Sean Connery was born today in 1930. Amazing to think of all the enjoyable films he has appeared in. In addition to the classic James Bond films, Mr. Connery was in The Untouchables, The Name of the Rose, Time Bandits, Outland, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Highlander, The Great Train Robbery, The Longest Day....and many others as well.
Here are a few pics from my 16mm print of Dr. No:

That's a lovely copy Greg, is it IB Tech?; the First Great Train Robbery is a very enjoyable film.

A long list of great films! Here are some screenshots from Goldfinger and The Longest Day, both 16mm (with Norwegian subtitles).

Now that's a lovely looking print Greg, the one that started it all too and thank goodness it did, my favourite film franchise of all time, I never get tired of them.

Very nice too Elvind, some great films there, Mark

Robert,
Thanks for the kind words. It is an LPP print. I really enjoy The Great Train Robbery as well.

Hi Mark,

I agree, I never get tired of watching Connery as Bond.

A beautiful print Greg, one sold recently of this film, that was also lpp, Connery the only real bond just the best by far.......

Wenn Sie hier auf Links zu eBay klicken und einen Kauf tätigen, kann dies dazu führen, dass diese Website eine Provision erhält.

Hi Paul,

I did see that recent print for sale on ebay. It looked pretty nice. I got my print some months back from a private, non-ebay sale.

Your very lucky with that print Greg, what a beauty it is, those prints don't come around very often and certainly not in that condition, and certainly not in Uk, very few seller here offer those for sale without a big price tag to match, well done my friend .............

Greg, what a superb print of Dr No, you lucky chap
I would love to get my hands on a Connery Bond movie, especially one in that condition. Is this a recent purchase Greg? I do have a flat print of the living daylights but while its a good print, its not a patch on yours. As already said, Connery is James Bond, followed (for me) by Timothy Dalton. I like Roger Moore very much as well but have to admit that to date, i have still not seen the only one with George Lazenby, i am told he was very good.

The one actor i wish had played James Bond was Oliver Reed. He was an actor that was requested to play Bond but the heads of the film company wouldn't take a chance on him due to his well know drinking binges and the problems he could cause. But for me, a great actor.

Tom, you're lucky to have 'The Living Daylights', I saw that one on holiday in Weston-super-Mare.

I did forget to add, the one film is would love to get on 16mm is The Untouchables, especially a scope version, one of Sean Connery's best in his later career and a film i could easily watch over and over.

Tom,

Thanks for the kind words--I am really grateful to have Dr. No on film. I haven't seen much of Mr. Reed's films, but when I think of Oliver Reed, "Bill Sykes" from the film Oliver! always comes to mind. He could easily play a great Bond villain too.
I have a Super 8 trailer for the George Lazenby Bond film OHMSS, but have seen the feature on VHS/DVD. I find it enjoyable, but not sure how much it has to do with Mr. Lazenby portraying Bond as much as the storyline, location, Diana Rigg etc....But I thought he did fine--nowhere near as good as Connery that is for sure.

I think OHMSS has got better with age, your right Greg at the time is was about Lazenby more than the movie itself, if he hadn't had such an ego trip with the producers he could have gone on to do a few more, he regrets it now apparently and was ill advised at that time but would have been interesting to see what could have been.

As for Oliver Reed that would have been a bit of a boring Bond , he'd order a Vodka Martini (shaken not stirred )and sat at the bar for 2 hours!!! A great actor with a great voice too but sadly not Bond material but I bet it would have been fun.

The Timothy Dalton films were pretty much slated at the time but as with Connery, Roger Moore was a hard act to follow. They wanted to bring a harder edge to the character and portray him as in the books, very mixed reviews at the time but they made money and again watched today stand out as very good films.

The one thing I like about the early Bonds is the special effects, if you look at the special features on the dvd/bluray they went to great lengths to make things realistic on screen with sometimes the simplest ideas, dodgy back screens aside the guys behind the scenes were about the best in the business. The sets were incredible too.

