116 replies to this topic

[ChandlerBing]

My first experience with Bond was in the 4th grade in 1986. I'd seen bits and pieces of Bond films on TV before that, but I wasn't interested. I was more the Star Wars/Star Trek kinda guy.l And then my dad got the films on VHS (which suck now compared to DVD) and I watched them over...and over...and over again. My family almost grew to hate Bond because I'd inadvertantly respond with a Bond title when they asked what I would like to watch. I was the only 4th grader reading Ian Fleming. To this day, I always wonder wonder what the hell my teachers were thinking when I always had a Fleming Bond to read during reading time.

This post is devoted to the guy who taught me all about masculinity, looking good, and getting the babes. That man is Sean Connery. Here are 007 reasons why Sean Connery is and always will be The Man.

1. When he slept with all of those women, it was inspirational. He was like the how-to of how to seduce all of the beautiful women in the world. Those women didn't look like they were acting either. You knew they wanted it. Later when I heard Connery wore a wig most of the time as Bond, it was crushing, but I still got over it.
2. Connery looked as if he could really beat those guys up, and he often did. Recently, I saw that Bob Simmons took a lot of those lumps, but hey, for many years, I thought Connery really did all of that. THAT is good stuntwork. Tom Mankiewicz wrote that when Connery walked into a bar, you were like 'uh-oh, here's trouble.' With Moore, he has to come on with a line like "Excuse me, haven't we met?" Dalton is more along the lines of a frustrated Shakespearean actor who's just too intense for his own good. Look out, that man's going to bust a blood vessel! Brosnan has that look in his eye where you never know what he is going to do, which is a good thing for Bond.
3. Connery had the Aston Martin DB5. Connery's golden girl was on the cover of Life Magazine. By the time Roger Moore was done, he could have dated the Golden Girls.
4. At the age of 70, he made out with Michael Douglas' wife and didn't look bad at all. On the other hand, when Douglas entered the picture, luck and credibility went right out the window.
5. He can look at someone and actually make them speechless and wet their pants. Look at what he did with Harrison Ford in Last Crusade. Connery has the look down pat.
6. Connery dared to ask why Chinese girls taste different from other girls. Of course, he almost got killed for asking that, but HE DID SURVIVE!
7. Mr. Universe, baby!

[PaulZ108]

Excellent points. Connery IS Bond and I don't think anyone will ever top him (come close maybe, but never better).


It'll be interesting to see what Bondpurist has to say about this one.

[ChandlerBing]

You know what, though? I can come up with more...

8. He only lived twice.
9. He made Donald Pleasance run for the hills long before Michael Myers ever did.
10. He found plenty in Las Vegas.
11. There was always more to Connery than met the eye...especially when you got to his teeth.
12. Connery smacked his women around...and got away with it, until Bambi & Thumper challenged him.
13. Could he BE any cooler?

[Bondpurist]

Dalton is more along the lines of a frustrated Shakespearean actor who's just too intense for his own good. Look out, that man's going to bust a blood vessel!

Well, Dalton was a shakespearean actor and I can see no better preperation for the complex role of 007. He was intense, and a highly skilled actor to boot - both absolutely necessary for LTK especially. He was the first actor to provide any emotional depth to the role, and really bought 007 to life. Connery was always too laid back and relaxed, 2 things Bond was rarely like in the books. He is also handsome, but in a rugged and wild sort of way - his good looks are much closer to Fleming's Bond's good looks. Connery was too accomplished and too perfect for Bond in the looks department.
As for Connery - well, I'm not doubting what Chandlerbing says - he is obviously a charismatic guy, but women didn't jump into Bond's bed at the click of the fingers in the books - often it took ages and sometimes he didn't seduce the girl at all, see Moonraker, Ponsonby his secretary, Mary Goodnight, Miss Moneypenny, etc., etc. James Bond's primary interest lies as a spy, not a sex symbol. That side of things is secondary, which Dalton did very well and Connery not at all after FRWL. Chandlerbing is largely right, but what he is right about doesn't make Connery a particularly good Bond literary-wise. Which is what I am interested in, naturally.

[1q2w3e4r]

fairs fair here. He forced himself on pussy (excuse the pun) and I'd have to say that Patricia Fearing from Thunderball wasn't exactly a willing participant to being with. Loelia Ponsonby was based on one of Fleming's secretaries during the war, and personally seemed a bit of a bore to me. Mary Goodnight did go for Bond, sure he had to go missing in Japan for an extended period of time, blow a screw, get his head reprogrammed and try topping M. But all in all, I always got the impression from OHMSS that it was because she was their secretary (though i guess Bond won the pool in the 00 section about her)

Gala was engaged. He tried, which is true, but he also tried mighty hard with pussy as well and in the end, just took it. Much like Viviean Michel in TSWLM. Though she was pretty keen.

