Rating: 
Summary: crass nerve pinch for a tiny story
Review: That's one of those movies which use dark omenous score and deep supposedly meaningful voice to sell you a story for 10 times more of what it is really worth. SPOILERS AHEAD. First thing that falls on you, with omenous music playing, that deep mesmerizer's voice goes, "When you. Come to Vietnam. You understand a lot. In a few minutes." But it does not say what exactly you understand, neither ot shows in the action. And it keeps going on like that, occasionally sparkling with some sense. If you boil out these Hollywood nerve pinches, the story turns to nothing. Well, an old British journalist sick and tired of his justly wed wife goes to Vietnam where he can have any girl he wants, even the one who is fresh, pretty and 3 times younger than him. After settling with the girl in a situation called in the movie "glorified prostitution" the old British guy meets and American guy who is younger and nicer and free of the bonds of marriage so ... Now how this is attempted to be sold for much more than it's worth. Well, first of all there is a talk about love, bigger than life love. I am not buying this pitch for the following reasons. First, there is no evidence of how the girl in question is different from any other girl that flashes in the movie, including all available girls in that brothel named "500 women." She is not intelligent, she is not witty, she is pretty but dull and if there is something special about her we don't see it. Second, a CIA operative in love while on a mission that affects his performance? A classy British gentlemen in love with a dumb chick whith whom they don't have anything in common ...Nah, I am not buying this love thing. It can not be there. That's just a plain and ugly story of [fortune seeking] and betrayal. Well, that's enough to invalidate the whole plot and justly call it ridiculously contrived. There is more resentment I can tell about. ... The characters make jumps that can't be explained by mundane reasons.... Would you stay friends with your special one's ex when ex came to your work to make a scene? Bottom line: one star for the camerawork, otherwise dumb movie. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Nice adaptation
Review: In "The Quiet American"--a vast improvement on Joseph Mankiewicz's version from 50 years ago, Michael Caine slips into the role of Thomas Fowler more smoothly than possibly any other he's every played. He says he modeled his performance on Graham Greene himself, with whom he was acquainted. Makes sense, since Fowler mirrors Greene in many ways. This is a much more direct adaptation than the earlier movie, which eradicated any trace of an anti-American slant. When the book was first published, it was described by some as profoundly anti-American, but I always felt that the politics were just the backdrop for the human story. These characters aren't walking allegories who represent their respective countries, although perhaps Pyle thinks he is.
Brendan Fraser seems a great choice to play Pyle. He's good at playing naive, and Pyle's naivete becomes more ambiguous as we learn more about him. He captures the idealism as well, early on when he's clutching York Harding and discussing democracy with Fowler, and later when he tries with all his might to steal away Fowler's girl in a civil and gentlemanly fashion. "The Quiet American" is a movie in the tradition of great political thrillers like "The Year of Living Dangerously" and "Under Fire", movies that capture the political and the physical setting, but not at the expense of good characters and a well spun yarn.
Rating: 
Summary: Riveting
Review: Michael Caine gives, in my opinion, the best performance of his career as a British journalist in Vietnam (before America's involvement)who is there "only to report what I see." There is alot going on throughout; The rise of rebel groups, love affairs, murder, deception and friendships. The cinematogrophy is outstanding, fine performances from all involved, great script, and in an odd sort of way posesses great charm. A must-see for all movie aficionados with a love of history.
Rating:
Summary: A Sleeper?
Review: This is a very good movie about love, war, and the intrigues that exist within both. It is well-acted and takes place in a place and time of interest to Americans; Viet Nam on the eve of Dien Bien Phu. The story begins with the death of a young American and we backtrack from there. The main character is a British journalist who has spent some years in Saigon on assignment. With the help of his local assistant, he has carved out a comfortable niche for himself. He has a beautiful young mistress and enough connections with enough sources that he can pretty much call in his by-line as needed. Things start to take a turn when he meets a young American who is there on a mission of medical service in the country. As political events unfold in the volatil situation, the stakes start to get higher and our young American starts to look more CIA than AMA. There is a problem developing between the journalist and the young American after the latter declares his love for the former's mistress. Many different twists and turns ensue as the story reaches a climax in the death of the young American. The story is well-told and directed: we are often mistified but never lost. As we shift from the personal to the impersonal, we realize that all characters are flawed and out for their own best interests. The murder taints many hands. I was reminded of "The Rules of the Game" in the attitude of the powers that be towards the murder of the young American. Must be something French about it. Michael Caine's Best Actor nomination was certainly deserved in his role as the jouralist. Directing could have been another nomination but that was a tough category this year. From what I understand, this movie apparently did not make the rounds at theaters but was primarily released as a video. I guess this would put in in the category of a sleeper. However, it definitely won't put you to sleep.
