Combining spectacle with human drama, disaster movies are some of the largest, most epic canvases filmmakers can work on. And now we’re ranking some of the best and worst disaster movies, from Certified Fresh to Fresh to Rotten movies, all ranging from earthquakes (San Andreas), asteroids (Deep Impact), tsunamis (The Impossible), airplanes (Airport), fires (The Towering Inferno), boats (Titanic), and just about everything mother nature can throw at us (2012).
And now, the latest weather report: Twisters has gone Certified Fresh, just as we’ve re-visited the the 1996 original’s disaster zone and added as many new reviews as we could. Hit F5 on the Twister movie page and you’ll encounter over 70 reviews added recently!
So put on a helmet, wear a lifejacket, and hunker down in your fallout shelter as brace for the disaster movies ranked!
Critics Consensus: Well-acted and blessed with a refreshingly humanistic focus, The Wave is a disaster film that makes uncommonly smart use of disaster film clichés.
Synopsis: A Norwegian geologist (Kristoffer Joner) and his family (Ane Dahl Torp, Jonas Hoff Oftebro) fight for survival when a massive [More]
Critics Consensus:Deepwater Horizon makes effective use of its titular man-made disaster to deliver an uncommonly serious -- yet still suitably gripping -- action thriller.
Synopsis: On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, igniting a massive fireball that [More]
Critics Consensus: The screenplay isn't quite as powerful as the direction or the acting, but with such an astonishing real-life story at its center, The Impossible is never less than compelling.
Synopsis: A couple and their three sons encounter terror, courage and compassion following the December 2004 tsunami that devastated Thailand. [More]
Critics Consensus:Black Sea may not be particularly deep, but thanks to Kevin Macdonald's judicious direction and a magnetic performance from Jude Law, it remains an efficiently well-crafted thriller.
Synopsis: Soon after losing his salvage job, former naval officer Robinson (Jude Law) assembles a misfit crew of unemployed sailors for [More]
Critics Consensus: Summoning a storm of spectacle and carried along by the gale force winds of Glen Powell's charisma, Twisters' forecast is splendid with a high chance of thrills.
Synopsis: Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Kate Cooper, a former storm chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her [More]
Critics Consensus: An urgent warning against nuclear conflict, Threads is a chilling hypothetical that achieves visceral horror with its matter-of-fact presentation of an apocalypse.
Synopsis: Young lovers Ruth (Karen Meagher) and Jimmy (Reece Dinsdale) decide to get married after Ruth unexpectedly gets pregnant. But their [More]
Critics Consensus:The Poseidon Adventure exemplifies the disaster film done right, going down smoothly with ratcheting tension and a terrific ensemble to give the peril a distressingly human dimension.
Synopsis: En route from New York City to Greece on New Year's Eve, majestic passenger ship the S.S. Poseidon is overtaken [More]
Synopsis: In this large-ensemble disaster movie, Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster), the general manager of a Chicago-area airport, must contend with a [More]
Critics Consensus: Although it is not consistently engaging enough to fully justify its towering runtime, The Towering Inferno is a blustery spectacle that executes its disaster premise with flair.
Synopsis: Classic 1970s disaster movie about a fire that breaks out in a state-of-the-art San Francisco high-rise building during the opening [More]
Critics Consensus: A high-concept blockbuster that emphasizes special effects over three-dimensional characters, Twister's visceral thrills are often offset by the film's generic plot.
Synopsis: During the approach of the most powerful storm in decades, university professor Dr. Jo Harding (Helen Hunt) and an underfunded [More]
Critics Consensus: A frustratingly uneven all-star disaster drama, Outbreak ultimately proves only mildly contagious and leaves few lasting side effects.
Synopsis: A dangerous airborne virus threatens civilization in this tense thriller. After an African monkey carrying a lethal virus is smuggled [More]
Critics Consensus: Though it gets occasionally bogged down by touchy-feely sentiment, White Squall benefits greatly from Jeff Bridges' assured lead performance and Ridley Scott's visceral, exciting direction.
