Hiljainen amerikkalainen

Original title: The Quiet American

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

YOUR RATING

Giorgia Moll in Hiljainen amerikkalainen (1958)

A young naive American and a cynical older British diplomat disagree over politics in 1952 Vietnam and over a beautiful young native girl.

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A young naive American and a cynical older British diplomat disagree over politics in 1952 Vietnam and over a beautiful young native girl.A young naive American and a cynical older British diplomat disagree over politics in 1952 Vietnam and over a beautiful young native girl.A young naive American and a cynical older British diplomat disagree over politics in 1952 Vietnam and over a beautiful young native girl.

Director
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writers
- Graham Greene
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Stars

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IMDb RATING

6.6/10

YOUR RATING

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Awards
- 1 nomination

Videos1

Trailer 2:16

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Photos20

Audie Murphy and Michael Redgrave in Hiljainen amerikkalainen (1958)

Audie Murphy in Hiljainen amerikkalainen (1958)

Michael Redgrave in Hiljainen amerikkalainen (1958)

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Trivia
In Europe, writer, producer, and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz was savagely attacked for his movie's infidelity to the source novel by Graham Greene, not least by Greene himself. The screenplay essentially turns the novel inside-out, so that the blundering "quiet American", whose extreme naiveté causes tragedy and his own death despite his having only the best of intentions, is transformed into a shrewd and heroic figure, far wiser and more honorable than his British rival. Mankiewicz later referred to the movie as "very bad" (although he also liked to point out that Jean-Luc Godard had called it the best movie of its year) and claimed that he had not been able to concentrate on the movie because of the mental collapse of his wife, Rose Stradner, who committed suicide soon after he had finished it.

Quotes
Inspector Vigot: You know that it is a mistake to say that communism is appealing to the mentally advanced. I think it is only true when the mentally advanced are also emotionally retarded.

Connections
Featured in Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene (2013)

Soundtracks
La Cathédrale engloutie
(uncredited)
Composed by Claude Debussy

User reviews28

Review

Featured review

10/10

A Greene Masterwork

Graham Greene did not have a comfortable vision of the world--or at least of the activities of human beings in the world. While very few movies do justice to books on which they are based, the Quiet American is a chilling forewarning of what the United States would be letting itself in for in the years to come. Murphy, always an appealing figure on the screen but not noted for truly great acting depth and breadth, is ideal for this understated role. A very well done thriller which addresses racism, colonialism, various "economic"isms, all the while focusing on the individual human impacts of high level decision-making. Are we just pawns, forced into just following orders, or do we have the responsibility to take action on the side of what we know to be right, in spite of the personal cost?

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