As a title, "The Quiet American" becomes more ironic as the film progresses. It is about America's involvement in Vietnam
in the 1950s, involvement that ultimately led to our fighting the Vietnam War, which I don't have to tell you was an extremely unfortunate turn of events. It is 1952 and the Yankee in question, Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), is a humanitarian worker in Saigon, assisting villagers who are being harmed by the ongoing fighting between the French and the communists. At the film's outset, however, he is dead. His friend, jaded journalist Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine), tells us in flashback how they met and what led to Pyle's death. Pyle was idealistic and young; Fowler didn't get involved, didn't form opinions. He merely reported what happened, cabling his stories back to England, where most of his readers didn't care what went on half a world away in Southeast Asia.
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