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

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  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    There are some great Connery films scattered through his career. A favourite of mine, hardly ever listed, is The Molly Maguires with Richard Harris.
  • NSGWNSGW London
    Posts: 299
    NicNac wrote: »
    There are some great Connery films scattered through his career. A favourite of mine, hardly ever listed, is The Molly Maguires with Richard Harris.

    Saw that recently, must've been one of the first he did post-Bond, he's perfectly cast and worked great opposite Harris.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    edited April 2018 Posts: 7,021
    I have yet to watch The Molly Maguires. Connery and Richard Harris-- that has to be a great pairing. Anybody seen Male of the Species? It has some great reviews online. Probably up next for me in my Connerython.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    You know, it's regrettable that Connery didn't get to do The Thomas Crown Affair. Ever since learning of his rejection of the role (which he later regretted), I can't watch that film and not think about what could've been. But, imagine an alternate universe where he got to keep his rugged gentlemanly adventurer's outlook (a la FRWL and Woman of Straw) and got to star in the film as the titular character opposite Charlotte Rampling as the insurance investigator, Victoria (not Vikki) Anderson.

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    @bondjames, your opinion, mate?
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    may be. altho he sucked in marnie
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited June 2018 Posts: 15,423
    I wouldn’t go as far to say he sucked, but he wasn’t as great in it as others claim. He’s better directed under Basil Dearden and Terence Young. Another thing in Marnie was his hideous wardrobe. All the American-tailored suits really cheapened his look. He'd better have stuck with Anthony Sinclair.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    @ClarkDevlin, excellent suggestion my friend. I only recently learned that Connery was first pick for the role of Crown and like you think he would have been excellent. I completely agree on your pick of Charlotte Rampling as co-star.

    Connery circa early to mid-60's had a certain natural cool alpha toughness about him that was very difficult to mask. Therefore whoever played Anderson needed to have a commensurate steeliness & cool, although in feminine form, and I can't think of a better choice than Ms. Rampling.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    bondjames wrote: »
    @ClarkDevlin, excellent suggestion my friend. I only recently learned that Connery was first pick for the role of Crown and like you think he would have been excellent. I completely agree on your pick of Charlotte Rampling as co-star.

    Connery circa early to mid-60's had a certain natural cool alpha toughness about him that was very difficult to mask. Therefore whoever played Anderson needed to have a commensurate steeliness & cool, although in feminine form, and I can't think of a better choice than Ms. Rampling.
    Well said, my friend. :D

    The screen exchange between Connery and Rampling would've been terrific, just like McQueen and Faye Dunaway did, as well as Brosnan and Rene Russo to an extent.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Ironic that Brosnan later played Thomas Crown in the remake.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    And he played it terrifically. One of the very few remakes that's awesome.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    @ClarkDevlin, excellent suggestion my friend. I only recently learned that Connery was first pick for the role of Crown and like you think he would have been excellent. I completely agree on your pick of Charlotte Rampling as co-star.

    Connery circa early to mid-60's had a certain natural cool alpha toughness about him that was very difficult to mask. Therefore whoever played Anderson needed to have a commensurate steeliness & cool, although in feminine form, and I can't think of a better choice than Ms. Rampling.
    Well said, my friend. :D

    The screen exchange between Connery and Rampling would've been terrific, just like McQueen and Faye Dunaway did, as well as Brosnan and Rene Russo to an extent.
    Agreed. Thanks for posting those screencaps because it helped me to immediately envision how they would have played off one another.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    bondjames wrote: »
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    @ClarkDevlin, excellent suggestion my friend. I only recently learned that Connery was first pick for the role of Crown and like you think he would have been excellent. I completely agree on your pick of Charlotte Rampling as co-star.

    Connery circa early to mid-60's had a certain natural cool alpha toughness about him that was very difficult to mask. Therefore whoever played Anderson needed to have a commensurate steeliness & cool, although in feminine form, and I can't think of a better choice than Ms. Rampling.
    Well said, my friend. :D

    The screen exchange between Connery and Rampling would've been terrific, just like McQueen and Faye Dunaway did, as well as Brosnan and Rene Russo to an extent.
    Agreed. Thanks for posting those screencaps because it helped me to immediately envision how they would have played off one another.
    No problem, mate. I would've posted more, but I didn't want to overcrowd the thread. :))
  • Escalus5Escalus5
    Posts: 628
    I had no problem with McQueen as Thomas Crown (although Connery would have been good, too.)

