72 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

I am actually going to this awards ceremony. My friend got the tickets last week. Very excited. Sean is my favorite actor so this should be pretty cool.

Sounds excellent. Be sure to give us a report when you return.

[Ry]

i certainly will give a report after the awards. I've been wondering if Roger will be there as they are pretty close friends. My guess is Michael Caine will say something. Should be a great show. The AFI always seems to do a pretty great job.

[Qwerty]

i certainly will give a report after the awards. I've been wondering if Roger will be there as they are pretty close friends.

Be very cool if he was!

[Solex Agitator]

I am most certainly counting my blessings and I am most certainly attending!

My tuxedo is back from the cleaners and I am beside myself with anticipation! This should prove to possibly be one of the most exciting evenings ever!

With luck, I may even bump into Ry so that we may raise a CBn toast to Sir Sean!

Edited by Solex Agitator, 08 June 2006 - 08:34 AM.

[dinovelvet]

It will be broadcast on Wed June 21st on USA Network

[Qwerty]

Now on the CBn main page...

Sir Sean Connery Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

_{AFI Achievement awarded to Sean Connery, 8 June 2006}

[Solex Agitator]

Simply an amazing and rarefied evening!

How to begin? I can barely fathom a starting point.

Mike Meyers hilarious yet sincere introduction?

Pierce Brosnan's very personal, poetic, and moving tribute?

Tom Jones belting out "Thunderball?"

I am dizzy trying to work it out in my mind! I cannot, at this time, do it justice! Perhaps the ever resourceful Ry can assist in the recounting of magical moments!

I promise I will have clearer thoughts come morning.

SImply put...wow!

[blackjack60]

Congrats Sir Sean--this site fully encapulsates my sentiments: http://yourethemannowdog.ytmnd.com/

All seriousness aside...
I'm surprised the award wasn't given a few years ago. Connery is one of the last of the old-fashioned movie stars. These actors often are given less respect because they merely "play themselves" in everything they do, as though the projection of a complete, well-rounded personality onscreen was a trivial thing rather than a career-spannig achievement. And it's a bit risible to think that both James Bond and Henry Jones are merely sides of Connery's personality.

It seems quite clear to me that without Connery the Bond pictures would not have thrived as they did. Men wanted to be like Connery's Bond, and women wanted to bed him. That is something you really can't say to a similar degree about any of the other actors in the part. The producers were lucky to have stumbled upon an actor who posessed immense charisma and only needed the right platform to become an international star. And unlike every other actor who's played the part, Connery fully escaped from Bond's shadow.
Look at the filmographies of most of the great Hollywood stars and you'll see that the terrible movies usually outnumber the good ones (This is especially true in the case of the star Connery most resembles, Clark Gable).
Beyond his Bond pictures, most of which remain classics, he's had a good career.
There have been flawed classics such as Marnie and The Offence, which features an unbelievably intense performance from him. He had wonderful character actor/supporting roles in The Untouchables and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He gave very fine performances in fine if lesser known films such as The Hill, The Molly Maguires, The Name of the Rose, The Anderson Tapes and The Russia House.
His finest period was perhaps in the mid-70s, when he released a stream of iconic classics--The Wind and the Lion, The Man Who Would Be King, and Robin and Marian. These films only confirm his presence and power onscreen: what other actor could be accepted as Robin Hood, James Bond, Agamemnon, King Richard the Lion-Hearted, El-Raisuli the Magnificent, and King Arthur? Even his misfires are interesting: Zardoz is utterly silly, yet has become a cult classic. And few other actors would take the risk of appearing as silly as he does in the film--it's a testimony to his powers that he comes out with his dignity intact, even when he's in a wedding dress.
Sean Connery is perhaps the last great star alive who could so ably play adventurers, kings, spies, warlords and chieftains, all the while retaining the wit and suaveness that made him equally at home in tuxedos and animal skins. For several generations he has embodied a certain kind of old-fashioned masculinity that it comfortable in its own skin. And he still remains popular with the public, despite the shoddiness of his most recent string of films. If Connery wants to retire, now is the right time. I think there's only one role left for him to play--it's been a long time since we've had a good film of King Lear, and I think it's a great farewell role for the man. He's old enough for the part yet still in good enough shape to take it on, and the role would hardly be impossible for an actor who cut his theatrical teeth on Hotspur and MacBeth. So in case he ever returns to the screen, I hope Sir Sean will put away anymore thoughts of action hero roles, and pick the last good role left to him. In the meantime, I hope he enjoys his richly deserved award.

Edited by blackjack60, 09 June 2006 - 07:01 AM.

[MarcAngeDraco]

Simply an amazing and rarefied evening!

How to begin? I can barely fathom a starting point.

Mike Meyers hilarious yet sincere introduction?

Pierce Brosnan's very personal, poetic, and moving tribute?

Tom Jones belting out "Thunderball?"

I am dizzy trying to work it out in my mind! I cannot, at this time, do it justice! Perhaps the ever resourceful Ry can assist in the recounting of magical moments!

I promise I will have clearer thoughts come morning.

SImply put...wow!

Sounds great, I can't wait to see it...

[Turn]

Say what you want about Connery's legendary crankieness or whatever controversial things he's said or done in the past. That little thing for being able to read is just as in keeping with the man's nature or being hardworking and appreciating what he went through to get to where he is. He could have stood there and talked himself up, but he instead decided to plug education. That's class.

[Qwerty]

It will be broadcast on Wed June 21st on USA Network

I cannot wait to see it!

[killkenny kid]

Say what you want about Connery's legendary crankieness or whatever controversial things he's said or done in the past. That little thing for being able to read is just as in keeping with the man's nature or being hardworking and appreciating what he went through to get to where he is. He could have stood there and talked himself up, but he instead decided to plug education. That's class.

indeed.

[Dalton's Wendy]

One hell of a lifetime achievement - Congratulations !!!

Indubitably . . . but that horrifying shirt he is wearing, along with that laughably inappropriate tie, makes him look like he just won the "Lifetime Achievement Award for the Managing Director of 1927."

The combination of dinner suit -- business-suit tie -- wing-collar of 1995 shirt -- is precisely the sort of ill-advised get-up which will cause cringes from the viewers of the family scrapbook ten years from now.

Clearly, SIR SEAN was outfitted under the aegis of some over-zealous Barney's wardrobe consultant.