The Quiet American

Rating:
Summary: Death in Vietnam
Review: Michael Caine is the world weary journalist in French Indochina during the Vietminh communist insurgency against colonial rule. Graham Greene who wrote the book of the film was himself an Intelligence Officer for the British among other things. The attention to detail in the plot and the authenticity shows true to life precisely beacuse of this. Michael is infatuated with a young, pretty, somewhat brainless Vietnamese fille de joie in Saigon. She is young enough to be his granddaughter and he has a wife in London. Obviously, he likes to live on the edge. Enter Alden Pyle, the quiet American. Is he all that he seems? Obviously not, he is on semi-official cover as an AID worker. He falls for Phoung the Viet bimbo and fireworks begin. The eternal triangle all over again. Two men in love with one woman. Something has got to give or perhaps they might form a menage a trois??? Pyle saves Caine's life but is he grateful? No way , baby, he betrays Pyle and just by standng at a window holding a book, he gives the KIll order to the Vietminh communist cell. And get this, who is the leader of the communist Vietminh cell unit? None other than Caine's trusty right hand man and gopher. Never trust a subservient oriental like him as he might just stab you in the back. However, Caine's assistant and his motley crew of Vietminh terrorists corner Pyle in a dark, back alley and that's the end of Pyle. Knifed in the guts. Caine even sets up Pyle by luring hime to a dinner but the table is set for one. The French Police Officer knows but has insufficient evidence. Pyle dies horribly, but what the hell? He was a Company man and he did his job, for Freedom and the American dream. That was his job.. to prowl the dark alleys of the world doing things no one else wanted to do , for Freedom and Liberty. And so the Greek tragedy ends with Caine and Phoung. Will they end happily? I think not, what goes around comes around. God will give us Justice. To all you VN vets out there and especially SOG CCN, Some gave all, some gave much, all gave their very best. War is Hell! Let us have some Charles de Cazanove champagne and celebrate life and peace!
Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet

Rating:
Summary: cynical murder for love
Review: Michael Caine's character Thomas Fowler is a brokendown, old-before-his-time, womanizing, opium addicted, alcoholic, n'er do well, past his prime writer for a London newspaper. Deeply in lust with a beautiful Vietnamese lady, Phuong, who epitomizes the awful choices war leaves women, he is thrown into hell with the paper's recall back to London for him, and the entry into his world of a much better man, Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser).

Only in the desparate, destructive conditions of wartorn Vietnam can Caine's character have any redeeming value at all, and Phuong knows it and moves in with Pyle. He is charming, cute, wholesome, and a CIA spy who gets plastic explosive to Vietnamese nationalists who blow up a Saigon streetcorner to blame the Communists.

Caine sets up Pyle to be killed because he has no meaning without Phuong to lite his opium pipe and share his bed. His assistant is a Communist operative who gives him the info he needs to write his stories, who keeps Caine in his job for his own reasons.

The movie is very well done, literate with more than enough elements to think about, the best kind of movies. It shows that war twists everyone to the wind, leaves no one innocent of shedding blood and deserting their better values. There are no heroes, just cynics trying to live another day.

Rating:
Summary: Worthy effort, but the book was better
Review: This was a good movie, but the book was better. The casting, however, was quite perfect, even though Michael Caine is technically too old for the role of Fowler (who is supposed to be in his mid fifties as opposed to Caine's 70) he plays the role superbly. Frasier is the perfect cast for Pyle, as he is supposed to be the poster boy for American culture, which I see him as. They did stick quite close to the book's plot on this one, but the producers left out some small "nit picky" details that although like I said are "small" are somewhat crucial to the plot, especially when it comes to the explosion in the square. I wouldn't pass up this movie because it is quite good, but I would also pick up the book and see what they missed.

Rating:
Summary: Oddly Current while Remaining Historical
Review: I will let the other reviewers talk about Michael Caine's excellent work as well as the rest of the cast. What struck me about the movie was the sense that you could easily remove vietnam from this and insert Iraq. The sense where one sees the cynical european wanting to leave things as they are (and not so secretly benefiting from the opressive situation) and the not-so-quiet bull-in-a-china-shop American looking to just "fix" the situation only to be confronted with it's inability to really know where to begin. When all plays out all parties are hurt and we are left wondering if there wasnt some other way.

We still are.

