"The Quiet American" tells of an eternal triangle which evolves amid the tropical backdrop of Vietnam during the end of the French War in Indochina in 1952. The triangle includes a British reporter (Caine), and American aid worker (Fraser), and a Vietnamese beauty (Do Thi Hai Yen). The film opens after the stabbing death of Fraser's character and spends the rest of the run explaining the circ's which led up to the killing. Caine carries the film on his back with a solid performance while Fraser is unconvincing and the local beauty is just so much window dressing. A moderately interesting drama, "The Quiet American" squeaks by as a three star watch thanks to Caine, good atmospherics, location shooting, and some intrigues. Coulda, shoulda been better but an okay watch for most, especially those who got their Vietnam history lessons from the nightly news broadcasts of the 60's. (B)
Review of The Quiet American
