To say that Sean Connery is no longer in the game, meaning show business, is kind of overkill since he doesn’t look like he’s really all there some days and on others he looks as though he could come roaring back in one of the greatest comebacks ever. But as Looper points out he hasn’t been seen in a film since 2003. Reportedly he almost came back in 2007 but decided against it. If you’ll recall the last film he was ever in was The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, a movie that looked like it could have been something but instead turned out to be a childlike dream that mashed some of the greatest literary legends together in a rather juvenile way that Connery was none too happy about. There were likely a few fans that enjoyed the movie but they were in the minority it would seem since the majority opinion was that it was just horrible. After that it almost seems as though he made the decision to just hang it up and leave rather than try to redeem himself in a way that might have ended in disaster.
As you might think would happen Connery has been kind of keeping quiet since his departure from show business, and Bridget Rogers of the Gazette Review wrote a couple of years back he’s been taking it easy and just living his life. It’s a bit hard to recognize him these days as age has seemed to finally catch up to him and he likely wouldn’t be picked as one of the sexiest men alive any longer. But in terms of the country he came from he’s still one of the most famous Scots alive and has created a legacy that’s bound to stick around for a while since he did create some truly iconic characters in his time. A trip down memory lane seems fitting at this time, so let’s take the first step.
Unlike many people that have been around since he started I first remember watching Connery as James Bond, obviously a while after the films were made. The role was one that he made into an icon and has been used to judge just about every Bond that’s come after since many think that Connery was the epitome of the dashing and dangerous spy. George Simpson of the Express pointed out a couple years ago however that Connery became a bit disillusioned with the role and didn’t want to be typecast as a one-trick pony. Connery was apparently getting bored with the character since he wasn’t developing at all and was being given one mission after another in an endless parade of the same old thing. That’s kind of funny if you think about it, Connery was actually wanting to change things up back then and instead the studio decided to keep running with the same old, same old. These days a lot of studios are attempting to switch things up just to survive. Hindsight, as you might guess, is just as perfect in show business as it is anywhere else.
He’s had other memorable roles such as Ramirez from Highlander, but this too began to see him being typecast as the wily old mentor that was great in his role but didn’t really change from one movie to another. This was the case in The Untouchables as well, though thankfully the role of Malone earned him an Oscar and was therefore worth the effort. His time in other movies however was only broken up by his role in The Hunt for Red October in which he was cast as the commander of a Russian submarine and was trying to defect to America. After that he became the mentor again and while he was good at what he did, he was starting to feel a little put out since it was getting a bit tiresome. One can at least admit that in movies such as The Presidio and The Rock he was very good since he might have been the older gentleman that acted as a mentor, but he was still allowed to be tough as nails and possess a great amount of skill that would impress the audience. Apart from that however, his acting days were already drawing to a close and it kind of seems as though he might have known as much.
There’s something to be said for actors that hang in there well past their prime, but there’s also something to be said for those that realize when it’s time to get out, like Connery did. He saw his career going down and rather than try to revive it with something great and possibly life-changing, which would have been a gamble, he decided to head on into the sunset. At this point in life he’s not really into much more than playing golf and appearing in public places every now and then. Hey, he’s earned it.
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