This ranks with Red Badge of Courage as Audie Murphy's best know film - both stick out like glowing thumbs amidst his line ups of Westerns and occasional other genres. He is kind of an odd fit in this world of Graham Greene, Joe Mankiewicz, Michael Redgrave and character actors, with its seedy back streets, neo colonialism, and highly literate dialogue... but this works for the film. The American is an odd man out in this world, with his naivety, gosh darn decency and determination to make a difference whether the locals like it or not. For the most part he's effective - he only really struggles in the scenes where he and Redgrave have long-winded chats about politics, which clunk (and Redgrave doesn't cover himself in glory in these scenes either either, so I feel the fault of this is more Mankiewicz's).
This film gets points for its sheer novelty: a literate adaptation of a famous book about the Americans in Vietnam in the 50s which isn't complimentary about them. It's very adult (Redgrave has a mistress who Murphy pinches), has plenty of talk, gives you something to think about, and some of the support performances (e.g. the weary detective) are spot on.
But it's been fatally muted - Murphy isn't an American agent but a rich American meddling in politics just out of interest, which feels just silly; the Vietnamese girl is nothing - played by an Italian, and passively passéd around from man to man like chattel (she was a cypher in the book too); the girl doesn't go back to Redgrave at the end (I guess he had to be punished - at least this scene gives her some backbone); Murphy isn't complicit in any bombings it's all a Commie plot). So it doesn't criticise American presence - what it is, is a study of jealousy, with Redgrave motivated purely because of the woman and nothing else. It does work on that level - it's just not as good as it could have been. It is also a bit flabby.
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