User reviews

Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine strike a winning screen partnership in this chase thriller set in South Africa. However, the most memorable portrayal comes from Nicol Williamson (an oft-underrated actor who steals the show in virtually every film he's in), as a particularly unpleasant racist security agent. The film is set against a background of volatile race relations, but the political angle of the story isn't thrust forth too heavy-handedly. First and foremost, this is a chase story... and it's all the better for it.

Bantu activist Shack Twala (Sidney Poitier) is acquited of terrorism charges in a Cape Town court. He is on his way for a celebratory drink with his lawyer Rina (Prunella Gee) and her English boyfriend Jim Keogh (Michael Caine), when they are assaulted by two racist policemen. They turn the tables on the policemen and give them a pretty thorough beating. Twala and Keogh go on the run, hoping to reach Johannesburg where Twala has a contact who can get them out of the country. However, they are pursued all the way by the bigoted Major Horn (Nicol Williamson). Horn's ultimate plan is to let Twala unknowingly lead him to the hideout of a rebel leader named Wilby.

The Wilby Conspiracy is generally a good film. The acting is excellent throughout, and the film has an unexpected element of humour, with Caine and Poitier providing several dynamic exchanges. The script is sharp, with enough incidents and twists to stay a step ahead of the viewer, and an interesting central theme. There aren't many shortcomings in The Wilby Conspiracy, though that's not to say it is perfect. The ending seems rather fudged, and some of the plot developments don't quite ring true. (The bit where Saeed Jaffrey's pretty young dental assistant attempts a treacherous double-cross is a good example of an unlikely plot contrivance). However, on the whole this is a slick, well-made and absorbing movie.

I would really have liked to have given The Wilby Conspiracy a higher rating than I did. But unfortunately a really huge and ridiculous error was made in telling the tale.

Due to political pressure brought to bear from various world human rights activists, black nationalist Sidney Poitier is freed by the apartheid South African government. On the way to celebrate, Poitier, his lawyer Prunella Gee and her boyfriend Michael Caine get into a mêlée with South African police and after assaulting a pair of them have to flee.

But it turns out the government in freeing Poitier in the first place has a whole other agenda. Poitier also has something else in mind, to get a stash of diamonds hidden years ago in a robbery to aid the African National Congress.

During the course of fleeing Poitier seeks the aid of an Indian dentist played by Saeed Jeffrey and his assistant Persis Khambatta. While Poitier is hidden away in a modern day priest-hole he takes Khambatta in there with him and while the South African Security are even outside within a few feet of him, Poitier and Khambatta are doing the horizontal mambo. Now granted Poitier had been in prison for 10 years and he was understandably ready to go, still I found it a bit much. The steamy sex scene definitely sold a lot movie tickets, but it was awkwardly planted into the story.

Acting honors in this film go to Nicol Williamson as the South African Security Police Chief Horne. He is a chillingly evil man, resolute in defense of the apartheid society and a bigoted product of that same society. Williamson is living proof of what Martin Luther King said about racism being as toxic to the perpetrator as to the victim.

The Wilby in the Wilby Conspiracy is a Nelson Mandela like figure who is in exile in neighboring Botswana. He only enters the film at the very end and in a surprising way.

The Wilby Conspiracy other than that tacked on sex scene done for box office dollars is a great portrait of the last days of the apartheid society of South Africa. It should be seen for Nicol Williamson's portrayal alone.

I've seen many of the movies of this era. As remarked elsewhere, it is a fast-paced action film but has fetching little vignettes along the way that point out the characters' humanity.

Superb performances by Nicol Williamson and Michael Caine. Poitier plays his usual role to perfection. Many good supporting performances -Persis Khambatta is a revelation and there is really not a weak link in the cast. Not often remarked, this movie deserves a solid 7 out of 10. The Rutger Hauer sequence is worth the price of admission.

