Sean Connery (1930-2020)

Like many, we at The Watchers were very saddened to hear of the passing of Sean Connery. The Oscar-winning actor and producer, the first actor to play James Bond on film, passed away on 31st October 2020, after a long illness, at the age of 90. 

Born Thomas Sean Connery on August 25th 1930 in Edinburgh, he held many different jobs before he became an actor, including a milkman, a nude model for students at the Edinburgh College of Art, a bricklayer, a coffin polisher, and a bodybuilder (he entered the 1953 Mr. Universe contest, finishing third in the tall man's division). At the age of 23, Connery had a choice between becoming a professional footballer (for which he showed much promise) or becoming an actor. In his own words: “I realised that a top-class footballer could be over the hill by the age of 30, and I was already 23. I decided to become an actor and it turned out to be one of my more intelligent moves.”

Connery made his film debut in 1957 as Mike in crime drama Action Of The Tiger, which was directed by Terence Young (who would go on to direct three Bond films, all with Connery in the lead). One of the first film roles Connery had which made an impact was when he appeared in the 1959 Disney family fantasy adventure Darby O'Gill And The Little People, playing a strapping young caretaker called Michael McBride. It’s been claimed that this helped him land the role of Bond when producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli attended a screening and was impressed by the fistfight Sean has with a village bully at the climax of the film. 

After Darby O'Gill And The Little People, Connery appeared in several television movies and series, which included playing John Proctor in The Crucible (1959), Hotspur in An Age Of Kings (1960), the title role in Macbeth (1961), and Count Vronsky in Anna Karenina (1961). In 1962, he appeared on screen as Private Flanagan in the historical war drama The Longest Day, an all-star cast which told the events of D-Day from both Allied and German viewpoints. 

Of course, the film role for which he will be most closely associated is that of British secret agent James Bond in six official (and one unofficial) movies, starting with Dr. No (1962). Ian Fleming, Bond’s creator, initially did not like Connery’s casting, feeling he was too “unrefined” (and had had Cary Grant in mind instead). Connery allegedly improvised the iconic introduction “Bond. James Bond” as the line as written felt flat and sounded unnatural. He would also star as Bond in From Russia With Love (1963) [his personal favourite of his Bond films], Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), and You Only Live Twice (1967). After a particularly unpleasant time in Japan during the filming of You Only Live Twice, Connery announced that he would not be returning to the Bond franchise. 

Aside from playing Bond, during the 1960s, Connery appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock film Marnie (1964) opposite Tippi Hedren. Anxious not to be typecast as a spy, Connery asked to see a script before he agreed to sign on. When told by Hitchcock’s agent that not even Cary Grant asked to see a script, Connery responded with “I’m not Cary Grant”. Despite playing a fairly unpleasant character- Mark’s treatment of Marnie at one point is particularly abhorrent- he started to lose the mantle of being Bond. He also  made the first of five films with Sidney Lumet in The Hill (1965) and appeared as explorer Roald Amundsen in The Red Tent (1969).

When George Lazenby refused to return to the Bond franchise after On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), the search was on for a replacement. At the last minute, Connery agreed to return as Bond for Diamonds Are Forever (1971) for a reported $1.25m, an astronomical salary which meant the special effects budget was scaled back significantly. Diamonds Are Forever has a certain camp charm about it, but it’s a far cry from the quality of the other Bond films Connery did. 

Throughout the rest of the 1970s, Connery appeared in a variety of different genres and types of roles. He appeared as alien exterminator Zed in John Boorman’s Zardoz (1974), reunited with Sidney Lumet for the all-star Agatha Christie adaptation Murder On The Orient Express (1974) in which he played Colonel Arbuthnot, and appeared opposite Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer in The Man Who Would Be King (1975) which Connery regarded as his favourite movie role. In 1976, he played Robin Hood opposite Audrey Hepburn in Robin And Marian, and took the role of Major General Roy Urquhart in A Bridge Too Far (1977). The real Roy Urquhart was an advisor on the film, but had no interest in films and didn’t know who Connery was or why his daughters were so excited that he was playing their father!

In 1981, Connery appeared as King Agamemnon in Terry Gilliam’s fantasy comedy adventure Time Bandits. Gilliam had not originally intended to cast Connery; the screenplay stated that, when Agamemnon took off his helmet, he “looked exactly like Sean Connery”. But in one of those wonderful coincidences, Connery got a hold of the script and expressed interest in doing the film. 

In 1983, Connery played Bond for the seventh time in Never Say Never Again, an unofficial Bond film (i.e. not produced by Eon Productions). Never Say Never Again is essentially a retread of Thunderball, and was released in the same year as an official Bond film: Octopussy. In the "Battle of the Bonds", Octopussy came out on top, despite Never Say Never Again doing well at the box-office.

 

In 1986, Connery played Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez in Highlander, reprising the role in the 1991 sequel Highlander II: The Quickening. Apart from James Bond, Ramirez is the only role that Connery played more than once. He also appeared as William von Baskerville in the adaptation of Umberto Eco’s mystery novel The Name Of The Rose (1986). 

