Sean Connery Didn’t Mince Words About Roger Moore’s James Bond

Sean Connery was a straight talker, sometimes to a fault. He didn’t hold back when laying out his low opinion of the literary James Bond. He never restrained himself when discussing how the role that made his career was somewhat of a double-edged sword, at one point claiming that he “always hated that damn James Bond” and that he’d “like to kill him.” Plus, as “Goldfinger” director Guy Hamilton revealed on the banned James Bond commentary tracks, Connery didn’t stop himself from providing opinions on individual story beats, at one point calling the moment where Oddjob (Harold Sakata) crushes a golf ball with his bare hands “ridiculous” and claiming it would never make the final cut. (It did.)

That last example points to Connery’s ongoing distaste for the more fanciful elements of James Bond. Despite “Goldfinger” being responsible for some of the more outlandish Bond trademarks, such as the high-tech gadgets and the famous slow-moving laser death-trap, Connery seemed to be against much of this stuff, preferring to keep 007 somewhat grounded. Much of that surely went out the window when his spy used a jetpack to escape in the opening moments of “Thunderball,” but for whatever reason, Connery remained unimpressed by Bond’s more elaborate flourishes.

Which is partly why he wasn’t all that impressed with Roger Moore’s tenure as the super spy, and you better believe he didn’t hold his tongue on that subject, either.

Connery always had a stern manner. Though he was clearly adept at performing the kind of tongue-in-cheek humor that came to define Bond, he was simply just a bit of a grump at times, as the aforementioned public utterances should demonstrate. Much of that likely came from his upbringing. Connery took the long road to acting, having grown up in the working class area of Fountainbridge in Scotland and starting work at the age of nine. He only came to acting after being discharged from the Navy and turning down an offer to become a professional footballer. As such, it shouldn’t be all that surprising that the working class Scot came with a certain roughness. Yet, many of the actor’s public comments remain shocking — not least the time he openly admitted to being in support of slapping women.

Slightly less shocking but no less candid were the actor’s comments about the man that replaced him as Bond following 1971’s “Diamonds are Forever.” Roger Moore stepped into the tux after Connery abandoned the role for a second time, and Moore eventually made making seven Bond movies from 1973 to 1985. Sadly, Connery wasn’t all that impressed with his replacement. In the mid-’70s, the actor was busy making films like “The Offence,” a bleak crime thriller from Sidney Lumet which remains Christopher Nolan’s favorite Connery performance. As such, he was never going to be too taken by Moore’s campy version of Bond, and it seems he was not above saying as much in public.

In an interview with Eileen Prose, Sean Connery revealed that he watched Roger Moore in action, though he was less than impressed with what he saw:

“I went [to] London to see ‘Moonraker’ with Roger and I think it’s departed so much from any sort of credence from the reality that we had. And for me it doesn’t have the same … [there’s] such a dependence on the effects, and there’s no substance.”

While you might chalk Connery’s opinion up to “Moonraker” itself being one of the more fantastical Bond outings — indeed, it never ranks all that highly on lists of the best and worst James Bond movies — it seems it wasn’t just that film that left the Scottish actor unimpressed. Connery also spoke to journalist Tony Crawley for Starburst Magazine back in 1981, the same year Moore’s fifth film as Bond, “For Your Eyes Only,” debuted. The actor revealed that he’d been to see the latest installment and agreed that it hewed closer to his films, referring to it as “pacey and modern.” Still, he remained unconvinced by the whole thing, adding:

“For my choice, it’s too flippant in the sense of humor. For the sake of a couple of very — I think — cheap jokes, they spoiled a lot of very good sequences. For example, in the very beginning there is a very good sequence in a helicopter, Roger going around in a helicopter being remote-controlled by Blofeld. But then to throw it away with a pay-off like picking up Blofeld and dropping him down a chimney gets a cheap laugh — and credibility goes out the window. For me.”

Connery finished up his comments by stating, “That’s the direction it’s gone in — one that I don’t appreciate.” Well, you can’t get more direct than that.