    My main issue with that film is the lousy script by Alan Trustman, a writer who was usually more on the ball.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    and we'd have never have had McQueen and Dunaway's version...
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited June 2018 Posts: 15,423
    If it weren't for the style, the production design, the art direction, the score and the direction, the film isn't really strong on the narrative side. The remake did that better, as the story along with the characters are more fleshed out. The setting and style however definitely goes to the McQueen version. That chess scene is unbeatable.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited June 2018 Posts: 11,189
    I like to think of this as Sean Connery's final film before retirement. Probably my favourite non-Bond film he did. I know its utterly ridiculous but I love it.

  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Personally, I prefer Entrapment to that.
  • Escalus5Escalus5
    Posts: 628
    One of these days I'll get around to seeing EASY MONEY, the unofficial Hong Kong remake starring Michelle Yeoh (as a female version of the Crown character) and George Lam as the insurance investigator. No one ever brings it up in discussions of the Brosnan reboot, but it would be interesting to see what was done in switching the genders.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    I'd actually love to see that, too.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    ClarkDevlin wrote: »
    Personally, I prefer Entrapment to that.

    It's been a while since I've seen that, but The Rock just seemed a perfect way for him to bow out of movies. It allows him to have some fun, show off his toughness in advancing age and also acknowledges his most famous role.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    I like to think of this as Sean Connery's final film before retirement. Probably my favourite non-Bond film he did. I know its utterly ridiculous but I love it.


    highly entertaining nonsense.

    I like to think of it as Connery's last Bond performance.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Getafix wrote: »
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    I like to think of this as Sean Connery's final film before retirement. Probably my favourite non-Bond film he did. I know its utterly ridiculous but I love it.


    highly entertaining nonsense.

    I like to think of it as Connery's last Bond performance.

    Exactly. He’s Bond in all but name.

    I love how “John Mason” was meant to have been captured in 1962 and escaped in ‘63.

    Wonder what he was really doing around that time ;)
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    it's a good film.

    shows how bond having a daughter could work....
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Getafix wrote: »
    it's a good film.

    shows how bond having a daughter could work....

    That part was probably the weakest bit in the film. Nothing wrong with the concept but it was written in such a cheesy way.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited June 2018 Posts: 15,423
    I never viewed John Patrick Mason as Bond, to be honest. Many background stories contradict his Bondsmanship and the characterization has grown awfully vulgar and unattractive in the face of sophistication (Yeah, I know, prison changes people, but not that much. Not to an unbreakable agent). This character is more in it for himself and his ego whereas Bond would be after doing the right thing.

    If anything, Robert McDougal (Entrapment character) is more Bond than Mason is. I could go on with this nonsensical fan theory, but I'd rather not. Hint: He has a castle in Scotland. A restored Skyfall lodge anyone?
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Mason does do the right thing. I'm thinking of the bit when he comes back for Goodspeed.

    "You made the right choice"
    "I deschided I didn't want your child growing up without a father"
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    He does do the right thing. But, not the way Bond would do it. The characterization is way off.
  • Escalus5Escalus5
    Posts: 628
    Oddly enough, ENTRAPMENT was originally an idea that screenwriter Ronald Bass pitched to MGM for the Thomas Crown remake.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Hmm...I don't know. He seems fairly Bond-like here:


    (Warning: strong language)
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited June 2018 Posts: 15,423
    He seems like an agent who's not willing to give up secrets and not let the mission go shambles. He's more like ex-SAS than a chocolate sailor which Bond was. He screams like a man with a very rough and tough upbringing. Bond doesn't.

    MacDougal on the other hand is Bond who retired sometime after Diamonds Are Forever and went into the heist business, influenced by Tiffany Case, after he was forced to retire from the service. Besides, his characterization is very much in line with Connery's Bond who's grown more world-wary in time and knows his way around technology and other stuff in the caper business.
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