The Quiet American
1958 · Movie · 120 min. · United States
In this adaptation of Graham Greene's prophetic novel about U.S. foreign policy failure in pre-war Indochina, Audie Murphy plays an innocent Young American opposite the older, cynical Brit Michael Redgrave. They play out their widely different views on the prospects stuggle for the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people in their competition over a young woman. Murphy wants to reform her and make her a typical middle class American housewife; Redgrave accepts her inability to formulate or retain a political ideal and while promising her no real future, he objects to Murphy's attempts to change her. It's not clear whether Murphy is just what he appears - a bungling Yankee do-gooder - or a deliberate agent of U.S. covert operations, but he ends up an expendable pawn in the end.
Direction Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast Audie Murphy · Michael Redgrave · Claude Dauphin · Georgia Moll · Bruce Cabot · Fred Sadoff · Richard Loo · Peter Trent · Georges Bréhat · Clinton Anderson · Yoko Tani
Soundtrack Mario Nascimbene
Screenplay Joseph L. Mankiewicz · Graham Greene
Cinematography Robert Krasker
Original title The Quiet American
6.4
569 votes (FilmAffinity)
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