Rating: 
Summary: A film in which the communists are the good guys?
Review: The film is a love about a love triangle. Old journalist whose life is in stall lives in Vietnam and has an attractive young mistress. Young American comes to Vietnam and falls in love with old mans mistress. He can offer her marriage children and a life of decency. The old journalist can only offer a few years of glorified prostitution. The film is from the prospective of the journalist played by Michael Caine in slow motion. The younger man is played by Brendon Fraser showing his acting range. The cinematography is tremendous and lots of the outdoor locations are set in Vietnam. The love object Do Thi Hai Yen is a glory to behold. The book on which the film was based was also about the political struggle in Vietnam and the role of America. In the 1950's Britain was dumping its empire whilst America was rising to world power. Greene seems to have seen them as the new kids on the block, brash keen but lacking that sophistication, understanding and skill needed in your real empire builder. The book reflects that approach in the character played by Fraser. Transposed to the film it all appears a bit odd. No one who watches it now would realise the attitudes and prejudices of Greene. Rather the film shows the Fraser character to be a sort of bady compared to one of the employees of Caine a communist agent. A film which suggests that a committed communist is a noble character is something of a rarity in modern cinema. For the film to work one has to sympathise with the character played by Caine. Yet it is hard to do so because in reality he is just a [weak] old character violating the economically vulnerable Vietnamese girl. One watches it and emerges with a feeling of mild revulsion. Not a huge revulsion but it is a film when you act up barracking for the minor characters and villains.
Rating:
Summary: The Quiet Mr Greene
Review: Two movies have been made from this book about an English journalist in Indochina in the last days of French occupation. The first movie made by Joseph Mankiewicz in 1958 starred Michael Redgrave as the writer Thomas Fowler, and war hero Audie Murphy as Alden Pyle an American technician who was really a CIA agent. The third character in Greene's novel is a Vietnamese women, Phuong who starts out as Fowler's mistress. Portraying an American as a naïve villain as in the book was not Mankiewicz' option in the backwater of the McCarthy era, so all accounts of this movie state that it portrayed Fowler as the jealous heel and Pyle as an well meaning victim of a corrupt culture. (For all I tried I could not find a copy of this film to buy or rent online or in Maryland.) Forty four years later Graham's novel of betrayal receives its proper treatment from Phillip Noyes with Michael Caine and Brendan Frasier in the leading roles. The plot in both the book and second movie centers on the triangle between the two men and the criminal interference with Vietnamese affairs by Pyle. After Pyle wins the attentions of Phuong with the help of her materialistic sister, he aids a renegade Vietnamese officer as a counterweight to the French. He arranges for the bombing of a busy Saigon street by the rebel "General" and has it blamed on the Communists. Fowler is approached to assist in a confrontation between the communists and Pyle by his assistant in the movie and a businessman fronting for the Viet Minh in the book. He arranges to meet Pyle for dinner and on the way to dinner, Pyle is murdered. Phong goes back to Fowler. The reader/viewer is left to wonder if Fowler who has regrets after being interrogated by the French Surete, objected to Pyle the political operative or the man who cuckolded him. As in the war we took over from the French nothing is simple, nothing is clear. The book ends with Fowler staying in Vietnam with Phuong and getting a divorce from his English wife. The movie alludes to this but runs a montage of Fowlers war coverage into the 1970's. Although the Noyes movie was delayed in release by the events of 9/11 it is a timeless classic. It captures the mood of Saigon perfectly although during my tour there it was a lot tawdrier and dirty. Michael Caine is riveting as Fowler a man whose existence is moored to a beautiful dutiful woman. His reaction after Phuong leaves him for Pyle is gripping and quite public. Having been publicly humiliated by what I thought was a friend and my former spouse, I understand the depths of Thomas Fowler's feelings. To me it made Fowler's betrayal of Pyle who earlier saved his life, all the more believable. Fowler understood after a long life of being an uninvolved observer that Phuong and her sister wanted marriage with a European and that encumbered as he was he was vulnerable to a betrayal. He takes Phuong back recognizing that she does not love him nor did she love Pyle, but like the rebel General and Vietnam itself, she was up for the highest bidder. We sometimes cling to uneven relationships because we fear dying alone, so Fowler asks for and gains Phuong's return. Graham Greene's works play in the shadow world of human emotion and the twilight of ethics and perfidy. He leaves a candle lit for his alter ego's, but the candle often flickers on the edge of extinction. He is an author for the twenty-first century.
