Sean Connerys Bond Movies 10 Things That Still Hold Up Today

Sean Connery’s Bond Movies: 10 Things That Still Hold Up Today

Sean Connery was the first and is still considered by many to be the best James Bond. All these years later, his 007 movies still hold up.

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Sean Connery was the first actor to play James Bond on the big screen, and many fans believe he perfected the role right out of the gate. From Dr. No to Goldfinger, some of the greatest movies in the 007 franchise came from the Connery era.

There’s a lot about Connery’s Bond movies that have aged poorly, like their treatment of female characters and a handful of politically incorrect one-liners, but they also hold up in a lot of ways. From action scenes that still pack a punch to theme songs that still entrance audiences today, Connery’s six Bond films from 1962 to 1971 have stood the test of time.

10 Connery’s Definitive Portrayal Of 007

According to Looper, Ian Fleming was initially unsure about the casting of a rough-around-the-edges Scottish actor from a working-class background to play the gentleman spy. In his early Bond novels, Fleming had conceived 007 as a clean-cut upper-class Englishman. As soon as he saw Connery in character, the author found himself reversing his opinion of the actor.

Connery’s ice-cool yet nuanced performance as James Bond is remembered as the definitive portrayal of the character. Fleming enjoyed Connery’s portrayal of Bond so much that he retroactively gave the character a Scottish heritage in the novels.

9 Goldfinger’s Thrilling Cold Open

One of the hallmarks of Bond movies is the pre-title action sequences that reimmerse audiences in the dangerous, exotic world of 007. The director Guy Hamilton both established this trope and perfected it with the spectacular opening scene of Goldfinger.

First, Bond emerges from the ocean with a fake bird on his head as a disguise. Then, he blows up a drug laboratory. Then, he takes off his wetsuit to reveal a crisp white tuxedo underneath and lights a cigarette as if nothing happened. This set piece remains a high benchmark for the series’ action-packed cold opens. It perfectly reintroduces the Bond character’s casual suaveness.

8 Terence Young’s Sharp Characterization Of Bond

While the Bond formula wouldn’t be perfected until Guy Hamilton directed the third movie Goldfinger, Terence Young brilliantly characterized Bond in the first two movies, Dr. No and From Russia with Love.

Those movies might not be globetrotting actioners with theme songs by iconic pop artists, but they nailed Bond’s characterization as the dark intersection between a cool guy and a killing machine.

7 The Brutality Of The Orient Express Fight In From Russia With Love

In From Russia with Love’s most brutal sequence, Red Grant (Robert Shaw) has Bond cornered on a train. 007 manages to disorientate Grant with tear gas from his gadget-filled briefcase, but the SPECTRE agent goes down swinging. The ensuing three-minute fight is shocking even by today’s standards.

Even though he’s protected by plot armor, Bond genuinely seems to be in danger. He’s beaten within an inch of his life, and Grant fights dirty. More than half a century later, this is still one of the most visceral and best fight scenes ever put on film.

6 The Offbeat Sense Of Humor

When Dr. No hit theaters in 1962, one of the reasons why it became a big enough success to launch a half-century-spanning franchise is that its offbeat sense of humor arrived as a breath of fresh air.

Spy movies had fallen into a rut of taking themselves too seriously, so the genre had grown dull and stale. So, when James Bond came along with his goofy gadgets and quippy one-liners, audiences were thrilled to have some humor injected into their espionage movies.

5 Memorable Side Villains

The Bond franchise is renowned for its villains, but it’s getting harder and harder to find memorable villains in its modern movies (although Le Chiffre and Raoul Silva have been highlights of the Craig era).

Not only did the Connery movies have memorable villains like Dr. Julius No, Auric Goldfinger, and the big bad himself, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, they even had memorable side villains, like the iconic Oddjob and the unforgettably brutal Red Grant. Oddjob, in particular, has been immortalized in video games (GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64) and film parodies (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery).

4 Shirley Bassey’s Iconic Themes

After Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger theme became one of the most beloved and recognizable pieces of music in movie history, the 007 producers decided to try to replicate its success by hiring a contemporary pop artist to sing a theme song for each subsequent Bond movie.

Bassey’s Goldfinger theme set a benchmark for all Bond themes to come and has yet to be topped. Her Diamonds Are Forever theme isn’t quite as great, but it’s still one of the all-time best. She also came back to do the Moonraker theme in the Roger Moore era, but it failed to reach the artistic heights of her 1960s work.

3 The Technical Achievement Of Thunderball’s Underwater Battle

As one would imagine, it’s very difficult to shoot action scenes underwater, so filmmakers tend to avoid it, even today. But back in 1965, Terence Young mounted a wildly ambitious undersea battle for the climax of Thunderball.

By its fourth outing, the Bond franchise’s formula was showing its first signs of staleness. Filmed at Clifton Pier and choreographed by veteran diver Ricou Browning, this underwater battle sequence helped to shake up that formula. The gamble worked; Thunderball was the 3rd highest-grossing movie of 1965, with only The Sound of Music and Doctor Zhivago topping it at the box office.

2 Gert Fröbe’s Eccentric Yet Menacing Turn As Auric Goldfinger

The traits of a Bond villain are now pretty well-established: a quirky megalomaniac with a ridiculous evil plan that 007 has to foil. That all started with Auric Goldfinger.

Goldfinger has a distinctive quirk (an obsession with gold) and a ludicrous plan (destroy everyone else’s gold, so he has all the gold), and Gert Fröbe brilliantly brought the character to life with an eccentric yet menacing performance. Fröbe’s performance helped make Goldfinger one of the best villains in the Bond franchise.

1 “Bond, James Bond”

In arguably Dr. No’s most memorable scene, Bond sits down in a casino and announces his name: “Bond, James Bond.” Connery’s off-the-cuff line delivery is just as cool today as it was in 1962.

This isn’t just an iconic Bond moment; it’s one of the most iconic moments in the history of cinema, often ranking alongside the chestburster scene from Alien and “I’ll have what she’s having” from When Harry Met Sally as the most memorable moments in movies.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/sean-connery-james-bond-movies-things-still-hold-up-today/

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