The Cape Town Affair

Choppy, poorly directed remake of Pickup on South Street. James Brolin while attractive is bland in the lead never approaching the lowdown grit that Richard Widmark effortlessly gave the character in the original. This was one of Jacqueline Bisset's first roles and her inexperience is evident although at least part of the blame belongs with the director since her next few films, with stronger directors, show a marked improvement over her work here. Unsurprisingly the best performance in the film comes from Claire Trevor as the frowsy Sam but even she doesn't match the peerless performance of Thelma Ritter, considered by many her best work, in the first film. This was Claire's last film for 15 years until she made a delightful return as Sally Field's mother in Kiss Me Goodbye, a much better film than this, and then permanently retired. As for the rest of the film, everybody else gives terrible performances, scenes either just stop or start with a good deal of narrative flow missing and the photography is washed out and overly bright. Not an estimable credit on anybody's resume.

Silly byplay between a few characters. A master pickpocket. A burned out police detective. A bunch of Commies. A piece of film. Some less than memorable acting. James Brolin, running the gamut of emotions from A to B. A confusing, endless story which continues to beg questions all along the way. There are some relationships that are left for us to figure out. The film is just so dull. I think all this cold war stuff has to at least have a little bit of causality. You can't have a suspense (or spy) movie without knowing what, exactly, the bad guys get out of the key piece of evidence. As usual, lots of people go through lots of wasted motion. Jacqueline Bisset is somewhat interesting, but even her role isn't very clealr.

The best part of this film is the opportunity to visit Cape Town, South Africa during the height of Apartheid. As a low-budget, spy thriller, it is shot in as many unmodified local settings as possible. Street shots are right in the heart of the downtown and there are harbor shots and scenes from within the Police Headquarters. The photos on the wall give away the time frame as well.

Claire Trevor is the only actor credited in some Film Compendia and I wonder if both Brolin and Bisset paid not to be listed!

Brolin plays a hard-boiled petty thief and "Jacky" Bisset plays a runner for the spy ring. Claire Trevor plays Sam, the connecting character to the world of petty crime and espionage.

Great for pre-integration scenes of Cape Town (look for one black person and you won't find them!), this remake of Pick Up on South Street (1953) is missing several things, notably Richard Widmark as the film noir villain that makes the whole thing work. This film is the exact opposite of film noir. It's too clean and crisp to be suspenseful. The colors reek of a British comedy ala the Pink Panther or something with Alec Guiness. The whole thing plays like a poor man's "Man From U.N.C.L.E." without the savoir faire of Robert Vaughn. James Brolin, a few years shy of Marcus Welby, M.D., has yet to learn how to act and Jacqueline Bisset is not worth the trip. See the original.

I just bought this film for 4 dollars, and let me tell you, it wasn't worth it.

No budget, badly scripted, dull, boring, listless, "Cold War" stinker. Hard to believe that Samuel Fuller was involved in this "movie". There were lines like, "You want to help us fight the commies don't you?"

James Brolin looked handsome here, but the poor guy just wasn't an actor at this stage of his career. All he basically does is look angry and yell and scream the whole movie; gave me a headache. He is living in a run-down shack near a smelly river, with no electric, yet he wears 500 dollar suits. He's a thief who only robs twice the whole movie.

Horrible piece of worthless junk.