NEW YORK-Feeling not a little awed by the prospect of the evening ahead, I pulled open the door of the Iridium Bar on West 63rd Street in Manhattan.
Somewhat tentatively I poked my head around until I saw the faces I remembered from the day before at the collector's show in Jersey City-Lee Pfeiffer and his wife Janet, Dave Worrall, and Raymond Benson, together with a number of other faces to which I was unable to put names. All three men have written what may be regarded as definitive works on various aspects of Bondiana:
-Lee's "The Incredible World Of 007", and "The Films Of Sean Connery", -Dave's "The Most Famous Car In The World", and "The Corgi Diecasts Of 007", -Raymond's "The James Bond Bedside Companion", and of course his new James Bond novel, the excellent "Zero Minus Ten". My credentials? A few incoherent ramblings on alt.fan.james-bond, and to date exactly one article on a website, but somehow I d managed to impress Raymond enough that he suggested I join this "inner circle" on this evening. Nonetheless, this august group made me feel completely welcome, and as I worked my way through several different topics of conversation (and a large Jack Daniel's), my anxiety dissolved into eager anticipation of the event we were all gathered here to attend. As the hall's music system played soundtrack themes from the Connery filmography, Raymond and I found our seats, in a box on the second tier just above and to the right of the stage. The corresponding box on the far side remained noticeably empty. At approximately 8:10 PM the sound of bagpipes filled the magnificent Avery Fisher Hall. Two pipers marched up the aisles to the stage. As they reached the stage, the empty box was illuminated by a spotlight. Further illumination was immediately forthcoming in the shape of Mr. Connery himself. No film you've ever seen is sufficient to prepare you for the powerful magnetism of being in the same room with this icon of the screen. It is no wonder that women of all ages weaken at the knees and men twitch up the corners of their mouths in wistful jealousy and admiration. He graciously acknowledged the two minute standing ovation with a few waves, returning the applause to the audience with some of his own, bowed and took his seat, joined by his companions in the front row of that box. The illustrious row of eight that faced us across the auditorium, from left to right (left being furthest from the stage): Blair Underwood, Tippi Hedren, Harrison Ford, Micheline Connery, Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Sidney Lumet, and Diana Ross. The format of the evening was to be a speaker, followed by (since this is after all a film society) film clips from selected Connery films, each one averaging about five minutes in length, then another speaker, and so on. The program commenced wtih an opening montage of about five minutes length, somehow fitting in brief glimpses from almost every film Sean had played in. Roy Furman, chairman of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, then took the stage with a glowing recap of Sean's career, followed by five minutes each from "Another Time, Another Place" and "Darby O'Gill and the Little People". Diana Ross recalled meeting Sean through some golf-related function in the Sixties, and related how she had been greatly shaken and stirred by many of his performances, but would always think of him as "the one and only Bond...James Bond". That sentence was immediately followed by a ten-minute montage of Bond films, which, it seemed, drew the biggest cheers of the evening.  Ursula Andress came out, and, in halting, accented English, lauded Connery as a staunch friend through many years. She was quickly followed by Sidney Lumet. Lumet spoke of the film many feel contained Sean's greatest performance-"The Offence". He recalled the poor release strategy that caused the film not to succeed commercially despite its excellence, and somewhat cynically speculated that a vindictive UA exec wanted the film to fail to press Connery back into Bondage. This was followed by terrific scenes from "The Offence", "The Hill", "A Fine Madness", and "Marnie". Tippi Hedren recalled working on "Marnie" with Sean, and her lament to Hitchcock that he had cast her as a frigid kleptomaniac opposite the sexiest man in pictures. Hitchcock had replied, "THAT's why it's called acting". | "The Untouchables" and "Just Cause" were followed by Blair Underwood, Connery's "Just Cause" costar. Underwood joked that he told Connery he could take him at golf to get him to be particularly nasty in that scene, and praised Sean's down-to-earth ability to get the intimidated Underwood to relax upon their first meeting by telling him to remember that "we're here to tell a story - so just tell it". After "The Man Who Would Be King", long-time friend Michael Caine's taped message lamented, with tongue in cheek, how they could have really been great friends if it hadn't been for golf, and two girls Sean stole from him in a pub when they were extras in a "South Pacific" chorus. George Plimpton recalled Connery trying to help him relax on the "Just Cause" set. "I fluffed the line, again, and I saw Sean coming over. I thought, My God, what s he going to do , but all Sean said was Your brain has no oxygen in it. Take a deep breath. " Plimpton relaxed, but continued to blow his line. After "The Wind And The Lion", and "Highlander" came a taped salute from Steven Spielberg in which he promised to continue bombarding Connery with project ideas until he says "yes" to one. After "Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade", Harrison Ford recalled Connery's makeover of the ineffectual bookworm Henry Jones into a character with wit, depth and vibrancy as Ford and Spielberg watched in wonderment.
|
Ford praised Connery's ability to inhabit a character completely and make it look easy every time, despite never concealing his Scots accent in any of them. Ford noted "he honors his homeland every time he opens his mouth".