Any Bond is a highlight in someone's collection , Mark

It's very interesting watching the Extras on the Bond DVDs, seeing how they did those special effects. When you saw Roger Moore and Christopher Walken fighting on the bridge in 'A View to a Kill', it was done in a studio. Timothy Dalton made two good pictures, but I can't watch anything made since.

I liked Lazenby as bond, some of the shots he looked very suave, close to Sean Connery, and certainly a tough guy braking the jaw of one of the stunt men on set, but he upset the producers by turning up with a full beard at the premier when they expressly asked him not to, so he was his own man, and would not be pushed around by them, but his career as an actor nose dived, pity he could have done a few more bonds and getting into his stride they might have been good ............

Hi Robert,

I am curious to hear your thoughts on why you don't care for the newer Bonds. I have seen most of the new ones (still like the classic Connery Bond's by far). One thing that bothers me on the new ones is when the stunts become utterly ridiculous. For example, in Skyfall when Bond gets shot off the train crossing the river bridge and falls a great distance into the water but miraculously survives...I guess that is what today's audiences are looking for though.

I agree with the comments here. For me, it took a bit of time to warm up to Timothy Dalton, but I do like his Bond films too.

Tom,

I bought the Dr. No print last October from a private seller. I don't think I have posted any pics of it until just now, although it has been regularly viewed.👍

Greg,
They just can't kill Bond off no matter how they try!!! I think looking back he's had everything thrown at him and still trying ha ha.

The first two Daniel Craig films are probably my least favourite, I find Casino Royale quite boring and Quantum of Solace choppy in the editing, but the ones that followed I've enjoyed. I have both trailers on super 8 and they are very nicely done and more enjoyable than the films. Maybe they will grow on me as time goes by.

My wife's favourite is Pierce Brosnan and I thought he was good as Bond, Die Another Day was a bit over the top with the special effects but still a good film.

Mark

Greg, I did buy a copy of the 1st Pierce Brosnan Bond, but the special effects spoiled it for me, they were over the top. I have seen trailers for the Daniel Craig films and they seem even worse. Timothy Dalton's special effects were done the traditional way, not computer generated. What was the last one Cubby Broccoli worked on?

I agree with Robert on some of the editing. The opening chase sequences in the Graig Bond movies is edited so fast you can hardly see whats going on.

I think it's got to the stage where anyone can be Bond, is got so much similar competition that they are all pretty much the same films. I'm looking forward to seeing the latest Bond but feel after Daniel Craig exits the role its the end of the franchise, as I said the last 2 or 3 films he's done are very good and keeping with the older films, we'll have to see I guess.

Now I'm a big Roger Moore fan and thought he made Bond his own, having made seven films he really did the role justice with his tongue in cheek style, as he said many times that for a super spy everyone knew him which was a silly situation from the start which made his style fit the role, he knew he had some big shoes to fill and he pulled it off. My two favourite films are Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me, but I like something about all the others too.

I guess we are concentrating on Bond a little too much here and as Sean Connery made some really great films so is this where the screenshots should go to his films or sticking to the relevant sections? Mark

Mark,

I liked Roger Moore as Bond in "The Man with the Golden Gun" and "The Spy Who Loved Me". Some of the other ones not as much, but will still of course watch them from time to time. It is really interesting to have this discussion of Bond films here--and it seems pretty clear that Connery was viewed as the iconic Bond via these posts. Posts about Connery's other roles can certainly be here too. Or, as this thread fades away over time, those can be made in the relevant sections of 8mm or 16mm films watched.

I met Roger Moore on two separate occasions which was a huge deal to me, he was everything everyone said, funny too.

I also thought I'd get to see Sean Connery as we went to the set where they were making First Knight literally just down the road where I live, unfortunately on this particular day he wasn't on set, we were gutted, Mark

Mark,

Super cool to have met Mr. Moore! Really would have been a great memory to meet Sean Connery too...well, we at least have his films to watch whenever we wish.