Overlooked, althought not underrated, if you are a Michael Caine fan, don't miss this chase/early buddy film. Caine and Portier are framed and on the run from the corrupt South American gov't. The pace never lets up. Perhaps what held my interest the most was the supporting cast. Nicol (Merlin in "Excalibur") Williamson's turns in a deliciously villainous role. A real surprise was when a young (30ish) Rutger Hauer shows up to anagonize our heroes. It is his first English Speaking role, long before he wound up states side. The late Peris Khambatta makes an appearance too. The cast and socially pertinent plot will hold your attention right up to the powerful conclusion.

This little movie is a combination of political thriller , comedy and adventure movie. Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine have really good chemistry together . It's a well working duo which has to overcome their differences to survive. The way how they begin to trust and care about each other is believable.

The story is simple and moves quite fast , which isn't usual for 70's movies. The movie is mostly entertainment with apartheid being an issue in the background. The people who are expecting something deep might be disappointed . Personally I think that this movie sends a clear anti-apartheid message without being preachy or sappy. There is also a reflection about human greed and sacrifice .

Watch out for Rutger Hauer in small episode of pilot Blane . I also have to compliment the performances of Prunella Gee , Saeed Jaffrey and Persis Khambatta . The movie is both funny and dramatic and there are some beautiful landscapes here.

I give it 6/10.

Black anti-apartheid activist , a "Kaffir" (in South Africa , the term is regarded as highly racially offensive) from African National Congress ("Black Congress") , called Shack Twala (Sidney Poitier) and an Englishman named Jim Keogh (Michael Caine) on the wrong side of the law are forced to run from South African secret police . As they escape from Cape Town to Johannesburg , across 900 miles or 1,448 kilometers . They team up to getaway the clutches of a prejudiced law agent (Nicol Williamson) , a violent cop and other underlings in Apartheid Africa . Meanwhile they pursue some smuggled diamonds along the veld and are themselves relentlessly pursued by the AfriKaner Police . The film's closing credits declare: "This motion picture is fictional and any resemblance to actual persons or events in South Africa is purely coincidental".

The focus of the movie is on the moving pursuit with bigotry creaming the surface , not the political uprising taking place around it , though in the course of entertaining and amusement may also make people think about racism and other thought-provoking themes . Well-done chase movie that contains thrills , emotion , interracial screwing , crossfire , profound racial issues are overseen and action as well as thriller is maintained throughout . The flick is more an action movie than a racism yarn , it is about man's humanity to man . Based on a story by Peter Driscoll and released three years after its source novel that first published in 1972 and screen-written by Rod Amateu who provides an agreeable script . The film is pretty well , but some moments results to be unpleasant , extremely violent , and invidious . Over-the-range performances from Sidney Poitier as the hand-cuffed African and Michael Caine as a British engineer who is served with some amusing deadpan sentences . Support cast is frankly good , as Prunella Gee , Saeed Jaffrey , Persis Khambatta , Rutger Hauer , Patrick Allen and shinning Nicol Williamson as a leering security cop . Stanley Myers's musical score is characteristically cool , with an attractive initial song and plenty of Indian sounds . Colorful cinematography by John Coquillon , most of the film is set in Johannesburg and Cape Town , but due to the political sensitivity of anti-apartheid , no attempt was made to film there , in fact it was shot in Kenya and Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, England, UK .

The motion picture was compellingly made by Ralph Nelson . He has got himself a ¨South African Soldier Blue¨ . Being the third collaboration between Nelson and Poitier and final film together, after previously collaborating on Duel at Devil (1966) and The lilies of the field (1963) . Director Ralph was expert on all kinds of genres as Western : ¨Soldier Blue¨, ¨Duel at Diablo¨; Sci-Fi : ¨Embryo¨ ; Wartime : ¨Soldier in the rain¨ , ¨Father goose¨ ; and Drama : ¨Charly , ¨A hero ain't nothing' but a Sandwich¨ , ¨lady of the house¨ and his greatest hit ¨Lilies of the field¨ who had an inferior sequel titled ¨Christmas lilies of the field¨.

