Sean Connery's 10 greatest movies
Sean Connery, Hollywood's Original James Bond, Dies at 90
In an acclaimed career that spanned six decades, Sean Connery appeared in seven 007 movies and won an Oscar for The Untouchables
The late Sean Connery starred an incredible number of enduringly watchable films. But which are the best 10 to feature the Scottish actor, who has passed away at the age of 90?
GOLDFINGER (1964)
Classic Bond doesn't get any more classic than Connery's third time as the superspy. Goldfinger has everything, from Gert Frobe's villain to Shirley Bassey's theme song to, of course, the man himself as Her Majesty's coolest, deadliest employee (see also: all the other Connery-starring Bond movies up to, but maybe not including, 1983's Never Say Never Again).
ZARDOZ (1974)
In 1974, no one was asking for a science fiction extravaganza in which Connery played a red diaper-clad assassin acting on the orders of a giant floating stone head. And very few people appreciated this film from Deliverance director John Boorman when it arrived. Yet Zardoz has to be seen — and not just so you believe it exists.
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975)
Connery and Michael Caine are adventurers who take over the distant province of Kafiristan in John Huston's epic retelling of the Rudyard Kipling novella.
TIME BANDITS (1981)
A fan of the Terry Gilliam-featuring comedy ensemble Monty Python's Flying Circus, Connery made a cameo as King Agamemnon in Gilliam's fabulous low budget fantasy film. FYI: Gilliam and Michael Palin's original script had originally described Agamemnon as looking "exactly like Sean Connery, or an actor of equal but cheaper stature."
THE NAME OF THE ROSE (1986)
The actor is a Franciscan friar — and Christian Slater his young helper — in this engrossing whodunnit, adapted from Umberto Eco's novel.
HIGHLANDER (1986)
Connery fails to entirely convince as a character of Egyptian descent. Then again, Christopher Lambert doesn't exactly sell his lead role as a Scottish clansman. But Connery is thoroughly entertaining in director Russell Mulcahy's tale of sword-fighting immortals.
THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987)
Brian De Palma's Prohibition-era crime film featured unforgettable performances from Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness and Robert De Niro as Al Capone. But it was Connery who took home an Oscar for his portrayal of doomed Irish cop Jim Malone.
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989)
Steven Spielberg's threequel is a pretty unimpeachable piece of action-adventure nonsense, if you ignore the fact that Connery was only a dozen years older than Harrison Ford, who he is supposed to have fathered in the movie.
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990)
Connery is utterly compelling as a Soviet submarine commander attempting to defect in John McTiernan's nerve-rending adaptation of Tom Clancy's novel.
THE ROCK (1996)
Michael Bay's enjoyably bonkers action movie teams Nicolas Cage's chemical weapons specialist with Connery's long-incarcerated military veteran. Can they stop the Alcatraz-based Ed Harris from destroying San Francisco? Well, yes, obviously, but it's very fun to watch them do it.
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