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.

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.

An inconsequential, almost scene-for-scene remake of Sam Fuller's great Pickup On South Street, The Cape Town Affair suffers from weak casting--James Brolin is no Richard Widmark, and Claire Trevor attempts but fails in her Thelma Ritter impersonation. Shot on location in South Africa, the film barely recognises the existence of non-white characters, and when it does--in the person of Muhammad, a sleazy fence--a white South African, Gabriel Bayman, assays the role. Whilst the film maintains the original's Free World vs. Red Peril dichotomy, it's impossible to ignore the political realities of South Africa in 1967. With Nelson Mandela still in the early stages of his time in prison, 'communist' in South Africa was virtually synonymous with 'anti-Apartheid activist'. The prominently featured pictures of Hendrick Verwoerd in almost every shot in the police department confirm that this film was just as intent on being state-sanctioned propaganda as on being a work of art.

The best part of this film is the opportunity to visit Cape Town, South Africa during the height of Apartheid. As a low-budget, spy thriller, it is shot in as many unmodified local settings as possible. Street shots are right in the heart of the downtown and there are harbor shots and scenes from within the Police Headquarters. The photos on the wall give away the time frame as well.Claire Trevor is the only actor credited in some Film Compendia and I wonder if both Brolin and Bisset paid not to be listed!Brolin plays a hard-boiled petty thief and "Jacky" Bisset plays a runner for the spy ring. Claire Trevor plays Sam, the connecting character to the world of petty crime and espionage.