The SEAN CONNERY Appreciation thread - Discuss His Life, His Career, His Bond Films

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  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Maybe we should continue this in the Dalton thread ,before we get told to sit on the naughty step,as this thread is about Sir Sean .

    Belittling other actors is in the spirit of the thread.
    Anyone and everyone is little compared to Big Sean.
  • My personal favourite is Dalton and I really like Brosnan too, but I think Connery and Moore will always be the big two, the icons people will instantly remember. Craig will probably be thought of as a solid third depending on how popular the next guy is.

    I think with Craig what'll happen next is what happened with Brosnan except on a smaller scale (don't think he'll get quite as many critics). First a bit of a retrospective backlash when the next actor takes over, then it gradually dies down to something more balanced.

    I think that he's the most talented actor to play Bond but the "best since Connery" hype was there with Brosnan too. It'll pass. Already has a bit, I've seen a lot more criticism since Spectre came out and those wrist slashing comments did the rounds.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I wonder if they said that about Lazenby? The best since Connery!
  • Posts: 19,339
    And would Connery in DAF be the best Bond since Connery I wonder ?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    barryt007 wrote: »
    And would Connery in DAF be the best Bond since Connery I wonder ?

    Haha, interesting point, @barryt007. Certainly the best since YOLT Connery as far as I'm concerned. ;)
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    The best Connery since Connery in YOLT was Connery in NSNA.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    The best Connery since Connery in YOLT was Connery in NSNA.

    I look forward to revisiting that one. I love DAF and Sean in it, but one thing that definitely takes away from it is the fact that he looks about ten years older than he really was at that point. From the 7 years between the handsome bastard in GF and the very pudgy, puffed and gray bloke in DAF it's hard not to wonder what happened. I guess the short answer would be an increase in food and steep decrease in exercise. ;)
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    In my opinion, his last two efforts with Eon were light years away from his performance in Thunderball. In a very bad way.

    And seriously, couldn't have the people at super big budget find a convenient toupee for his hairdo? DAF did better in that department than TB and YOLT did.
  • Yea. His Thunderball rug was the worst. DAF was his best.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    shamanimal wrote: »
    Yea. His Thunderball rug was the worst. DAF was his best.
    Agreed.

    The best hairdo is the one from DN and FRWL. And that was his natural hair, I believe.
  • I read he always had a hairpiece for Bond. Though for me, it's only TB and YOLT where it becomes noticeable.
    I remember seeing Red October at the pictures and being very impressed with how they'd done his barnet there.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Oh for the first two, he didn't. It was his natural hair.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I wouldn t mind if he dropped the toupee in NSNA.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Nobody would've watched a grandpa Bond with only temples having hair while the top of his head doesn't. Lol!
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I've never had a problem with Sean's hair in the films. My favorites are his styles for GF and TB, not only because they help him look his best but also because I love how a comma of the hairpiece hangs on his right side like Fleming's Bond. In GF the comma is really pronounced, and I love it. I'm not as big a fan of his slicked back hair in DN and FRWL in comparison, but he wears it well.

    DAF is alright, but by that point he really started to look like an old man so any quality of the hairpiece is diminished by everything else.
  • I've always thought that physically and aesthetically, the closest the cinematic Bond came to Fleming's Bond was Connery in FRWL and Goldfinger. Moore was a great cinematic Bond, but I never thought he looked like Fleming's Bond.
    Actually, the scene with Brosnan in TND when Paris visits him and he's sitting drinking. That was pretty close to the man I see in the books, too.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited November 2017 Posts: 28,694
    shamanimal wrote: »
    I've always thought that physically and aesthetically, the closest the cinematic Bond came to Fleming's Bond was Connery in FRWL and Goldfinger. Moore was a great cinematic Bond, but I never thought he looked like Fleming's Bond.
    Actually, the scene with Brosnan in TND when Paris visits him and he's sitting drinking. That was pretty close to the man I see in the books, too.

    @shamanimal, there's definitely certain snapshots from the films where the actors really look like Fleming's Bond, or give off that feeling.

    Sean is a big one for me too, and I agree about FRWL and GF being instances where he gives off that feeling. My favorite picture of him as Bond is probably this one, from the set of GF:
    https://verdoux.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/sean-connery.jpg

    He really gave off that energy of Fleming's Bond, and also his exhaustion after a long fight. In other moments, like the ending of DN when he's bloodied and bruised, he really recalls Fleming's Bond in the book just hanging on to life, and the same could be said when he gets roughed up at the gypsy camp or on the train in FRWL. I don't think those early films get enough credit for showing Bond getting damaged, as all of them, from DN to YOLT, show Bond bleeding, sweating and bruised or dirty from the danger he's facing.

    Roger doesn't usually give off a Fleming feeling to me, but he's probably strongest in that area in LALD because he's youthful and trim enough and I love the way he's decked out for the finale in all black with his revolver, a weapon Fleming's Bond often used as well. That aids him in giving off those echoes.

