Product Details

• Actors: Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Do Thi Hai Yen, Rade Serbedzija, Tzi Ma
• Directors: Phillip Noyce
• Writers: Christopher Hampton, Graham Greene, Robert Schenkkan
• Producers: Anthony Minghella, Antonia Barnard, Chris Sievernich, Eyal Rimmon
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, French, Vietnamese
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Miramax
• VHS Release Date: February 3, 2004
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (139 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000TG9SS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #454,917 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Quiet American proves that elegant and intelligent filmmaking can be emotionally powerful. Michael Caine plays Thomas Fowler, a British journalist in 1950s Vietnam with a lovely Vietnamese mistress named Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen) and a jaded view of the political strife teeming around him. He befriends a seemingly innocuous American named Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), who falls in love with Phuong--and slowly, Pyle's real purpose in Vietnam becomes revealed. Fowler finds that, to hold on to the carefully balanced life he's created for himself, he must make choices he's long avoided. Caine and Fraser are both superb and give a human face to complicated politics; as a result, The Quiet American manages to be compelling as both history and a story about very specific people embroiled in a very personal conflict. An impressive film from director Philip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence, Patriot Games). --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

The second adaptation of Graham Greene's novel, and, on the whole, a more successful effort than Joseph Mankiewicz's, of 1958. Michael Caine may lack the defeated nobility that Michael Redgrave brought to the role of the hero-a British journalist named Fowler-but few can beat Caine when it comes to the sad and the seedy. What is more, he squares off beautifully against Brendan Fraser. With his fine if bumbling manners, and the earnest thickness of his spectacles, Fraser is ideal as Pyle, the young do-gooder who, almost despite himself, winds up doing harm. The two men share a love for a young Vietnamese woman (Do Hai Yen), and the director, Phillip Noyce, manages not to whack us too hard with the symbolic weight of their rivalry. Greene fans, a prickly bunch at the best of times, will pick holes in the movie, but Christopher Doyle's camera, slithering through the rooms and battlegrounds of an alluring land, takes us as close as we could wish to the heart of the matter. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE AND WAR IN INDOCHINA, February 8, 2003

By 

S. Calhoun "rhymeswithorange" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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THE QUIET AMERICAN is a successful and intriguing adaptation of Graham Greene's classic novel. In 1952 a veteran British journalist (Michael Caine) is stationed in Saigon to cover the events of the French Indochina War. Caine meets a young idealistic American doctor (Brendan Fraser) at an outdoor cafe and they soon become friends. But soon enough their friendship becomes complicated when Fraser becomes attracted to Caine's girlfriend (Do Thi Hai Yen) who is a beautiful Vietnamese woman.

What follows is an often suspenseful film that addresses the battle of French colonialism against the Communist advance from the north and the role of a third party to defeat the two former enemies. Caught in the middle is Caine, Fraser and the woman that they both love as they navigate the dramatic changes which are occurring in Vietnam each day. Caine discover that people are not who they claim to be.

One of the most stunning aspects of THE QUIET AMERICAN is the cinematography by Christopher Doyle which captures the beautiful green and lush Vietnamese countryside filled with mountains and lakes and rivers. I have to admit that prior to deeing this film I was not a big fan of Michael Caine, but his performance is admirable and convincing. I now understand why he was nominated for an Oscar -- and I believe he is a strong contender. THE QUIET AMERICAN is one of the best films I have seen in some time.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly effective version of a Graham Greene classic, February 18, 2003

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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Michael Caine has managed a large number of superb performances over the years, but this is probably his finest film in many, many years. Although Brendan Fraser and the remarkably beautiful Do Thi Hai Yen are excellent in the other two main roles, this film lives or dies with the character of Thomas Fowler. Thankfully, Caine is stunning. His performance is quiet, nuanced, and remarkably subtle. It is paradoxically one of the most emotional performances he has given in some time, but at the same time one of his more subdued.

The film is set in Vietnam during the French war with the Communists of North Vietnam. It is also the time when the United States began their involvement in the country, doing their part to stymie the spread of the Red Menace. The movie does a great job of presenting the emerging complexities of the conflict. There are several stunning scenes, in particular a terrorist bombing, which is one of the most vivid and horrifying instances of onscreen violence that I have witnessed in some time. But the focus of the film always remains on the interplay of the personalities. The politics of the situation is not ignored, but in the end the film is about people.

Director Philip Noyce had before 2002 been known primarily as a director of Hollywood action films, but after directing two of the finest films of this past year in THE RABBIT-PROOF FENCE and THE QUIET AMERICAN, he has suddenly emerged as one of the finer directors of serious films. I don't know what his next project is going to be, but I await it with great eagerness. He keeps both the mood and the lighting of this film very, very dark. Most of the scenes take place in shadows, in the evening, or in darkened rooms, as if it were an external manifestation of the internal ambiguity that permeates the film.

I have long wanted to see Brendan Fraser take on more serious roles, especially after seeing him in GODS AND MONSTERS. He is good in comedy, but I have sometimes found the congenial idiots he so often portrays to be a little irritating.
This is a wonderfully serious film, and it stands in stark contrast to so many of the films coming out these days. It is a film that takes its time, with the director allowing scenes to develop slowly, never in a rush to tell his story. But I loved his narrative style, and I can't imagine any fan of film not being stunned by Michael Caine's masterful performance.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Michael Caine at his world-class best, February 24, 2003

By 

bensmomma "bensmomma" (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews
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Michael Caine is an international treasure. His performance as an aging British journalist in 1950s Vietnam brings great depth and emotional gravity to this movie. He makes Brendan Fraser as the American who invades his life, tries to take his young Vietnamese girlfriend, seem shallow. But of course this is appropriate to Frasers character, who manages to be both arrogant and at the same time naïve.

Greenes story, now filmed with its original ending, now seems like a masterpiece of prophecy. The production is beautiful and thoughtful. Overall, this is everything you could ask a movie to be: thought-provoking, a great script, beautifully filmed and acted.