Der häßliche Amerikaner

"The Ugly American" was released right before the Vietnam War started (depending on which stage of it), and now it seems more relevant than ever. Harrison MacWhite (Marlon Brando) becomes ambassador to the Southeast Asian nation of Sarkhan, which is on the verge of civil war between the Communists and the pro-US government. In Sarkhan, MacWhite begins to suspect that US intervention in this country might be prompting people to rebel. While he refuses to accept it, the situation becomes more and more tense, and MacWhite's officially neutral position becomes less and less sustainable.

You can't say for certain what the movie's political message is, but we might take MacWhite's speech at the end as a good reminder. Either way, this is one of the many movies that showed how great an actor Marlon Brando was.

Based on the very famous novel, The Ugly American shows the attempted spread of democracy with a cynical slant. When an intellectual idealist becomes the new American ambassador to a southeast Asian country, he had great hopes for how he can help the people and keep the great American dignity intact. As soon as he debarks from the plane with his wife, he gets a very rude awakening. An angry mob descends on them, and with very little American security, they barely escape with their lives. That's only the beginning. . .

My favorite scene was when Marlon has his first board meeting at the embassy. His coworkers are all lax and blasé, each unwilling to take responsibility for the security breach during the abovementioned crisis. He dresses the men down in a fantastic angry monologue about the importance of protocol. While every word he says is true, the real-world application of his theories don't always turn out. There are betrayals, rebellions, and near-misses around every corner.

I could tell from the overall tone, script, and intensity from the actors that The Ugly American was supposed to be a big mover and shaker. I tried really hard to get into the spirit of things, but I wasn't as moved or shaken as I expected. Since it's still a timeless subject, I think perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood. If this subgenre appeals to you, check it out. It's a classic.

This film came out in 1963, just when the Kennedy/Johnson administration started to escalate the war in Vietnam. I am terribly dismayed and disappointed that the U.S government learned nothing from this movie.

In the first place, it is utterly and unrealistic to muddle into the political affairs of a country with very different culture and political background. Secondly, while we in the western world deplore communism, it is very silly and idiotic to treat it as a contagious disease, to be repelled and avoided at all costs. With our wealth, freedom of expression and using an open-door policy, we can show the people in the Communist countries or countries about to go Communist that our system is better and in every way offers people more freedom, pleasure and security.

I think this film should be shown whenever and wherever people come to see the Vietnam Monument in Washington

This film is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Burdick and Lederer, but departs from the novel in some significant particulars that I won't get into here. I think it is important to view this film as a period piece. Released in 1963 before the assassination of JFK and the escalation of the war in Viet Nam, the story retains a certain degree of naiveté about the role of the United States in the world and the perceptions of the United States that existed in other countries. This film would have looked quite different had it been shot in 1968 or 1969, by which time the country had long since shed any illusions about the nation's role in the world. In some ways, this provides a kind of still photo of the United States just prior to the Kennedy assassination and the tumultuous sequence of events that unfolded afterward. For that reason, this is a fascinating period piece that survives Brando's chewing on the scenery and a screen play that departs in unfortunate ways from the outstanding novel.

Oscar winner Marlon Brando stars in this prescient drama from 1963 about a newly appointed ambassador heading to his old hunting grounds to broker a deal w/the people of Sarkhan (a fictional Asian country) as the West tries to bring industry (namely a road) to the masses. Arriving already under a cloud of controversy due to his past association w/the rebel leader, Eiji Okada, Brando has his hands full the moment he arrives as he & his wife, Sandra Church, try to broker a peace deal. When Okada & Brando break bread their casual drink & conversation make way for seething sentiments about the nature of the progress being made in the country w/both sides not budging from their positions. Okada's people & movement soon fall prey to Russian & Red China intervention which sets up the final conflict on the beleaguered road being constructed. Made just 2 years before America's entry into the Vietnam War, much of the dialogue could be lifted piecemeal to the rhetoric being lobbied from both sides for & against the war w/Brando, the consummate good looking cock of the walk, pleading his case in vain especially viewing the film 60 years after the fact. Also starring Arthur Hill as one of Brando's co-workers, Pat Hingle (who co-starred w/Brando in On the Waterfront) as the construction foreman & Brando's real life older sister Jocelyn playing Hingle's wife.