What’s a remembrance of Sean Connery doing on a site devoted to economics? Here’s what.
When I was between the ages of 12 and 14, my family–all 5 of us–would sometimes drive from Carman to Winnipeg (50 miles) on a cold Saturday morning. We would get there at about 11 a.m. and then split and go our separate ways. Then we would meet for dinner at a designated restaurant at about 5:30 p.m. and drive home.
In 1964, when I was 13, the thing I liked to do, besides going to Hudson’s Bay or Eaton’s and seeing things I couldn’t buy (not literally couldn’t, but if I bought one thing, I couldn’t buy anything else for a few months–I hadn’t heard of credit markets), was going to movies.
Enter Goldfinger.
For my 60 cents (if I remember correctly), I entered a wonderful world that was total fantasy. I don’t mean just the plot, which was absurd. What person invites all his partners in crime to show his next big scheme and then kills them all? Why do that?
No, the fantasy was the world of luxury: fast cars, great gadgets, travel around the world even by private jet, and beautiful women.
Contrast that with what I had. We lived in a house built in 1880 and bought by my father with cash for $9,300 in 1960. (When I sold the house in 1997, a neighbor commented that the curtains in the living room were the same ones that had been up when we bought it from the Doyles 37 years earlier.) It had 3 small bedrooms and one bathroom with a bathtub and no shower. The temperature on the day I saw the movie was probably somewhere between -15 degrees F and 20 degrees F. (Back then we didn’t use the metric system: curse you, Pierre Trudeau.) The furthest I had ever traveled was 20 miles into Ontario and 20 miles into North Dakota.
And gadgets? Fuhgetaboutit. It was a big deal when we got an electric toaster and my mother finally got an electric egg-beater.
So seeing an Aston Martin with an ejection seat? Wonderful. Seeing in the opening scene the wonderful weather in Florida? Beautiful.
That 2-hour fantasy world was unforgettable. And it kept me going through the LONG Canadian winter.
READER COMMENTS
marcus nunes
Oct 31 2020 at 12:59pm
Wonderful tribute to Sean Connery:
As “Dr. No” director Terence Young once said, “There are only two great stars in my recollection who have not been changed by great massive success: Sean Connery and Lassie, and both of them Scottish.”
David Henderson
Oct 31 2020 at 2:54pm
Love it. Thanks.
And I’m not so sure about Lassie.
Scott Sumner
Oct 31 2020 at 7:37pm
Yes, he was the ultimate male movie star.
Graeme
Nov 1 2020 at 12:30pm
Alfa Romeo or Aston Martin?
David Henderson
Nov 1 2020 at 2:08pm
Good catch. Change made.
As you can probably imagine, Graeme, both cars were extremely exotic to this 13-year old. 🙂
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