New thoughts on Connery's last four Bond movies...

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Comments

  • Posts: 1,372
    Ice trick back then, now the actors dehydrate.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited November 20 Posts: 16,430
    I always think it's odd they never put extra hair on the sides, just on the top. The sides of your hair recede too, so when you have these guys with hair miles away from their temples and yet a really low hairline on top, giving them these sort of widescreen foreheads, we know there's something up there. See also Eddie Jordan.

    eddie-jordan-sports-adventurer.jpg

    TELEMMGLPICT000243605026_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqxUyqX_wn5RMR1e0_62zP1Svt37cjdnbbW_-phuopnac.jpeg?imwidth=350

    150px-PierceBrosnanCannesPhoto2.jpg

    That's how a hairline like that should look! :D

    ME19H27Y_o.jpg
  • Posts: 4,174
    Ice trick back then, now the actors dehydrate.

    Yeah, chicken, rice, steroids and dehydration, the Hollywood exercise regime combo.

    Personally I’d take the ice pack.
  • Posts: 1,493
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    Funny, I'm watching NSNA right now and just enjoyed that exchange barely 20 minutes ago. Bond has a lot of witty comebacks and zingers in this one, I love it.

    Yes, there is some sharp dialogue in NSNA and I love the section in Monte Carlo, which I think plays very well. Only Connery's Bond could pull off a tango.
  • Posts: 1,372
    mtm wrote: »
    I always think it's odd they never put extra hair on the sides, just on the top. The sides of your hair recede too, so when you have these guys with hair miles away from their temples and yet a really low hairline on top, giving them these sort of widescreen foreheads, we know there's something up there. See also Eddie Jordan.

    eddie-jordan-sports-adventurer.jpg

    TELEMMGLPICT000243605026_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqxUyqX_wn5RMR1e0_62zP1Svt37cjdnbbW_-phuopnac.jpeg?imwidth=350

    150px-PierceBrosnanCannesPhoto2.jpg

    That's how a hairline like that should look! :D

    ME19H27Y_o.jpg

    Daniel Craig has a widescreen forehead. I don't think it's impossible.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,220
    His hairpiece foe NSNA did him no favors, a greying version of his Goldfinger look would have been better.

    Looking on some other Bond forums I came across this from 2020 ; it's pretty spot on

    "Connery's physical appearance in DAF is an interesting topic. Connery was 40, but looks every bit 50. He does look much more fit and younger in his two preceding films, The Molly McGuires ('70) and even sans toupee in The Anderson Tapes ('71).
    What's even more interesting is that he looks much more fit and very convincingly as what the young Bond of DN, FRWL, GF, and TB would look like as an older middle-aged Bond in several films he did some years later.
    Three that immediately come to mind are A Bridge Too Far ('77); Cuba ('79) in which for all intents and purposes he really looked like an older version of Bond; and Outland ('81).
    I guess Connery was just going through a phase around the time of DAF where he really didn't care. Of course as mentioned by others, the bad toupee, uncropped brows, and used car salesmen suites didn't help either."
  • edited November 20 Posts: 1,372
    As I said, I think it's the eyebrows.

  • edited November 20 Posts: 4,174
    I really wouldn't go as far to say he looks 50+ in DAF, but yes, his thicker eyebrows, slight weight gain and toupee (which, although good, ages him due to the dated style and slight receding they add in compared to his previous ones) age him probably more than he actually looked offscreen.

    To be honest, the vast majority of people age noticeably once they get to 40-45. Connery always looked a bit older anyway, and I suspect he liked to indulge himself (I really don't blame him). But like I said, I suspect most people would want his physique at that age.
  • edited November 20 Posts: 1,372
    Yeah, I don't think he looks 50 either. Yes, today 50 are the new 40 but back then people looked older.

    He didn't look older than Dalton in his movies, for example.
  • edited November 20 Posts: 4,174
    I suppose nowadays if the next Bond actor was brought in on such short notice the production would be a lot more hands on in getting them into shape (although it wouldn't be fun - probably lots of chicken and kale, and a hell of an exercise regime).

    Considering Connery smoked, drank, and probably didn't exercise as much as he'd done in his 20s and 30s I think he looks ok in DAF. Not quite at his fighting weight as it were, but nothing that would make the production too worried or have to do extensive covering up beyond perhaps the ice pack trick. It's not in Marlon Brando territory (and if you want to see someone who aged and put on weight dramatically, that's an actor to look at. Connery was more physically fit and had the height/frame to accommodate that extra weight).
  • Posts: 2,000
    Despite all the negatives expressed here about his physique, weight, diet, grooming, hairpieces, etc., the man lived to 90.
  • Posts: 2,918
    thedove wrote: »
    One of the best exchanges.

    Fatima "I'm sorry for making you all wet."

    Bond "But my martini is still dry."

    It's just a rewrite of the old quip "I've got to get out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini." The line is at least 80 years old and was supposedly uttered by Robert Benchley.

  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,430
    I do prefer the Bond version though! :)
  • SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷ Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria
    Posts: 2,080
    "I think he got the point" from Thunderball....this is another banger. One of the very, very, very, best.
  • George_KaplanGeorge_Kaplan Being chauffeured by Tibbett
    Posts: 688
    talos7 wrote: »
    His hairpiece foe NSNA did him no favors, a greying version of his Goldfinger look would have been better.

