The Wilby Conspiracy (1975)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Ralph Nelson

Writers:

Rodney Amateau (writer)
Peter Driscoll (novel)

Release Date:

February 1975 (Austria)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

Black anti-apartheid activist and British engineer are forced to run from South African secret police.

Plot Keywords:

Apartheid | Chase | Political | Racism | South Africa

Cast

Sidney Poitier	...	Shack Twala
Michael Caine	...	Jim Keogh
Nicol Williamson	...	Major Horn
Prunella Gee	...	Rina Van Niekirk
Saeed Jaffrey	...	Mukarjee
Persis Khambatta	...	Persis Ray
Rijk de Gooyer	...	Van Heerden (as Ryk De Gooyer)
Rutger Hauer	...	Blane Van Niekirk
Patrick Allen	...	District Commissioner
Joe De Graft	...	Wilby Xaba
Archie Duncan	...	Gordon
Abdulla Sunado	...	Village Headman
Helmut Dantine	...	Prosecuting Counsel
Peter Pearce	...	Highway Policeman

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:16 | Iceland:16 | UK:15 (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG (original rating) | USA:TV-14 (TV rating) | UK:AA (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Kenya

Company:

Baum/Dantine Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: While hiding the car in a village on the way to Johannesburg, Twali speaks Swahili with the villagers. Swahili is only spoken in East and Central Africa, for example in Kenya, the location of the shooting, but not in South Africa.

Movie Connections:

References Aao Pyaar Karen (1964)

Soundtrack:

Geliefde Man

"In A Police State, The Police Are Always Busy"

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.