Crwthod
A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.
Lidia Draper
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
Mandeep Tyson
The acting in this movie is really good.
gridoon2018
The opening sequence of "The Cape Town Affair", with James Brolin stealing the wallet of Jaqueline Bisset in a crowded bus and a little girl noticing what is happening but not quite understanding it, is a good one. And the film has a quintessentially 1960s music score. Unfortunately, that score is pretty much the only thing that places the film in the 1960s - production-wise, it looks like a cheap B-movie from the 1940s, when the actors simply moved from studio set to studio set, and huge chunks of dialogue had to try to cover up the almost complete lack of action. But the dialogue, even in the cheapest 1940s crime dramas, was usually witty, something that cannot be said for most of the dialogue in "The Cape Town Affair" (some of it cannot be heard in current DVD prints anyway). This is a dreary movie, with Brolin proving that it was a correct decision that he never got the James Bond role (despite coming close to it), Bisset looking beautiful (especially when she's wet with beer), and Claire Trevor chewing the scenery in a supporting part. *1/2 out of 4.
jjnxn-1
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.
ozlock
There is one redeeming feature: the gorgeous Ms Bisset. The acting is dreadful. Even Bisset is terrible. Forget the fact that it is a remake and forget great views of Cape Town (because this is a very dark film, and I don't mean noir).My first attempt at this submission was rejected because it contains less than ten lines, but what else is there to say?OK, I can say that even the music is formulaic in the sense that all spy movies were in the 60s. This is the sort of movie where you want to say "What were they thinking?"OK? It is hard to imagine that IMDb encourages wasting cyber space.
warlock-13
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.
