This is not a technically accurate statement. I did see Never Say Never Again around the time it first came out, on a plane I think. But I was always confused about why this interloper was playing Roger Moore's role. I have no idea if that's actually a good movie or not (my sources say no) because I was too distracted by Connery's presence.
Many people eulogizing Connery, who died at age 90 this weekend, will naturally focus their attentions on him giving birth to one of cinema's most famous figures, who is still with us today, and would have had his own most recent movie in 2020 if not for the pandemic.
Not me. But that doesn't mean I didn't love Sean Connery.
I've chosen for this memoriam post a still from my highest ranked Connery film on Flickchart, Time Bandits (#29), which I happened to have watched just a few months ago on the occasion of the death of Ian Holm. I guess I was preparing for Connery's death for a while now -- it's something I've thought might be coming soon, knowing that he had entered his tenth decade of life -- as I also watched The Untouchables back in September.
For many people, these would be considered secondary roles that paled in comparison to his work as Bond, even if he won an Oscar for the latter. (And when you look him up on IMDB, The Untouchables is the title the site uses to distinguish him on first glance: "Actor, The Untouchables.")
For me, they were primary texts.
Something about the warrior's strength and extreme paternal warmth of his King Agamemnon in Time Bandits just typified, for the eight-year-old me, the type of pure magnetism we expect of our great cinematic stars. So even though he's in no more than 15 minutes of that movie, he is one of its most memorable parts.
When I rewatched The Untouchables, I was reminded of how little of that movie he's actually in as well. He might not come into it until the 20- or 30-minute mark, and he dies earlier in the narrative than I remembered. But again, he makes a huge impression in just a short amount of screen time. My friends and I used to always quote to each other his unforgettable "that's how you get Capone" speech.
It would be absurd to suggest that Connery was better as a character actor than a lead, as indeed, his personality in a leading role could sell tickets with the best of them. But even in my third-ranked Connery film on Flickchart, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, he's more appropriately considered a supporting actor than the lead. Co-lead, maybe.
It's not until my fourth-ranked Connery film that we get to both James Bond and a film in which he undoubtedly was top billed, which was my favorite of the four proper Connery Bond films I've seen: Goldfinger. It was in this film that I feel like the Bond we still love today was born. That was thanks to Connery, whether he was "my Bond" or not.
I've seen 16 Connery films, according to Flickchart, though I have yet to add my most recently watched Bond film, Thunderball, so that will make 17. Yet only those four I've mentioned so far make my top 1000 films. That would suggest that maybe Connery wasn't really "my movie star" either.
Except that whenever Sean Connery appeared in a film, I was excited for it. Whether he was a Russian submarine captain in The Hunt for Red October or an immortal in Highlander or even a gonzo warrior in the extremely goofy Zardoz, he always brought a presence, a charisma, and an absolutely ripper Scottish burr to his performances. When he effectively retired from making movies nearly 20 years ago -- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was his last major role in 2003, if you can believe it -- it always felt premature to me, like Connery had left us adoring fans with a palpable absence on the cinematic landscape.
And now he's left a palpable absence in the world at large.
To honor Connery I plan to continue working my way through his Bond movies on Monday night, though it's sad to note that I'll have only one left after this one. You Only Live Twice will be an appropriately melancholy choice, I think, as this is the one whose premise features at least a fake-out of the character's actual death.
After that, only Diamonds Are Forever will remain. The good thing about the medium of cinema, though, is that movie stars are also forever. So even if we don't have him anymore, in another sense, we'll always have Sean Connery.
Rest in peace.
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