Connery Part 4 - Bringing Up Junior
“It tells me that goose stepping morons like you should try reading books, instead of burning them!”.
I knew Indiana Jones well. In Part 2 I mentioned in the unforgettable evening watching Raiders of the Ark with my family when I was young. My mother also took me to see The Temple of Doom at the cinema when I was 6 (Snake eating, child slavery, human sacrifice, a blacked up Pat Roach. It was a different time). So, when the first trailers for Last Crusade began showing on the television, I couldn’t wait to see it. Especially when I heard that James Bond/Ramirez was playing Indy’s Dad.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade remains my favourite Connery performance. His Henry Jones Snr is serious, sensitive, playful and emotional throughout the film. When he’s admonishing Indy with a look for dispatching motorcycle riding Nazi’s using a flag pole or exclaiming his shock when his son machines guns a group of German soldiers to death, it juxtaposes brilliantly with the action hero roles we’re used to seeing the younger Sean play. I imagine his Bond would rather approve of smashing an enemy off his motorcycle with a makeshift lance.
Arguably the most powerful scene is the moment when Henry believes Indy has gone over the cliff with the runaway tank.
By this point in the movie, we understand the history of their difficult relationship. Henry, the scholar obsessed with his work and the search for the mythical Holy Grail, a search which appears to have lasted Indy’s entire life. Indy himself, harbouring feelings of resentment toward the father who he feels neglected him as a child following the death of his mother, through his dedication to his life’s work.
When Henry realises Indy escaped the plummeting tank, he’s overwhelmed by relief and pulls his son to him; “I thought I lost you boy”. It’s an emotional moment, played perfectly by both actors. Connery displays a tender vulnerability the viewer wouldn’t necessarily associate with the actor, especially given his work over the preceding years playing characters with distinctly hard edges. The Untouchables’ tough veteran cop Jimmy Malone and William of Baskerville in Jean-Jacque Annaud’s excellent The Name of the Rose, for example.
“Anybody see where my ball landed?”
Despite the 12 year age gap, Ford and Connery feel like father and son. They’re a sensational double act, bickering their way through action scenes. When we first meet Henry, he’s being held prisoner by the Nazis who are trying to exploit his Grail knowledge in their bid to recover the mythical artefact.
In searching for his father, Indy inadvertently crashes through the window of the room Henry is being held in. Before recognising his son, Henry smashes a vase over his head. When he realises his mistake, he exclaims; “Junior?”. Indy immediately reverts to his younger self, standing to attention; “Yes Sir!”.
It’s such a clever moment as it tells you almost everything you need to know about the relationship between father and son. A highpoint in a movie stuffed with highpoints.
There are of course, dozens of other Connery performances close to my heart. One in particular is The Hill. Released in 1965, the same year as his fourth Bond outing; Thunderball, The Hill marked Connery’s first of five collaborations with director Sidney Lumet. Despite the movie’s lacklustre box office performance, many modern critics reckon it to be the star and director’s best work. If you haven’t seen it, I’d urge you to check it out. Robin and Marian, The Anderson Tapes and The Offence are all bangers too.
“Mind you don’t get that in my eye” With Audrey Hepburn in Robin and Marian (1976)
“Though my feet are tired, my heart is not”.
Toward the end of his career, one could assume some of his choices were driven by money rather than artistic gratification. He famously turned down the role of Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.
With the exception of The Hunt for Red October and The Rock, the last 13 years of his career saw him appear in a pretty dodgy run of films. Movies like The Avengers (The remake of the classic British spy drama), Entrapment, First Knight and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen can’t be compared to Connery’s 70s work such as The Man Who Would be King and The Molly Maguires.
The production of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen would lead Connery to announce his retirement. He reportedly spent much of the shoot clashing with director Stephen Norrington and decided at the end of it all, to hang up his guns and focus on his beloved golf.
Despite being criticised for living abroad, Connery remained intensely passionate about the country of his birth and was undoubtedly its greatest ambassador across the world. Regardless of the success over the years, he seemed fundamentally unchanged by it. In interviews he was charming and told a great story. He could also be stoic, blunt and impatient. He clearly didn’t suffer fools. I think these are qualities we Scots often recognise in ourselves.
Whether he was playing a suave secret agent, an Irish journeyman police officer or an “Egyptian” immortal, there were always elements of his Edinburgh upbringing in the performances. Allowing us, his fellow countrymen to exclaim with pride when he appears on the screen, “See him? He’s Scottish!”.
