Movies that sounded foolproof on paper and had some amazing talent behind them but fell short:
Marnie
Zardoz
Cuba
Wrong Is Right
Never Say Never Again
Medicine Man
Just Cause
First Knight
Rising Sun
I really wish those movies had been better.
Highlander 2, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Avengers spring to mind without looking at his filmography.
Yeah, but those never really had a chance to begin with. The ones I mentioned SHOULD have been great considering the talent involved but weren't. I understand why Connery accepted these projects because they looked like they couldn't miss on paper. Honestly, though, LoEG, Avengers, and the Highlander series...what was he thinking? I haven't even mentioned Sir Gawain and the Green Knight yet, although that was more like a WTF.
shareContrary I enjoyed Never Say Never Again although it plodded along in places. It was critically well received (mostly) and made a fair bit of money. Why in your opinion would you consider Never Say a misfire?
Also enjoyed Marnie, Just Cause, First Knight and Rising Sun. Zardoz is enjoyably bad. Highlander 2 I found simply terrible.
I don't hate any of those movies (not even Zardoz), but I feel they were much less than they should have been. Medicine Man is mostly undone by the hoky love story and some bad dialog. First Night was hampered by the egregious casting of Richard Gere. Just Cause and Rising Sun couldn't seem to decide what they wanted to say and whether or not they want to be serious films, ending up coming across as muddled. Never Say Never started off great but listed badly in the Third Act. My understanding is that there were production problems that hampered that section of the film, so it's just bad luck more than incompetence. Marnie is a very interesting film, but it's just not front rank Hitchcock for me. Although I like Rod Taylor, I always wondered what it would have been like with Connery in The Birds instead. He might have been interesting in the Jon Finch role in Frenzy as well, although Finch was outstanding. Hitch actually considered Michael Caine for the Barry Foster role, although Foster was also excellent as the villain. Imagine that, though, a Caine/Connery Hitchcock movie!
shareAgreed that Rising Sun and Just Cause also come accross as muddled. Never Say Never Again indeed flounders - espeically detest that climatic underwater battle. Marnie was considered past Hitchcock's prime - somewhat out of date.
A Caine/Connery/Hitchcock film would of had awesome potential. Speaking of which, I've always wished that Connery had taken Caine's role in Dressed To Kill as the cross dressing killer. That would of been something else. Although I still enjoyed Caine in the role.
Zardoz is probably in my top 50 most favorite movies ) And not in a 'So Bad it's Good' category.
shareI'm not really sure what to make of Zardoz. Parts of it are brilliant and technically the film is absolutely phenomenal, and there are some interesting concept being explored. On the downside, it gets bogged down in talky pretentiousness and the last 20 or 30 minutes are a complete mess. This is just my opinion, of course. I'm a big admirer of John Boorman, but man, when he made a flop it really flopped. The Exorcist II: The Heretic makes Zardoz look like a masterpiece. I do feel this may have been the biggest lost opportunity of Connery's career, along with turning down the part of Gandalf.
What about the final scene? Was it not to your liking as well?
Sometimes I rewatch just the ending ) This and 'Zatoichi' final dance.
All I remember about the final scene was a very dodgy-looking skeleton, which even the strains of Beethoven's 7th Symphony weren't quite enough to cover up. I was thinking more of the Tabernacle scene though, which just came across like Kubrick Lite.
shareAnd the one with Miles O'Keefe. Sword of the Valiant I believe it's called. And Shalako with Brigitte Bardot.
Connery starred in more horrible pictures than any good actor ever should. His best picture in my opinion is probably The Hill. Not sure why he chose so many terrible scripts in his career. Even the Indiana Jones movie he did wasn't all that great.
Yeah, Sword of the Valiant. That was awful. His very best for me are probably The Hill (as you say) and The Man Who Would Be King. Lumet and Huston were certainly the best directors he ever worked with, aside from Hitchcock and Boorman.
shareI will have to see The Man Who Would Be King. I read the short story not too long ago and liked it.
And another one! The 1970s Murder on the Orient Express was good, but it wasn't really a "Connery movie" because he was a supporting actor.
The Name of the Rose was one of the better films from late in Connery's career. I think highly of Robin and Marion as well.
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