Synopsis: In 1960, a hardy group of prep school students boards an old-fashioned sailing ship. With Capt. Christopher Sheldon (Jeff Bridges) [More]
Critics Consensus:Don't Look Up aims too high for its scattershot barbs to consistently land, but Adam McKay's star-studded satire hits its target of collective denial square on.
Synopsis: Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) make an astounding discovery [More]
Critics Consensus:Volcano's prodigious pyrotechnics and Tommy Lee Jones' crotchety sneers at lava aren't quite enough to save this routine disaster film.
Synopsis: When a massive earthquake rocks the city of Los Angeles, Emergency Management department head Mike Roark (Tommy Lee Jones) returns [More]
Critics Consensus:San Andreas has a great cast and outstanding special effects, but amidst all the senses-shattering destruction, the movie's characters and plot prove less than structurally sound.
Synopsis: A seemingly ideal day turns disastrous when California's notorious San Andreas fault triggers a devastating, magnitude 9 earthquake, the largest [More]
Critics Consensus:The 33 offers an appropriately inspirational account of real-life heroism, but its stirring story and solid performances are undermined by a flawed focus and an overreliance on formula.
Synopsis: Disaster strikes on Aug. 5, 2010, as a copper and gold mine collapses in Chile, trapping 33 men underground. With [More]
Critics Consensus:The Hurricane Heist is a throwback to the overblown action thrillers of yesteryear -- and a thoroughly middling example of why they don't make 'em like this anymore.
Synopsis: The rural town of New Hope, Ala., has a pair of super-sized problems heading its way: There's a hurricane bearing [More]
Critics Consensus: While the special effects are well done and quite impressive, this film suffers from any actual drama or characterization. The end result is a film that offers nifty eye-candy and nothing else.
Synopsis: Based on a true story, the film tells of the courageous men and women who risk their lives every working [More]
Critics Consensus:The Day After Tomorrow is a ludicrous popcorn thriller filled with clunky dialogue, but spectacular visuals save it from being a total disaster.
Synopsis: After climatologist Jack Hall is largely ignored by U.N. officials when presenting his environmental concerns, his research proves true when [More]
Critics Consensus: The destruction of Los Angeles is always a welcome sight, but Earthquake offers little besides big actors slumming through crumbling sets.
Synopsis: When a major earthquake hits Los Angeles, the various residents of the city cope with the chaos and destruction. Successful [More]
Critics Consensus: Lovely to look at but about as intelligent as the asteroid that serves as the movie's antagonist, Armageddon slickly sums up the cinematic legacies of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay.
Synopsis: When an asteroid threatens to collide with Earth, NASA honcho Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thornton) determines the only way to [More]
Critics Consensus:Aftershock hints at an inventive twist on horror tropes, but ultimately settles for another round of mind-numbing depravity that may alternately bore and revolt all but the most ardent gore enthusiasts.
Synopsis: Mayhem and death follow when an earthquake traps a group of tourists (Eli Roth, Andrea Osvárt) in a Chilean town. [More]
Synopsis: Terrorists have planted a deadly virus on a transcontinental train. On board are the glamorous Jennifer Chamberlain (Sophia Loren) and [More]
Critics Consensus: Roland Emmerich's 2012 provides plenty of visual thrills, but lacks a strong enough script to support its massive scope and inflated length.
Synopsis: Earth's billions of inhabitants are unaware that the planet has an expiration date. With the warnings of an American scientist [More]
Critics Consensus: Whether Moonfall is so bad it's good or simply bad will depend on your tolerance for B-movie cheese -- but either way, this is an Emmerich disaster thriller through and through.
Synopsis: In Moonfall, a mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision [More]
Critics Consensus: This remake of The Poseidon Adventure delivers dazzling special effects. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that any of the budget was left over to devote to the script.