Rating:
Summary: Quietly excellent.
Review: *The Quiet American* is a really fine film by Phillip Noyce that is not getting much attention, despite the Oscar nomination for Michael Caine. Why? I'm afraid Mr. Noyce has been the victim of bad timing with this movie: it was supposed to have been released in late 2001, but due to You-Know-What, the movie was shelved for a year, because it features a terrorist bombing in the streets of a Vietnamese city. Then in 2002, America started gearing up for its current Iraq adventure, which virtually ensured this movie's unpopularity. *The Quiet American* dares to question the wisdom of imperial nations like Great Britain and the U.S. meddling in the affairs of small nations like Vietnam (and Iraq, by unforeseen extension). What's remarkable about this story is that Graham Green, who in the early Fifties wrote the book on which this movie is based, was so strangely accurate about the dangerous naivety of American involvement, personified by bright-eyed boy scout Brendan Fraser, in Indochina. Fraser's opposite number is journalist Michael Caine, whose sagging face is a fair symbol of waning British might. Less idealistic than Fraser, he seems to see the tragedies the lay in wait, but can only impotently write about them, just as he has written about France's failures in the country. Let it be said at once that this might be one of Caine's greatest roles. His performance as the world-weary journalist is full-bodied and rich, like a 10-year-old Cabernet. Fraser is nowhere near as good as this, but then he doesn't need to be. The direction by Noyce is graceful and professional, always in service to the intelligent script. But the script's intelligence quotient is no surprise: after all, we're talking Graham Greene, here, and the screenplay cleaves pretty accurately to the novel. In other words, *The Quiet American* is definitely a spy-yarn for grown-ups.

Rating:
Summary: Quiet publicizing
Review: It's a shame this movie isn't getting more of the attention it deserves. A well made suspense drama, that leaves you saying "I sould have figured that out" and asking yourself "would i have made the choice Michael Caine made"? I'm not exactly a fan of either of these stars, but they did an impressive job here. I really can't imagine anyone playing the roles better. The well balanced intrigue between war and the three-way romance, made this movie highly engrossing. If you were interested enough to click the reviews for this movie, then let the debate end, and go see this movie. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Rating:
Summary: Michael Caine Stacks Up Another One
Review: Well, Michael Caine's certainly not going to have to make any excuses about his career in the hereafter, because he always manages to do an excellent job of it, no matter what he's in. "The Quiet American" is no exception to this, either.

Here, Caine is a British journalist living in Vietnam who apparently hasn't done all that much writing in the past year or so. He keeps a years-younger Vietnamese mistress and seems to more or less like his existence in 1950s Vietnam. Then, things begin to change a bit. First, he gets the feeling that his paper will recall him back to London unless he can get a story to write about, and then he meets a young American man, a quiet friendly chap. Caine, the American, and the mistress go dancing, and quicker than you can say, well, whatever, the American informs Caine that he is in love with the girl and wishes to save her from her relationship with Caine by marrying her. To say any more would get close to spoiling the movie, because it is actually something of a thriller, once Caine gets wind of a story to report and meets the person he least expects to see up there.

I didn't know WHAT to expect at this movie, but I must say I enjoyed myself tremendously. In the past, I've always made a point of steering clear of "Vietnam War" movies, but this movie is filmed on location in that country, and I must say, it's breathtakingly beautiful. Caine, as I've written above, is just aces, and Brandon Fraser, the American, is pretty good too. The one person I'm not so keen on is the mistress, who seems rather passive to me. I didn't get the impression that she loved Anyone, Caine or Fraser. I can understand that perhaps she's a metaphor for the country being fought over by old world imperialists and new word anti-communists, but I just didn't find her appealing. I wouldn't have bothered to strike up a conversation with her, let alone fight over her.

But, there's a lot more to "The Quiet American" than that, so never fear, go see it and be amazed by Caine and scenery.

Rating:
Summary: Correcting History
Review: The first movie version of "The Quiet American" was made in 1958. However the story was changed to suit American propaganda purposes - with input from the CIA via Edward Lansdale (read "The Unquiet American" by Curry.

Another example of American efforts to cover up their murderous and illegal activities in Vietnam.

Finally this re-make tells what Graham Greene wanted to say - that as far back as the 1950's, America was gearing up for war - and just looking for excuses to wage it - as it continues to do now. CIA operatives hide under the title of "Technicians" "Doctors" "Advisors" and so on. Really murderers and criminals who should be imprisoned, or hanged.

