SEAN CONNERY

                                                             Part 3

Here is the third and final article about Sean Connery movies (not including the Bonds). 

Harrison Ford is of course the main guy in the four Indiana Jones movies. But in the third entry Sean Connery appears as Indy’s father, a professor. The prof has gone missing on a journey to find the holy grail. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) has lots of Nazis and action and is as good as the other films. Connery is just fine as Indy’s somewhat absent minded Dad. 

The Russia House (1990) features a fine script by Tom Stoppard from the book by the inimitable John Le Carre. Sean Connery is Barley Scott-Blair, head of a British publishing firm. On a business trip to Moscow he stumbles upon a document supposedly leaked by one of Russia’s top scientists which says the Soviet nuclear program is in disarray and the West should stop the arms race. MI6 and the CIA get involved and Barley heads back to Russia to confront the leaker.

Rising Sun (1993) from a crackerjack book by Michael Crichton, stars Sean Connery as police officer John Connor, dispatched to a murder scene at the LA office of a Japanese company. The death of a call girl is recorded on a video disc which turns out to have been digitally altered. When it is corrected, it changes things completely.

        The Rock (1996) is about a raid into Alcatraz to rescue captured tourists and prevent rogue Marines from firing rockets into San Francisco. Sean Connery plays John Mason. He is pardoned from another prison to help with the raid. He is the only person to ever escape Alcatraz (and live to tell about it) and knows all of the ins and outs of the storied prison. Lots of action and hijinks follow.

        In The Avengers (1998) Sean Connery portrays a mad scientist out to control the earth's weather. He runs up against the iconic Emma Peel and John Steed, the same characters from the popular British TV series.

        And finally there is Finding Forrester (2000). Sean Connery plays the title character, William Forrester, author of a Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Forrester has become a recluse, rarely leaving his apartment. He befriends Jamal, a local kid with a talent for writing. After a ragged start, Forrester agrees to help Jamal with his writing, and, incidentally, his life. This is one of Connery's finest roles and he makes the most of it.

        All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups. 

                                                           SEAN CONNERY

                                                           Part 2

Here are five more good movies starring the late great Sean Connery. 

Connery convincingly plays the renegade Berber chieftain Raisuli in the adventurous The Wind And The Lion (1975). Britain, Germany and France are all trying to get a piece of 1904 Morocco. Raisuli kidnaps Eden Pedecaris and her two children in an effort to force out the corrupt Sultan (don’t ask). There’s a botched exchange of the kidnap victims and Raisuli is betrayed by a confederate. President Theodore Roosevelt gets into the game and winds up admiring the Berber. Based on a true incident? Uh, no. 

The Man Who Would Be King (1975) is based on a Kipling adventure story. Sean Connery plays Danny Dravot. He and companion soldier Peachy Carnehan (Michael Caine) trek to faraway Kafiristan where they help the natives with modern weapons and tactics to defeat their enemies. When an arrow hits Danny but is stopped by his leather bandolier the natives then think he is a god and make him their king. He loves the adulation, and wants to meet Queen Victoria as an equal ruler. 

A Bridge Too Far (1977) is a film too long. Good lord, what a cast: Sean Connery, James Caan, Michael Caine, Edward Fox, Dirk Bogarde, Elliot Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, etc, etc. And that is the problem. Too many names, all of whom have to have screen time. The story of an allied attempt to land paratroopers behind German lines and secure needed bridges is a good one. Just 4 minutes short of three hours, it’s pretty good if you have a comfortable chair. Sean Connery is quite good as British Major General Urquart. 

The Great Train Robbery (1978) is the best of several films about an amazing and complicated heist. Sean Connery is gentleman thief Edward Pierce. He recruits a specialized gang to rob a large and heavily guarded gold shipment. Every time there’s a hump to get over, the gang seems to rise to the occasion. The ending is quite good and this is a fun movie. Author Michael Crichton adapted the screenplay from his novel and also directs. 

