Zitate

Der stille Amerikaner

[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.

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.

[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.

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: [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.

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.

Hinh: Sooner or later, Mr. Fowler, one has to take sides, if one is to remain human.

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: 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: [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: [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.

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