Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This film requires more than one view to pick up subtleties in the stories. The parallel story of a British reporter, Thomas Fowler, brilliantly portrayed by Michael Caine, his mistress Phuong (Do Thi Ha Yen), and her predicament, as well the overall quagmire that was Indo-China, American interference, and later Vietnam.It is filmed with illusory, tropical backdrops to a scene of hundreds of recently murdered citizens, noted "probably killed by just another faction" by a fellow war correspondent of Fowler's.The sets are realistic without being overwrought (i.e. Platoon). The story has a soft side to Caine's character and his love for Phuong, and the desires of an older man to find final happiness, in a sense. He remarks to Brendan Fraser (Alden Pyle, a US intelligence agent, posing as a physician treating Trychoma), that if he were to lose Phuong it would be the end of his life. The problem is his British wife is Catholic and refuses divorce. This would not be a very valid reason these days. Caine is excellent, giving a voice over finessed view of war torn Vietnam, the tragedies of staged bombings, and his impressions of what "the story behind the story" here is. The visuals are trans formative, and we see a new dictator, General The (secretly being funded by US ), who interviews with Fowler about his visions for a "new Vietnam" Neither the French Colonialists nor the Communists can "fix " it. So what then?.It is nice that this is left as an open ended question leaving the audience to have to THINK. Graham Greene is an excellent author and one must read the book which this film encapsulates. Highly recommended. 10/10.

Entertaining picture dealing with a central romance along with thrills , political details and warlike deeds about Vietnam war . A young naive American named Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser) and a cynical older British journalist called Fowler (Michael Caine) disagree over politics in 1952 Vietnam and over a beautiful young native girl called Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen) . As a ¨quiet American¨ with dark secrets arrives in Saigon with his own plan to settle country's conflicts . As it's not clear whether Alden Pyle is just what he appears , as he seems to be an innocent Young American opposite the older, cynical Brit Thomas Fowler . Eventually Fowler must confront moral conflicts and the relationship between Pyle and him reaches some problems connected with a Vietnamese General , at the same time the war and a political upheaval take place . Interesting second rendition of the Graham Greene novel including a love triangle , emotion , wartime events and many other things . The picture relies heavily on the love triangle between the ironical British reporter , his enticing mistress and the strange quiet American , but it doesn't boring , neither tiring and nor dull . Michael Caine is good as a correspondent covering a conflict and finding himself becoming personally involved when he befriends an American who is not all that he seems to and also falling for a beautiful young Vietnamese , a mesmerizing Do Thi Hai . The movie has its touching moments found primarily in the superb performances from trio protagonist . The film ends with newspaper stories written by Thomas Fowler about Vietnam from 1954 to 1966. However the book on which the film was based was published in 1955, so these are mostly events which happened after the book came out . The US release of this movie was delayed for more than a year by the terrorist attacks on the USA of 11 September 2001. The producers were concerned that it would be seen as anti-American.Miramax had paid $5.5 million for the rights to distribute the movie in North America and some other territories, but then shelved it for a long time. Miramax even planned to send this movie to go straight-to-video. But Michael Caine successfully persuaded Miramax to screen this movie at 2002 Toronto International Film Festival; the movie received many good reviews at the Film Festival, so Miramax decided to release this movie in the United States theatrically . This handsomely mounted flick was well directed by Phillip Noyce , a successful Australian director who filmed Dead Calm (1989), starring Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill and Billy Zane , it brought Noyce to Hollywood, where he directed 6 films over the next decade, including Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and present danger (1994) starring Harrison Ford, and The bone collector (1999), starring Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.The first version with a very good cast such as Audie Murphy as the American , Michael Redgrave as Thomas Fowler , Claude Dauphin as Inspector Vigot , Giorgia Moll as Phuong Bruce Cabot as Bill Granger resulted to be more a killing mystery than the political/drama intented , while this last retelling turned to be more faithful to Graham Greene than Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1958 take on . In fact , in Europe, director-writer Joseph L. Mankiewicz was savagely attacked for his film's infidelity to the source novel by Graham Greene, not least by Greene himself. The screenplay essentially turns the novel inside-out, so that the blundering "quiet American", whose extreme naiveté causes tragedies .

