The Next Man (1976)

As Good As It Gets

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The movie had a lot of potential, unfortunately, it came apart because of a weak/implausible story line, miscasting, and general lack of content/substance. One of the very obvious flaws was that Sean Connery, who played an Arab man, didn't know how to pronounce his own Arab name! This may seem a small flaw but it points to the seeming lack of effort in paying attention to details. The quality of acting was uniformly well below average. Movie's solitary saving grace was the twist in the plot at the very end; and a french song (I don't recall the title). Overall, it was a pretty bad movie where Sean Connery was visibly miscast.

This is a case of a bunch of people thinking they are so clever they have a story that fits the time. Remember the all-around political conspiracies caught on camera in the years leading to the Watergate and a little later? Most movies trying to cash in on made-for-TV 'o so powerful, o so mind numbing' conspiracies were in fact caught in their own navel-gazing attitude.I was never a fan of The Conversation which I find as much dated as others conspiracy stints of the time but Coppola was true to his main character and Hackman was a pretty engaging actor to observe. I mean these conspiracy movies are mostly drowning in the character pool of noir heroes. Lots of questions unanswered, lots of dis-communication... Well this takes at least Bergman to build a movie about such un-visual bases.The Next Man is a perfect example of its time: one political soup served with an idealistic character and an horrendous conspiracy tightening its web around him. Neither part is interesting in itself and the whole doesn't get any better. In fact you can tell how much it will be bad from the very first sequences piling up 'watcha that' murders without ever advancing any storyline. Pedestrian directing at its worst as most of the movie is one pompous accumulation of scenes revolving around violence naively brought under the viewer's eyes.

Sean Connery has to be admired for refusing to allow his box office reputation to dictate the film roles that he has chosen over the years. Many stars accept the scripts that they believe will result in financially successful films. While Connery has made more than his fair share of box office hits, he has also been in quite a few films that did not do huge business during their cinematic run. Connery's attitude has always been that he chooses roles that INTEREST him; perhaps roles that he finds challenging as an actor, or roles that require a certain amount of emotional depth and research. In The Next Man, a 1976 thriller from director Richard C. Sarafian, Connery assumes the unlikely but effective role of a Saudi Arabian statesman with a revolutionary political idea that places his life in grave danger. The film itself is nothing special, being a pedestrian-paced political thriller with a double-edged romantic subplot, but what is fascinating is watching big Sean playing this visionary idealist with such aplomb. It is a shame that the actor and the character were not given a more interesting film in which to appear!Following three assassinations of Middle Eastern politicians, Khalil Abdul Muhsen (Sean Connery) is appointed by the Saudi Arabian king as the country's ambassador to the United Nations. Muhsen soon has many an Arab heart skipping a beat as he makes a stirring speech to the UN assembly, outlining his revolutionary plan to forge a co-operative agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel in the production of petroleum. Formerly bitter enemies, Muhsen envisages that the Saudis and the Israelis will unite and create an oil-producing alliance capable of replacing OPEC. His optimistic ideas are met with great opposition from some quarters of the Arab community and it is not long before Muhsen's life is in jeopardy. Little does he realise that a gorgeous female assassin has been placed on his trail with instructions to seduce then eliminate him. The assassin, Nicole Scott (Cornelia Sharpe), captures the heart of the Arabian statesman and allows him to romance her as she waits for the order to erase him. But gradually she seems to fall in love with her target…. when the time comes, will she follow her professional orders or her heart? Little suspense is generated regarding the dilemma facing Sharpe's character. Although Muhsen is perfectly likable, especially as portrayed by Connery, not enough is made of the relationship between politician and assassin to generate the necessary sympathies. In the closing scenes, when Sharpe may or may not be about to kill her man, there is no particular level of interest or excitement. The film is quite a globe-trotting affair, with various exotic locales nicely lensed by the ever-reliable Michael Chapman. The script (worked on by four collaborators) jumps around somewhat messily, especially in the early stages, but Richard C. Sarafian manages to keep the plot just about understandable. However, it is important to note that the film exists in a couple of severely edited versions known as Double Hit and The Arab Conspiracy, both of which are so clumsily shortened that they are all but impossible to follow. If you are planning on watching this film at all, at least pay it the service of seeing the full length version which, while not without its flaws, is at least half-decent.

I found "The Arab Conspiracy" in a bargain bin and thought I'd uncovered a lost treasure. Folks, there's a reason why you don't hear much about this film. The plot is muddy, the pacing is slow, Cornelia Sharpe is about as vivacious as plain, cold tofu, and the ending leaves you flat. Not even Sean Connery can save this one.