And seriously, I don't think Fleming's Bond wasn't good looking. Every women he met was attracted to him and noted there was something that made him stand out from others, charisma is definantly a part of that. Bond is after all Ian in the 3rd person. And he certinally didn't struggle with women.

[Bondpurist]

Fair enough, I'll I'm saying is that Bond is not perfect - not every girl immediately leaps into bed with him in the books!

[1q2w3e4r]

Yeah for sure. I was secretly hoping when i heard Gala Brand was being transferred to DAD that something simular would pop up at the end of the film, still might with LT wanting to do things a little different and would be a nice nod to one of IFs novels.

[WarBird]

Well, there are some good points. I personally don't favor Sean as my favorite actors or any bond actor, but there all good in my book.

[ChandlerBing]

Watch Connery in films like The Offense, The Hill, Finding Forrester, and The Anderson Tapes. The man is a genius as an actor, and the man I'd like to grow up to be.

[zencat]

Connery was great and truly the "best" Bond by the measure of the public. He wins the popular vote.

But I'm not one of those rabid Connery/Bond fans in that I don't measure every moment of every succeeding Bond film against a similar moment in a Connery film. I hate getting into a Bond discussion with someone who always comes back with, "Ah, but Sean Connery is still the greatest Bond." Can we get past that!

It's funny, I grew up with Roger Moore and when I first saw a Connery Bond film I didn't like Connery. I didn't think he had enough "class" to be Bond.

[Bondpurist]

I'm not denying Connery was is a good actor and was a good Bond - he is and was but I prefer Dalton. That's all.

[Bondpurist]

People only think that because he was the first Bond. And he made the 2nd most Bond films to Roger Moore, and Roger Moore's never going to win the popular vote!

[ChandlerBing]

The folks over at The Raised Eyebrow and the people against cruelty to Roger Moore will most likely disagree with you. They love Roger.

[Bondpurist]

Hmmmm. Frontal lobotomies all round then.

[ChandlerBing]

I am sure they will be happy to know you think that. Then again, I am sure they think the same thing of you as you do about them, so all's fair in love and war.

[Bondpurist]

My motto exactly.
Moore may have been entertaining but he was no where near Fleming's Bond, which is my benchmark for a decent Bond - Dalton was spot on and thus my favourite, Connery was qute close and thus my second, and so on.

[ChandlerBing]

Interestingly enough, Roger Moore had the same challenge in following Connery that Dalton had in 87. How do you follow up the other guy? You do your own thing. Moore and the producers went out of their way to make Moore different so he wouldn't compare with Connery. Dalton did the same thing. He went down a totally different road then Moore did. Don't knock Moore too much. He took the same let's do something different approach Dalton did. They just went in separate directions.

[Bondpurist]

I suppose you have a point, but Moore could have gone in a better direction instead of a worse one....

[zencat]

Of course, I think Moore went in exactly the right directing FOR THE TIME. His Bond movies reflected the '70s with a sort of playful cynicism (and even nostalgia) for the great English super-man. Moore

[Bondpurist]

Great zencat, but Moore wasn't playing Fleming's Bond, the Bond who should always try to be played . That;s why I can't admire him for being Bond - for being Moore perhaps, but not Bond.

[ChandlerBing]

Back on topic for Sean Connery and Bondpurist...

Sean Connery can rightfully say, "Timothy Dalton? I **** bigger than him."

[Bondpurist]

you what bigger than him? It's been censored.

[ChandlerBing]

I know, it sucks! I'll give you a hint, it comes out of your rear end.

[Bondpurist]

Sean Connery said once that Timothy Dalton was 'an inspired choice' for the role of 007.

[ChandlerBing]

He also was quoted later on as saying that Dalton never got a handle on the role because he took it too seriously.

[Bondpurist]

He got a perfect handle on the literary Bond!! What Connery means is that Dalton wasn't enough like him. Great actors great egos.

[zencat]

Originally posted by Bondpurist
Great zencat, but Moore wasn't playing Fleming's Bond, the Bond who should always try to be played . That;s why I can't admire him for being Bond - for being Moore perhaps, but not Bond.

But do think Moore and the Moore films kept Bond alive through the '70s with their wit and high style. It was a necessary evolution. I think if someone came in and played Fleming's Bond in the 1973 we wouldn't be looking forward to Bond film in 2002.

[ChandlerBing]

Connery meant that Dalton was the emasculated Bond. A Bond without balls, a Bond who was way too vulnerable and in touch with his feelings.

[Bondpurist]

Hardly! Just look at LTK.

[ChandlerBing]

Yep, a Bond without balls, VERY in touch with his feelings, and who cries. Even George Lazenbt didn't cry. James Bond doesn't cry. He's too dead inside to cry!