A fun politically charged, fast-paced action drama. No politically correct dialog here, as the principals give no quarter when the name calling and racial badgering ensues. A White man and a Black man are thrown together on a political twist of fate and have to overcome their mutual disdain for one another if either of them is to survive. Caine and Poitier, in my humble estimation, do a bang-up job of fulfilling the requirements of their respective roles. Neither widely known nor often mentioned, Prunella Gee does a nice job as Caine's sweetheart and Poitier's legal/political confidant, especially as it pertains to her keeping the peace between them so that they can achieve the task at hand.

What is also interesting is to see that even though Indian people and indigenous Blacks were similarly discriminated against in S. Africa (esp. during apartheid), there is still racial friction between those two groups. Not particularly earth-shattering news to many people, but a subject not often underscored in most modern cinematic fare.

If you like political melodrama with good plot development and plenty of action, you should like this one.

Even though The Wilby Conspiracy starred Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier, two of my favorites, I wasn't really expecting to like it. I thought it would be another boring movie about a small, futile rebellion against apartheid in South Africa. It turned out to be an exciting thriller, one that was extremely entertaining from start to finish!

Sidney Poitier plays a newly freed prisoner, but on his ride back home from the courthouse with his lawyer, Prunella Gee, and her boyfriend, Michael Caine, they're accosted by the police. They fight back in self-defense, but knowing that will not hold too much water as an excuse, they flee the scene. As the three try to leave the country, they get involved in a political scheme with Saeed Jaffrey, all the while hounded ruthlessly by police chief Nicol Williamson.

While both normally handsome leading men are a little bit grungy in this film, it's still very much fun to watch. Rod Amateau's and Harold Nebenzal's script ties together so many great elements: politics, romance, racial tension, underground rebellion, action, and a touch of humor. They don't include silly comic reliefs that would cheapen the film; instead, it's a sophisticated sarcasm that makes the characters more human. Keep in mind, though, that the film does include the word "conspiracy" in the title, so there will be some unexpected twists and turns, as well as some potentially upsetting violence. Other than that, rent this for an exciting movie night!

The Wilby Conspiracy is an old movie, and so it is less dramatic and has less action than a modern action movie. The Wilby Conspiracy was pretty entertaining. There were good chasing scenes and and some of it was very funny. The actors were really good. The movie was useful for learning about history because it showed an activist and how they were victimised by the racist police. It also shows some white south africans who are normally not in apartheid movies (where the black characters are the heroes). Many whites in south Africa were against the system of apartheid, especially whites with an English background. It is good that this movie shows this, with a British Engineer helping the black criminal. As viewers we must be critical of the way the history of Apartheid was presented. Mainly, this movie didn't have heaps of information about Apartheid - it never really explains why the activist was in gaol and what was his motivation. That would have made it more believable. It is possible that the film-maker wanted the audience to not know so that he was just another black activist being victimised by the government. It would have been a more historically useful movie if the characters had talked about what their political beliefs were and why. The characters of the police were also a bit too simple - they were more like 'badies' than actual people. To be more useful for someone learning about history it could have been fairer to the whites who were police, who were not evil badies, just ignorant people who were part of the system everyone else was. This was an enjoyable film, which had some good action and suspense parts. But for a way to learn about the history of apartheid it is not ideal, there are some large gaps in what it tells you - and it is more concerned with excitement and action than politics and history. -Brad, Evren, Henry, Miles (9H1).

A good film with a strong and effective cast, but Major Horn's plan that he revealed towards the end seemed very contrived and dependent on various factors panning out. It wouldn't have succeeded had the two police vehicles succeeded in stopping the fugitives, likewise with the South African aircraft's attempt to divert their light aeroplane.

I would have liked to have seen more of Patrick Allen as the District Commissioner, and Rutger Hauer dominated the screen in his few scenes.

