THE UGLY American (1963) is a very realistic film, a political drama featuring Marlon Brando as a new American diplomat in a Vietnam-like SE Asian nation that is painfully struggling between capitalist & communist factions, shot on location in Thailand. Eiji Okada plays the country's revolutionary leader, a previous best-friend of Brando who has become brainwashed by the communists. The ending cleverly shows how the average American is unconcerned with the political conflicts of other nations.The film runs two hours.GRADE: C+

Southeast Asian freedom fighter is duped by communists and American bumbling into misidentifying his and his people's true enemies. Endlessly fascinating how this straightforward and beautifully told story is misinterpreted decade after decade. The film leaves the viewer with feelings of nostalgia for an America that was once confident of its own decency, while at the same time pointing out how that aspect of the American character (meaning our confidence) could lead to dangerous miscalculations. If you want to see a really disturbing segue, watch the last scene back-to-back with Colonel Kurtz's soliloquy on communists cutting off the arms of inoculated children.

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

I read the book by the same name and was somewhat disappointed by the startling differences in the two. But I was more disappointed in how they made up the country name. What kind of political change is going to occur with a bogus name like "Sarkan"? Any chance of making a political statement is gone. When I first read the book and watched the film about 15 years ago , I was interested in our country's involvement in the Vietnam war. Now , I am interested in why we were there in the first place. And the lies that surround the answer. If one of the many reasons JFK was killed was his idea "it is their war, they must fight it on their own", then he understood the premise of the Ugly American. I read the book once, but I have watched this movie over and over again.