2020-10-31

RIP Sean Connery

A week after I rewatched the Connery Bond films, the news comes along that the great man himself, Sean Connery, has died at age 90.

For me, Connery is James Bond. This isn't a unique thing: according to Bond author Ian Flemming, Connery is Bond. According to David Mitchell, Connery is Bond. As David notes, "well, you know James Bond? You're picturing him? Yeah, that's Sean Connery".

Thok Mak wins the day when, after I told him this earlier this morning, he replied with "now go watch a bunch of Justin Trudeau speeches"

One of the other things that come to mind about Connery was, and I was thinking about him a few months ago in this context, is is Sean Connery the biggest name actor never to have a movie discussed by RedLetterMedia?

The answer, surely, is "yes". Since they've recently done Brad Pitt's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" he's off the table. "Gravity" took George Clooney off the board (to say nothing of their Batman and Robin commentary track), and The Martian was discussed in one of their Oscars roundup videos. They've covered both Canadian Ryans (Reynolds and Gosling), all of the Marvel movies, numerous Tom Cruise movies, and of course several with Ernest Borgnine. All the Star Wars coverage takes care of those franchise actors including Harrison Ford, while the 80s action stars of Stallone/Schwarzenegger/Willis have been featured (though mostly in other movies). All of the Ghostbusters are covered, with John Candy getting featured in Nothing But Trouble.

DiCaprio has been covered, and so the only other star of 70s+ (ie. modern era) film I can think of would be Jack Nicholson. I suppose it's a tossup if you asked a hundred people who the bigger star was, but I'm going to instinctively say Connery.

The man. The Legend. The Zardoz (okay, not so much the last one). But let's celebrate Sean Connery's life by showing him do what he did best: smack bitches around with such ruggedness that they loved him even more:

One last note: It remains a shame that Connery didn't get to be the first Prime Minister of an Independent Scotland and also that Fred Thompson didn't get to become U.S. President, because whenever they attended a summit together it would also be a Hunt for Red October reunion.