When I was at college I had to read the Graham Greene novel The Quiet American and then write an essay regarding colonialism within the literature. Due to this I despised the book, not because the story or writing weren't good but because I had to do an essay on something that really didn't interest me. Years later I have decided to watch the film version of that novel and I have to say it was much better than I remember. Like I said the book wasn't bad but after watching this film, which I thought was great, I am considering buying the book and re- reading it.The film is kept quite close to the book; which is good news for all of those who have read it. The story follows Thomas Fowler (Caine) who is an English journalist in Vietnam due to the war between the French colonialist and the communists of Vietnam. Since being there he has met a young Vietnamese woman who he can't marry due to still being married to a Catholic woman refusing a divorce. He really believes that he loves this woman despite the fact he knows most of these women are with wealthier older men to get themselves out of the country. Fowler's life begins to change though when he meets Alden Pyle (Fraser), an American medical worker who has been sent in to aid the Vietnamese. Although they become good friends, Pyle falls in love with Fowler's girl and as this is 1950's Vietnam he believes he should be able to declare his love and let her decide. Fowler then has to do all he can to keep his girl from a man with many more prospects than him. All of this is set in the beginning of the Vietnamese war and highlights a possible way to how the Americans became involved, which also ties in with this love triangle.Don't be fooled into thinking this is a love story. It may be at heart a love story but surrounding it around the war makes all the difference. There are plenty of political theories and themes' running through it and the love story is only really one half of the entire plot but the driving force behind it all. Caine and Fraser are brilliant in this film. Their chemistry is spot on and after reading the book these actors are exactly how you would expect them to be, they definitely done their homework. Other members of the cast also portray their roles well but it is the two leads who steal it. Caine seems to breeze through it with ease with it being a simple role for him, so most praise has to go to Fraser who has proved that he isn't just a comic actor and can take serious roles seriously. Both actors play their characters with hidden depth that seeps through as the story goes on, and we can clearly see a change in both their personalities by the end of the film. The setting is also beautiful. The cities of Vietnam look great despite war torn, and the graininess of the cinematography also adds to this. The war scenes are filmed well and they add to the depth of conflict and desperation which is shown throughout. War may be happening but our leads are more worried that love will keep them alive.The film kept me gripped till the end, and the final twenty minutes is intense when we finally understand what is happening. The music adds to this tension and the fast pace of the build up. This final act ironed out a few negatives that I had with the film and cleared them from view. One of these was that the beginning felt a little disjointed and expositional but the final act made me forget all about it. This was a film that I am surprised to have liked and I recommend it to those of you out their interested in this kind of plot line. Actually I recommend it to anyone who likes Michael Caine, and that must be everybody. Also don't be put off by the casting of Brendan Fraser, he is actually really good.4 / 5For more reviews: www.tolli-movieworld.blogspot.com

Graham Greene's 'The Quiet American' is wonderful evocation of Saigon and Vietnam during the French War. The story revolves around Mr. Fowler, a cynical British journalist, and Pyle a young American idealist both of whom are in love with Phuong, a young Vietnamese woman. Unfortunately, the film is a bitter disappointment. Greene's deftly crafted canvas has been brazenly mis-handled with the film applying impatient and ill-defined strokes.'The Quiet American' uses the love triangle as the focal point of the story when it should have been rather more focal on the political and personal intrigue within the book. The film is certainly a commercial one, dumbing down the themes and spoon feeding the audience. I was even let down by the production values, as it did not transfer the lavish and brooding atmosphere in Greene's work. The romance is not creditable and the characters are vastly under developed and malnourished. The film does not spend enough time in any one place and this is probably its biggest fault.Maybe I am prejudice by my memory of the book but the film is way off-key, poorly conceived and mis-aligned with Greene's words. If the purpose of the film was to capture the book it needs to re-study the masterpiece.