Sir Sean Connery's Fisticuffs

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  • Posts: 19,339
    The main thing about Bond v Bouvar is when Bond breaks his neck with the poker.
    Just shows how ruthless he is under all that charm.

    I didn't see this part of the fight until I was older,the TV stations always cut that part out,so I used to think Bouvar hit his head on the fire place.

    I was gobsmacked when I saw what really happened and it was a pleasant surprise.
  • edited November 2016 Posts: 2,341
    DAF of the fights he and the only one that was worthy was the one with Franks in the elevator. Bambi and Thumper was silly, the one with Wint and Kidd looked more like Marx Brothers than Ian Fleming.

    It was a sorry swan song for the original Bond to go out on after so many classic fights:
    The chauffeur in DN
    With Doctor No himself
    With Grant in the train compartment
    The thug in GF
    Oddjob
    The driver in YOLT
    The many fights in TB from the PTS, to the fight in the shark pool, to the fight aboard Largo's yacht.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    It's no contest.
    The lift fight in DAF is the best hand to hand fight in the series.

    Not only is it ingeniously edited, but Connery did everything himself and wasn't shy of getting a real punch.

    On the DAF Blu-ray in the Special Features section you can watch the entire scene in different camera angels (angle function).
    It only underlines how perfectly choreographed this fight is and how cleverly shot it is with several cameras.

    The Grant fight is iconic of course, but it's the Peter Franks fight that's artistically and visually the masterpiece of Connery's tenure.
  • Posts: 16,167
    I think Sean in real life knows how to handle himself. Case in point when filming Another Time Another Place with Lana Turner, her boyfriend, a very jealous Johnny Stampanato pulled a gun on Sean and landed on his a$s.
    I believe his real life fisticuffs translated to the screen well, especially in DAF. Also when occasionally thumped during the course of filming, Sean could brush it off.
    Although some fights were choreographed better than others, there was always a sense in truth in Sean's performances. Even with an opponent, who wasn't much of a threat like Mr. Jones, there's no doubt that 007 and Sean himself wouldn't have much of a problem with that guy.
    Craig, I think comes close to Sean in that regard, however if he ever were to admit in an interview that he's never been involved in a real altercation in his life, I might believe him and just credit him with being a good actor.
  • Posts: 19,339
    There is no substitute for experience,but come on peeps,Bond breaks a mans neck with a poker...doesnt killing Bouvar deserve some respect ?
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    Bond vs Bouvar is Connery's best fight.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Murdock wrote: »
    Bond vs Bouvar is Connery's best fight.

    A man who appreciates it.....thanks @Murdock

    I think the way he ruthless breaks Bouvar's neck ,and its not even quick,it takes a while over Bond's knee,is pretty bloody ruthless....

  • Posts: 16,167
    Underrated scene, IMO. I always liked the TB PTS fight.
  • edited November 2016 Posts: 19,339
    I think ,along with the strangling of Grant,its shows the cold blooded darkness inside Bond..maybe Bond letting Slade bleed to death in QOS deserves to be with these 2 scenes....cant think of another...
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    It's my favorite Bond fight in the series. The fight is excellent and John Barry's music that accompanies it is equally excellent. Making it one of greatest scenes in the entire Bond canon. Very awesome and underrated. Those were the days.
  • I rank Connery's as follows:

    8. Bond vs. Dr. No
    7. Bond vs. Hans
    6. Bond vs. Capungo
    5. Bond vs. Franks
    4. Bond vs. The Rock's grandfather (YOLT)
    3. Bond vs. Oddjob
    2. Bond vs. Bouvar
    1. Bond vs. Grant

    I elaborate on all of 'em on my exhaustive best Bond fights list: https://enjoythecrawl.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/the-33-best-hand-to-hand-fights-of-the-james-bond-franchise/

    If were to add two more for an even top 10 I'd probably include the climactic Volante fight in Thunderball, which is pretty hard-hitting but let down by the sped-up action, and the rooftop chase/fight in YOLT, which is a sequence I love, especially for its music, but it's not really that great of a fight with all the guys clearly just standing around waiting for Sean Connery to keep running or do something. I was never that crazy about the Goldfinger jet fight personally.

    Also, speaking of Connery's fisticuffs, anyone else find it wonderfully bizarre when Connery asks that guy where Honey is at the end of Dr. No and then just punches him unconscious moments before the whole place blows. It's like geez Bond, give the guy a chance to save his own neck if he can, haha.
  • Posts: 19,339
    It was just a nasty nasty fight to the death....and Bouvar had killed 2 British agents .....so that was a pissed off Bond...so underestimated
  • barryt007 wrote: »
    I think ,along with the strangling of Grant,its shows the cold blooded darkness inside Bond..maybe Bond letting Slade bleed to death in QOS deserves to be with these 2 scenes....cant think of another...

