Selected films by Wim Wenders

DVD - VIDEOS See links below for the DVD or VHS version of these films. You can find more detailed information (cast, crew, etc.) for Wenders' films at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) site. IMDb also offers a complete Wim Wenders filmography.

In Germany

Im Lauf der Zeit (Kings of the Road, 1975)

The American Friend (The American Friend, 1977) Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, Nicholas Ray. Filmed in Europe and the U.S.
  IMDb > Der amerikanische Freund   > Buy the DVD - THE AMERICAN FRIEND

Der Stand der Dinge (The State of Things, 1982)

Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin, 1987) With Peter Falk, Bruno Ganz, Otto Sander, Solveig Dommartin (French actress and onetime Wenders' love interest). Now on DVD.
  > Buy the VHS video (English subtitles)
  > Buy the DVD - WINGS OF DESIRE
   ARTICLE > What is Peter Falk Doing in Wings of Desire? by Richard Raskin (POV)

A Notebook on Clothes and Cities (1989) Wenders follows Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto around Paris and Tokyo to find out whether the concept of originality still has meaning in a world where almost everything is a commercialized copy.
  > Buy the DVD (with director's commentary)

Bis ans Ende der Welt (Until the End of the World, 1991)
  > Buy the VHS Video - UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD   IMBd > Bis ans Ende der Welt

Faraway, So Close! (In weiter Ferne, so nah!, 1993) German and English dialog. With Peter Falk, Willem Defoe, Bruno Ganz, Otto Sander, Solveig Dommartin, Nastassja Kinski, Horst Buchholz. Mikhail Gorbachev has a cameo as himself.
  > Buy the DVD - FARAWAY, SO CLOSE!

Beyond the Clouds (Jenseits der Wolken, 1995) Co-directed by Wim Wenders and the Italian Michelangelo Antonioni - with an international cast including John Malkovich, Sophie Marceau, Irene Jacob, Jean Reno, and Vincent Perez.
  > Buy the DVD - BEYOND THE CLOUDS

Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky (The Brothers Skladanowsky, 1995) Udo Kier, Nadine Buettner, Otto Kuhnle. About the German inventors of motion pictures. (See our Chronology of Film for details.)
  IMDb > Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky

In the U.S.

Hammett (1983) Frederic Forrest, Peter Boyle. Completed by Francis Ford Coppola after Wenders had directed most of the film. Wenders' first Hollywood film is a fictional account of crime writer Dashiell Hammett. According to a 2004 German interview (FAZ), Wenders called Zoetrope in the late 1990s with an offer to re-edit Hammett. “Two weeks later they called me back and said, 'We're sorry Mr. Wenders, but the entire negative was shredded three years ago. The only thing left of the first film is the low-quality Betamax tape.' That was really very disappointing.” So a possible cool extra for a DVD has been lost because of a strange decision by Coppola's Zoetrope.
    > Buy the VHS - HAMMETT   IMDb > Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky

Paris, Texas (1984) With Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Bernhard Wicki
  > Buy the DVD - PARIS, TEXAS   WEB > Paris, Texas - IMDb

Michelle Williams and Wim Wenders during
the filming of LAND OF PLENTY (2004).
The film's title was inspired by a
Leonard Cohen song.

The End of Violence (1997) "Bill Pullman is the ostensible hero, a Roger Corman-like producer abruptly kidnapped by a pair of dim thugs who prepare to kill him in the shadow of the L.A. freeway." (Amazon.com)
  > Buy the DVD - END OF VIOLENCE

City of Angels (1998) Directed by Brad Silberling (Casper). Wenders gets a writing credit for this saccharine re-make of his Wings of Desire (set in Los Angeles instead of Berlin). Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan star. André Braugher replaces Otto Sander as the angel Cassiel. Far too "Hollywood" when compared to the original.
  WEB > City of Angels - IMDb

The Buena Vista Social Club (1999) Wenders' marvelous musical documentary about some older Cuban musicians.
  > Buy the DVD - BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB
  > Buy the VHS Video

The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) With Mel Gibson, Milla Jovovich, and Jeremy Davies.
  > Buy the DVD - MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL   WEB > The Million Dollar Hotel - Official Web site

Land of Plenty (2004) Michelle Williams, John Diehl. Wenders' look at the USA after September 11, 2001 follows two Americans in search of their own identity and that of their country. The role of American Christian fundamentalism is also a key element.
Wenders: "Da kam plötzlich dieses Fenster, in dem ich etwas anderes machen konnte und da habe ich mir gesagt, das muss etwas sein, was mir auf der Seele brennt und was wirklich wichtig ist. Und das war für mich damals im Sommer 2003 die politische Situation in den USA. Ich musste mich einfach zu dieser Enge, diesem Gefühl der Verlorenheit der Amerikaner, auch der Weltverlorenheit, äußern. Ich lebe ja in L.A. und irgendwie hatte ich das Gefühl, ich kann jetzt hier nicht bleiben. Entweder ich äußere mich oder ich muss hier weg - das geht mir jedenfalls auf den Docht." - From Planet Interview (in German)
   WEB > Land of Plenty - Wim Wenders Official Site

Don't Come Knocking (2005, preproduction 2004) With Sam Shepard (Paris, Texas, The Right Stuff), who also co-wrote the screenplay with Wenders, Jessica Lange, Tim Roth, and Sarah Polley. Eva Marie Saint (North by Northwest) plays Shepard's mother. Cinematography: Franz Lustig. The story is a sort of road movie set in the American West; shot on location in Butte, Montana and other western locales. Berlin filmmaker Willem Droste made a documentary of the making of the Wenders' film.   WEB > Don't Come Knocking - Wim Wenders Official Site

Wenders Connections (Links)

• Wim-Wenders.com - The official site
• A Conversation with Wim Wenders, an interview by Michael Coles - DoubleTake magazine
• Independent Film Channel, of which Wenders is a director, features his films from time to time.
• Wim Wenders @ Italway - A great site, but most of it is in Italian. There is an English contents page and also a German version, but most of the articles seem to be in Italian only.
• Wim Wenders @ IMDb - Filmography and brief biographical info.
• Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) - In English and German. For its 50th birthday in 2000, the Berlinale had an all-new venue on the "nagelneu" Potsdamer Platz. Wim Wenders has had films featured in 2000 and 2002.

B O O K S
BOOK 1: Wim Wenders: On Film - Essays and Conversations by Wim Wenders.
BOOK 2: The Cinema of Wim Wenders: Image, Narrative, and the Postmodern Condition by Roger Cook.

B A C K > Wenders Bio

Copyright © 1997-2005 Hyde Flippo