Rating:
Summary: Caine Superb in Vietnamese Drama...
Review: THE QUIET AMERICAN, Phillip Noyce's adaptation of the Graham Greene novel, is among that small subgenre of films (THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, UNDER FIRE, SALVADOR) where journalists, writing in war-torn countries, discover conspiracies that undermine everything they've come to accept as true. These films are inevitably controversial, as they deal with actual places and historical events, and they demand an open mind, as they often portray governments in a less-than-flattering light. While the revelations of the stories aren't always entirely true, each film of this group are well-crafted, and certainly thought-provoking. The film is told as a flashback, as the corpse of murdered American Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) is found, floating in the Mekong, in 1952. During the French police investigation, the story unfolds... Thomas Fowler (Oscar-nominated Michael Caine) is a veteran British journalist ("I prefer reporter," he jokes), writing in Saigon as the French fought the Communists in Indochina. Jaded and complacent, he only sporadically submits an article, devoting his time to a mildly hedonistic lifestyle, and his beloved mistress, beautiful young Phuong (portrayed by the stunning, if not overly talented Vietnamese actress, Do Thi Hai Yen). When young Pyle arrives, purportedly joining the American mission to treat eye disease among the Vietnamese, the older man is immediately impressed by his quiet, respectful, almost naive innocence. Introducing the American to Phuong, Pyle is immediately attracted to her, and, upon discovering Fowler already has a wife, in England, he begins wooing the girl, much to the chagrin of the reporter. As his paper is threatening to return Fowler to England, taking him away from Phuong, he announces he is involved in a major story in the north, and leaves to investigate reports of Communist activities. What he finds is a massacre, with responsibility denied by both sides. Joined by Pyle ("I didn't want to propose to Phuong behind your back"), the pair barely make it back alive. Although the 'official' story blames the Communists for the deaths, Fowler doesn't believe it, and begins investigating in earnest. A new military leader emerges, General Thé, opposed to both the French and the Communists, and Caine suspects his forces as the true perpetrators of the massacre. Visiting the elusive general's headquarters, he finds Pyle running a clinic, and the General apoplectic when he asks who is providing the arms and funds for his army. Again, with Pyle's assistance, he barely escapes with his life...and a growing suspicion that the United States is taking a less than neutral role in the intrigue... While the film's climax will come as a surprise to no one, and the 'love triangle' lacks much spark (other than from Caine, who is totally believable when he confesses that without Phuong he would "start to die"), the film is engrossing, throughout. Brendan Fraser, as the enigmatic title character, does a very credible job in a complex role, after a somewhat shaky first meeting with Caine. The lack of chemistry between him and Hai Yen could easily be explained away as a natural reticence from her character towards any man saying "I love you", in a society where sexual favors are easily purchased. She seems far more comfortable and believable in her scenes with Caine, despite their major age difference. Ultimately, the film is a triumph for Michael Caine, who again proves why he is one of the finest actors of his generation. As a man who goes from indifferent complacency to active participant by the film's climax, he is never less than superb. This is certainly one of the better films of 2002!
Rating:
Summary: If you like the book, you'll love the movie
Review: This is an outstanding distillation of the novel. A bit of cinematic liberty was taken in the murder sequence, but other than that I just can't spot a flaw. Elegant is indeed an apt description of the cinematography, although the stye is contemporary to such an obvious degree as to surely be dated in the near future. I can just imagine people 50 years from now saying "that is so turn-of-the-century". Nonetheless, this movie is the masterpiece of the year and it's a shame it didn't receive more attention at the Oscars.
