The Ugly American *** (1962, Marlon Brando, Eiji Okada, Sandra Church, Pat Hingle, Arthur Hill, Jocelyn Brando) – Classic Movie Review 5873

Producer-director George Englund’s 1962 political adventure drama stars Marlon Brando as articulate American publisher and scholar Harrison MacWhite, who is sent to South East Asian country Sarkan as US ambassador.

This is an interesting situation but the exact thrust of the movie is puzzling in this complex political yarn with a muffled message warning on the American nation’s complacency.

However, the performances are impeccable. Brando is thoroughly impressive and so is Eiji Okada (from Hiroshima Mon Amour) as Marlon’s one-time war buddy Deong, who is now local opposition leader, and then leader of the nation. Brando’s sister Jocelyn co-stars as Emma Atkins.

Also in the cast are Sandra Church, Pat Hingle, Arthur Hill, Jocelyn Brando, Kujrit Pramoj, Judson Pratt, George Shibata, Judson Laire, Philip Ober, Yee Tak Yip, Carl Benton Reid, Simon Scott, Frances Helm, James Yagi, John Daheim, Leon Lontoc, Bill Stout, Stefan Schnabel, David Chow, Mike Monteleone and Jerry Velasco.

Stewart Stern’s screenplay is based on William J Lederer and Eugene Burdick’s long forgotten bestseller. Stern, the screen-writer of Rebel Without a Cause (1955), died at 92 on 2 February 2015. He was lucky: his uncle was Adolph Zukor and his cousins were the Loews, who controlled MGM.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5873

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