Synopsis: After a huge tidal wave capsizes a luxury liner in the North Atlantic, individual survivors (Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Jacinda [More]
Critics Consensus: The movie works when things are on fire, but everything else - from dialogue to characters - is scathingly bad.
Synopsis: Volcanologist Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) and Mayor Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton), finally convince the unbelieving populace that the big one [More]
Critics Consensus: The opening's got a great fiery explosion and Stallone puts in another earnest, sympathetic performance, but all else in Daylight feels designed to annoy the audience into submission.
Synopsis: A group of armed robbers fleeing the police head for the New Jersey Tunnel and run right into trucks transporting [More]
Critics Consensus: Clumsily scripted and populated with forgettable characters, Into the Storm has little to offer beyond its admittedly thrilling special effects.
Synopsis: Professional storm-chasers run toward danger to track a series of deadly tornadoes menacing a town over the course of a [More]
Critics Consensus: Lacking impressive visuals, well-written characters, or involving drama, Geostorm aims for epic disaster-movie spectacle but ends up simply being a disaster of a movie.
Synopsis: After an unprecedented series of natural disasters threatened the planet, the world's leaders came together to create an intricate network [More]
Synopsis: Scientist Dr. Bradford Crane and army general Thalius Slater join forces to fight an almost invisible enemy threatening America; killer [More]
Footballer. Bodybuilder. Navy soldier. Milkman. No, these aren’t the declassified origins of MI6 agent James Bond, but of the actor who would embody him: Sean Connery. An appropriately colorful past for a strappng Scot, Connery saved the best career change for his mid-20s when he turned down a sports contract to pursue theater and acting in the 1950s. Bit parts came quick, leading into 1959 when the very Scottish actor was cast in the very Irish movie, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, which still sticks out in his filmography as one of the rare times Connery has sung on-camera, and his only solo.
Another movie where Connery sings? You know its name: Dr. No, the first James Bond film ever adapted from the espionage books by Ian Fleming, in which Connery has a very brief duet with Ursula Andress. A tremendous financial success back then (and Certified Fresh now), it not only launched the 007 series but a whole international spy genre that would dominate the ’60s, and hang ripe for parody and resurrection for decades to come. Sequels like From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice came in rapid annual fashion.
After being freed from MI6 service and starting in the ’70s, fans never had to wait long for a new on-screen appearance from Connery, who put out two or three movies a year through the late-’90s. The Man Who Would Be King, Murder on the Orient Express, A Bridge Too Far, and Zardoz were among the most notable (and in the last’s case, peculiar) of the ’70s. And the ’80s would see him in Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits, 007 swan song Never Say Never Again, action classic Highlander, and The Untouchables – the only time he’s ever been nominated for an acting Oscar.
He closed the decade with fan-favorite Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as Indy’s dad, and started the ’90s with The Hunt for Red October. He then began to settle more into older statesman and mentor roles – First Knight, Entrapment, Finding Forrester — which probably seemed less appealing as the reviews came in worse and worse. The Avengers was a widely-publicized box office bomb, while The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen became but another embarrassing bullet point on Alan Moore’s list of why he hates Hollywood. But Connery was always a forceful presence, no matter the film he found himself in. The actor retired from acting after League, with only a vocal performance in homegrown Scottish animated movie Sir Billi to tide audiences over in the last 15 years, and in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, we sadly lost Sir Sean Connery at the age of 90.
Now, we celebrate a life in film as we rank all Sean Connery movies by Tomatometer! —Alex Vo
Critics Consensus: There should have been only one.
Synopsis: In this sci-fi/fantasy sequel, Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) has become an elderly man after losing his immortality. Living in a [More]
Critics Consensus: Just ordinary. LXG is a great premise ruined by poor execution.
