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In 1986, Sean Connery was a few years out from his last turn as James Bond, and his follow-up film, Sword of the Valiant, was a little-remembered flop. His next film, Highlander, is a loved cult classic today, but it also flopped at the time with a measly $12 million worldwide box office gross. He would finally find his next box office and critical success in the form of the film The Name of the Rose, which you can now stream on Amazon Prime Video.
The Name of the Rose, starring James Bond icon Sean Connery, is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
The Name of the Rose is an adaptation of the 1980 Umberto Eco novel of the same name and stars Sean Connery as William of Baskerville, a renowned 14th-century Franciscan monk known for his analytical mind. When a mysterious death occurs at an abbey, William and his apprentice, Adso of Melk (Christian Slater), head there to begin an investigation into what William believes is a murder.
As the body count stacks up, the panicked church leaders call on Williams’ nemesis, Bernardo Gui (F. Murray Abraham), to close the case for good.
While Sean Connery would have made a wonderful Sherlock Holmes, we never got to see him play the world’s greatest detective. The Name of the Rose makes up for this by essentially making William of Baskerville a theological version of the character.
The rest of the cast is fantastic, too, with the aforementioned Slater and Abraham starring along with Michael Lonsdale, William Hickey, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., Valentina Vargas, and Ron Perlman.
The Name of the Rose was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and received mixed to positive reviews, though it ended up making decent at the worldwide box office despite only grossing $7.2 million in the United States. Sean Connery ended up winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance, which was sort of the boost his career needed at the time.
Due to his previous two films flopping, Colombia Pictures even pulled out of The Name of the Rose upon learning Connery would play the lead role.
It’s hard to believe that just three years after his final performance as one of the best James Bond actors ever, a studio would outright leave a film just because Sean Connery was cast, but that’s apparently just how things were at the time.
Still, The Name of the Rose proved the studios wrong, and Connery’s next film, The Untouchables, would be the big return to form that would put his career back on track. The Untouchables ended up grossing $106 million worldwide and was a critical success.
But more than just being a critical and commercial success, The Untouchables reminded everyone how good Sean Connery can be, as he won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Oscars that year.
Sean Connery starred in The Name of the Rose three years after Never Say Never Again, his final turn as James Bond.
So, while The Name of the Rose isn’t quite as remembered as The Untouchables, it’s possible Connery might not have ended up in the latter film if it wasn’t for the modest success of the former. The Name of the Rose is well worth watching on its own merit, regardless, as it’s a solid effort from Connery and a good mystery film with a unique setting.
As mentioned, Sean Connery had played the role of Bond just three years before for the final time in Never Say Never Again, which ended up being a critical and commercial success.
It further cemented Connery’s legacy as one of the best Bonds of all time, and few have been able to bring quite the same level of easy charm and gravitas to the role since. Daniel Craig was the most recent actor to play Bond and definitely stands out as one of the best, but we have yet to find out who the next Bond will be.
While Sean Connery would have made a wonderful Sherlock Holmes, we never got to see him play the world’s greatest detective. The Name of the Rose makes up for this by essentially making William of Baskerville a theological version of the character.
Whoever plays the next James Bond undoubtedly has a long legacy of big shoes to fill, but it’ll be interesting to see where the franchise goes next. In the meantime, almost all seven of Sean Connery’s turns as James Bond are worth revisiting to see why he’s so acclaimed in the role.
But if you’re looking for something a little different from Connery that still puts his gravitas to good use, you’ll probably find a lot to like about The Name of the Rose, which you can head over to Amazon Prime Video to stream now.
