Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW) I enjoyed this film very well. Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier played very powerful roles. This movie is about finding friendship during a time of hate. In South Africa it was apartheid, a type of segregation between the whites and the blacks. A revolutions named Shack Twala(Poitier) gets released from prison and he his lawyer(Prunella Gee) were about to celebrate along side with her boyfriend Jim(Caine). However, during a check, they are accosted by the constable(Nicol Williamson). Both Shack and Jim attack the South African Police and they are wanted. The police are criticized by their superiors for their actions. Both men and Rina take action on finding the leader, and some diamonds that are missing. The safari chase is amazing. It was funny when Rina lead the police in the chase, half- dressed. They would help her find her estranged husband(Rutger Hauer) to fly them out of the way. When they got the diamonds, there was two complicated factors: The Indian couple were involved in treachery within. The diamonds they found turned out to be fake. The revolutionary was nice when the natives used all their might to ground the helicopter. This movie is entertaining. I enjoyed it very much. 5 stars.

vincentlynch-moonoi This is a good film, but just a tad "off". I think what bothered me was the rather flip attitude of Michael Caine's character. Just doesn't seem like a situation in which one would be so flip.On the other hand, I would guess that it gives a pretty good idea of how things may have been in South Africa before freedom. And, there are so very powerful segments in the film.However, just when you think you've got a great political thriller -- and you do -- you then find the story is really about diamonds in a sink hole (albeit diamonds that are to be used for Black freedom fighters). And who is helping them -- an Indian dentist. And then there's a scene dropping down into a sink hole followed by a sort of silly chase scene.So, it starts out kinda serious and then gets kinda silly. Then has an improbable ending that nevertheless is very serious.It's quite a good cast. Sidney Poitier may have been trying to move into action films with this film; and after this film is when he turned more to directing. Michael Caine is a foreigner in South Africa who gets dragged into the plot through his lawyer-girl friend Prunella Gee. Nicol Williamson plays a South African security officer chasing Poitier and Caine. Saeed Jaffrey plays the dentist and Persis Khambatta as his shady female partner. Rijk de Gooyer plays a Nazi-like security agent. Rutger Hauer plays the wife of Gee, needed only in the plot because he flies a plane.The problem with the film is that it never quite figures out what it wants to be. Serious drama, sort of a buddy pic, slightly adventure pic. And that's the problem. Entertaining yes, but a split personality.

MartinHafer "The Wilby Conspiracy" is a strange film--there's no way around that. Now this isn't to say it's bad, but its unpredictability and very unusual plot left me feeling a bit bowled over by the whole thing.The first portion of the film looked a bit like a re-working of the Sidney Poitier-Tony Curtis film "The Defiant Ones" and according to IMDb, the studio played this up to the hilt. Portier has spent the last ten years as a political prisoner in a South African jail and has just received his release. As he and his lawyer and Michael Caine (who has no discernible reason for being there) leave the court, they are attacked by police and he and Caine beat the crap out of the two cops. Naturally, this is NOT going to make the rest of the police happy and the two men are now on the run. But it's not exactly like the earlier film--they are NOT handcuffed together and the don't hate each other.The film abruptly changes and moves into very strange territory. It then becomes a film all about the smuggling of diamonds to the rebels outside of South Africa. And, for much of the rest of the film there are plots, counter-plots and a lot of action near the end. It's all pretty interesting--just not what I'd expected. And while it is obviously an anti-Apartheid film, the message is a bit lost (at times) in the process. In other words, it's not as clearly anti-Apartheid as later films such as "A Dry White Season" or "Biko". This isn't a complaint--more just an observation about the overall tone of the film. I did enjoy it--it certainly was entertaining. My only complaint is that there were two sex scenes that seemed to have absolutely no reason for being there. I am not a prude--it just looked a bit sloppy and pointless. Still, with the rest of the film being rather strong, this can easily be overlooked.By the way, if you care, this is Rutger Hauer's first non-Dutch film.

bkoganbing 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.