The Quiet American Page #2

in almost English.

It's certainly better than my French.

Of course,

the subject may have inspired her.

Milkshakes.

It's nice that the two of you

find something in common so quickly.

Well, step right up, folks,

glad to have you aboard.

Just sit anywhere.

So, what's your pleasure?

Vermouth cassis.

And Miss Phuong?

Oh, you brought your own, eh?

Well, basket parties welcome, I always say.

Uh, just the one drink, son.

Well, what do you always say?

Say?

Oh, I was thinking.

Phuong's a lovely name.

How do you spell it?

P-H-U-O-N-G.

It's the Vietnamese word for "phoenix."

Phoenix.

Fabulous bird.

Rises from its own ashes

and lives on even more beautiful.

Except that nothing nowadays is fabulous

and nothing rises from its ashes.

Not even a milkshake.

It sounds pretty hopeless.

Is that an opinion, Mr. Fowler?

- How was it?

- Routine.

You've been up north to the war,

Dominguez?

Well, where's Bill Granger?

He said he'd meet us here.

I had my car at the airport.

He took a pousse-pousse.

He should not be long.

Oh. How about that milkshake now,

Miss Phuong?

- Encore?

- Oui, merci.

If you don't mind my asking, Fowler,

how come you didn't go up to Hanoi

with the rest of the correspondents?

Well, I mean,

sending your assistant up instead,

I should think you'd wanna get

the smell of battle

the way the other boys do.

Oh, thank you,

but I'm not longer one of the boys.

I haven't been since my school days.

I don't think the battle smells, really.

It stinks. I don't like it.

You haven't answered my question yet.

Which, I'm afraid I've forgotten.

You were saying

that nothing rises from its ashes nowadays,

whether that was opinion or fact.

I suggest that you ask the dead.

French or communist, it doesn't matter.

Their ashes can't be told apart.

What about the living?

They want not to be dead.

Does it matter how they live?

If you mean does it matter

whether they stay alive

under French colonialism

or Chinese communism,

the answer is, no, it does not.

I was asking about a way of life,

not staying alive.

I don't think that Phuong, for example,

could tell you the difference.

Oh, she can tell the French

from the communists, of course.

The communists look like her own people,

but don't ask her to separate the concepts.

Don't expect her to understand ideas.

She's far too busy fighting for existence

in a world too full of people.

Isn't that a frightening assumption?

That 22 million people

are content only to stay alive?

That whether they stay alive

under one force or another

shouldn't matter to them in the least?

They've never known anything else

and what they don't know won't hurt them?

Isn't it just possible

that there's a third choice?

A third force?

Third force?

Twenty-two million Vietnamese

deciding for themselves

how they wanna live.

You must remember that for Americans,

figures have magical meanings.

A third force. Five freedoms.

Um, lucky seven, and

two for the price of one.

Well, time for just one more round

before supper.

Fowler?

I'm afraid we must be

seeing to our own dinner.

- Will you have it with me?

- Well...

I've never been, but I hear

the food's good at the Rendezvous.

Le Rendezvous!

It seems that we will be happy

to dine with you.

Joe?

Oh, I wish I could, son,

but Mrs. Morton won't eat anything

that isn't shipped from the States,

frozen or canned.

- Dominguez?

- Forgive me, my diet.

One evening, soon, we must all

dine together in a wheat field.

Encore a fresh scotch and soda.

You sure you won't break down

just this once, Dominguez?

Orange juice.

Good evening, sir. Are you alone?

No. That is, I'm with these people here.

I see you have no lady.

May I introduce Miss Yvette, Miss Isabel?

Very good dancers.

They speak French and a little English.

Uh, thank you very much,

but I've come in to have dinner

with my friends...

You will require partner.

It is embarrassing to dance

when there are three at a table.

One is always neglected.

I don't mind, really.

Actually, we've got a lot to talk about.

And two gentlemen

can speak much more freely

when the lady has another lady to talk to.

I'd rather not, if you don't mind.

Well, obviously, she does mind.

What's she saying?

I haven't a clue. Probably the same subject.

- Phuong.

- No, no. Just keep her out of this.

Phuong, get him out of this.

No, no, she mustn't get involved.

How did I get into this?

Why don't we leave? I don't want

Miss Phuong mixed up in a thing like this.

Phuong, can't you stop

the Chinese delegate?

I'm sure she's repeating herself.

I don't know what she's saying.

I speak Mandarin, she speak Canto.

It is most serious, sir.

There's a war, you know.

Business has not been very good.

The soldiers will not come

to a place like this.

These ladies are not for soldiers.

Here, please.

What was the magic formula?

We buy one extra dinner,

one extra bottle of wine.

They, how you say,

throw the dice who has the credit.

- Okay?

-(CHUCKLES) Okay.

Miss Phuong, I want to apologize.

Apologize?

We had no right to involve you

with girls like that.

They are my good friends.

I have go to school with many.

I think you should know,

when I first met Phuong two years ago,

she worked here.

As one of those?

Why do you keep saying "one of those"?

They're perfectly respectable

dining and dancing partners.

Not, in the words of the hostess,

not for soldiers.

But that's no way to...

I mean, what's their future?

In time, some of them

form a more permanent association

of one kind or the other.

And the rest?

Well, when they're no longer wanted here,

the age of retirement is rather young,

I suppose a military career is indicated.

It is a matter, after all,

of somehow to continue to exist.

Would you like to ask her now the difference

between a way of life and staying alive?

Will you dance with me?

Shall I order now for the three,

that is, four of us?

Perhaps it was because

they were gone so quickly

and I was so quickly alone,

but suddenly I saw myself

as perhaps they saw me.

A man of middle-age,

understandably concerned

more with the menu than the music.

And he held her properly, not too close.

The way you're supposed to hold

another man's girl,

according to the rules.

Mr. Fowler.

Please, don't get up. May I sit down?

It seems you already have.

I didn't know you were here.

I am dining with friends.

Who is the man dancing with my sister?

An American.

Is he wealthy?

That you'll have to ask him.

He looks quiet and reliable.

Is he married?

That, too, you will have to ask him.

I would think not.

When an American is married,

he looks married.

This is Phuong's sister, Miss Hei.

How do you do, Miss Hei?

Do you come from New York?

No, uh, Texas.

Why not New York?

No particular reason.

I just happen to come from Texas.

I have a picture book of New York.

The bridge of George Washington live there.

Is your father

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