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Sir Sean Connery's Fisticuffs

barryt007barryt007
edited March 2011 in Bond Movies Posts: 19,339
Which Bond film do you think Connery stood out in the fisticuffs department ?

I think it's the fight with Peter Franks in the life in DAF,a very vicious fight involving glass etc.
Honourable mention to the fight with Grant on the Orient Express in FRWL and with Colonel Bouvar in TB,both very good as well.

What do you think overall of Sir Sean's punching power ?

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Comments

  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    edited March 2011 Posts: 4,399
    he ranks as #2 on my list... the fight between him and Grant in FRWL is still an amazing fight by today's standards, and is my favorite - not only because of it's brutality, but because it was built up the right way.... what i love about Connery's fights, is that they usually ended with a bit of fun... like after he kills Grant, and takes the money (which Grant stole from Nash), he says "I don't think you'll be needing this...... old man." ... and even the flowers thrown onto Colonel Bouvar in Thunderball... Connery was great at adding insult to injury..
  • lecherolechero
    Posts: 161
    Don't forget the fight against the henchman in Osato's office or the one on top of the Kobe docks in YOLT.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    Bond against Grant and Franks are maybe two of the best in the series, well the former is the best. Connery did have some great ones.

    The Largo fight at the end of Thunderball is also top notch Bond.
  • 00Beast00Beast
    Posts: 4,762
    Well, probably YOLT, because that is when he got the chance to do more than 1 great fist-fight. There's the fight in Osato's office and the one with Hans at the end. TB also has some awesome Connery-cuffs, like the PTS with Colonel Bouvier, and the fight with Largo at the end.

    The best Connery-cuffs are in FRWL with Red Grant, but that's the only big fist-fight in the movie.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    It has to be between FRWL and TB.

    In TB there's the brutal Bouvar bout(alliteration alert!), and the great underwater fights. And we can't forget the fist-to-stomach Leiter punch. While in FRWL we've got a great fight with Bond at the gypsy camp, as well as the bloody battle on the train. Both films are great showing's of the brutality of Sean's Bond, and why we all love him so darn much. ;)
  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    Posts: 12,837
    I like the fight against oddjob at fort knox. Its really tense at the start because oddjob is really threatening and you see him getting closer (the fact that there is no music also helps). I also like the train fight in FRWL. And the underwater fights in TB.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    thelivingroyale wrote:
    I like the fight against oddjob at fort knox. Its really tense at the start because oddjob is really threatening and you see him getting closer (the fact that there is no music also helps). I also like the train fight in FRWL. And the underwater fights in TB.
    Also, the GF PTS contains a good brawl. Darn. So many choices. My choices still hold though.
  • 00Beast00Beast
    Posts: 4,762
    thelivingroyale wrote:
    I like the fight against oddjob at fort knox. Its really tense at the start because oddjob is really threatening and you see him getting closer (the fact that there is no music also helps). I also like the train fight in FRWL. And the underwater fights in TB.
    0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 wrote:
    thelivingroyale wrote:
    I like the fight against oddjob at fort knox. Its really tense at the start because oddjob is really threatening and you see him getting closer (the fact that there is no music also helps). I also like the train fight in FRWL. And the underwater fights in TB.
    Also, the GF PTS contains a good brawl. Darn. So many choices. My choices still hold though.

    And in all of these, there is no music, which I think is a great asset to a fight. In fact, the Peter Franks elevator fight didn't have any music for the first half of the fight. I think this contributes to the intensity of the fight, because we are not focused on the music, but the fists flying!
  • Goldeneye95Goldeneye95
    edited March 2013 Posts: 546
    Sean Connery had a lot of great fight scenes. My favourite is James Bond vs Donald "Red" Grant in FRWL. That was an intense fight scene. I believe the fight scene was 3-5 min long, but took 3 weeks to shoot. Great fight scene. Also Bond taking on the henchmen in Osato's office at the Kobe Docks. And his fight scene with Emilo Largo in TB was really good.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    My absolute favorite is in FRWL, with Bond fighting brutally with Red Grant. It was so very well done, intense, realistic, and nicely shot. No stupid quick cut editing, overdone music, or ham acting; just brutal and you had the sense they were definitely fighting to the death there. Both actors really in top notch form throughout.
  • 00Beast00Beast
    Posts: 4,762
    Goldeneye95 wrote:
    Sean Connery had a lot of great fight scenes. My favourite is James Bond vs Donald "Red" Grant in FRWL. That was an intense fight scene. I believe the fight scene was 3-5 min long, but took 3 weeks to shoot. Great fight scene. Also Bond taking on the henchmen in Osato's office at the Kobe Docks. And his fight scene with Emilo Largo in TB was really good.