Synopsis: A team of extraordinary figures culled from great adventure literature (including Alan Quatermain, vampiress Mina Harker from Dracula, the Invisible [More]
Synopsis: Brilliant, eccentric research scientist Richard Campbell (Sean Connery), after living for six years in the Amazon jungle, has possibly discovered [More]
Critics Consensus:Just Cause you round up a phenomenal cast, that doesn't mean you have everything you need for a solid legal thriller -- and this film is forgettable proof.
Synopsis: Paul Armstrong (Sean Connery), a law professor who staunchly fights the death penalty, is lured into defending a death row [More]
Critics Consensus: A poorly developed plot weighs down any potential chemistry between the movie's leads.
Synopsis: Insurance investigator Virginia "Gin" Baker (Catherine Zeta-Jones), looking into a stolen Rembrandt painting, suspects that accomplished thief Robert "Mac" MacDougal [More]
Synopsis: While guiding a hunting party of clueless European aristocrats, cowboy Bosky Fulton (Stephen Boyd) leads them into hostile Apache territory. [More]
Critics Consensus: This unimaginative reimagining of Arthurian legend dispenses with the magic without achieving a convincing realism in the bargain, suffering from fatal miscasting and a lack of romance.
Synopsis: Handsome swordsman Lancelot (Richard Gere) is incredibly skilled at fighting, but when he meets the lovely Guinevere (Julia Ormond), he [More]
Critics Consensus:Zardoz is ambitious and epic in scope, but its philosophical musings are rendered ineffective by its supreme weirdness and rickety execution.
Synopsis: In the future, Earth is ruled by Eternals, an advanced and secret sect of beings who reign over a savage [More]
Critics Consensus:Dragonheart gives us medieval action, a splendidly mulleted Dennis Quaid, and Sean Connery as a talking dragon -- and, unfortunately, a story that largely fails to engage.
Synopsis: Disillusioned knight Bowen (Dennis Quaid) befriends Draco (Sean Connery), the last of the dragons, and the two begin scamming village [More]
Critics Consensus:The Presidio is too well-cast and competently directed to be truly painful, but action fans have no shortage of more compelling options.
Synopsis: Ex-military policeman Jay Austin (Mark Harmon) is now a San Francisco detective. When his former MP partner is killed at [More]
Critics Consensus: It's overly talky, but Playing By Heart benefits from witty insights into modern relationships and strong performances from an esteemed cast.
Synopsis: In this tale of how love binds 11 random people from Los Angeles, a married couple (Sean Connery, Gena Rowlands) [More]
Synopsis: John Milius fictionalizes the historical story of President Roosevelt's attempts to deal with the kidnapping of an American citizen by [More]
Critics Consensus:Diamonds are Forever is a largely derivative affair, but it's still pretty entertaining nonetheless, thanks to great stunts, witty dialogue, and the presence of Sean Connery.
Synopsis: While investigating mysterious activities in the world diamond market, 007 (Sean Connery) discovers that his evil nemesis Blofeld (Charles Gray) [More]
Critics Consensus:A Bridge Too Far is a war movie too long, although top-notch talent on both sides of the camera keeps the end result consistently watchable.
Synopsis: Late in 1944, the Allies seem to have the upper hand in the European land war. A combined British and [More]
Critics Consensus: While the rehashed story feels rather uninspired and unnecessary, the return of both Sean Connery and a more understated Bond make Never Say Never Again a watchable retread.
Synopsis: An aging James Bond (Sean Connery) makes an uncharacteristic mistake during a routine training mission, leading M (Edward Fox) to [More]
Synopsis: While visiting Moscow, British publisher Barley Blair (Sean Connery) learns of a manuscript detailing the Soviet Union's nuclear missile capabilities. [More]
Critics Consensus:Robin and Marian gives the legendary characters a somber sendoff, finding ample success in the romantic chemistry between Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn while yielding diminishing returns in its attempts at relevant satire.
Synopsis: Long after their original adventures in Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood (Sean Connery) and his trusty sidekick, Little John (Nicol Williamson), [More]
Critics Consensus: With exotic locales, impressive special effects, and a worthy central villain, You Only Live Twice overcomes a messy and implausible story to deliver another memorable early Bond flick.
