I came across this movie very late one night recently and as it was a Connery movie with which I was not familiar I decided to stay with it. Big mistake. It appears to have ideas way above its station and the plot boils down to being about both Political and Corporate interests combining to ensure that Connery's character's peace plan for the Middle East fails. To ensure this a top female assassin (Sharpe) is hired to liquidate Connery. However, such is the clunky nature of the plot, in one scene she actually saves his life when she has ample opportunity to kill him. Given that this is a mid 70s "serious political movie" a downbeat ending is compulsory and this is ensured when Sharpe kills Connery at the movie's climax.I'm guessing any feminists watching this movie appreciated the irony of James Bond being murdered by a beautiful woman.

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.

(Spoilers ahead) "The Next Man" is a mildly entertaining if totally unlikely story with Sean Connery as a Saudi Arabian emissary to the UN who threatens to disband OPEC and seek peace with Israel. Understandably, he becomes the subject of assassination attempts. Cornelia Sharpe, looking like a photocopy of Faye Dunaway, is an undercover agent who, like a spider, uses sex as a preliminary to devouring her mate. In an early scene she coolly allows Adolfi Celi to suffocate to death with a plastic bag tied around his head while she blithely takes a shower. She, of course, falls seriously in love with Connery and goes through pangs of conscience before doing him in at point-blank rage at the end. Had the film dealt more seriously with the political and dramatic issues at hand, a la Costa Gavras, it could have been much better and not nearly so preposterous. Richard C. Sarafian directed the less-than-brilliant concoction.

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.