Cult Cinema: The Ugly American (1963) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Universal International

In 1958, political science novelist Eugene Burdick and former naval officer William Lederer unveiled The Ugly American a fictional text concerning a number of problems facing U.S. diplomatic relations in Southeast Asia.  Considered one of the quintessential Cold War texts and most influential American political writings, it achieved the formulation of the Peace Corps during Kennedy’s tenure.  An immensely popular bestseller that coined the term ‘ugly American’, it told the story of a fictional Southeast Asian country called Sarkhan involving a number of vignettes characterizing the Democratic struggle against Communism due to failing to engage with the populace on their level with zero effort to learn their language or customs. 
 
Incidentally published on the heels of the Marlon Brando Southeast Asian set romantic drama Sayonara, the scenic cinematic potential for Burdick and Lederer’s novel The Ugly American naturally attracted the attention of the actor who with producer-director George Englund in his debut film joined forces to make a somewhat pared down interpretation of the book.  Though it failed commercially getting lost in the shuffle among many others that year with mixed critical reception, it has since gained traction as one of Marlon Brando’s most underrated performances playing against an equally if not more powerful Eiji Okada in his strongest English language performance.  The result strays far from the text though it is worth noting co-author Burdick himself approved of the changes by Rebel Without a Cause screenwriter Stewart Stern.

 
In the land of Sarkhan, a civil war is threatening to break out between the communist North Sarkhan and the more democratic South Sarkhan with tensions rising between American workers trying to build a ‘Freedom Road’ bridge and anti-American Sarkhanese intent on sabotaging their efforts.  After murdering a U.S. worker and making the incident look like a drunk driving accident that claims the life of a local employee in an effort to start a riot, the United States summons former WWII vet and journalist Harrison MacWhite (Marlon Brandon) as the new American ambassador.  Following an intense grilling session over former ties to fellow wartime friend Deong (Eiji Okada) now suspected of being at the top ranks of the Sarkhan anti-American mob, MacWhite and his wife Marion (Sandra Church) arrive in the country where they are besieged and nearly murdered by that very mob at the airport. 

 
Following an angry rebuttal against his staff for the mob getting out of hand, his first action is to rekindle relations with Deong at his home.  Initially they’re pleased to catch up as old wartime buddies but a few drinks into the night the dialogue shifts uncomfortably over into politics including implications Deong might’ve had something to do with the airport attack.  Ending badly with the two former comrades now at odds over their political ideologies (Ben-Hur anyone?), MacWhite against his better judgment almost out of anger pushes ahead not only with the plan to build the contested bridge but to place it further encroaching on the throat of the North.  A trip to the countryside and chance meeting up with a charitable American couple Homer (Pat Hingle) and Emma Atkins (sister Jocelyn Brando) bring the bridge topic up and they unsuccessfully try to talk MacWhite down from going through with its construction saying the Sarkhanese view it as an imperialist encroachment.  On the cusp of opening the first day of work, forces threaten to break out into not only sabotage but violent confrontation possibly worse than the airport incident.

 
Largely filmed in Hollywood soundstages with some sections of Bangkok, Thailand doubling for the fictitious country of Sarkhan, lensed in 1.85:1 color widescreen by This Island Earth cinematographer Clifford Stine and aided by an appropriately Asian sounding score rendered by Harvey and Saboteur composer Frank Skinner, The Ugly American is a scenic political drama as well as stage play chamber piece of sorts.  While portraying a fictional landscape as a sort of analogue to the James A. Michener travelogue, the backdrop of Thailand is colorful and vivid on the screen.  Featuring powerful exchanges between Marlon Brando in one of his time-honored impassioned performances and legendary Woman in the Dunes and Hiroshima Mon Amour actor Eiji Okada sparring verbally with one another, the film is like being at live theater.  You can cut the tension in the air with a knife and though the film kind of leans into the Ben-Hur/Messala antagonistic dynamic of friends to foes, Brando and Okada trade such equal fire on both sides you’re kind of in awe of scenes where time simply disappears.

 
Overshadowed by numerous other films in the spring of 1963, the Universal-International picture was overlooked by both the Golden Globes as well as the Oscars despite critics lauding the film as one of Marlon Brando’s best performances.  A commercial failure taking in only $3,500,000 in box office returns with some critics complaining the rapport between the actor and director might’ve resulted in a lesser film, the film nevertheless stands today in the eyes of Brando fans as a continuation of the themes the actor explored in Sayonara a few years prior.  Moreover, it is a springboard for Eiji Okada into a brief brush with English language acting though a year later he’d make global cinema history with Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes.  Incidentally, the film’s technical advisor Kurkit Pramoj who played the role of Sarkhan’s Prime Minister later in 1975 actually did become the Prime Minister of Thailand with the work Sarkhan become part of the Thai repertoire, a further testament to the book and film’s quiet yet overarching sociopolitical impact.

--Andrew Kotwicki