Synopsis: During the Cold War, American and Russian spacecrafts go missing, leaving each superpower believing the other is to blame. As [More]
Critics Consensus: Laboriously paced and overly talky, The Great Train Robbery nevertheless pulls off a thrillingly staged finale anchored by winning performances from Donald Sutherland and Sean Connery.
Synopsis: Edward Pierce (Sean Connery) is a master thief of the Victorian Era who's never found a heist he couldn't pull [More]
Critics Consensus: Despite the predictability of its plot and its similarity to Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester has an honest, solid feel to it and good rapport between Connery and Brown.
Synopsis: A unique relationship develops between an eccentric, reclusive novelist and a young, amazingly gifted scholar-athlete. After the novelist discovers that [More]
Critics Consensus: Slick on the surface but loaded with artful touches, Brian DePalma's classical gangster thriller is a sharp look at period Chicago crime, featuring excellent performances from a top-notch cast.
Synopsis: After building an empire with bootleg alcohol, legendary crime boss Al Capone (Robert De Niro) rules Chicago with an iron [More]
Critics Consensus: A coolly constructed mystery revolving around a character who's inscrutable to a fault, Marnie finds Hitchcock luring audiences deeper into the dark.
Synopsis: Mark Rutland (Sean Connery) is a customer of one Mr. Strutt, whose business was robbed by his secretary, the mysterious [More]
Critics Consensus: Lavishly rendered set pieces and Sean Connery's enduring charm make Thunderball a big, fun adventure, even if it doesn't quite measure up to the series' previous heights.
Synopsis: Led by one-eyed evil mastermind Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), the terrorist group SPECTRE hijacks two warheads from a NATO plane [More]
Critics Consensus: Lighter and more comedic than its predecessor, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade returns the series to the brisk serial adventure of Raiders, while adding a dynamite double act between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery.
Synopsis: An art collector appeals to Jones to embark on a search for the Holy Grail. He learns that another archaeologist [More]
Critics Consensus: Perfectly cast and packed with suspense, The Hunt for Red October is an old-fashioned submarine thriller with plenty of firepower to spare.
Synopsis: Based on the popular Tom Clancy novel, this suspenseful movie tracks Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) as he [More]
Critics Consensus:Time Bandits is a remarkable time-travel fantasy from Terry Gilliam, who utilizes fantastic set design and homemade special effects to create a vivid, original universe.
Synopsis: Young history buff Kevin (Craig Warnock) can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former [More]
Critics Consensus: Murder, intrigue, and a star-studded cast make this stylish production of Murder on the Orient Express one of the best Agatha Christie adaptations to see the silver screen.
Synopsis: Having concluded a case, detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) settles into what he expects will be a relaxing journey home [More]
Critics Consensus: The second James Bond film, From Russia with Love is a razor-sharp, briskly-paced Cold War thriller that features several electrifying action scenes.
Synopsis: Agent 007 (Sean Connery) is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret [More]
Critics Consensus: Featuring plenty of the humor, action, and escapist thrills the series would become known for, Dr. No kicks off the Bond franchise in style.
Synopsis: In the film that launched the James Bond saga, Agent 007 (Sean Connery) battles mysterious Dr. No, a scientific genius [More]
Critics Consensus:Goldfinger is where James Bond as we know him comes into focus - it features one of 007's most famous lines ("A martini. Shaken, not stirred.") and a wide range of gadgets that would become the series' trademark.
Synopsis: Special agent 007 (Sean Connery) comes face to face with one of the most notorious villains of all time, and [More]
Geostorm: the disaster movie with the disaster to end all disasters, disaster for days, isn’t being screened in advance. Not a good sign! C’mon studios, can’t you see how nice critics are being to The Snowman? Well, if Geostorm somehow receives a particularly Rotten score, it won’t be without company as we’ll see in this week’s gallery of 24 disastrous disaster movies that got less than 50% on the Tomatometer!
