Meurtre pour un homme seul

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.

Two of my very dear actors, Sean Connery and Adolfo Celi, after the extraordinary "Thunderball", reunited in "The Next Man". But, unfortunately, Adolfo Celi only has one line, after which he is killed at the beginning of the film and we don't see him again. After she takes off her panties, a sign that she will make love to him, Cornelia Sharpe does something completely different, as you will see in the movie. Someone wrote on YouTube where I saw the film that it is "an explosive action film". It is not explosive at all, not in the action sense. There are 4 explosions at the end, some bombs placed in diplomatic briefcases explode, but the rest of the movie is just boring chatter. Except for the assassination attempt on the island and the coup de grace given at the very end in the car. What I don't understand is how a woman (Cornelia Sharpe's character) can make love to a man (Sean Connery's character) and then kill him. I think she came to love him in turn, but for a lot of money, you do anything. Sharpe, in Romanian, means snake.

I was able to watch the remastered version on YouTube. The original theatrical release was mangled by small cuts, 18 minutes of them, and panned by critics. Even the restored version is not really a great film...but it is a very well made political and social drama, like SYRIANA. And so pertinent to today's world. Should be watched for that reason alone. Sean Connery plays a great Arab, like he did in Wind and the Lion (I know, that character was a Berber). Cornelia Sharpe is exquisite. If you blink a few times, you imagine we are in Bond territory again, especially when they go to the Bahamas. Highly recommend!

Sean Connery as an Arab doesn't bother me, I've seen him as a Spaniard, Russian, Irishman, even an English Agent, though very rarely a Scotsman. This is an interesting film as it could only end one way, even if it's heart is in the right place. Sean plays Abdul Muhsen, the new delegate from Saudi Arabia at the UN. He has great ideas about inviting Israel into a new kind of OPEC, which infuriates some Arab countries. He gets romantically involved with Nicole Scott (Cornelia Sharpe), but we know her back story.

This should've been better, but somewhat silly scenes lower it overall score a wee bit.

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.