***SPOILERS***Stink bomb of a movie with actor Sean Connery as handsome and dashing but not too bright Saudi Arabian diplomat Khaial Abual-Muhsen or just KAM for short stirring up a hornet nest in suggesting that the Arab World make peace with its eternal enemy the Jewish State of Israel in order to bring both peace and prosperity to the explosive and volatile Middle-East. KAM is not only attacked by his fellow Arabs but the Jews and Israelis as well for either being nuts or a traitor or both in that no one-Jew or Arab-believes for a moment what the heck he's talking about;or that he may have just lost his mind in him staying out, without a hat or head dress, in the hot Arabian sun for too long. This all sets off a number of political assassination by Arab extremists of Arab diplomats who go along with KAH's plan and makes him a prime target of not only his fellow Arabs but the Israiles who feel he's really trying to have Israel drop its guard by believing him and setting itself up for another Yom Kipper like sneak attack that he's really planning for.In fact there's an attack on KAH while vacationing in the Bahamas by what looks like Arab or Palestine terrorist as he's frisking around in bed with his girlfriend Nicole Scott, Cornelia Sharpe. It was Nicole who feel in love with KAH when she heard him give a spellbinding speech about peace in the Middle-East to a barley awake assembly of UN diplomats.It's the gun toting Nicole who ends up saving his life by blowing away one of the terrorists who was just about to blow him away in the attack in the Bahamas!***SPOILERS*** It's back in NYC that a major assassination attempt is made on KAH that backfired during a both major anti Arab and anti Israeli demonstration that ends up killing 15 people with KAH by sneaking out the back of the Saudi Arabian embassy again escaping death. It's later that KAH's luck finally runs out with his girlfriend Nicole Scott who's actually working for the PLO-Palestine Liberation Organization-after shooting her partner, the limousine driver, who was about to rub out a stunned KAH then turns the gun on him after telling the big jerk, who should have known better, what beautiful brown eyes he has!

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.

SPOILERS! IF YOU PLAN TO WATCH THIS TURKEY, BEWARE!Sean Connery had been on an incredible 'roll', beginning with the all-star 'whodunit', MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, in 1974. A so-so suspense film (twenty years ahead of it's time) about airline terrorism, RANSOM, followed, then THE WIND AND THE LION, THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING, and ROBIN AND MARIAN, in rapid succession. Three 'classics' in a row, and the international press were hailing Connery as the world's greatest actor, a gratifying title to an actor many claimed would be 'typecast' forever as James Bond, just four years earlier.Then came THE NEXT MAN, ending the string of hits...THE NEXT MAN wasn't the worst movie Connery would ever make (I'd nominate THE AVENGERS for that honor, though METEOR also has it's supporters), but the story, of a professional 'hit woman' who seduces her victims into falling in love with her before she 'offs' them, just wasn't of a caliber of his previous work, and sparked snide comments that the Scot actor would do "anything for money".The film's star, Cornelia Sharpe, was an attractive actress of average talent, better known for her nude pictorials in Playboy than for her film work. As a cold-blooded assassin, she was only truly effective in the early part of the film, strangling Adolfo Celi (best known as 'Emilio Largo' in THUNDERBALL) with a plastic bag, in a rather distasteful sequence.Her next 'assignment' would be Arab diplomat Khalil Abdul-Muhsen (Connery), whose peace overtures towards Israel were alarming radical Arab leaders. She takes on the job methodically, winning his confidence with off-handed ease, and beginning her standard seduction.But Connery is funny, charismatic, and a visionary, exuding his trademark sex appeal so effortlessly that the film becomes a full-fledged love story, with montages so blatantly romantic that they might have been 'lifted' from LOVE STORY, itself (watch for an ice-skating sequence; Connery skates VERY well!)The film climaxes as Connery delivers an decisive speech at the U.N. about the need for brotherhood between peoples, a scene so powerful that you wonder why it is in THIS film...then she poisons him, whispering about his "beautiful eyes" as he dies, leaving audiences feeling totally flattened. Even a twist at the end of the film, promising justice would be served, couldn't make up for the letdown of Connery's death, even if it should have been expected.The film bombed, and was quickly pulled from theaters. Fortunately, Sean Connery's next film, A BRIDGE TOO FAR, about WWII's Operation Market-Garden, would offer one of his best performances, and THE NEXT MAN misfire would soon be forgotten. The same could not be said for Cornelia Sharpe, however; her career quickly evaporated, with only a handful of roles in the nearly thirty years since THE NEXT MAN was released. This is one Connery film you MAY want to skip!

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.