In 1987, Connery starred as Irish-American cop Jim Malone in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables. Connery would go on, not only to be nominated for an Oscar, but to win: he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1988. Connery rounded off the 1980s playing Professor Henry Jones in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.

The 1990s started with three iconic roles: Marko Ramius in The Hunt For Red October (1990), Barley in The Russia House (1990), and King Richard the Lionheart in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991). He also appeared as King Arthur in First Knight (1995), provided the voice of Draco the Dragon in DragonHeart (1996) and played John Patrick Mason in The Rock (1996). In 1998, he appeared as Sir August De Wynter in the big-screen adaptation of The Avengers, opposite Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes. Generally derided as one of the worst films ever, Connery slices the ham thick as the megalomaniacal weather-obsessed villain. At the end of the decade, Connery played art thief Mac in cat-and-mouse thriller Entrapment (1999) opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones. Starting the twenty-first century, he played reclusive author William Forrester who befriends a student in the 2000 drama Finding Forrester. 

Connery’s role as Allan Quatermain in fantasy action-adventure The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) would be his last live-action movie role. Persistent clashes between Connery and director Stephen Norrington went so far as to cause frequent shouting matches on set. After such an exhausting and fractious experience, Connery decided to take a step back from film-making. In 2006, he announced he had retired, although provided a voice-over for a Scottish animated film called Sir Billi in 2012.

In a career spanning seven decades, Connery was offered- and rejected- several high profile roles. He was offered the role of Gandalf in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, but turned it down as he did not understand the books. He also turned down the roles of John Hammond in Jurassic Park (1993), Simon Gruber in Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995), King Edward I in Braveheart (1995), Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence Of The Lambs (1991), The Architect in The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003), Thomas Crown in The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), and Professor Waldman in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994). He was considered for a cameo role in Skyfall (2012)- to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise- but the producers felt it might have been too distracting for the audience. This role- Kincade the gamekeeper- went to Albert Finney. 

Connery received the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh in 1991, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to film in 2000. He was previously married to Australian actress Diane Cilento, who is the mother of his son Jason (also an actor). In 1975, he married Micheline Roquebrune and they remained married until Connery’s passing. 

The words “icon” and “legend” often get thrown around too liberally, but those words describe Connery to a tee. James Bond is such an iconic cinematic character and a lot of that is due to Connery’s original performance- suave, magnetic, yet dangerous. He will be sorely missed. 

Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this time.

Murder On The Orient Express (1974)

Last week, the first trailer for the new version of Murder On The Orient Express was released. Directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot, the cast also includes Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, and Johnny Depp. 

However, it is not the first film adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel. There was a version released in 1974, directed by Sidney Lumet, which was the first of the all-star Christie adaptations of the 1970s and 1980s.

December 1935. The famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is travelling from Istanbul to England aboard the Orient Express. He is berthed in the Calais coach and is approached by an American businessman, Samuel Ratchett, to provide protection for him; Ratchett has been receiving death threats. Poirot turns the offer down. Later that night, the train is stuck in a snowdrift whilst travelling through Yugoslavia. The following morning, Ratchett is found dead, stabbed to death multiple times during the night.

But who did it? Was it the American widow? The Swedish missionary? Could it have been the Russian princess, or her faithful ladies' maid? How about Ratchett's secretary, or the English teacher? The Scottish soldier or the French conductor? The American businessman or the Italian car salesman? Maybe it was the Hungarian count or his wife? Or- in the best traditions of crime novels- did the butler do it? 

With so many suspects and only a short amount of time before the Yugoslav authorities arrive, Poirot must follow the clues, interview the suspects, exercise his little grey cells and find out who the killer is...

The suspects - but whodunnit?

Christie's novel was originally published in 1934 and is one of her most famous, as much for the solution to the murder as the story itself. It makes the most of its enclosed setting, has some interesting red herrings and is a masterpiece of plotting. Paul Dehn's screenplay (with uncredited work by Anthony Shaffer) maintains this intricacy.

Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot

Albert Finney plays Poirot here, the first and (so far) only time he's played the role. His performance is very different from that of Peter Ustinov or David Suchet; Finney seems to play up the bon vivant side to Poirot's nature and there seems very little of the moral dilemma which Poirot finds himself in at the end of the story (although that could be a scripting issue). Considering Finney wasn't the first choice to play Poirot- the role was originally offered first to Alec Guinness and then to Paul Scofield, both of whom were unavailable- he gives a strong performance throughout, especially during the summation where he reveals the identity of the murderer. Finney was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role, although lost to Art Carney for Harry And Tonto.

Lauren Bacall as Mrs Hubbard

The rest of the cast are superb, with particular stand-out performances by Lauren Bacall as the garrulous widow Mrs Hubbard, John Gielgud who puts in a stiff upper lip as Ratchett's valet Beddoes, and Anthony Perkins as the nervous secretary Hector McQueen. There's a lovely turn by Vanessa Redgrave as teacher Mary Debenham, who coolly responds to Poirot's questioning, and Sean Connery is strong as the taciturn Colonel Arbuthnot. Ingrid Bergman gives a nice performance as the slightly scatty missionary Greta Ohlsson, while Wendy Hiller and Rachel Roberts make a formidable duo as the Princess Dragomiroff and her maid Hildegarde Schmidt. Michael York and Jacqueline Bisset round off the main cast nicely as the fiery Count Andrenyi and the quiet Countess, whilst Richard Widmark gives an air of oily charm as the doomed Ratchett.

