The Quiet American

[evworldeditor]

This weekend I rented the DVD "The Quiet American" with Michael Kane and Brendan Fraser. The film is based on a Graham Green novel and is set in 1952 in what was then known as French Indochina, eventually to become Vietnam. Kane plays a philandering old British "reporter" for the Times of London. Fraser plays a young, gungho American "doctor" who falls in love with the same pretty Vietnamese girl Kane is living with.

It's an excellent flick that sets the stage for US involvement in that tragic debacle that would become the Vietnam war. Sadly, the film didn't play well here in the Midwest. It was in the local multiplex for less than a week and quickly disappeared. Frankly, I think it made the powers-that-be too uncomfortable because it reveals how the CIA used terrorism to install a righwing dictator under the noses of the French colonial powers.

If you've not seen it, I highly recommend renting it. Both Kane and Fraser give masterful performances in a film that would surely garner several Oscar nominations if it weren't so politically-incorrect.

[FlashHarry]

1. Great flick!

The arse-kissers at Miramax held up its release for months, lest they offended people after 9/11. Cowards.

[arcane1]

2. an awesome movie!

Saw it in Berkeley and the audience loved it.. and when Fraser's character said "we're not colonialists" everybody laughed :-)

[Um_Yeah]

3. Bought it, Watched it, Loaning it to friends.

Fraser actually is pretty good, after the Mummy and George of the Jungle and Dudley Doright whod have known he had it in him.

[Athletic Grrl]

4. Loved it!

God bless the Piedmont Theater, which always shows the best indy flicks, and the more serious big studio releases. I think TQA falls in the latter category.

The story was riveting and Caine was fabulous. My only complaint was that I would have preferred more of the history angle and less of the love triangle.

[charlie]

5. Sounds wonderful

I'll check it out this weekend, thanks. Ever seen The Year of Living Dangerously? It's one of my favorites. TQA sounds similarly themed.

[Athletic Grrl]

6. Another great flick.

Of course, it didn't hurt that Mel Gibson was at his hunkiest. Linda Hunt was unbelievable. In that vein, I think Caine's performance in TQA is also worthy of Oscar consideration.

Both top Good Morning Vietnam any day of the week. By a landslide.