Connery Part 2 - Bond
In the 1980s, Bond films were on television in the UK all the time. They were a particular cornerstone of Christmas scheduling and it was one such Christmas, when I was around 6 or 7 and staying with my Gran and Papa in Kilsyth, that I saw Doctor No for the first time.
While this was my first encounter with Connery, it wasn’t my first encounter with Bond. When I was a little younger somebody in the house had taped Live and Let Die off the telly and I used to watch it regularly. I was enthralled with Tee Hee, the villainous Katanga’s metal armed henchman and the scene where a viper is released via a hidden panel into Bond’s hotel bathroom just as he’s about to take a bath.
These were the days when parents in the UK didn’t worry too much about what their children were getting up at 5am and watching. I remember them renting Raiders of the Lost Ark when I was about five or six and it being a real occasion. My grandparents came round, and we all sat down to watch it together. I was seeing Nazi’s with their faces melting at the end of my bed for weeks.
Doctor No Movie Poster.
Now here I was, settling in to watch Doctor No with my Gran and Papa. If I was confused that a different actor to the one I knew was playing Bond, I don’t remember. What I do remember is the pride in my Papa’s voice when Connery first appears on screen.
We first meet him in “Le Cercle” (Bond, not my Papa) a clearly exclusive club in London. A group of men in smart suits and bow ties are playing Baccarat. They’re joined by a beautiful woman in a red dress who is losing hand after hand to a man whose face we can’t see. We just see his hands as he expertly slips the cards from the shoe and deals them.
The unlucky lady checks that the House will extend her credit, convinced her luck is about to change. Credit secured; she loses yet another hand before asking for another thousand. The camera cuts to a hand removing a filter-less cigarette from an elegant case:
“I admire your courage, Miss?”
“Trench, Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mr?”
“Bond. James Bond”
My Papa: “See him son, that’s Sean Connery, he’s Scottish!”
And this is why Connery’s performance as Bond is the first on my list of favourite Big Tam turns. When I watch Doctor No now, I can still smell the furniture polish in my grandparent’s immaculate living room, feel the heat from the gas fire and taste the room temperature Irn Bru..
My Papa was always a fan of Fleming’s original books and I’m sure he must have seen Doctor No at least once before this festive viewing with me. Not to mention Connery’s subsequent outings as Bond. Regardless, I remember his reaction to the excitement on screen as well I remember the film itself. For the entire 109 minutes of the movie, my Papa laughed with unrestrained delight at Bond’s exploits and heroics.
Bond turning the tables on the fake chauffeur sent to kill him on his arrival in Jamaica.
Bond escaping the deadly Tarantula which the murderous Dent has planted in his room. Perhaps channelling Big Tam again as he dispatches it with the heal of a shoe.
Bond’s expert driving causing the “Three Blind Mice” assassins to hurtle off the road to a deserved fiery death.
Bond sleeping with Pleydell Smith, Dent’s assistant and double agent, before having her arrested by the CIA.
Bond killing Dent in cold blood after extracting the information he needs from him.
Bond escaping the cell in Doctor No’s lair, dodging boiling water in a boiling pipe.
Bond dropping the metal handed eponymous villain into a boiling pool before rescuing the beautiful Ursula Andress’s Honey Ryder.
“That’s a Smith and Wesson, and you’ve had your six”
Watching the film as an adult I’m struck by how he seems, from the very first, fully formed as Bond. He would go onto to play the character a further 6 times over the next 20 years, his performance never wavering, despite a growing despondency with the part.
Connery’s Bond never changes throughout his run as OO7. Never falls in love like George Lazenby and Daniel Craig’s portrayals of the character. He remains uncompromising and unemotional. Often ruthless yet retaining the twinkle in his eye.
He quit the role for the first time after the release of You Only Live Twice. Lazenby, an Australian model with no real acting experience was brought in to replace him for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Lazenby’s Bond combines the physicality of Connery and the charm of Roger Moore and he doesn’t do a bad job, despite the lack of acting experience. And OHMSS is a good entry in the series. However, for better or worse, he decided one Bond film was enough and hung up his tuxedo.
Despite Saltzman and Broccoli testing other actors, United Artists wanted Connery back for the next film in the series, Diamonds Are Forever and paid the actor a then record $1.25 million to appear and an agreement for two back to back films of his choice. This would be his last performance in an “Official” Bond film and, despite the regrettable but necessary hair piece, its business as usual. The film begins with Bond kicking ass and taking names as he searches for Blofeld and, while never considered the best entry in the series, still delivers a good time with Connery at his brutal and charming best.
His final Bond outing is the unofficial Never Say Never Again from 1983. A title supposedly borne from a resolution he made 12 years earlier doing press for Diamonds Are Forever. NSNA is a remake of Thunderball and the controversy and rights issues surrounding the production of both films and the novel is an interesting story in itself. If you’re interested in reading more about it, check out The Battle for Bond by Robert Sellers. It’s an excellent read.
The years have been kind to NSNA. It’s a decent Bond outing and certainly a better movie than Octopussy, the official Bond film released at the same time. Pat Roach appears, as the assassin, Lippe and it’s always great when Pat turns up in a movie. Connery is on fine form playing an aging, 50 something Bond.
However, the absence of the iconic Monty Norman Bond theme and different actors playing M, Q and Moneypenny is a little jarring. And despite the title of the movie, this would be the last time Connery would strap on the Walther PPK.
In the 1960s, he was clearly a very ambitious actor, keen to avoid being typecast. I think he warmed to Bond later in life and in interviews recorded in the 1990s and 2000s, he seems happy enough to reminisce on his time as the iconic spy, perhaps content that he’d achieved what he set out to over his long career.
Sean keeping his syrup dry in the pool with Kim Basinger in Never Say Never Again (1983)