Meurtre pour un homme seul

"The Next Man" is an obscure Sean Connery film from Allied Artists...and its financial failure might just be why it was the studio's final release. The copy I saw was on a DVD from Netflix...one that looks just like it was duplicated from an old VHS tape....so in addition to a poor picture quality, there are no DVD extras.

The story begins with a shot of the Twin Towers in New York....which is a bit ironic considering the film's content. In the space of just a few minutes in the film, three different important Middle East politicians are assassinated. Soon, a Saudi diplomat, Khalil Abdul-Muhsen (Sean Connery) arrives at the UN to give a speech. The speech seems to shock everyone when he calls for an end to OPEC nations supporting terror and proposes his country leave OPEC if it continues. He also then proposes the seemingly impossible....peace with Israel!! Surely Khalil has a death wish....and soon American officials are fearing for his life. Can he survive this hate...as well as the assassin to which he has found himself falling for after he meets her?

The weird thing about this movie is the casting of Scottish actor Sean Connery in the lead. While he looks a bit like the part he's supposed to play, he sure doesn't sound like a Saudi! And, I am pretty sure this as some of the reason the film faced such an icy reception when it debuted. He's enjoyable and a fine actor...but wrong for the part.

Aside from this silly casting decision and a poor DVD dupe, is "The Next Man" worth seeing? Well, despite having a seemingly impossible premise, it is nice to see a film that gives a slight glimmer of hope to Middle East peace.....that's a nice plus. But the story itself seemed to be missing something...mostly fully three dimensional characters. A nice attempt but a film that just doesn't quite score.

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.

The Next Man (1976)

Plot In A Paragraph: Influential Arab diplomat (Connery) becomes the target of numerous assassination attempts, when he announces his plan to make peace with Israel by letting them join the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

I kind of wish Connery never made this one, as it is sandwiched in the middle of five great performances (3 before and the 2 that follow)

Playing The Saudi Arabian Minister Of State, but still doing nothing to change his natural accent, Connery kind of phones this one in. There is a sequence in the Bahamas, where he suddenly turns into 007 briefly.

Cornelia Sharpe is gorgeous as the freelance assassin Connery falls in love with. Other than that, there is not a lot to say about this one. Except the phrase "soft brown eyes" which is a line I remembered from seeing this in the 80's.

The Next Man tanked hard at the domestic box office and the DVD I bought was annoyingly expensive too.

I'm usually not one to say that a film is not worth watching, but this is certainly an extenuating circumstance. The only true upside to this film is Cornelia Sharpe, looking rather attractive, and the fact that this film is REALLY short.

The plot in the film is unbelievably boring and goes virtually nowhere throughout the film. None of the characters are even remotely interesting and there is no reason to care about anyone. I'm not sure why on earth Sean Connery agreed to do this film, but he should have definitely passed on this one.

The only reason I could see for seeing this film is if you are a die-hard Sean Connery fan and simply want to see everything he's done. Save this one for last though.

Well, if you by some miracle end up seeing this despite my review (or any of the other reviews on this site), then I hope you enjoy it more than I did. Thanks for reading.

It has an interesting plot, and a political message. Imagine the Saudis sending a man of peace to the UN, to change OPEC. Other than that, it resembles Day of the Jackal in some respects, and Cornelia Sharpe is dazzling. Scenes of New York prior to 9/11 are always poignant, and Connery does a fine job. His "conversion" sparks a multitude of organizations to try to stop him from doing further damage. There is much to look at, and the pace is fast. I enjoyed his pleasure at confronting the UN members from the Mid-East who were outraged by his refusal to parrot the OPEC line. There is always a "next man"... or woman...who has a mission to perform.