''The Cape Town Affair'' is director Robert D. Webb's 1967 glamorized

spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many James Bond films) ...

produced by 20th Century Fox at Killarney Film Studios in South Africa. The film stars

Claire Trevor Claire Trevor ( Wemlinger; March 8, 1910April 8, 2000) was an American actress. She appeared in 65 feature films from 1933 to 1982, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ''Key Largo'' (1948), and received nomina ...

James Brolin James Brolin (, born Craig Kenneth Bruderlin; July 18, 1940) is an American actor. Brolin has won two Golden Globes and an Emmy. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 27, 1998. He is the father of actor Josh Brolin. He is ...

, and

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in '' The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet Ride'', for which she rec ...

. It is a remake of the 1953 picture ''

Pickup on South Street ''Pickup on South Street'' is a 1953 Cold War spy film noir written and directed by Samuel Fuller, and released by the 20th Century Fox studio. The film stars Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, and Thelma Ritter. It was screened at the Venice Film Fes ...

''. It was Brolin's first starring role. Both he and Bisset were under contract to Fox. He later said "I didn't like it much but we e and Bissetweren't bad."

Plot

The film is set in 1967, at the height of the Cold War. On a Cape Town, South Africa, city bus, a young woman named Candy (Jacqueline Bissett) suspects she's being trailed by government agents. They have correctly deduced she is acting as a courier for Communist operatives. However, a small distraction occurs when a pickpocket, Skip McCoy (James Brolin), deftly lifts a wallet from Candy's purse before exiting at the next stop. Candy uses the diversion to slip away from her pursuers. But later, when checking her purse for the wallet, she discovers it is missing. The wallet's content, an envelope containing state secrets on microfilm, is now in the possession of McCoy. Naturally, Candy's employers are displeased, and they order her to find and retrieve the stolen microfilm—or else. As a result, Candy begins to question her own allegiances. Meanwhile, government agents solicit local Cape Town authorities for their assistance in tracking down the pickpocket. With valuable assistance from underworld contact Samantha "Sam" Williams (Claire Trevor), they locate the elusive McCoy who proves uncooperative at first. But when he becomes acquainted with Candy and begins to grasp the evil of those behind the theft of government secrets, his patriotic fervor becomes aroused. Before long, he is surprised to find himself aligned with both Candy and the police in tracking down and exposing enemies of the state.

Cast

as Sam Williams *

as Skip McCoy *

as Candy *

Bob Courtney Bob Courtney (31 October 1922 – 24 October 2010) was a British-born South African actor and broadcaster. He appeared in more than twenty film roles and worked as an on-air presenter and broadcaster on Springbok Radio. Additionally, Courtney c ...

as Capt. Herrick, Security Branch * John Whiteley as Joey *

Gordon Mulholland Gordon Mulholland (30 April 1921, Cape Town, South Africa – 30 June 2010, East London, South Africa) was a British actor best known for his performances in the TV soap opera ''The Villagers'' and the movie ''Jock of the Bushveld''. Early life He ...

as Warrant Officer Du Plessis *

Siegfried Mynhardt Siegfried Mynhardt (5 March 1906 – 28 March 1996) was a South African actor. Personal life Mynhardt was born in Johannesburg and lived in a Wynberg army camp, where his father was a padre. He had three children with his wife, Jocelyn. Caree ...

as Fenton * James Gordon White as Sgt. Beukes * Gabriel Bayman as Mohammed the Fence * Raymond Matuson as Lighting Louis / Espinosa *

Patrick Mynhardt Patrick Beattie Mynhardt (12 June 1932 in Bethulie, Free State, South Africa – 25 October 2007 in London, England) was a well-known South African film and theatre actor. He appeared in over 150 stage plays in South Africa and England, 10 ...

as Myburgh

Production

Some of the

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

locations include Long Street, apartments along Beach Road in

Mouille Point Mouille Point ("Mu-lee") is an affluent suburb of Cape Town, situated between the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Victoria and Alfred Waterfront and Granger Bay to the east, Green Point, Cape Town, Green Point to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to t ...

and Green Point, the harbour docks now within the Waterfront, the town centre near the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

and

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

Reception

Commentators describe the film as dull, slow-paced, poorly acted and tedious. The film does, however, paint an interesting picture of life in

South Africa under apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

as seen from the point of view of official government policy. All the leading characters are white and even street scenes contain few non-whites.FILM AS EVIDENCE, FILM AS HISTORY AND FILM IN HISTORY: SOME AFRICAN PERSPECTIVES Bickford-Smith, Vivian. African Research & Documentation; London Iss. 110, (2009): 17-27.

References

External links