'For my next miracle...'
From The Man Who Would be King to Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade,
Sir Sean Connery enjoyed an extraordinary career,
but he wrote his legend early on when he won the role of 007, James Bond.
In this top ten we look at the best lines, moments and sequences in Connery's six-film stint in the role.
Paying tribute to the original and still best cinematic Bond.
As the original, Connery’s Bond always had an advantage over those who came after,
but his dominance of the role is more than that.
'Good evening.'
All Bonds exist on a sliding scale from suave,
'Buy a drink?'
to thug,
that basic dichotomy is the heart of the character, and no one walked that line better than Connery, right from the outset.
'I'm working for...'
At number ten, my favourite line in the entire franchise.
'That's a Smith and Wesson, and you've had your six.'
The reason I like it is that what line means is; you’re unarmed, but I’m still going to kill you.
It is Bond at his mostly cold-blooded,
introducing audiences to a different kind of lead from the clean-cut heroes they were used to.
But, crucially, Connery also convinced in the other half of the equation,
looking completely at home in a casino in the south of France,
and nothing brings that home quite as effectively as this scene at the opening of Goldfinger.
The quick change from action wear to evening wear was something that future Bonds would also use,
though none of them would start the scene with a bird on their head.
and yet still, somehow, pull off that look.
The bird on the head look introduces another facet of the Bond character that Connery seemed to master with ease;
cool in every situation.
'I'm not a fool, so please don't treat me as one, and that table knife, please put it back.'
'Oh we can't all be genius can we.'
Even though Bond is in many ways a deeply uncool character.
'That's as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs.'
In Diamonds are Forever he has to maintain that cool while reading in the bath
and driving a moon buggy.
and yet...
'Thank you very much, I was just out waling my rat and I seemed to have lost my way.'
Always cool, and never more so than in our number 8 pick.
'I'm just popping upstairs for a moment.'
Effortless.
Of course, while James Bond is always cool, Sean Connery the actor might very occasionally betray a lack of it.
'Well can't win them all.'
For instance, on finding himself face to face with a shark that was supposed to be on the other side of a plastic sheet.
Actually, all things being considered, I think he was pretty cool even then.
Although Roger Moore would make more of it, comedy was always part of the Bond films,
and here too Connery was comfortably at home in his deadpan delivery.
'So what sharp little eye's you've got.'
'Wait till you get to my teeth.'
Some of the most memorable comic moments involve the spy’s interactions with the various women passing just through his life,
‘My name is Pussy Galore.’
‘I must be dreaming.’
But for our number 6 slot, we had to go with this little exchange from Diamonds are Forever.
'Hi, I'm Plenty.'
'We'll of course you are.'
'Plenty O'Toole. '
'Named after your father perhaps.'
Quips are another essential part of the Bond film make-up.
Shocking, positively shocking.
And Connery delivers them with a casual insouciance that magnificently undercuts the brutality.
'I think he got the point.'
There lots to choose from but we picked this from You Only Live Twice.
'Bon Appetit.'
Primarily because we haven’t mentioned the film yet and it was either this
or the least convincing Japanese make-up since Breakfast At Tiffany’s.
As is well-documented, Ian Fleming is not John Le Carre and James Bond is not a real spy,
even in movie terms,
'You're that secret agent, that English secret agent from England.'
but there is one spy film in the cannon.
From Russia with Love gives Bond arguably his only chance to perform some actual spy-craft,
'Can I borrow a match?'
'I use a lighter.'
'Better still.'
'Until they go wrong.'
'exactly.'
including this oddly memorable scene.
Using the Bond theme for something as visually mundane as searching a room really underscores its importance.
It’s a scene that makes Bond seem more than just a blunt instrument with incredible good luck,
and Connery underplays it beautifully like it’s just another day at the office,
as if to say; I always do this, we just don’t always film it.
'Mr Bond here, I'm a afraid the room won't do.
The same film gives Connery arguably his best fight scene.
No small things given how many there are,
but Bond’s face off with Robert Shaw’s Spectre agent has a real brutality to it.
Too often it feels like Bond is the victor with a karate chop and little real effort.
Here he has to try, it’s an ugly street fight in a confined space,
and it’s notable that Bond doesn’t use a gadget until his opponent has already done so,
keeping things on even terms.
And yet, directly before this…
'Red wine with fish, well that should have told me something.'
…again, it’s these two sides of the character, that are the quintessence of Bond.
James Bond is a series where, if a film doesn’t produce an iconic moment, we feel almost cheated.
'Ejector seat? You're joking.'
'I never joke about my work 007.'
But there are a handful that are head and shoulders above the herd,
and none more so than this, from Goldfinger.
'Do you expect me to talk?'
'No Mr Bond, I expect you to die.'
What is it about this moment that makes it special?
It’s funny, but it’s also tense, and the direction of the laser gives it the sexual edge that Bond films always played with.
'You are forgetting one thing. If I fail to report 008 replaces me.'
But I think it’s mainly Connery’s performance.
'He knows what I know.'
'You know nothing Mr Bond.'
he’s genuinely scared, and is forced to pull out every stop to survive.
'Can you afford to take that chance?'
I’m not sure we ever see Bond this panicked again,
and that makes the escape all the more cathartic.
There are so many great lines, scenes and moments in Connery’s Bond tenure.
But if you had to pick one that sums up his take on Bond and his total mastery of the character,
then, astonishingly, it’s his first.
'I admire you luck Mr?'
'Bond, James Band.'
It’s all there, underscored by Monty Norman’s iconic leitmotif;
the casual delivery yet with a hint of danger,
the feeling that you’re sitting opposite a jungle cat in evening wear.
He exudes an ethos of easy confidence and yet also the sense of being a coiled spring.
'There, now you made me miss.'
Connery had it from moment one, 'When did you say you had to leave?'
'Immediately.'
he was James Bond.
'Almost immediately.'
'Oh and Never Say Never Again is also a film.'
'Oh you're Mr Bond. I belive I'm having you in half an hour.'
'Well splendid, your room or mine.'
Thanks for watching. We put this together pretty quickly because we wanted to pay tribute to a giant of the screen,
so we may have missed some things.
Please share your favourite Connery moments from Bond, or from other films, in the comments below.