    Looking on some other Bond forums I came across this from 2020 ; it's pretty spot on

    "Connery's physical appearance in DAF is an interesting topic. Connery was 40, but looks every bit 50. He does look much more fit and younger in his two preceding films, The Molly McGuires ('70) and even sans toupee in The Anderson Tapes ('71).
    What's even more interesting is that he looks much more fit and very convincingly as what the young Bond of DN, FRWL, GF, and TB would look like as an older middle-aged Bond in several films he did some years later.
    Three that immediately come to mind are A Bridge Too Far ('77); Cuba ('79) in which for all intents and purposes he really looked like an older version of Bond; and Outland ('81).
    I guess Connery was just going through a phase around the time of DAF where he really didn't care. Of course as mentioned by others, the bad toupee, uncropped brows, and used car salesmen suites didn't help either."

    He probably didn't. The early-70s were a bit of a rough time for Connery both personally and professionally. His marriage to Diane Cilento was deteriorating and he was struggling to escape the shadow of Bond. He actually wasn't in high demand in Hollywood at this time. It's not surprising that he let himself go a bit.
  • Posts: 7,507
    "I think he got the point" from Thunderball....this is another banger. One of the very, very, very, best.

    There's a better one in TB
    "What sharp little eyes you've got!"
    "Wait til you get to my teeth!"
    Actually TB has some really good ones!
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,145
    Several of the films concerned here have superb dialogue: TB, DAF and NSNA. YOLT perhaps to a lesser extend but still satisfactory.
  • SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷ Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria
    Posts: 2,080
    Mathis1 wrote: »
    "I think he got the point" from Thunderball....this is another banger. One of the very, very, very, best.

    There's a better one in TB
    "What sharp little eyes you've got!"
    "Wait til you get to my teeth!"
    Actually TB has some really good ones!

    Aaah! Those too!
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,599
    "I won't let anyone find you. Don't worry, I have my reputation to think of."
  • SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷ Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria
    Posts: 2,080
    Maybe we need these type of top-notch Bondian lines to return in Bond 26.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,145
    I also love Bond's annoyance with Nihel Small-Fawcett:

    "Nigel, just go back to your desk..."
  • George_KaplanGeorge_Kaplan Being chauffeured by Tibbett
    edited November 25 Posts: 688
    Things I like about NSNA:

    1) Fatima Blush
    2) The Phyllis Hyman song (which isn't in the movie)
    3) At around the 2 hour mark, Bond (or rather Connery) says the word "oasis".
  • SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷ Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria
    edited November 25 Posts: 2,080
    Things I like about NSNA:

    1) Fatima Blush
    2) The Phyllis Hyman song (which isn't in the movie)
    3) At around the 2 hour mark, Bond says the word "oasis".

    Haha! Number 3. Maybe he influenced the band, since Noel & Liam love Bond. Yeah, Barbara's Fatima is exciting to watch. She's the more enigmatic and sensual version of Fiona, I think.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,145
    Bernie Casey is my favourite Felix. He brings the jovial nature from Fleming's Felix to life like no-one else, save perhaps for David Hedison.
  • SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷SecretAgentMan⁰⁰⁷ Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria
    Posts: 2,080
    GoldenGun wrote: »
    Bernie Casey is my favourite Felix. He brings the jovial nature from Fleming's Felix to life like no-one else, save perhaps for David Hedison.

    Yes, I like Casey too. But I suppose Wright just took it to a whole new level. It's funny how Casey gives me Chiwetel Ejiofor vibes.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,042
    Remember that on this board's last vote on the best Felix Leiter ever, Bernie Casey took the crown.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    edited November 25 Posts: 7,145
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    Remember that on this board's last vote on the best Felix Leiter ever, Bernie Casey took the crown.

    Ah yes, you're right. Quite an accomplishment if you only appeared in the series' "stepchild" NSNA.

    Well-deserved though imo.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited November 25 Posts: 16,430
    I imagine Hedison must've been up there, but you're right GG: Casey has the jovial nature of Felix right, and although Hedison and Roger do actually feel like they're friends unlike pretty much all of the other Felixes save for Casey and Wright, Hedison's Felix is reduced to sort of fussing around after James and comes across as a little too prissy.
    Even in just a couple of scenes you do feel like Connery and Casey's characters would go for a drink together. I think that ball/bomb gag is quite important: Felix gets one over on James, which is pretty rare: and James takes it as a joke - straight away we know where their relationship is.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,145
    mtm wrote: »
    I imagine Hedison must've been up there, but you're right GG: Casey has the jovial nature of Felix right, and although Hedison and Roger do actually feel like they're friends unlike pretty much all of the other Felixes save for Casey and Wright, Hedison's Felix is reduced to sort of fussing around after James and comes across as a little too prissy.
    Even in just a couple of scenes you do feel like Connery and Casey's characters would go for a drink together. I think that ball/bomb gag is quite important: Felix gets one over on James, which is pretty rare: and James takes it as a joke - straight away we know where their relationship is.

    I also quite like that he's involved in the actual climax, actionwise.
    Does that happen to other Felixes? I think the rest of them are around but sidelined or aren't even there...
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,430
    Good point, yeah. I can't actually even remember what happens to Felix in Thunderball to be honest!
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