    For all of YOLT's negative aspects, I do highly praise the fight scene in Osato's office! Very fast paced, greatly edited and choreographed, and pretty brutal! Extra points to Connery for using a couch as a weapon!
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    The FRWL fight is classic, but I also love the Bond vs. Franks fight in DAF. I haven't seen that piece of tripe on film in ages. I will have to watch it again sometime, Fleming help me...
  • delfloriadelfloria
    Posts: 1,860
    Connery's fights all had.......... style!
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    The Bond vs Franks fight gave so much promise to DAF,which was looking very very good at that stage..shame it suddenly turned totally tongue in cheek and camp.
  • NapoleonPluralNapoleonPlural
    Posts: 512
    His fights evolved, even in YOLT he said it was about showing Bond getting older, he sort of sweats a bit and is out of his depth in the Sumo wrestler fight, he isn't as agile.

    And in DAF it rips off Hitchcock and Torn Curtain a bit, in that it shows just how hard it can be to win a fight that ought to over with one haymaker in the lift.
  • NapoleonPluralNapoleonPlural
    Posts: 512
    Oh, nothing to say about the risible fight in NSNA, a chase around the houses affair.
  • barryt007barryt007
    edited February 2014 Posts: 19,339
    What i like about the endings (or near endings) of Connery's Bond films is that there is always a punch up to the death with someone (with the exception of DAF naturally :-q ) :

    DN : fight with Doctor No
    FRWL : fight with Grant
    GF : fight with Goldfinger
    TB : fight with Largo
    YOLT : fight with Hans

    There was not all this free-range shooting we saw in TND and DAD, which i personally turn the film off when those endings come.
  • OHMSS69OHMSS69
    edited February 2014 Posts: 2,341
    Connery has some great fights. The list always should begin with the fight aboard the Orient Express.
    The fight with Franks was good and brutal but there is so much to dislake about DAF that I can't harp on that scene too much.
    I would rank the fight with the driver at Osato's plant in YOLT pretty high. That guy was a built like a Sumo wrestler with less fat and he gave Bond some rough moments. Good fight.
  • SuperheroSithSuperheroSith SE London
    Posts: 578
    My favourite Connery fights are
    Bond VS Grant FRWL
    Bond VS Jacques Boiter TB
    Bond VS Oddjob GF
    Bond VS Peter Franks DAF
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    OHMSS69 wrote:
    Connery has some great fights. The list always should begin with the fight aboard the Orient Express.
    The fight with Franks was good and brutal but there is so much to dislake about DAF that I can't harp on that scene too much.
    I would rank the fight with the driver at Osato's plant in YOLT pretty high. That guy was a built like a Sumo wrestler with less fat and he gave Bond some rough moments. Good fight.

    Agreed. I was watching YOLT last week and I was taken aback of how brutal the fight was. I love it when Bond picks up a sofa and launches it at the goon, but his bulk just seems to reflect it.
  • timmertimmer
    Posts: 4,622
    Sean's best fights I think were in TB, especially the pts clash with Bouvar. Deftly edited by Hunt.
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    Red Grant followed by Oddjob.
  • josiahjosiah
    edited February 2016 Posts: 1,386
    My favorite fight with Connery's Bond is Bond vs. Red Grant on the train in FRWL.
    He really does have some of the best brawls in the franchise and I love how he always sold the fights he did. I like these ones a lot too.

