Save your money for something good and enjoyable

One of my all time favorites.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Brando appeared a bit over the top in films like The Wild Ones, On The Waterfront, The Godfather, and Apocalypse Now. Having just seen this film for the first time, I compare this role to The Chase (1966) where Brando plays a sheriff in a Texas town humbled by his duties. In The Ugly American, based upon the 1958 novel, Brando plays an LBJ like journalist who becomes ambassador to the fictitious southeast Asia country of Sarkan (but very clearly really Vietnam). The film was made while JFK was President, but there are great similarities to Brando's Ambassador MacWhite and LBJ. Brando plays a moderate to liberal Democrat who faces an uphill confirmation hearing due to the skepticism of hawkish Senator Brenner (Judson Laire). Laire is a virulent anti communist who is both wrongly and rightly concerned that a journalist who just fought the Japanese in WWII in Sarkan has any experience to be the ambassador of the country of Sarkan in the late 1950s. The main argument MacWhite makes is that he is good friends with Deung (Eiji Okada), the powerful nationalist opposition leader in Sarkan. MacWhite is confirmed but he is nearly killed by a mob that greets him at the airport. MacWhite may be liberal leaning politically, but he is still 100% a former military man. MacWhite naively believes that it is all about America being the "good" force for progress against "Communism". MacWhite meets his old friend Deong, but then foolishly starts an argument over the value of building the "freedom road" to the north border of the country, which MacWhite sees as progress, and Deong (with wide popular support) sees as American imperialism. MacWhite denounces Deong as a "communist" and they become enemies. MacWhite insists on continuing the building of the "freedom road" to the border with the communist neighbors, despite several people telling him that it will just provoke the paranoia of the communists and be seen by the majority of Sarkans will resist it as cultural and economic imperialism. Eventually, his stubbornness and persistence results in a civil war. Prime Minister Sai (Kukrit Pramo) demonstrates that he is a very wise leader, in contract to MacWhite's foolhardy arrogance. Prime Minister Sai finally convinces MacWhite that Deong is not a communist, Deong himself will be betrayed by the communists, and that Sarkan may fall to the Communists unless the U.S. military intervenes. I really liked this movie, because Brando's character does realize, albeit probably too late, the errors of his thinking. MacWhite saw everything in "black" and "white" and failed to see what was truly going on in Sarkan. MacWhite tries too late to warn the American people to go back to the principles of our own revolution and show the World that we are for these principles, not lecturing other cultures about how to live.

Despite "The Ugly American" being filmed in a fictional Southeast Asian nation, the parallels between this film and Vietnam in the 1960s are quite obvious. It's obviously NOT about this fictional place but is a commentary on the American government's reaction to nationalism and revolution. While this nation was founded as a haven for revolutionaries, by the time the film was made, the policies were generally reactionary--bolstering up ANY government that was seen as keeping the status quo so long as they weren't communists. Yet, like in the case of this fictional land, many revolutions had nothing to do with communism and SHOULD have been welcomed by the US but weren't.This film begins with Marlon Brando playing a new ambassador to the tiny nation of Sarkan. Some of the senators at his confirmation hearing were not impressed--Brand's character appeared to be a political liberal and looked favorably upon the nationalistic movement growing withing Sarkan. After all, the leader was his old and dear friend. However, after assuming the post, both the friend and Brando behave quite stupidly. They should have been friends but very soon become bitter enemies. Brando brands the ex-friend a communist and the friend rushes to the communist camp for assistance.My biggest problem with the film was its pacing. Brando goes from close friend to bitter enemy VERY quickly--too quickly. Things escalate wildly out of control in an interesting manner but it's all just too rushed to be realistic. But, aside from this, the acting is decent and the story quite compelling--especially the film's commentary on the apathetic American public. Clever and insightful, this one probably looks a lot better today in hindsight then it did back in 1963 before the Cold War in Southeast Asia really heated up significantly.

(**POSSIBLE SPOILERS**) Movies like this set the political tone for the 1960's, and contrary to the title, it wasn't as anti-American as it looks. While it never denied that the communist bloc were the true imperialists, it never overlooked the fact that some issues are more complicated than whether or not one group or another was pro-communist. Marlon Brando plays Harrison Carter MacWhite, the new U.S. Ambassador to South Sakhalin, who tries to diffuse the growing political tension in the country. And from the beginning, we realize it's going to be one hell of a battle.The following factions must be distinguished here: The United States of America: Determined to stop the communist threat since 1945, and help other nations do so.The Soviet Bloc: Determined to spread communism by any means necessary, just like in real life.The Kingdom of South Sakhalin: A far-eastern monarchy split in half after axis and colonial occupation, by the Soviet Bloc.The People's Republic of North Sakhalin: A creation of the Soviet Union for the sole purpose of expanding communism throughout Sakhalin, just as they've done in real life in Europe(Karelo-Finnish S.S.R., Armenian S.S.R., East Germany, East Austria, Warsaw Pact), Japan(Kurile Islands), Korea(North Korea), Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia(North Vietnam).The people of Sakhalin: Prefers to wish the entire cold war away, despite the fact that their country is already being turned into it's next battleground.For the record, we must keep in mind that when the book this movie was based upon was written the USSR and Red China were still allies, so it's not so far-fetched that they would work together to spread communist terror. Are the rebels lead by Brando's ex-friend really lead by communists? Maybe and maybe not. But regardless, the reds are determined to steal the revolution from the people, just as they've done in real life. Also, contrary to the lies of the far-left today we have NOT "deteriorated into a war-mongering world-wide dictatorship." The moral of the ending is far too obvious -- if we ignore the facts and details of each situation during the cold war, we will lose. And part of the reason we lost in Vietnam, besides the fact that anti-war protesters distorted the truth about why we were there in the first place, was that many refused to take the grievances of those who were dissatisfied with the South Vietnamese government seriously.

When I grabbed this film I expected it to bore me to tears, but Brando in it is a strong enticement to watch ... so I did. This is an absorbing and relevant political drama with some early stretches (the Senate hearings, Brando's visit to his old friend turned Rebel leader) that honestly are too talky, but as the story progresses there's less talk and more action. Brando is given fine support by the Asian actors, especially the actors playing the Prime Minister and the Rebel leader. There are two nice plot twists in the last ten or so minutes and one very incisive final scene that packs strong commentary about Americans as a whole and is timely today (w/ the Neo-Con march to go to war w/ Iran after the debacle in Iraq). The large crowd scene employed tons of Asian extras and are very well directed ... in particular the harrowing airport arrival sequence!Brando's sister plays an American who runs an orphanage hospital and those scenes w/ the malnutrition Asian children's is very troubling and touches one's heart.