The Wilby Conspiracy | | Cast : | Sidney Poitier, Michael Caine | | Director : | Ralph Nelson | | Studio : | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | | Format : | Color, Widescreen | | Released Date : | January 01, 1975 | | DVD Released Date : | January 20, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | March 24, 2005 | | Summary | Disgusting and Dated | Content
 | Just finished watching this 1974 film about the oppression in South Africa starring Micheal Caine and Sidney Poitier. It gave a great retrospective of how South Africa was perceived by the media during apartheid. It had a blonde lady lawyer devoted to helping the rebel leader Poitier keep from going back to prison. Micheal Caine played her boyfriend who was not political until he jumped in and assaulted some policemen manhandling Poitier. Then they were on the run together, ala The Defiant Ones.
Next came a sickening scene that could only come out of a Marxist idolatry worshipping Hollywood. Poitier had been handcuffed before escaping and had lost the use of his fingers. When they pulled over to urinate, he couldn't get his zipper undone because his hands were numb. So he walks back up to Micheal Caine sitting in the car and presses his crotch right in Caine's face through the open window, telling Caine to pull down his zipper. Caine complies, with a smirk on his face, letting the audience know what the score is. Poitier doesn't move and so Caine demurely asks in a sweet as sugar voice, "What now?" To which Poitier snarls "What now!?! YOU KNOW, What Now!" The theatrical/literary allusion of rape and the black man dominant was more than I could stomach. And this a full three decades before Terrell Owens and Nicolete Sheriden.
Meanwhile the New York Times has just run a story on the consequences of Black dominance. An article about Zimbabwe revealed that most Black Zimbabweans now regret that Whites no longer run the country. No wonder, they are now starving to death after destroying a propsperous White-built economy.
After Black rule has messed up South Africa, Black South Africans will look back with tears in their eyes to the golden days of Apartheid, which small-minded Marxist trash like this helped to overthrow. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 19, 2004 | | Summary | Enjoyable, mostly forgotten thriller from 70's | Content
| Title: "The Wilby Conspiracy"
Released: 1975
Rated: PG
Running Time:1 hour and 41 minutes
Directed by: Ralph Nelson
Starring: Sidney Poitier-as Shack Twala
Michael Caine-as Jim Keogh
Nicol Williamson-as Major Horn
Prunella Gee-as Rina van Niekirk
Rutger Hauer-as Blane
Rijk de Gooyer- as van Heerden
This is a good little movie about Poitier and Caine fleeing South African police while being tailed by South African State Security Bureau agents (Williamson and Gooyer). The film begins with Poitier being released from prison (having just served 10 years for political activism against the apartheid government) through the efforts of his lawyer (Gee)after a hearing in the South African Supreme Court in Capetown. Immediately following his release, Poitier, Gee and Caine-who plays Gee's boyfriend, a British mining engineer-decide to go to her office to celebrate. En route, they are stopped at a police checkpoint and Poitier is assaulted by the two officers. Gee comes to his aid and is in turn assaulted, which leads Caine to become involved. The policemen are seriously injured and Poitier and Caine decide to head for a safehaven in Johannesberg, 900 miles away.
Little do the duo know that Poitier's release and subsequent ease in evading the police are the result of the Security Bureau's intervention. It seems that the Bureau want to follow Poitier in the hopes that he will lead them to Wilby, the leader of the anti-apartheid forces. What follows is an entertaining chase across South Africa and a related quest for missing diamonds which all lead to a violent finale (despite its PG rating).
Poitier and Caine are great in the primary roles. They have to rely on each other, while not exactly always getting along. The movie is further helped by a strong supporting cast, including Gee and Williamson (in a standout performance as the lead Bureau agent following the fugitives). Rutger Hauer has a small role as Gee's estranged bush pilot husband.
The movie, which is based on the novel of the same name by Peter Driscoll, was filmed in Kenya and at Pinewood Studios in England. I recommend this film to fans of Poitier and Caine, as well as anyone looking for a good 1970's thriller/action movie.
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| Rating | | | Date | February 08, 2004 | | Summary | Caine or Poitier enthusiasts may see something more here | Content
| Based on Peter Driscoll's 1972 novel, this film is set in apartheid 1970-ish South Africa during the origins of anti-apartheid groups like the Black Congress movement, seeking to overthrow the government to achieve self-determination for the country's 18 million blacks (versus 3 million ruling whites). One always has to wonder about films where the viewpoint is so one-sided with few shades of grey. This film treads a fine line indeed between politically correct propaganda and a wheels-within-wheels conspiracy thriller. This reviewer's initial fears that the propaganda element would overwhelm other considerations diminished when the plot took some unexpected twists and ended with a flourish. Sidney Poitier is moderately successful in his characterization of a black who has been subdued and imprisoned by the contemptuous and repressive apartheid regime. Years of forced subservience (and his survival of them) have made his external persona almost stoic. Yet behind this apparent stoicism, he seethes with hatred and works for the total destruction of the apartheid system. Opening the film, the authorities mysteriously release him from prison. The mystery compounds when the authorities fail to re-arrest him despite any number of infractions (trumped-up or otherwise), choosing rather to follow him. A young Michael Caine plays - Michael Caine, dragged in by accident for the ride and implicated by events. The other performances are routine excepting Major Horn (Nicol Williamson) and his side-kick Van Heerden (Ryl De Gooyer), as the arrogant, menacing and sadistic pursuing agents from the Bureau of State Security. These two never miss an opportunity to threaten and denigrate those who either cross their path or try to frustrate their curious agenda. Despite their limited screen time, Wiliamson and De Gooyer nevertheless bring something extra to their portrayals. The original 1974 cinematography was apparently quite good, as the (Kenya) scenery is beautiful. The DVD picture is sufficient for enjoying the film; but purists will notice that it is fuzzy and the colors are washed out, so no re-mastering or other significant picture restoration was attempted. Sound is in the same category. The DVD keep case is fine. Be advised the film is mostly for Caine or Poitier collectors. For others it is little more than a couple hours' entertainment. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 21, 1999 | | Summary | One Of the Best Pre-80's Anti-Appartheid Film!! | Content
| It amazes me that so little attention has been paid to this witty adventure-drama. Created and made long before anti-apartheid struggle bacame "vogue" in the mainstream culture in mid-80's, it was rare insight that gave us the sinister faces of the dreaded South African sercret service, the "BOSS". Remember this was made long before "New South Africa". Long before the release of Nelson Mandela. Before Soweto and Biko murder!! |
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