Krakatoa, East of Java (1969, 0%)
Just how fast does this one go downhill? For starters, Krakatoa is located west of Java….
When Time Ran Out (1980, 0%)
It’s 1980, and that’s when time ran out…for this genre! The Heaven’s Gate of disaster flicks, if you will.
Left Behind (2014, 2%)
Yea verily, like unto a plague of locusts, Left Behind hath begat a further scourge of devastation upon Nicolas Cage’s once-proud filmography.
Meteor (1979, 5%) Meteor is a flimsy flick with too much boring dialogue and not enough destruction. At least the pinball game is decent.
Firestorm (1998, 12%) Firestorm failed to ignite ex-pro footballer Howie Long’s career…or anything else for that matter.
The Concorde…Airport ’79 (1979, 14%)
The original Airport put the disaster genre into flight, gathering a dozen top-billing actors and even a Best Picture nomination. Three movies and a decade later, there’s barely enough stars to fill the poster, and even the ellipsis in the title suggests, ‘What are we all still doing here?’
Sharknado: The 4th Awakens (2016, 17%)
Loses the ridiculous charm of its predecessors, leaving only clumsy social commentary and monotonous schtick that’s lost its bite.
Into the Storm (2014, 21%)
Clumsily scripted and populated with forgettable characters, Into the Storm has little to offer beyond its admittedly thrilling special effects.
Daylight (1996, 26%)
The opening’s got a great fiery explosion and Stallone puts in another earnest, sympathetic performance, but all else in Daylight feels designed to annoy the audience into submission.
Dante’s Peak (1997, 26%)
The movie works when things are on fire, but everything else – from dialogue to characters – is scathingly bad.
Pompeii (2014, 27%)
This big-budget sword-and-sandal adventure lacks the energy and storytelling heft to amount to more than a guilty pleasure.
Hard Rain (1997, 29%) Hard Rain is an implausible heist movie soaked in disaster movie trappings.
Poseidon (2006, 33%)
This remake of The Poseidon Adventure delivers dazzling special effects. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that any of the budget was left over to devote to the script.
Earthquake (1974, 35%)
The destruction of Los Angeles is always a welcome sight, but Earthquake offers little besides big actors slumming through crumbling sets.
Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017, 45%)
A mild bounce back from the lows of the fourth Sharknado.
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015, 26%) Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! bites off more than it can chew, leaving viewers with an overlong mess that isn’t even bad enough to be good.
Hurricane (1979, 38%)
It’s Mia Farrow’s Swept Away! She stars in this sandy romance (with music by Nino Rota and cinematography by Sven Nykvist) featuring a 25-minute appearnce by the titular disaster.
2012 (2009, 39%)
Roland Emmerich’s 2012 provides plenty of visual thrills, but lacks a strong enough script to support its massive scope and inflated length.
Armageddon (1998, 39%)
Lovely to look at but about as intelligent as the asteroid that serves as the movie’s antagonist, Armageddon slickly sums up the cinematic legacies of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay.
The Core (2003, 41%)
A B-movie with its tongue planted firmly in cheek, The Core is so unintentionally (intentionally?) bad that it’s a hoot.
The Day After Tomorrow (2004, 45%)
A ludicrous popcorn flick filled with clunky dialogue, but spectacular visuals save it from being a total disaster.
The 33 (2015, 45%)
Offers an appropriately inspirational account of real-life heroism, but its stirring story and solid performances are undermined by a flawed focus and an overreliance on formula.
Volcano (1997, 46%) Volcano‘s prodigious pyrotechnics and Tommy Lee Jones’ crotchety sneers at lava aren’t quite enough to save this routine disaster film.
San Andreas (2015, 49%) San Andreas has a great cast and outstanding special effects, but amidst all the senses-shattering destruction, the movie’s characters and plot prove less than structurally sound.
