Michael Caine credited as playing...
Thomas Fowler
- [first lines]
- Thomas Fowler: [narrating] I can't say what made me fall in love with Vietnam.That a woman's voice can drug you? That everything is so intense? The colors, the taste, even the rain. Nothing like the filthy rain in London.
- Thomas Fowler: They say whatever you're looking for, you will find here. They say you come to Vietnam and you understand a lot in a few minutes, but the rest has got to be lived. The smell: that's the first thing that hits you, promising everything in exchange for your soul. And the heat. Your shirt is straightaway a rag. You can hardly remember your name, or what you came to escape from. But at night, there's a breeze. The river is beautiful. You could be forgiven for thinking there was no war; that the gunshots were fireworks; that only pleasure matters. A pipe of opium, or the touch of a girl who might tell you she loves you. And then, something happens, as you knew it would. And nothing can ever be the same again.
- Thomas Fowler: I know I am behaving badly, but I have every intention of behaving badly. As a matter of fact, this is exactly the kind of situation where one should behave badly.
- [last lines]
- Thomas Fowler: [voiceover] They say you come to Vietnam and understand a lot in a few minutes. The rest has got to be lived. They say whatever it was you were looking for, you will find here. They say there is a ghost in every house, and if you can make peace with him, he will stay quiet.
- Alden Pyle: Have you had a lot of women, Thomas?
- Thomas Fowler: You start out by being promiscuous and end up like your grandfather... faithful to one woman.
- Thomas Fowler: Colonel The.
- Hinh: [Correcting him] General The.
- Thomas Fowler: Who made him a General?
- Hinh: He did.
- Hinh: [after Thomas Fowler, in Saigon, receives a letter recalling him back to London] I thought you liked London.
- Thomas Fowler: I do. But I like London fine where it is, I don't want to bloody go there.
- Thomas Fowler: I have never thought of myself as a correspondent, just a reporter. I offer no point of view, I take no action, I don't get involved. I just report what I see.
- Alden Pyle: But you must have an opinion.
- Thomas Fowler: Even an opinion is a form of action.
- Thomas Fowler: Morning Hinh!
- Hinh: Yeah!
- Thomas Fowler: Anything new?
- Hinh: Oh! Corruption, mendacity...
- Thomas Fowler: I said new.
- Thomas Fowler: [incensed on Alden's part in a bombing] Doesn't it bother you?
- Alden Pyle: [Distraught] What I saw made me disgusted, but if it keeps out the communists it's necessary.
- Thomas Fowler: I drive through the streets, and I care not a damn, The people they stare, and they ask who I am.
- Alden Pyle: And if I should chance to run over a cad, I can pay for the damage if ever so bad.
- Alden Pyle: [from the trailer] Are you married?
- Thomas Fowler: Yes
- [points to Phuong]
- Thomas Fowler: ... But not to her!
- Thomas Fowler: [referring to Phuong] Are you married yet?
- Alden Pyle: No, I figured I'd wait until we got home and do it properly.
- Thomas Fowler: You don't mind living here improperly?
- Alden Pyle: [with a flash of annoyance] It's hard to talk to you if you're going to be so cynical.