Sean Connery’s only Oscar (for Best Supporting Actor) came from The Untouchables (1987) in which he plays Jim Malone, part of a police squad gathered by Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner). Their principal task is to take down mobster kingpin Al Capone. Their moniker comes from the fact they are immune from the corruption surrounding law enforcement in Chicago. Unable to pin any of Capone’s more violent crimes on him, they go after his tax returns and discover a way to get to him. The way forward is not easy, and many of the incorruptible group are killed. There’s plenty of action and a neat ending. 

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups. Next time, the third and final installment about Sean Connery films. 

                                                            SEAN CONNERY

                                                            Part 1

Many actors have done a fine job of portraying James Bond; Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore to name a few. But there’s only one Bond- Sean Connery.

No one else could lift that eyebrow or say “shaken, not stirred”, like the wily Scot. Well, nothing lasts forever and Connery bid this vale of tears farewell at the great age of 90.

And while Bond was his signature role he had lots of others. Since the Bond movies tend to have the same basic plot, I’m going to skip them. They are fun, though!

That leaves me with only 15 or so good movies to write about. So this is going to be the first of probably three articles about the late great Sean. I am, of course, up for that. I’m going to go chronologically starting with the earliest.

Marnie (1964) features Tippi Hedren in the title role and Sean Connery as wealthy Mark Rutland. Marnie seems a really bad girl who steals money here and there. Mark falls in love with her, tries to pay off her victims, and straighten her out. Her past is revealed in a layered fashion in an attempt to explain her sticky fingers. Not director Alfred Hitchcock at the top of his game, but pretty good. 

In The Hill (1965) Sean Connery is Joe Roberts, a British soldier sent to a British detention camp in desert Libya. The camp is run by sadistic officers bent on breaking the prisoners. The hill of the title is a manmade thing which only exists to torture the prisoners. The sadistic officers make them run up it over and over. Roberts becomes something of a hero to the other men because he refuses to knuckle under.

Connery plays completely against type in A Fine Madness (1966) and he aces it. He is Samson Shillitoe, a failed poet with severe writer’s block. This does not, however, affect his attraction to various women. He spends time in a sanitarium where he is subjected to a risky operation, which has no effect on his temper or writer’s block. But he does meet and bed more ladies.

The Anderson Tapes (1971) is one of the first films to include various kinds of  clandestine and open surveillance. Sean Connery  plays Duke Anderson, a safe-cracker just released from prison. He plans to rob an entire apartment building and rounds up a group of miscreants to help him. Unknown to the gang, the whole operation is being watched and recorded from the beginning by the IRS, the FBI, a private detective and others. By the time the gang is ready to leave with their loot, the place is completely surrounded by the police and a shootout leaves most of them dead. 

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is a delightful romp that keeps you guessing unless you already know the answer. You won’t get it from me. The 1964 version is quite good with Sean Connery as Col. Arbuthnot.  A whole bunch of train passengers are stalled over night by a track blockage and daylight reveals that one of them was murdered. The 2017 version is, I think, equally good. If you’ve never seen either, or read the book, you will enjoy the story.

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups. More Sean Connery films next time. 

                                                    COMING FULL CIRCLE

I love movies with lots of different plot lines that somehow come together against all expectations. The only trouble with writing about them is that it is hard not to give away how the various threads are finally woven together. 

At least one of them has won a Best Picture Oscar and so I’ll start with Crash (2004). Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle and Matt Dillon lead a fine cast through a rather complex plot involving race relations, bad and error-prone cops and mistaken identities. The screenplay also won Oscar and the complications are worth staying on board to get the payoff. 

Babel (2006) is a terrific film that keeps you guessing as to how all these plot lines intersect. An accident connects four groups of people on three different continents: two young Moroccan goatherds, a vacationing American couple (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett), a deaf Japanese teen and her father, and a Mexican nanny who takes her young charges across a border without parental permission. The title reminds one of the biblical tower, and miscommunication is one of the main plot lines. The movie was nominated for seven Oscars, but won only for Best Original Score. 

