The Quiet American (2002)

Michael Caine: Thomas Fowler

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Quotes 

• Thomas Fowler : I know I am behaving badly, but I have every intention of behaving badly. As a matter of fact, this is exactly the kind of situation where one should behave badly.

• [first lines] 

  Thomas Fowler : [narrating]  I can't say what made me fall in love with Vietnam.That a woman's voice can drug you? That everything is so intense? The colors, the taste, even the rain. Nothing like the filthy rain in London.

  Thomas Fowler : They say whatever you're looking for, you will find here. They say you come to Vietnam and you understand a lot in a few minutes, but the rest has got to be lived. The smell: that's the first thing that hits you, promising everything in exchange for your soul. And the heat. Your shirt is straightaway a rag. You can hardly remember your name, or what you came to escape from. But at night, there's a breeze. The river is beautiful. You could be forgiven for thinking there was no war; that the gunshots were fireworks; that only pleasure matters. A pipe of opium, or the touch of a girl who might tell you she loves you. And then, something happens, as you knew it would. And nothing can ever be the same again.

• [last lines] 

  Thomas Fowler : [voiceover]  They say you come to Vietnam and understand a lot in a few minutes. The rest has got to be lived. They say whatever it was you were looking for, you will find here. They say there is a ghost in every house, and if you can make peace with him, he will stay quiet.

• Thomas Fowler : If I lost her, for me, it would be the beginning of death.

• Thomas Fowler : [to Pyle, who has just saved his life]  If I had died, you could have had her.

• Hinh : [after Thomas Fowler, in Saigon, receives a letter recalling him back to London]  I thought you liked London.

  Thomas Fowler : I do. But I like London fine where it is, I don't want to bloody go there.

• Alden Pyle : I trusted you. Thomas.

  Thomas Fowler : Always a mistake with a woman involved.

• Thomas Fowler : Colonel The.

  Hinh : [Correcting him]  General The.

  Thomas Fowler : Who made him a General?

  Hinh : He did.

• Phuong : Pyle est mort?

  Thomas Fowler : Yes,

  Phuong : Pyle was in love with me.

• Alden Pyle : Have you had a lot of women, Thomas?

  Thomas Fowler : You start out by being promiscuous and end up like your grandfather... faithful to one woman.

• Thomas Fowler : I have never thought of myself as a correspondent, just a reporter. I offer no point of view, I take no action, I don't get involved. I just report what I see.

  Alden Pyle : But you must have an opinion.

  Thomas Fowler : Even an opinion is a form of action.

• Thomas Fowler : Pyle est mort. Assassinated.

• Thomas Fowler : Morning Hinh!

  Hinh : Yeah!

  Thomas Fowler : Anything new?

  Hinh : Oh! Corruption, mendacity...

  Thomas Fowler : I said new.

• Alden Pyle : [to Phuong]  I'm in love with you.

  Thomas Fowler : Shouldn't you be on one knee?

• Thomas Fowler : [incensed on Alden's part in a bombing]  Doesn't it bother you?

  Alden Pyle : [Distraught]  What I saw made me disgusted, but if it keeps out the communists it's necessary.

• Thomas Fowler : [on first meeting Alden]  I found him to be quiet

• Alden Pyle : [from the trailer]  Are you married?

  Thomas Fowler : Yes

  [points to Phuong] 

  Thomas Fowler : ... But not to her!

• Thomas Fowler : [referring to Phuong]  Are you married yet?

  Alden Pyle : No, I figured I'd wait until we got home and do it properly.

  Thomas Fowler : You don't mind living here improperly?

  Alden Pyle : [with a flash of annoyance]  It's hard to talk to you if you're going to be so cynical.

• Thomas Fowler : I drive through the streets, and I care not a damn, The people they stare, and they ask who I am.

  Alden Pyle : And if I should chance to run over a cad, I can pay for the damage if ever so bad.

• Thomas Fowler : Are you saying that Pyle is O.S.S?

  Hinh : I believe the new designation is C.I.A.

• Thomas Fowler : [referring to General The]  He tried to kill you on the road to Saigon.

  Alden Pyle : No Thomas, he tried to kill you.

• Thomas Fowler : Liberty is a western word. How do you define it for the Vietnamese?

  Alden Pyle : The freedom to choose.

  Thomas Fowler : OK, you give them that, they vote and they elect Ho Chi Minh.