Thanks to ComingSoon.net for sharing a press release from the American Film Institute: Sir Sean Connery has been selected by the American Film Institute’s (AFI) Board of Trustees to receive the 34th AFI Life Achievement Award, the highest honor for a career in film, it was announced today by Sir Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI Board of Trustees.
The award will be presented to Connery at a gala tribute in Los Angeles on June 8, 2006.
"Sir Sean Connery is an international film icon," said Stringer. "Though best remembered for creating one of the great film heroes of all time, his talents transcend typecasting, and his body of work not only stands the test of time, but illuminates a career more extraordinary than James Bond himself. Sir Sean is an artist of the highest order, and AFI is honored to present him with its 34th Life Achievement Award."
"In Sir Sean, AFI has found a perfect honoree for its Life Achievement Award," added Bonnie Hammer, President, USA Network and SCI FI Channel. "A celebration of his outstanding work guarantees a tribute as entertaining as it is deserved."
USA Network will broadcast the 34th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute in June 2006. Bob Gazzale, who served as executive producer and writer of AFI’s Tributes to George Lucas, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro, will continue in these roles.
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Sean Connery grew up in a two-room flat, working odd jobs from a young age to earn extra money for his family. After three years in the navy he played football (soccer) semi-professionally, but it was his hobby of weightlifting that pushed him into the spotlight. Connery represented Scotland in the Mr. Universe pageant and shortly thereafter began to model. He finally caught the acting bug and entered the theater, touring with "South Pacific."
With a bit part in the 1962 WWII epic "The Longest Day," he could have been lost amongst the film’s star-studded cast, but of course he wasn’t, and ‘James Bond’ was found. Harry Saltzman may have recognized Connery’s refined disposition, but it was Cubby Broccoli that glanced out the window and noticed this man slinking down a street in London, "like a panther." It was then that he knew he had found Bond. And, though Ian Fleming‘s image of James Bond may not resemble Sean Connery, to the world he soon would be the iconic Bond of the big screen.
Cast as Agent 007 in "Dr. No," Connery inaugurated one of the longest-running series in film history. He starred as Bond in "From Russia with Love," "Goldfinger," "Thunderball," "You Only Live Twice," "Diamonds are Forever" and "Never Say Never Again." His salary from "Diamonds are Forever" went to kick-start the Scottish International Education Trust, which helps many young Scottish students fund their education. The trust also funds a drama chair at Glasgow’s Strathclyde University.
In addition to receiving both the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and the Golden Globe Award in 1987 for his performance in "The Untouchables," Connery has received numerous other accolades. They include, among others, the Legion d’Honneur and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (the highest honors given in France), and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Best Actor award for "The Name of the Rose" in 1987, as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award — special BAFTA silver mask presented by H.R.H. Princess Anne to a British actor or actress who has made an outstanding contribution to world cinema — presented in 1990.
In 1995 he was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field" given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at its annual Golden Globe Awards. In 1997, Connery was honored with a Gala Tribute by the Film Society of Lincoln Center for his lifetime career and, in April 1998, BAFTA honored him with their highest award, The British Academy Fellowship. In 1999, Connery was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient and in 2000 he was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List. Connery’s proudest moment, and in his mind, his greatest honor to date, came when he received the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh in 1991.
The highest honor given for a career in film, the AFI Life Achievement Award was established by the AFI Board of Trustees on February 26, 1973. It is presented to a single honoree each year based on the following criteria as mandated through a resolution passed by the AFI Board of Trustees:
"The recipient should be one whose talent has in a fundamental way advanced the film art; whose accomplishment has been acknowledged by scholars, critics, professional peers and the general public; and whose work has stood the test of time."
In 1993, the trustees extended the criteria to encompass "individuals with active careers and work of significance yet to be accomplished."
Sir Sean Connery joins an esteemed group of individuals who have been chosen for this distinguished honor since its inception in 1973.