One of my all time favorites.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

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.

Minor almost obscure flick with good and effective thrilling moments, "The Wilby Conspiracy" works like an updated version of "The Defiant Ones" happening in South Africa during the apartheid regime. But this time the political prisoner played by Sidney Poitier isn't chained to a white man, he's bound to a engineer (Michael Caine) who'll help you to escape to another African country to meet the leader of his resistance group. However, both of them are being followed by the police after a misunderstanding when of Poitier's release from prison. The plot, like most of its kind, involves the unlikely friendship between them and their small fights and complications. While this isn't so groundbreaking and emphatic as Stanley Kramer's classic, there's plenty of detachable qualities about its presentation of South African's apartheid, the way the authorities worked (in a very revolting way), and the political issues although simplistic introduced are quite relevant, never getting in the way of the action which is the main focus in here (the escape, the diamonds plan, etc.) with some humored sequences. It staggers a bit but overall gets off with dignity and with plenty of great moments (the ending was excellent and quite poignant for what was happening at the time, no big Hollywoodian delusions). Poitier and Caine have good chemistry and are very notable but it's Nicol Williamson (as the chief of police) and Saeed Jaffrey (as the Hindu dentist responsible for getting members of the apartheid resistance out of the country) who steal the show, and there's even a very young Rutger Hauer on a pivotal role towards the conclusion. Ralph Nelson commands a good movie combining political themes with adventure. It's a little unfortunate that at the time of its release this wasn't so well-known, could've been used as a social denounce and things could've been changed earlier in South Africa. A more politically charged piece would do more justice to the cause but this one accomplishes a good deal. 8/10

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.