    Bond vs. OSATO driver YOLT
    Bond vs. Hans in YOLT
    Bond vs. Peter Franks in DAF
    Bond vs. Oddjob in GF
    Bond vs. thug in PTS of GF
    Bond vs. Colonel Bouvar TB
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    Posts: 4,151
    Bond vs Grant and Bond vs Franks are the two that stand out to me.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,124
    It has to be the fight against Grant in FRWL. Maybe the greatest fist fight in cinema.

    Overall, I think Sean Connery's hand fights were the most consistently strong in his whole tenure. Even in DAF, in which he looks and often acts out of shape, he has his moments. I found the fight versys bambi and Thumper to be very frustrating and far too comedic.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    Ludovico wrote: »
    It has to be the fight against Grant in FRWL. Maybe the greatest fist fight in cinema.

    Overall, I think Sean Connery's hand fights were the most consistently strong in his whole tenure. Even in DAF, in which he looks and often acts out of shape, he has his moments. I found the fight versys bambi and Thumper to be very frustrating and far too comedic.
    I agree, although I enjoyed the encounter with Bambi and Thumper.

    FRWL's fight has to be one of, if not the best in cinema history. Just so visceral, including the sounds, and the claustrophobic scenario of it. Moreover, both the combatants fit the characterizations perfectly so it was all the more credible.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    edited February 2016 Posts: 15,124
    bondjames wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    It has to be the fight against Grant in FRWL. Maybe the greatest fist fight in cinema.

    Overall, I think Sean Connery's hand fights were the most consistently strong in his whole tenure. Even in DAF, in which he looks and often acts out of shape, he has his moments. I found the fight versys bambi and Thumper to be very frustrating and far too comedic.
    I agree, although I enjoyed the encounter with Bambi and Thumper.

    FRWL's fight has to be one of, if not the best in cinema history. Just so visceral, including the sounds, and the claustrophobic scenario of it. Moreover, both the combatants fit the characterizations perfectly so it was all the more credible.

    The proof that you don't only need good stunt work to make a good fight in a movie: you need good actors too. In FRWL every punch, every movement is done like it is meant, there is an emotional dimension to it. I don't think it was ever matched, in the series or outside.
  • IncompetentHenchmanIncompetentHenchman
    Posts: 1,817
    His best fights were against Grant (definitely his best), Franks (close second) and the driver in YOLT (underrated).

    As for his lesser fights, you have Oddjob (unfortunately doesn't hold up as well today), whatever that Bambi and Thumper shtick was, and that poorly edited Disco Volante fight. Still, he was always a competent fighter, that much was certain.

    If you want bad fights, I direct you to the 'Roger Moore's fisticuffs' thread... "OooooooWOOOOOOOOOAHHH!" indeed.
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    Posts: 1,984
    I didn't enjoy Connery's bout with Bambi and Thumper. That was just a stupid fight. Fortunately, Connery had a spectacular fight in that same film - the one against Peter Franks in the elevator.

    His best, of course, is the FRWL one, which is still one of the most brutal, tense and three-dimensional fights in the series. It's actually perhaps the most realistic one, because there aren't any exaggerated striking effects and even the grunts and huffs of the two actors are genuine. It's a genuinely intense fight, and we've never had anything close until the modern era, where the fights are digitally enhanced.

    I also loved the way Connery decorated his victims' bodies in TB (the flowers, the telephone cord, etc.) to add insult to injury. I really enjoyed his fight with Jacques Bouvar, which is quite well-edited for a 1965 movie and more importantly has a third dimension due to their ample use of the environment around them (which is central to a good fight - just clashing hands isn't good enough).
  • IncompetentHenchmanIncompetentHenchman
    Posts: 1,817
    ForYourEyesOnly wrote: »

    I also loved the way Connery decorated his victims' bodies in TB (the flowers, the telephone cord, etc.) to add insult to injury. I really enjoyed his fight with Jacques Bouvar, which is quite well-edited for a 1965 movie and more importantly has a third dimension due to their ample use of the environment around them (which is central to a good fight - just clashing hands isn't good enough).

    Ahhhh yes someone else who appreciates the fight with Bouvar. I love the way the surroundings are used in the fight - adds an extra dynamic to the fight with the way they use all the cabinets and chairs and tables and curtains...
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