Murder On The Orient Express was nominated for six Oscars (including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score), winning one: Best Supporting Actress for Ingrid Bergman. Bergman also won the Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for her role, whilst John Gielgud won the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA.

Ingrid Bergman with her Best Supporting Actress Oscar

Agatha Christie had been reportedly unimpressed by previous attempts to adapt her novels- there had been a few adaptations of And Then There Were None, the Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple films, and The Alphabet Murders with Tony Randall as Poirot- and she had initially refused to sell the film rights to any more of her novels. She was persuaded by Nat Coleman (chairman of EMI) and Lord Louis Mountbatten (father-in-law of producer John Brabourne) to allow them to film Murder On The Orient Express.

Christie attended the premiere in November 1974 (on what would be her final public appearance before her death in January 1976) and it was the only film adaptation released in her lifetime that she was completely satisfied with. She particularly liked Finney's performance as Poirot, saying it came closest to her idea of the Belgian detective- although she did say that she was a little disappointed with the moustache! (I wonder what she'd make of Branagh's comedy walrus moustache in this new version!)

Dame Agatha Christie meets Queen Elizabeth II at the Murder On The Orient Express premiere

So if you need a recommendation to see this film, you can do worse than the author's own seal of approval. It's a classy, elegant adaptation of a superb novel and expertly acted by a stellar cast. Branagh's got some way to go to match the excellence of this film.

Tez

The Avengers (1998)

This is nothing to do with the Marvel superheroes movie which is imminent, but rather a look back at a truly terrible film I haven't seen in years (in fact, probably not since 1998- when it first came out).

The plot, such as it is, is relatively straightforward: Ministry man John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) is paired up with Dr Emma Peel (Uma Thurman) to find out who is sabotaging the nation's weather. All signs point to Sir August de Wynter (Sean Connery), eccentric weather enthusiast and thoroughly bad egg. Steed and Peel must stop de Wynter before his maniacal meterological machinations come to fruition.

Do not get me wrong; there is a lot wrong with this film (the script and some of the performances for starters). But, on rewatching it, I found myself getting into the spirit of things and ended up actually quiet enjoying myself.

Fiennes is a perfectly servicable Steed, slightly suave although lacking a real sense of charm. Thurman is admittedly pretty bad although her pairing with Fiennes works quite well. You almost believe their relationship until it takes a turn for the romantic (something the original TV show never did). Connery slices the ham incredily thick as the nominal villain but any film that has the chutzpah to put James Bond in a teddy-bear costume deserves some recognition. Which this one did; nominated for 9 Golden Raspberry Awards, it won Worst Remake or Sequel (tied with Godzilla and Psycho). It just beggars belief that there were actually worse films out in 1998 (mostly Burn Hollywood Burn!) than this godawful mess.

I'd forgotten a lot of the supporting cast so it was a surprise to see Jim Broadbent and Fiona Shaw pop up as Mother and Father respectively (heads of the Ministry); usually both of them have much more class than to appear in dreck like this, so I can only assume it was either the money or the opportunity to play against type that got them to sign on the dotted line. Similarly with Eileen Atkins who plays Ministry agent Alice (a role offered to Diana Rigg, who passed) who seems to be enjoying herself. All three turn in decent performances but are not well served by the script; more of which later. 

The biggest surprise however was that Patrick Macnee (the original Steed) pops up in a voice-only cameo as Colonel Invisible Jones. This turned out to be Macnee's final film role but it's a little bit of fun. Keeley Hawes, Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays and Eddie Izzard also pop up in minor roles, with Izzard delivering the only strong language in the film (a fact that, again, I didn't remember but was surprised at).

I've been dancing round the subject a bit, so time to stop. The script. My God, it's awful. There's no other word for it. Don MacPherson (the named screenwriter) should never again be allowed to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard to even write a shopping list. The pun-tastic and innuendo-laden script could inspire its own drinking game, but all participants would be absolutely slaughtered by the second reel.  It even stops being fun or ironic after about twenty minutes. When the foundation of a film is built on sinking sand, there's not much anyone else can do to save it. It's a telling fact that MacPherson's IMDB entry records nothing else written after The Avengers.

The director, Jeremiah Chechik, has fared better, directing for TV (Chuck, Burn Notice and Warehouse 13 amongst his credits). To be fair, Chechik does well with what he has. There are several sequences which stand out- Peel's frantic chase around an Escher-inspired house is one and the opening training sequence another- whilst some of the CGI (given its age) still stands up quite well. However, the film didn't fare well at test screenings and the film was edited down from 115 minutes to 87- perhaps those missing 28 minutes actually makes sense of the whole thing? The editing looks like its been done with a blunt and rusty hacksaw which really doesn't help matters.

In conclusion; it's still an awful film. But it's not quite as awful as I remember it.

Tez