As others have said, the brief sex scene was intrusive and unnecessary.

"The Wilby Conspiracy" is a slick, well-executed chase thriller pairing top actors Sidney Poitier and Sir Michael Caine. Set against a very political backdrop, the racial strife taking place in South Africa, it has Poitier as a political prisoner being released and Caine as a mining engineer who are forced to take it on the lam together. Sometimes assisted by Caines' girlfriend Prunella Gee (who is also the lawyer who helped to free Poitier), they must work to stay one step ahead of the sly, racist security agent Nicol Williamson, an antagonist par excellence.

This film is fundamentally an entertaining story (scripted by Rod Amateau and Harold Nebenzal, based on a novel by Peter Driscoll), very well told and engrossing. It does have some slow spots, but never takes too long to perk right back up again. The action scenes (directed by Amateau) are first-rate, along with the stunning photography of the genuine Kenya locations, and the solid (but never overwhelming) soundtrack composed by Stanley Myers. The film calls ones' attention to the real-life turmoil in this part of this world, while making sure to also show us a good time.

Part of the appeal lies in the performances of the two leads. While undoubtedly the film delivers some echoes of Poitiers' earlier classic "The Defiant Ones", our stars have good chemistry and are consistently amusing. They are extremely well supported by a wonderful international cast: Saeed Jeffrey as a jittery dentist / activist, Persis Khambatta as his lovely assistant, Rutger Hauer as Gees' shady husband (and means of escape for the heroes), Rijk de Gooyer as a smiling, slimy agent, and Patrick Allen as the district commissioner. Khambatta and Hauer made their English-language debuts here; actor / executive producer Helmut Dantine has a small role as the prosecutor. Williamson steals it from everybody, though, and is a treat to watch.

Directed by the great Ralph Nelson, whose previous work with Poitier includes "Lilies of the Field", where Nelson had directed the actor towards a Best Actor Oscar win.

Seven out of 10.

That's what it should be called, because I don't see a conspiracy in this movie, just a few plot angles, Rina (Prunella Gee) wants to get her client off and later escape from her marriage with her boyfriend, Schack (Sidney Poitier) wants to flee to Botswana with some diamonds for his terrorist/political group, Jim (Michael Caine) just wants to escape prosecution with his girlfriend. The main plot (and the 'Conspiracy' in the title) was that Major Horn (Nicol Williamson) has let Schack go because he wants to discover where his comrades are, then there is a small sub-plot where Persis (Persis Khambatta) wants to stop the diamonds because she is worried that the Asians will be treated badly by the blacks once they take over, confused ? so was I !

The film is too confusing and too easy going at the same time.

It's not a true story as some people seem to think, it's come from a Novel, although based on some events around the period of South African history when apartheid was in place and the blacks were striving for more freedom and a fair society.

Its not a bad film, I think the Actors have done their best with a bad screenplay and editing (the music was average), and there lies the problem. There are too many bits missing or not right, I have not read the novel but I am assuming that it was more concise with the events, and the characters (probably under direction) seem to be more happy than they otherwise would be, when fleeing for their lives/facing death, they almost all seem to be having fun ? They have turned what would be a serious political/crime drama into a almost farcical adventure.

The first fault is Major Horn's easy release from court of the black terrorist so he could follow him , that should have raised a few eyebrows with the escapees, but not in this film, none of them seemed to worry about that, it was good that this plot was all part of his scheme to find the leader of the party/terrorist group Wilby Xaba, via the diamonds, but Horn already knew where the diamonds and Anil Mukerjee (the sympathiser) were, so did not need to set them up with a dead body in the boot, nor follow them to Johannesburg, he already knew where they were going, the "from across the tracks" buddy - buddy relationship between Caine and Poitier was a bit unlikely, and Persis's angle in trying to stop Schack succeeding was a bit of an add-on for a bit of twist in the story, an extremely unlikely event and unnecessary.

