A Thinker's Damn: Audie Murphy, Vietnam, and the Making of the Quiet American [Paperback]

William Russo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2001

A tale of the unmaking of the first American movie filmed in Vietnam in 1957, the scandalous and disasterous undertaking is finally exposed. Surviving cast and crew members explain a contorted drama behind the scenes as Audie Murphy goes to Vietnam, foreshadowing the war-to-come. It depicts Hollywood at its worst!

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Writing the story of this important and neglected film, I had an opportunity to relive the experience. About sixty people went to Vietnam to make The Quiet American in January of 1957. After talking to so many of the participants, all made me feel like I was one of their troupe. In the final analysis, the most amazing and distressing fact to emerge from the movie and its story is that so many highly talented, Oscar-winning people, at the height of their creative talents, came together--and the result was utterly disappointing. It is a story that parallels the later American involvement in Vietnam. That too proved to be a debacle. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

A veteran of the Vietnam War, Dr. William Russo served with the U.S.Army and later worked as a free-lance writer for Hollywood tabloids. He has published articles on film in Big Reel and Movie Collector's World, as well as for the Audie Murphy Research Foundation. An excerpt of this book appeared in the winter issue for the AMRF in 1998. He earned a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts. Nowadays, Russo is a professor at Curry College near Boston, Massachusetts. He teaches film studies and non-fiction writing. His previous books include Mal Tempo: the Curse of 2000 Years, Junior Bad Guys: Movie Delinquents of the 1950s, The Dumb-Founded Nation: America's Language Policy from 1790 to 1990, and Another Sunny Day. a tale about the Lincoln Assassination conspiracy.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 245 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (April 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738864668
• ISBN-13: 978-0738864662
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,608,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Special Book!, February 4, 2002

By 

Mal (Scranton) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Thinker's Damn: Audie Murphy, Vietnam, and the Making of the Quiet American (Hardcover)

What I like most about this book is that it takes a few months from 1957 on a film location and tells how it feels to be there. The movie was not great, and it was forgotten soon enough. Yet, the atmosphere of film making and the camaraderie of the crew and cast is just a wonderful experience. Yes, they had some terrible times, with ego clashing and scandals covered up, but it is such a nostalgic little story, reading like a novel. All the people in the story, Audie Murphy and Michael Redgrave, mostly are fascinating, and how nice to have a special look at them. I truly enjoyed this armchair escape to another time and another place. Thanks!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An explosive account of a film that went by without impact., November 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Thinker's Damn : Audie Murphy, Vietnam, and the Making of The Quiet American (Paperback)

The author spares no one and writes without malice, nor affection. No scholarly treatise here but a story taking the reader to the locations. It is such a fine work...The author took evasions and admissions and given sundry reports and wove them into a powerful rendering of what was a tragic film disaster..showing it in all its inevitable choices for failure.. Everyone was treated with care and shown as they were.. This will be a book long treasured by film buffs for its frankness and honest appraisals. The photo sections are wonderful for their range and depicted not only how people worked, but what they were interested in while there..a collection of smiles bravely facing a fiasco. It's one hell of a book..

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brings Life to a Forgotten Movie and a Whole Lot More., November 11, 2009

By 

CM514 "Chris" (Raleigh NC USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Thinker's Damn: Audie Murphy, Vietnam, and the Making of the Quiet American (Paperback)

I'm old enough (born 1960) to remember both Audie Murphy as the shoot 'em up Cowboy of TV Saturday afternoon movies and the mess of American military involvement in Viet Nam, so I found Dr Russo's book quite an interesting and satisfying read. What would the Americans find in VN few years after this movie was made? This book lets the reader know. What was Audie the celebrity like as a person? The details of his role (no pun intended) in the overall making of the motion picture The Quiet American as presented in the book answers that question, with gusto! I agree with the poster who said parts of this book read like a novel, the logistics and headaches encountered by director Joseph Mankiewicz in his almost Quixotic quest to do the picture on location, quite a story. Finally, there is also intentional unresolved drama of what might have been. What might have been for Audie Murphy's career if his attempt at expanding his range as an actor hadnt bombed so badly at the box office.