The (Non-Bond) Films of Sean Connery

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  • edited November 2020 Posts: 162
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Anybody saw Molly Maguire? Maybe his best performance.

    The Molly Maguires is an excellent film. However, I think The Untouchables has his best performance.
  • Posts: 2,922
    The Molly Maguires is an excellent film. However, I think The Untouchables has his best performance.

    I think that honor goes to The Offence. But the fact that Sir Sean has so many "best" performances shows what a superb actor he was.

  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 4,088
    Mathis1 wrote: »
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    RISING SUN is an underrated Connery film IMO. It's got really cool moments and a nice thriller mood kinda thing going.

    I hated Rising Sun because it's a travesty of Michael Crighton's excellent novel. As well as being a not very good film overall.

    The John Conner character was obviously written with Sean Connery in mind. It's the only thing the film adaptation gets right.

    Agree with you again mate.
    Bored the life out of me that film!

    Thanks mate. It's made me want to dig out the novel and re-read it 👍
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,438
    Untouchables, Highlander, Marnie and Last Crusade are my favourites.
  • Posts: 1,713
    Bardot was gonna be Tracy......
    Id like to see The Offence , The Hill , The man who would be king



  • edited November 2020 Posts: 7,624
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Anybody saw Molly Maguire? Maybe his best performance.

    The Molly Maguires is an excellent film. However, I think The Untouchables has his best performance.

    "Ah, jayyyshus!!"
  • Posts: 6,022
    My pick for best Sean Connery movie (outside of Bond) would be Richard Lester's Robin and Marian. A worthy addition to the Robin Hood legend, this one has everything : great performances by everyone involved (Sir Sean, of course, but also Audrey Hepburn and Robert Shaw). And that ending brings tears to my eyes everytime. Second, but not by that much, is John Huston's The Man who would be King. The duo Sean Connery / Michael Caine is reason enough to watch it.

    Worse : Well, I'll have to go with the majority here and chose Zardoz. Nothing to saéve it from being what we call in France a "Nanar", that is a movie that's so bad it's good. And one of Sir Sean's worse sartorial sins : that diaper.. Uggh !
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,086
    Just saying that my wife and I, at her request, watched the brilliant and funny Last Crusade again until about 20 minutes ago. It's definitely been a while, and surprisingly, while we both spent most of the time at home since March (for obvious reasons), we've only watched fewer than maybe ten movies (of any kind) at all...in the last eight months or so. But we found that an evening together before the fireplace, with liberal amounts of wine, and after having prepared and devoured a somewhat lavish (or at least ample) dinner was the thing to do after sitting in separate rooms working alone behind closed doors, more than turning on the BD player and the projector (which I would have done more often if I had been alone, but fortunately I wasn't).

    The last movie we watched before was FRWL when Sean had died. This was kind of the runner-up in the reminiscence.
  • Posts: 15,234
    How about Family Business? I vaguely remember it, but found it quite good.
  • edited November 2020 Posts: 3,327
    Revelator wrote: »
    The Molly Maguires is an excellent film. However, I think The Untouchables has his best performance.

    I think that honor goes to The Offence. But the fact that Sir Sean has so many "best" performances shows what a superb actor he was.

    Yes I agree. The Offence is an Oscar worthy performance, and it exceeds anything else he did, before or since. Untouchables is probably one of Connery's best films, and its definitely in my top 10 all time favourite movies.
  • Have you guys seen Woman Of Straw? Might give it a whirl? Cheers. Basil Dearden too. He directed Moore to great effect in The Man Who Haunted Himself.
  • Posts: 1,927
    This isn't hard as if Connery is in it, it immediately gets my attention, though I admit there are some I am not as interested in seeing again as others - Metor, The Russia House, The Avengers, Dragonheart for example. Never seen Medicine Man and don't have much desire to, due more to his co-star than anything else, or A Good Man in Africa, but you never know.

    Others are always worth revisiting: The Rock (my tribute movie the night he passed), The Anderson Tapes, The Hill (which I plan to DVR later in the month), Highlander and so many others.

    What else is good is finding those I still haven't seen: The elusive The Offence and The Great Train Robbery among them. Others I'd like to watch again like Shalako and Wrong is Right. Dr. Clatterhand above mentioned Woman of Straw. Yes, worth a whirl to see Connery as a cad rather than a heroic or anti-hero type.

    I happen to really like Zardoz, it's just such a mind trip AND it has Connery in it. Problem is the DVD/Blu versions go for way more than I'm willing to pay.

    A few other thoughts:
    -I have actually kinda' fallen out of love with The Untouchables over the years. Not quite sure why, but I've had the chance to buy the DVD or Blu for a good price but just have no desire to revisit it. I saw it in the summer of '87 when it came out and loved it, taped it on VHS and in recent years just stopped caring.

    -Entrapment came out just a few months before The Thomas Crown Affair. I saw both in theaters. The late '90s, early 2000s were a big time for heist movies.

    -
  • DwayneDwayne New York City
    Posts: 2,870
    While I’m sure that this has been noted before; Sean Connery was the original choice for 1968’s version of “The Thomas Crown Affair.” Coming off of YOLT, however, Connery turned it down. In many ways, “Entrapment” was his opportunity for a “do-over.”
    Interestingly, anytime the original “The Thomas Crown Affair” is on TCM (Turner Classic Movies), there will be at-least several viewers that remark how they actually prefer the 1999 remake with (then Bond) Pierce Brosnan.

