The novel was popular in England and over the years has achieved notable status , being adapted into films in 1958 and most recently in 2002 by Miramax , featuring Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser and earning the former a Best Actor nomination . However , after its publication in the United States in 1956 , the novel was widely condemned as anti-American . It was criticised by '' The New Yorker '' for portraying Americans as murderers , largely based on one scene in which a bomb explodes in a crowd of people . According to critic Philip Stratford , " American readers were incensed , perhaps not so much because of the biased portrait of obtuse and destructive American innocence and idealism in Alden Pyle , but because in this case it was drawn with such acid pleasure by a middle-class English snob like Thomas Fowler whom they were all too ready to identify with Greene himself " . The title of a 1958 book , The Ugly American , was a play on Greene 's title , however authors Eugene Burdick and William Lederer thoroughly misunderstood the novel . Their book argued that the American diplomatic corps needed to be more modern , technically proficient , and friendly in assisting Third World countries — some of the exact qualities that blinded Alden Pyle . The novel has been filmed twice . The original 1958 Hollywood film inverted the theme of the novel , turning it into an anti-communist tale instead of a cautionary story about American interventionism . The 2002 film version was true to the book . It was test-screened to positive audience reactions on September 10 , 2001 . However , the September 11 attacks took place the next day , and audience ratings declined with each subsequent screening . Reacting to criticism of its " unpatriotic " message , Miramax shelved the film for a year
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
The Quiet American