    Dan doesn't have the narrow and svelte looks of Fleming's Bond in silhouette, but I think he's the perfect representation of the cruel face/mouth Fleming describes and he of course has the original's amazing eyes. Those assets for me also aid me in seeing Dan quite easily as playing the literary character, and like Sean he's able to give off the inner life of Bond with ease that makes him feel as human as the original of the books.
  • Posts: 16,162
    I've never had a problem with Sean's hair in the films. My favorites are his styles for GF and TB, not only because they help him look his best but also because I love how a comma of the hairpiece hangs on his right side like Fleming's Bond. In GF the comma is really pronounced, and I love it. I'm not as big a fan of his slicked back hair in DN and FRWL in comparison, but he wears it well.

    DAF is alright, but by that point he really started to look like an old man so any quality of the hairpiece is diminished by everything else.

    I liked his hair in both GF and TB as well. I think GF toupee gives him a more V shaped hairline, which I think is more realistic. He'd have that hairline again in DAF .
    Actually, Sean's haircut is appropriate for Fleming's Bond in all his films. The comma hanging above his eyebrow in GF looks great. The top and front is a bit longer in both DN and FRWL, probably because he was starting to thin out.

    One detail very true to Fleming's era was that Sean's nape was tapered in all the films except NSNA (squared).
    Fleming's Bond would have had a tapered neck as most men did in the 50's, Fleming himself included. Squaring it off or blocking didn't become as common until the late 60's, and early '70's. LALD for instance was the only film in which Roger's was tapered (as seen when he's making M's coffee). By TSWLM most definitely blocked in a rounded shape and Bond wouldn't be seen again with a nice taper until the Craig era.
  • edited November 2017 Posts: 623
    Yes. I was dismayed when I learnt Dan was Bond, but started to warm when they did that 'shadow' thing that just left his eyes at the end of CR's credits. I though 'okay, they're going with the eyes...'.
    But Dan is the least Fleming Bond for me. I know he acts well and has that vibe, but Bond should have old-school good looks. Not modern football-star style ruggedness. I loved Skyfall, but the stubble and blonde crew cut put years on me.
    That said, the Craig-era has given us the most solid run of Bond films since the sixties, (despite what people say on this board). So I can't complain.
    I think Connery, in the sixties, would have had quite a presence about him if you'd have met him in the flesh.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    60s Connery definitely had a presence I'm sure (not to say he doesn't even now) and you can feel it just watching interviews of that time. He's a fascinating man and right from the start it's interesting to watch him in interviews filmed around GF or TB time where he is very abrupt and honest about his feelings regarding the fame Bond was giving him. As the icon of the whole machine, it's fascinating to study how one man was taken from a minor act to screen legend so swiftly, and the effect that had on his life. All things considered, I think Sean handled it all better than most, and with a certain class and confidence. I couldn't imagine being in his shoes at that time.
  • CASINOROYALECASINOROYALE Somewhere hot
    Posts: 1,003
    No one will ever top Connery...
    I wish his younger self did 10 more films.
  • Andi1996RueggAndi1996Ruegg Hello. It's me, Evelyn Tremble.
    Posts: 2,005
    I have a little more money I can spend on movies.

    I would like to get one movie of each Bond actor outside their Bond catalogue.

    Nothing that is dramatically different to Bond unless it's really considered one of the best.

    I'd be very grateful for suggestions for Sean Connery as I have almost no knowledge about the man outside of Bond.
    I know Marnie and love it.
  • Posts: 16,162
    I have a little more money I can spend on movies.

    I would like to get one movie of each Bond actor outside their Bond catalogue.

    Nothing that is dramatically different to Bond unless it's really considered one of the best.

    I'd be very grateful for suggestions for Sean Connery as I have almost no knowledge about the man outside of Bond.
    I know Marnie and love it.

    THE HILL (1965)
    THE ANDERSON TAPES (1971)
    THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975)
    THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987)
    INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989)
    THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990)
    THE ROCK (1996)
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,095
    I have a little more money I can spend on movies.

    I would like to get one movie of each Bond actor outside their Bond catalogue.

    Nothing that is dramatically different to Bond unless it's really considered one of the best.

    I'd be very grateful for suggestions for Sean Connery as I have almost no knowledge about the man outside of Bond.
    I know Marnie and love it.

    The Untouchables
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    Woman of Straw. Very hard to get a hold of but Connery is brilliant in it.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,095
    bondjames wrote: »
    Woman of Straw. Very hard to get a hold of but Connery is brilliant in it.

    Zardoz as insane as it gets lol
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,095
    Sword of the Valiant Sir Sean worst
  • Posts: 16,162
    Sword of the Valiant Sir Sean worst

    LOL!
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,095
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    Sword of the Valiant Sir Sean worst

    LOL!

    Appalling film lol
  • Posts: 16,162
    It does have the legend known as Miles O'keefe!!!
    Actually, Peter Cushing has a small part,which, IMO makes it worth watching at least once.
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