Look Both Ways (2005) is a splendid Australian film with a mostly unknown cast.  Reporter Nick discovers he has cancer, and on his way to cover a train accident he encounters Meryl, who witnessed the event.  Nick’s colleague,  Andy, has to deal with his ex-wife’s refusal to believe he can properly care for their children. The train victim’s wife and the driver of the train are grieving and trying to get on with life. The ending of this film brought tears to my eyes. 

Mother and Child (2009) has a good story and a crackerjack cast: Samuel L. Jackson (you can’t get away from him!), Naomi Watts, Annette Bening and Kerry Washington are as good as expected. The film involves adopted children, attempts to reconnect, lots of twists and turns and a fine ending. 

Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic (2000) features interwoven stories about the drug trade in America and elsewhere. Benecio Del Toro, Catherine Zeta Jones, Michael Douglas and Don Cheadle head the cast. Soderberg, always the innovator, uses different color grades for each story so it’s easy to tell them apart. There are other movies named Traffic, but I can recommend only this one. 

Syriana (2005) completes my list. The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon), a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes (George Clooney) uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins. You will not see the end coming.

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults. If you can think of any other movies that fit this rather limited category, I would appreciate an email advising.

 

                                                    HANDICAPPING THE OSCARS

America, Hollywood, and especially the Motion Picture Academy, are absolutely head-over-heels in love with movies about people overcoming severe disabilities. At least 10 Oscars have been awarded to the actors who undertake these difficult roles. At Academy Award time, always bet on the gimper.

The most recent winner was Brit Eddie Redmayne, who won the gold for his incredible performance as world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything (2014).  Hawking had late-stage ALS and could only communicate through a computer program. He was confined to a wheelchair for many years. Mr. Redmayne’s portrayal is astonishing. 

In Rain Man (1988), Dustin Hoffman is spectacularly good as an idiot-savant who has few social skills and the common sense of a tree, but who can instantly compute square roots in his head. Tom Cruise is equally good as his cynical brother, and their mutual voyage of discovery make this film a must-see.

Daniel Day-Lewis catapulted to stardom as Irish author Christy Brown, severely afflicted with cerebral palsy, in My Left Foot (1989). Brenda Fricker and Ray McAnally are just right as his unsentimental and bewildered parents. This is a superb film with excellent performances that gently teaches us not to be so concerned with peoples’ appearances, but to look within (them and us!).

In the enigmatic and deliberately weird The Piano (1993) Holly Hunter’s affliction is constant but entirely self-inflicted. She is mute by choice. She is sent to an arranged marriage in a strange New Zealand locale. Her ability to convey emotion with just her face and body language is absolutely amazing. Sam Neill as her husband, Anna Pacquin as her daughter, and the always dependable Harvey Keitel as her Maori lover help make this film something altogether different and fascinating.

      Cliff Robertson had a good career as a conventionally handsome and unspectacular journeyman actor, but his moment in the sun came in Charly (1968). He is severely mentally retarded. An experimental drug instantly lifts him to mental brilliance, but gradually wears off. His ability to convey the nuances the part requires is convincing and frankly surprising. And he copped the Best Actor Oscar. This film is better than the similar Awakenings (1990), 

Tom Hanks made the dim-witted but ebullient Forest Gump (1994) a national icon. Forest is a good old boy whose elevator stops well short of the penthouse, but he is solid as a rock and the things he can do far outweigh his deficiencies. By turns serious and funny, but never preachy, this remarkable film won every award in sight and deserved them all. Sally Field as his long-suffering mother and Gary Sinise as his damaged friend add to the enjoyment. 

I’ll also mention Jamie Foxx, who won for the blind Ray Charles in Ray (2004), and Colin Firth, overcoming a debilitating speech impediment in The King’s Speech (2010).

My limited research failed to find a Best Actor nominee with a handicap who lost the award. 

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are suitable for 12-year-olds and up.