Sam steals some of the heist from Claire. Now Claire travels the world, through many countries, chasing Sam and ends up in Australia where Sam's father (Max von Sydow) has a laboratory in which he has invented a camera used by Sam on his trek. The camera will play back images that Sam's blind mother (Jeanne Moreau) can see. Even more important, the camera will allow dreams to be recorded. All this is accomplished while it is believed that a nuclear holocaust has taken place and presumably destroyed civilization.
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 Wings of Desire 1987 PG-13, 130 min.
Genre: Drama / Fantasy / Romance
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois, Peter Falk, Hans Martin Stier, Elmar Wilms, Sigurd Rachman, Beatrice Manowski, Lajos Kovacs, Bruno Rosaz, Laurent Petitgand, Chick Ortega
This West German film provides an insightful perspective of life on Earth as seen through the eyes of an Angel (Bruno Ganz) who comes to Earth, travels through Berlin, falls in love, and tries to comprehend the thinking and values of the contemporary world.
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The Wrong Move 1975 N/R, 103 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: The Wrong Movement
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Rudiger Vogler, Hanna Schygulla, Hans Christian Blech, Nastassja Kinski, Peter Kern, Ivan Desny, Marianne Hoppe, Lisa Kreuzer, Adolf Hansen, Wim Wenders
Aspiring writer Wilhelm (Rudiger Vogler) sets off on a train ride to Bonn and along the way meets good-looking Therese Farner (Hanna Schygulla), ex-Olympian Laertes (Hans Christian Blech) with his mute teen companion Mignon (Nastassja Kinski), and not-so-great poet Bernhard Landau (Peter Kern). But, within this group, personal connections are not easy to attain.
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| 1. The American Friend (1977)
aka: Der Amerikanische Freund
2. Beyond the Clouds (1995)
3. Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
4. Don't Come Knocking (2005)
5. The End of Violence (1997)
6. Faraway, So Close! (1993)
7. Hammett (1983)
8. Kings of the Road (1976)
aka: In the Course of Time
9. Land of Plenty (2004)
10. Lisbon Story (1994)
11. The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)
12. Paris, Texas (1984)
13. The Scarlet Letter (1972)
14. The State of Things (1982)
15. Until the End of the World (1991)
16. Wings of Desire (1987)
17. The Wrong Move (1975)
aka: The Wrong Movement
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