    @BT3366. Like you I actually “like” Zardoz. Sure, the plot is bonkers, but it doesn’t lack for style! Geoffrey Unsworth (of “2OO1” fame) did the cinematography and you do have Charlotte Rampling……
  • Posts: 3,327
    Dwayne wrote: »
    While I’m sure that this has been noted before; Sean Connery was the original choice for 1968’s version of “The Thomas Crown Affair.” Coming off of YOLT, however, Connery turned it down. In many ways, “Entrapment” was his opportunity for a “do-over.”
    Interestingly, anytime the original “The Thomas Crown Affair” is on TCM (Turner Classic Movies), there will be at-least several viewers that remark how they actually prefer the 1999 remake with (then Bond) Pierce Brosnan.

    @BT3366. Like you I actually “like” Zardoz. Sure, the plot is bonkers, but it doesn’t lack for style! Geoffrey Unsworth (of “2OO1” fame) did the cinematography and you do have Charlotte Rampling……

    Unsworth also worked on 2 other Connery movies - A Bridge Too Far and The Great train Robbery - both great films.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Outland ^:)^
  • edited November 2020 Posts: 4,617
    Highlander is a good example of how a great actor can make a big difference. Imagine Highlander without SC. It would simply have been no where near as good. Many movies have an issue with a "sagging" second act but SC just lifts the whole movie and makes a huge contibution towards it's success IMHO.
  • Posts: 7,653
    patb wrote: »
    Highlander is a good example of how a great actor can make a big difference. Imagine Highlander without SC. It would simply have been no where near as good. Many movies have an issue with a "sagging" second act but SC just lifts the whole movie and makes a huge contibution towards it's success IMHO.

    So true, funny that the Highlander was played by a Frenchman and the peacock by a true Scot.
  • Posts: 15,234
    Nobody would even remember Highlander if it wasn't for Sean Connery.
  • Posts: 1,927
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Nobody would even remember Highlander if it wasn't for Sean Connery.

    Can't agree. To be honest, I was drawn to Highlander not solely due to Connery, although his presence was definitely a highlight, but something about the premise just got my attention.

    I bought a sci-fi magazine with Highlander on the cover because of a Planet of the Apes article, not due to that film, but it intrigued me and I read that article too and it sounded like a fun film although I can't recall it ever playing in my hometown. I waited for it to come out on VHS and watched it over the Thanksgiving weekend in '86 and loved it. My friends also got into it and couldn't wait for the sequel, which was one of the worst sequels ever. Now if you want to say Connery is the only reason to watch that film, 100 percent agree. But it didn't end there.

    Consider the cult that arose with the TV series which ran for like 6 or 7 years and had a spinoff or 2 and other fan fiction, etc. Now I don't think Highlander fandom is nearly as big as in the '90s, but you can't say Connery was the only memorable thing about the franchise.

    On a separate note, I'm surprised nobody has attempted a prequel with the Ramirez character.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,835
    SaintMark wrote: »
    Outland ^:)^
    Oh yesh. But you *have* to see the Blu Ray.
  • ResurrectionResurrection Kolkata, India
    Posts: 2,541
    Revelator wrote: »
    The Molly Maguires is an excellent film. However, I think The Untouchables has his best performance.

    I think that honor goes to The Offence. But the fact that Sir Sean has so many "best" performances shows what a superb actor he was.

    Yes I agree. The Offence is an Oscar worthy performance, and it exceeds anything else he did, before or since. Untouchables is probably one of Connery's best films, and its definitely in my top 10 all time favourite movies.

    Offence and hill, both are his best performances.
  • Posts: 15,234
    BT3366 wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Nobody would even remember Highlander if it wasn't for Sean Connery.

    Can't agree. To be honest, I was drawn to Highlander not solely due to Connery, although his presence was definitely a highlight, but something about the premise just got my attention.

    I bought a sci-fi magazine with Highlander on the cover because of a Planet of the Apes article, not due to that film, but it intrigued me and I read that article too and it sounded like a fun film although I can't recall it ever playing in my hometown. I waited for it to come out on VHS and watched it over the Thanksgiving weekend in '86 and loved it. My friends also got into it and couldn't wait for the sequel, which was one of the worst sequels ever. Now if you want to say Connery is the only reason to watch that film, 100 percent agree. But it didn't end there.

    Consider the cult that arose with the TV series which ran for like 6 or 7 years and had a spinoff or 2 and other fan fiction, etc. Now I don't think Highlander fandom is nearly as big as in the '90s, but you can't say Connery was the only memorable thing about the franchise.

    On a separate note, I'm surprised nobody has attempted a prequel with the Ramirez character.
    Highlander has its own qualities, but I think without Connery it would not have been as appealing in the first place or got all that much attention. He was the hook, so to speak.
  • Posts: 2,922
    Rejoice Connery-fans: The Man Who Would Be King is being reissued on Blu-Ray!
  • DaltonFanDaltonFan California
    Posts: 69
    The Longest Day and On The Fiddle. He and Alfie Wright play two British soldiers involved in the D-Day landings and are basically the comic relief of the film. Although their character's names aren't mentioned, they seem to portraying the same characters they played in the little known British comedy On The Fiddle. I actually saw On The Fiddle on American television when I was about 17 years old, but I didn't watch the entire movie because I didn't like and didn't understand why Connery's character was acting like such an airhead.
  • Revelator wrote: »
    Rejoice Connery-fans: The Man Who Would Be King is being reissued on Blu-Ray!

    Excellent news!
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    edited March 2021 Posts: 7,221
    Thought this was interesting:



    Is there anyone who likes this film? Personally, even though I realise it's heavily flawed, I do get a lot of fun out of it. More so than what I get from the Marvel factory.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    GoldenGun wrote: »
    Thought this was interesting:



    Is there anyone who likes this film? Personally, even though I realise it's heavily flawed, I do get a lot of fun out of it. More so than what I get from the Marvel factory.

    I thought it was great, but not at all of the same quality as the source material.
  • Posts: 1,394
    Given all the pre release drama,i was expecting a disaster but found it to be a surprisingly fun film.
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