    I agree full-heartedly, Bouvar and Slate are two of the most purely brutal fights in the series. With both of them there is actually a kind of streamlined forcefulness that propels the fight from start to finish, a kind of drive that makes the culminating moment of death all the more potent when it arrives. They're both just breathless fights.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Slate of course i meant that not Slade...been out with my girlfriend and watching SP,mulit-tasking haha...but how under-rated are these scenes...?..the TB fight is tough..Bond doesnt even break Bouvars neck quick,it takes a while (realistically )...
  • Bond vs Bouvar is excellently executed because it uses the environment so well. The PTS is maligned because of what came right after.
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 5,431
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Murdock wrote: »
    Bond vs Bouvar is Connery's best fight.

    A man who appreciates it.....thanks @Murdock

    I think the way he ruthless breaks Bouvar's neck ,and its not even quick,it takes a while over Bond's knee,is pretty bloody ruthless....

    Remember he seems to almost enjoying choking him out, then the pounding on the door happens and he decides enough is enough and breaks his neck.

    While not a fight per se I like the scene in Shrublands when he's on the phone and takes out the guy through the window. Great stuff!

  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    Good thread. The one he stood out in for me - but for all the wrong reasons - was the fight with the chauffeur in Dr No. The scene being ruined by the speeded up portion.
  • Posts: 19,339
    stag wrote: »
    Good thread. The one he stood out in for me - but for all the wrong reasons - was the fight with the chauffeur in Dr No. The scene being ruined by the speeded up portion.

    Thanks @stag ....i did other 'fisticuff' threads for the other Bond's as well....i agree the speeding up is annoying in this scene,but i bet,at the cinema,in 1962,it must have looked awesome to the cinemagoers....

  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    About TB:
    While there is no doubt the lift fight in DAF is unrivalled, the fight in TB comes a close second. I rate it higher as the Grant fight actually.
  • barryt007 wrote: »
    The main thing about Bond v Bouvar is when Bond breaks his neck with the poker.
    Just shows how ruthless he is under all that charm.

    I didn't see this part of the fight until I was older,the TV stations always cut that part out,so I used to think Bouvar hit his head on the fire place.

    I was gobsmacked when I saw what really happened and it was a pleasant surprise.

    Exactly the same with me!

  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    Connery and Lazenby are the only one's who ever convinced me they would be useful in a real fight.

    The best fight of all IMO? After some thought I must agree with other posters - the Lift scene in DAF.
  • Posts: 1,394
    stag wrote: »
    Connery and Lazenby are the only one's who ever convinced me they would be useful in a real fight.

    The best fight of all IMO? After some thought I must agree with other posters - the Lift scene in DAF.

    Its odd that such a fantastic fight comes from such a campy Bond film.Especially since the other fight scenes in the movie come across as really 60s Batman tv show style!

  • Posts: 19,339
    The whole film for me starts off really well,it just goes downhill when they hit Las Vegas...
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    @stag, don't you think Lazenby wound his fist up, windmill-like, as if he was a cartoon Superman? I love OHMSS, but didn't find the fights believable at all.
  • stagstag In the thick of it!
    Posts: 1,053
    @peter, I'll check this out next time I watch OHMSS then report back. I must say I haven't noticed it.

    My favourite OHMSS fight scene was the oh so brief altercation between Bond and Draco's men when he was being escorted into the latters office.
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    @stag agreed.
  • edited February 2018 Posts: 11,189
    Compared to Connery's other fights, this one always strikes me as feeling the most choreographed.


    The music and Hunt's editing still make it exciting though.
  • barryt007 wrote: »
    The whole film for me starts off really well,it just goes downhill when they hit Las Vegas...

    I don't like the PTS at all but from the theme song up to the Blofeld reveal I think it's pretty good. Some ropey bits once it gets to Vegas but still a lot of fun. But then after the Blofeld reveal it really falls apart imo. Just gets so contrived and lazy and sloppy, and Bond and Blofeld talk as if they're friendly rivals instead of arch enemies. No sense of stakes or danger to it at all.
  • Posts: 1,917
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Compared to Connery's other fights, this one always strikes me as feeling the most choreographed.


    The music and Hunt's editing still make it exciting though.

    Yeah, it does. For a while this was my most underrated fight.

    Bond really does have a lot of tough fights in YOLT, although Hans is basically a Grant variation and the Rock's grandfather is an Oddjob variation.

  • Posts: 19,339
    I love the score when Bond fights Hans,and It was interesting to see ConneryBond in serious trouble,but the ease which Bond dispatched Hans on the bridge was a bit of a let-down.
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