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[jaguar007]

http://www.cinematic...e-sean-connery/

Their Best Role: Sean Connery

by Dawn Taylor Apr 21st 2010 // 5:15PM

Filed under: Their Best Role


The iconic film character that immediately comes to mind when discussing Sean Connery is, of course, James Bond. He was the perfect Bond -- for most of us, the "real" Bond, whose testosterone-drenched shoes have never quite been filled by the parade of Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig. Sir Ian Fleming may have created Bond in his novels, but Connery fleshed him out as a smart, sexy, self-aware creature of utter cool and confidence, and he set the bar quite high for those who followed.

But Connery's Bond films -- he made five, between 1962 and 1971, then returned for the "unofficial" Bond flick Never Say Never Again in 1983 -- are a small fraction of the films he's made in a career that's lasted for over five decades. In his 30s during the Bond years, Connery hit his stride as an actor (and, arguably, as a fully matured sex symbol) in his 40's in pictures like The Wind and the Lion, Zardoz, The Molly Maguires, Robin and Marian, and A Bridge Too Far, playing complex, world-weary men who were as marked by their weaknesses as they were by their machismo.

Granted, a number of those films were far less impressive than Connery's performances in them (a charge that could be leveled at most of the actor's choices throughout his career, actually) but smack in the middle of that uneven stretch of the '70s, Connery starred opposite Michael Caine in John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King (1975) -- playing one of his oddest, most compelling characters in a masterful picture that's as much a farce and a satire as it is a romantic lad's adventure.



John Huston reportedly began thinking about adapting Kipling's tale in the 1950's, considering it as a vehicle for his friend Humphrey Bogart, and co-starring Clark Gable. It's easy to see why the director of Key Largo, The African Queen, and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean would be attracted to the story, first published in 1888. It's a buddy picture at its core, and one inspired by a number of real-life adventurers who made themselves princes and rajahs during the heyday of British Colonialism -- a subject close to Kipling's heart, and the sort of inequitable, absurd and tragic power struggle that Huston returned to in many of his films.

The characters of Peachy Carnehan (Caine) and Daniel Dravot (Connery) are a pair of ever-so-slightly dim ex-British soldiers turned con artists who get the notion to set themselves up as kings in the uncharted wilds of Kafiristan and make off with whatever treasures they can grab. Glib, greedy and brimming with confidence, they find that their plan works far better than even they had hoped, but when Daniel's crowned king and worshiped as a god, he begins to take himself a bit too seriously, leading to a variety of tensions and complications.

Both Caine and Connery cannily inhabit the roles of small-time grifters who find themselves out of their league, but Connery's work is especially magnificent. Mutton-chopped, tanned, often smirking as if he's laughing at his own inner dialogue, he plays Daniel as a fellow who believes himself to be the smartest guy in the room -- which he often is, but only because he's always set his sights so low. He finds a well of inner goodness that enables him to serve well as a king, but when his fame spreads and he's called up to the holy city of Sikandergul to prove that he's a god, Daniel realizes that he's reached a bit too high ... until a bizarre twist of fate intervenes and saves him. Now endowed with delusions of grandeur (he imagines being greeted by Queen Victoria as an equal), he doesn't want to give up his position as ruler and god. But hubris is a harsh mistress, and circumstances conspire to bring him down.

Given his stature as an actor and sex symbol, it's not surprising that Connery can play an ego-driven character; what's most impressive (and delightfully entertaining) is that he plays Daniel with no actorly ego of his own, allowing the man's weakness of will, short-sightedness and sometimes callow disregard for others to come through without reserve. Connery also finesses Daniel's less-intelligent moments, while engaging in patter with Caine that's reminiscent of the Hope and Crosby Road pictures.

The Man Who Would Be King is always a marvelous, swashbuckling experience, made even more so by current events in the news about modern-day Afghanistan (the setting of Kafiristan is now an Afghan territory, although the film was shot in Morocco). Kipling was a master at telling stories set during colonial occupations; Huston, a master at tales of small men done in by their big greed. And Connery brings his own brilliance, as well, making for an almost perfect movie.

[LTK_(1989)]

I think it's funny that the author said that Connery did "five" Bond films between 1962 and 1971 when he actually made SIX.

