BEST SEAN CONNERY MOVIES
“Goldfinger” (1964) Most Bond purists concur this is the first 007 screen adventure that really has it all, including a deftly balanced Connery performance that blends suave charm and rugged action smoothly.
“The Hill” (1965) The long association of Connery and director Sidney Lumet began with this grueling drama of World War II military prisoners forced to do hard labor.
“The Offence” (1973) Connery’s desire to get off the “star” pedestal manifested itself in this gritty police drama, again under Lumet’s direction, about a London police detective whose anger goes too far when he interrogates a suspect. “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974) One of many familiar faces in director Lumet’s great staging of the Agatha Christie mystery, Connery makes his presence known as one of the suspects questioned by Hercule Poirot (Albert
Finney). Turner Classic Movies shows the film Sunday, March 19.
“The Man Who Would Be King” (1975)
Originally envisioned for such stars as Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart, this John Huston-directed Rudyard Kipling adaptation was delayed many years, which was great news for Connery and Michael Caine in playing soldiers of fortune in India.
“Robin and Marian” (1976) This wonderfully mature take on the Robin Hood legend cast Connery opposite Audrey Hepburn (who played, of course, his true love Maid Marian). “Outland” (1981) Pretty much “High Noon” on another planet, this underrated sci-fi tale features Connery as a lawman who targets a sly profiteer (Peter Boyle).
“The Untouchables” (1987) Oscar came calling for Connery, and deservedly so, for his portrayal of a Chicago beat cop whose street smarts go a long way in helping U.S. Treasury man Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) take down Al Capone (Robert De Niro).
“The Hunt for Red October” (1990)
Connery stepped in for the originally cast Klaus Maria Brandauer in Tom Clancy’s tale of a Russian submarine whose captain may be trying to defect, drawing CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) into the matter.
“The Rock” (1996) If Connery could make such a great secret agent, why couldn’t he make an equally fine criminal? He could, as he proved in this Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action fest in which he plays a convict sprung to help a bookish FBI agent (Nicolas Cage) thwart a renegade general (Ed Harris) threatening San Francisco, using Alcatraz as a base.