Greene would be happy to know that finally his book has been truthfully made into a movie. He tried to warn, and maybe prevent the American War in Vietnam. Yet American aggression was too strong, and an unnecessary war was waged on a poor and underdeveloped country, under the "Bright Shining Lie" of trying to "save" Vietnam from "falling". Yet all Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh wanted was independence from foreigners - unacceptable to the US - "wars of national liberation cannot be supported".

See this movie and reflect on what America has done to the world since the end of World War 2. It has taken the methods and madness of Nazi Germany and spread unrest, destruction, murder and war around the world. And it has failed to show any remorse for it's immoral and illegal actions.

With regard to the American War in Vietnam, the US should be forced to pay the reparations it promised Vietnam - $3.5 billion - in todays terms about $15bn - and it should be forced to admit it's guilt, and assist Vietnam in cleaning up the millions of unexploded bombs and mines still killing innocent people today. (I live in Vietnam)

The message of the Quiet American is to never trust the US, never believe it, and keep the evil virus out of your country, if you can! "The Quiet American" is a message that arrived too late for Vietnam, but perhaps not for other countries.

Rating:
Summary: Wow ...
Review: Just saw this in the theater ... worth every minute of your time: well-paced, gorgeous ... and a thriller even though you're told the ending at the beginning, and the protagonist is a cynical, listless old man who barely shuffles around. It's a nearly perfectly structured movie, and makes me race for the novel ... could it be that this was written in the early 1950's? Amazing.

And Brendan Fraser is impossibly good in this movie. I can't believe I'm saying that. But you won't be able to take your eyes off him ... he's created a fascinating character here.

Rating:
Summary: Five Stars for Michael Caine -The Tragedy of Good Intentions
Review: This is a wonderful adaptation of Graham Greene's prescient and insightful novel concerning America's likely involvement in Vietnam after the French withdrew from IndoChina during the 1950's. The movie opens with Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser perfectly cast as the quiet American) floating dead in the river flowing through Saigon. The story then reverts to a chronological order to recount the events leading to his death. The narrator and central character is Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine), a London Times correspondent who has remained emotionally detached from the events of the war but has developed a strong emotional attachment to his mistress Phoung (Do Thi Hai Yen). Pyle meets Fowler and introduces himself as an American interested in helping the Vietnamese with medical aid. When Pyle meets Phoung he is instantly capitivated by her; once he learns that Fowler cannot obtain a divorce from his Catholic wife who has remained in England, he decides to propose to her and offers to marry her in America.

As the story progresses, the intricacies of the love triangle are interwoven with the revelation that Pyle is a clandestine US operative supporting a renegade general attempting to move into the power vacuum that the exit of the French and partition of the country will create. There is considerable violence and terrorism portrayed, true to the actual events of the times. As Pyle's role in this violence is revealed, Fowler eventually has to take sides when his assistant Hinh (Tzi Ma) requests his help. Fowler's deceit regarding Phoung and his worldly cynicism offer a stark contrast to the (perhaps misguided) idealism of Pyle near the conclusion of the film. Of course, Fowler's relationship with Pyle and his apparent motive (Phoung) lead to him becoming a suspect of Inspector Vigot (Rade Serbedzija), but Vigot admits that the evidence is all circumstantial and never proceeds further. Meanwhile, the conclusion provides an addendum of the history of the next decade and reveals the powerful accuracy of the novel's insights when viewed with the benefit of historical hindsight.

This is a wonderful movie with superb directing and editing, beautiful cinematography (filmed on site in Saigon) and excellent performances by the cast. Micheal Caine shows his versatility; his performance was certainly as good as the other Academy award nominees. (I have not see Adrien Brody in THE PIANIST.)This is a story about the arrogance of power and the tragedy of good intentions that was scheduled to be released shortly after the 9/11 WTC terrorist attack but was kept in the can by the studio given the circumstances and its implicit message regarding American foreign policy. It was only released in late 2002 due to the the strenuous efforts of Micheal Caine and his belief in both the film and his performance. And while it may well be viewed as a commentary on current events, the situations are very different in all respects. This is a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys a well told, thought provoking story that raises significant issues about human action and motivations. While I enjoyed it immensely, I rated it only four stars because it is basically a meaningful yet simple story extremely very well told; I believe one more viewing would be sufficient for me. It lacks the action, complexity, emotional impact, or humor that I require to want to purchase a DVD in order to enjoy viewing a film repeatedly and which is my usual criteria for a five star rating.