Anyway, I would definitely agree that The Man Who Would Be King is one of Connery's best performances - but people should check out The Offence (actually part of Connery's deal for coming back for Diamonds Are Forever was the EON had to distribute The Offence & one other film - when the film flopped they weaseled out of distributing Connery's other), it's a disturbing film but it's well done (directed by Sidney Lumet) I think it's also clearly Connery's best performance.

[TheSaint]

I saw The Offence once. It was hard to watch.

[AMC Hornet]

Funny that LTK says: "I think it's funny that the author said that Connery did "five" Bond films between 1962 and 1971 when he actually made SIX."

Personally, I think it's funny that Dawn Taylor says "Sir Ian Fleming may have created Bond in his novels..."

I've read such references in threads on this website before. Is it only/always Taylor, or am I missing something? Can a British subject really be knighted posthumously? 45 years posthumously? I've never read a reference to Ian Fleming being knighted anywhere else.

However, I digress...

As much as I admire Connery in The Man Who Would Be King, my all-time favorite non-Bond Connery role has to be as Professor Henry Jones Sr. Every second of his screen-time is priceless. Now there's a (living) British legend who deserved to be knighted.

[Revelator]

As much as I admire Connery in The Man Who Would Be King, my all-time favorite non-Bond Connery role has to be as Professor Henry Jones Sr. Every second of his screen-time is priceless.

It's also a good argument against those who accuse Connery of always playing himself. The elder Jones, a fussy old biddy, has very little in common with Connery the man, but Connery the actor takes immense delight in playing against type.

[Safari Suit]

The Man Who Would Be King is a great film and it is indeed a great performance from Mr. Connery. I think that its quality is a testament to how a great creative team who know what they're doing can really pull a film off. Though it is based on what I'm sure is a wonderfull story by a great author, the basic plot has also been used on every Saturday morning cartoon since time immemorial. The film could have so easily been bland, unsatisfying fluff, or risible, self-important drivel but it turned out as a well-balanced, well-written, well-made and supremely entertaining picture with both the strong characterisation and thematic maturity of Huston's own African Queen and Treasure of Sierra Madre with enough spectacular action to satisfy post-Indiana Jones audiences. Great stuff.

For the best Connery peformance though, I personally would plump for The Name of the Rose. It's not necessarily a better performance or film, but I feel that the way Connery successfuly guides a general audience through potentially dry and inaccessible, somewhat cerebral and esoteric material in a film that was a not inconsiderable commercial success internationally (if not in the all important states) shows what a rare kind of 100-megawatt movie star presence he has, not least as at the time the financiers supposedly wanted a "bigger" star for the film.

[David Schofield]

No, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Connery's finest performance is as James Bond in From Russia With love.

You take a rough-, balding, chip-on-the-shoulder jock with limited acting ability and a huge inferiority complex.

And he turns that into Ian Fleming's old Etonian English gentleman spy.

A work of art. Sir Sean of Scotland never achieved anything as brilliant again after 1965.

[Shaun Forever]

Obviously not his best role, but I still love him in 'The Last Crusade', serious, yet quite funny in places.

I was gutted he never came back for Indy IV.

[Turn]

Obviously not his best role, but I still love him in 'The Last Crusade', serious, yet quite funny in places.

I was gutted he never came back for Indy IV.

One of the things I really liked about that role was when I was watching it I didn't think "James Bond is Indy's dad." I kept seeing this awkward old guy Indy kept having to pull along with him, with little nuances every now and then that reminded me I was watching Sean Connery.

To be able to make an actor with the presence of Sean Connery into just a part of the story is a credit to Spielberg and to Connery for playing against type.

[SecretAgentFan]

Connery had lots of great roles - therefore I´d find it hard to single one out.

But let me offer his roles in these films:

- THE RUSSIA HOUSE
- ROBIN & MARIAN
- THE WIND AND THE LION

[Brian Flagg]

I'm not sure these are his best roles, but Connery impressed the heck out of me in The Hill and The Anderson Tapes. People love to take shots at Sean for his personal flaws and always point out his unchanging accent (just as they give Meryl Streep hell for her multitude of accents; you just can't win) but the man exudes charisma and is an institution unto himself.

[DAN LIGHTER]

He was very good when he played a Scotish chap in a film that escapes my memory at the moment. Let me think......