Michael Caine acted well but not great, Sidney Poitier was the best (this was the first of 2 films that they did together about apartheid in South Africa), Prunella Gee was a bit expressionless but did act well, she fit the role of the Boer Afrikaans woman well, Nicol Williamson was good as the smiling sadistic Secret Police Major until the end, Saeed Jaffrey was good as the Asian sympathiser, Persis Khambatta did ok in her role but it was only a short one, the sex scene between her and Schack should not have been included, it was a bit of an add-on for a sex angle, Rutger Hauer was a bit bland as the wronged husband, he could have been a bit more reactionary, again with an inane grin like it was all a bit of fun, whether that was because of Hauer's then inexperience or the direction I don't know, but it was wrong. The only actor who made his role look like he was not having fun was Sidney Poitier which made his role the best, despite many people saying that Nicol Williamson was the best, I don't agree, Nicol was playing it too free and easy, he did not seem to be taking the role too seriously.

They should have made more of the relationship between Jim & Rina, made more of the relationship between Jim & Schack, shown where the dead body in the boot came from, put more detail into the events surrounding the trip to Johannesburg, not put the sex scene in between Persis and Schack, at the end Major Horn was smiling like it was all fun despite that all his soldiers were now dead and did not look like he was worried about the gravity of his situation just before Jim shot him, it should have been much more serious.

Despite all that it was adventurous and a bit enjoyable, and most of the acting was good, at least most of the actors seemed to fit their characters, either in type or nationality and the photography and African scenes were good, it was mostly filmed in Kenya so at least it was the right continent and looked right. The truth dawning at the end was done well, for most of the time.

It looks as if this film has a higher rating than it should to me, I gave it a 5 for the African photography and actors, the plot gets a 1 !

This story could be re-filmed as a serious action movie and be much better with the right Director and cast, maybe done by South Africans, for another time.

This is definitely a sleeper. Not much is said about this film and yet it is one of my favorite movies starring Michael Caine. Sidney Poitier is on the lam with his new non-friend Caine who by mutual agreement have to escape. Prunella Gee plays the glue that for a while gets and keeps them together. The movie moves along quickly from cricis to crisis ending in a complete surprise. You are going to like this although there are some slow sections.

(1975) The Wilby Conspiracy THRILLER

Adapted from the novel written by Peter Driscoll, and directed by Ralph Nelson starring Sidney Poitier as Shack Twala and Michael Caine as Jim Keogh escaping by going on a road trip from Cape Town to Johannesburg after scuffling and then assaulting a couple of police officers after winning at a trial. It's called "The Wilby Conspiracy" because Wilby is the name Shack is trying to reach with the help of Jim and his soon-to-be-wife Rina (Prunella Gee). Rutger Hauer also stars as Blane. This movie gives viewers some sense about what living in Africa used to be like which is similar to what it used to be like in United States when segregation was being practiced between "white collar" Christianity and African natives. All the irony and the rapport being built between the Poitier character and the Caine character is just a backdrop to some of the real issues with Africa during that particular time. But still, it still feels somewhat outdated since many things has happened since then after the releasing of Nelson Mandela. Footnote: This is the third and final film director Ralph Nelson worked with African American actor Sidney Poitier.

This is a real gem of a chase thriller.I think this film isn't well known.Oscar winners Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier are well matched together.Nicol Williamson is quite a scene stealer and a wonderful actor.Available from MGM.and also stars Persis Khambatta from "Star Trek original movie" and Rutger Hauer,known for "Blade Runner". This film reminded me of the film "Defiant Ones" 1958.Pairing Tony Curtis and Poitier together. Sidney Poitier won Oscar for Lillies in the field 1963. Michael Caine won supporting actor for Cider House Rules 1999. So watch this movie and see if you agree with me that it is a gem! If you liked this film you might watch Shoot to Kill 1988.