To Absent Friends - Sean Connery

 

Sean Connery

1930 - 2020

In what has become a depressingly common theme for the year 2020, another Giant in His Field has left us with the death of Scottish actor Sean Connery at the age of 90.

Connery has had a long and distinguished acting career.  It includes 94 credits on IMDB, and stretches back to 1954.  He received his big break as an actor when he appeared in the title role of Rod Serling's "Requiem For A Heavyweight" in a 1957 BBC television production.  At another point in 1957, he also has a role as a "Porter" on an episode of "The Jack Benny Program!  (That is going to merit a YouTube search later today.)  But of course, his huge international breakout came in 1962 when he played the role of British spy James Bond, 007,  in the movie "Dr. No."  His obituary in the Washington Post tells us that the producers considered better known actors such as Richard Burton and Michael Redgrave for the role of Bond, but they were working with a very limited budget so they went with Connery because, among other attributes, he came cheap.  He was paid $16,500 his first time for the role that made him famous.

"Bond. James Bond."

"A martini. Shaken, not stirred."

Connery would make five James Bond movies from 1962 to 1967 before he quit the franchise.  He didn't want to become typecast, and he said that he would never play the character again.  Well, he DIDN'T become typecast, but he DID reprise the role once again in 1983's "Never Say Never Again."  Clever play on words by the producers for that title, don't you think?

A ton of stuff about Connery and his death has already been written and is available today on the Internet.  Great write-ups that will detail his career and legacy far better than The Grandstander can, so I will simply end this with a list of my own favorite Sean Connery films.  Purely personal opinions here, but any one of these are worth seeking out and watching.

• The Anderson Tapes (1971)
• Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
• The Great Train Robbery (1978)
• The Untouchables (1987)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
• Hunt for Red October (1990)
• Finding Forrester (2000)

Connery won his one and only Oscar for his role in "The Untouchables."

RIP Sean Connery

With Dyan Cannon

"The Anderson Tapes"

With Lesley-Anne Down

"The Great Train robbery"

With Harrison Ford

"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"

With Andy Garcia, Kevin Costner, 

and Charles Martin Smith

"The Untouchables"

Old Movie - "The Anderson Tapes" (1971)

Through the magic of TCM and the DVR, I watched this 1971 movie the other night. "The Anderson Tapes" revolves around an ex-con, Sean Connery, planning and executing a major heist of a NYC townhouse apartment building. The twist to the movie is that all of his moves have been recorded, either audio or video, by various parties, and no one can put together what is about to take place.  

The movie and the Lawrence Saunders novel upon which it is based attempts to make a statement about "big brother" and how we are always being watched and how our privacy is being invaded and on and on. However, I look at it as just an exciting and thrilling caper flick that holds up great forty-eight years after its release.

Sidney Lumet directed the movie, one of five that he did with Connery, and it also stars Dyan Cannon (was any actress of the time period prettier or sexier than she?), Martin Balsam, Alan King, and, in his first motion picture role, a very young Christopher Walken. In a bit character role, you will also notice Margaret "Wicked Witch of the West" Hamilton.

It's a really good movie, and if you've never seen it, you should make a point to seek it out and watch.