Rating:
Summary: Quiet Quality
Review: "The Quiet American" never made it to movie theatres where I live despite the Oscar nomination for Michael Caine. The buzz was that this was a big anti-war film, which was just not going to be well received in the South. All through the film, I kept expecting some major political statement. Yes, Brendan Fraser's character Alden Fowler did blow up women and children and blame it on the communists. However, in an age where one president of the United States says that there are weapons of mass destruction which then no one can find, and another says, "I did not have sex with that woman," the idea that Americans only tell the truth is a bit outdated. For me, the hubbub of the political slant of this film misrepresents the viewing experience. Instead, there is a quiet quality throughout this movie. It is intensely character based. Michael Caine as London Times' reporter Fowler who is hanging onto his love affair with the young Phuong is touchingly pathetic. Caine plays this to the hilt, even breaking down in sobs at one point. Perhaps we did need to see more of a connection between Pyle & Fowler to see why these two remained friends, despite the shifts in their love triangle. Fraser is so likeable, that it is hard to believe he really manufactured bombs that shatter the Saigon streets. It was helpful to see his corpse at the beginning of the film, and then have the story play out in flashback; because otherwise we would have been rooting for true love to win. Do Thi Hai Yen as Phong is kind of a stick puppet, showing little emotion or connection to either man, kind of the classic Vietnamese tool of the Western imperialists. (Maybe that was the political statement.) Her sister played by Pham Thi Mai Hua is excellent as the stern judgmental elder protectress. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle who has shot many Asian films and the charming Australian flick "Rabbit Proof Fence" creates Vietnam in the most cinematically magical terms possible, with the opening and closing shots being gorgeous. Phillip Noyce who has directed "Clear & Present Danger" & "Patriot Games" tells this tale with a slow careful pacing that allows the focus to be on the characters' internal development. "The Quiet American" is not a flashy action war flick or even an anti-American political statement as advertised, it is rather a well-told tale, technically brilliant with memorable performances. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Caine scores again
Review: Michael Caine gives yet another outstanding performance in "The Quiet American," Philip Noyce's 2002 adaptation of the Graham Greene Cold War novel (the first movie version was released in 1958). Set in 1952 Saigon, the film features Caine as Thomas Fowler, a world-weary British journalist who's been sent to Vietnam to cover the attempt by colonial French forces to hold back the communist insurgence from the North. But Fowler has a problem. Despite the fact that he is a reporter, he freely admits that this country exerts a sort of magical hold on him and that, in order to maintain that image, he must will himself to look beyond the ugliness and strife that are tearing the country apart. In fact, reporting is the last thing on Fowler's mind. He is even madly in love with a beautiful young Vietnamese girl who lives with him. When his publishers back in England threaten to call him back, Fowler realizes that he must become more actively engaged in the events around him if he hopes to be allowed to stay. One day he meets Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), an American eye specialist who falls in love with Fowler's girl. Even though they are drawn together by much that they have in common, Fowler and Pyle soon become rivals for the woman, though by the end, their conflict has broadened to include the issues of war vs. peace, truth vs. deception, and personal feelings vs. political expediency. "The Quiet American" is typical Greene in that it provides an intense personal drama played against the backdrop of geopolitical turmoil in an exotic setting. Both Caine and Fraser bring a quiet intensity to their scenes together. Caine, in particular, is brilliant at conveying the many moods of a man who wants to be left alone to live a simple life with the woman he loves but who knows that circumstances are conspiring to make such a life impossible. He is heartbreaking as he sees that ideal existence suddenly slipping away, with little he can do to stop it from happening. He also begins to see just how difficult it is to remain emotionally detached from the horrors happening around him once the atrocities begin to encroach on his world directly. Fowler also has to decide whether his final action is truly rooted in a humanitarian impulse or the product of wanting to eliminate a pesky rival from the field of competition. In addition to telling a fairly solid story, "The Quiet American" also provides a glimpse into the history of its region, particularly showing how the Americans ended up usurping the role of the French in that far off, alien country in the late '50's and early '60's. This is reflected in a wonderful coda that chronicles the steps leading up to this slow handoff of power and responsibility. But for all the film's various virtues, it is Caine's performance that is the real reason to catch "The Quiet American."
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