of twenty-three reviews examined by one scholar, fourteen were positive, five negative, and four neutral or mixed. brando had given interviews where he questioned american cold war politics, and some reviewers agreed, but few of these reviews mentioned that the film was set in a country very much like vietnam. only a few mentioned the point that, as "the dallas morning news" put it, one should “not assume that nationalism is inevitably anti-american,” and "the new republic" was unusual in adding that “american blindness ... has driven many people particularly asians, towards communism.” some called senator brenner the real “ugly american” and objected to his mccarthyite tactics. "the new york post" wrote that the film presented the dilemma that when americans supported dictators, the communists “make common revolutionary cause with the downtrodden.” many east coast reviews, however, objected to the film’s “oversimplification” of the issues. "the washington post" wrote it was “nothing more than a western about the bad guys and the good guys.”