The Big Picture

Sean Connery’s role in
The Offence
showcased his range beyond James Bond, playing a dark and intense character.
The film is a complex neo-noir thriller focusing on themes of revenge and justice, with Connery delivering a terrifying performance.

The Offence
marked a turning point in Connery’s career, allowing him to take on darker and more complex roles post-Bond.

It can be challenging for any actor who has spent years playing an iconic character to differentiate themselves when trying to do something new. That challenge was heightened to the extreme in the case of Sean Connery’s work after leaving the James Bond franchise after Diamonds are Forever in 1971. Connery had come to define the character, and viewers expected him to be playing similarly snarky, charismatic action heroes for the rest of his career. However, Connery was a far more ambitious actor, and didn’t want to coast on the success of Bond; in what was considered a bold career move, Connery took on the role of a veteran cop reaching his breaking point in the neo-noir thriller The Offence.

Connery certainly wasn’t a novice when it came to working with great filmmakers. Amidst his run as Bond, he had worked with acclaimed directors like Irvin Kershner and Alfred Hitchcock, among others. The Offence wasn’t his first film with director Sidney Lumet, as they had previously collaborated on the war epic The Hill and the spy thriller The Anderson Tapes, but the dark material certainly marked a change of pace when compared to the Bond franchise. Connery perhaps chose the film in order to indicate his range as an actor, and produced it under his new production company, Tantallon Films. The Offence is a bleak and disturbing crime thriller that benefits from an uncharacteristically intense performance from Connery.

We Wouldn’t Have ‘The Offence’ Without ‘Diamonds Are Forever’
Image via United Artists

Although Sean Connery intended to retire from his role as 007 after 1967’s You Only Live Twice, he returned for another outing as the iconic secret agent in Diamonds Are Forever — on one major condition. Per a deal with United Artists, Connery agreed to star in the 1971 Bond film after the studio pledged to finance any two films of Connery’s choice under his new production company, Tantallon Films. After seeing the play upon which The Offence is based, The Story of Yours by John Hopkins, Connery set his sights on a film adaptation. Per his deal with United Artists, the studio financed the film, and Tantallon Films received 50 percent of the film’s (admittedly low) profits.

A drastic departure from his suave 007, The Offence seemed like a surprising choice for Connery, especially given the risk the film posed, not only for audiences who had long associated him with Bond, but for United Artists and Tantallon Films. Far from the commercial appeal of the Bond films, The Offence is a gritty, brooding — and at times, ugly — story made on a much lower budget than the standard Bond film. Still, it was clear that The Offence was a passion project for Connery, who not only admired the original play tremendously, but was clearly looking for a role that would challenge him in a way he hadn’t been during his Bond era.

What Is ‘The Offence’ About?
Image via United Artists 

The Offence centers on a veteran police detective who reaches his breaking point while interviewing a subject. Detective Sergeant Jason Johnson (Sean Connery) has spent years investigating violent crimes, and has become completely burnt out on the disturbing cases he’s assigned. Johnson’s control begins to deplete as he interviews a particularly vicious suspect, Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen), whom he believes to be a child molester. Johnson’s cohorts in the police department are cagey about moving forward with charges, as the evidence linking Baxter to a series of crimes is flimsy at best. However, Johnson is unable to get over his conviction; he begins to consider taking radical action in order to take the law into his own hands.

Connery perfectly captures the persona of a paranoid, experienced member of law enforcement whose obsession with justice has prevented him from assessing any situation from an objective point of view. Johnson has become so accustomed to learning the worst about people that he’s become deeply cynical about human nature; the mere suggestion that Baxter may be guilty is enough to send him into a spiral of anger. It marked a significant shift from the type of charismatic performance that Connery gave in his Bond films. While 007 is a character who became iconic because of how cool and collected he was, Johnson seems constantly befuddled by the rules he’s forced to abide by. Bond is a character who cheekily skated around consequences, yet Johnson became someone who turned any conflict with authority into an angry dispute.

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‘The Offence’ Is an Inventive Neo-Noir Thriller

As with many films that are based on plays, The Offence is isolated to only a few locations, making the story feel much more intimate. The camera rarely leaves the interrogation room or police offices, allowing the viewer to feel the same pressure that Johnson does as he deals with the overabundance of evidence. While there are a few flashbacks that detail Johnson’s investigation into the crime scenes themselves, they’re shot from an ambiguous perspective. Based on what the viewer has come to learn about Johnson and his handling of the case, it’s possible that he has misconstrued what he has seen in order to fit within the story he has told himself. Connery perfectly captures this nuanced mindset; it’s clear that in some ways Johnson wants Baxter to be guilty, as it would give him an easy way out of the case.

Although initially the case is presented as a neo-noir mystery, The Offence proves to be a complex film about the nature of revenge. Baxter spends a majority of the film tormenting Johnson, suggesting that he is guilty of the same crimes that he’s accusing him of. While this certainly explains why Johnson is so infuriated with his suspect, it’s evident that his anger spans far beyond just one man. Johnson is looking to avenge an entire career of unsolved crimes, and knows that the justice system has been ineffective in curbing these types of cases. He’s tempted to go beyond his duty, which would ironically put him one step closer to the criminals he investigates. Connery does a great job at engaging with these dark themes; at times, he becomes absolutely terrifying to watch.

‘The Offence’ Led to Sean Connery’s Resurgence

While not necessarily ranked as one of Lumet’s best films, The Offence allowed Connery to play darker and more complex characters in the subsequent decades. Although he did briefly return to the Bond franchise for the non-EON film Never Say Never Again in 1983, Connery chose to work on several prestigious projects, including John Huston’s adventure epic The Man Who Would Be King, John Milius’ historical thriller The Wind and the Lion, and Lumet’s adaptation of The Murder on the Orient Express. Each film, like The Offence, allowed Connery to play a protagonist with a somewhat dubious sense of ethics.

While many of his Bond films are quite rewatchable, The Offence holds up very well today, as it addresses modern themes about police brutality, obsessions, and mental health struggles. These topics would be relevant regardless, but they’re made even more powerful thanks to the involvement of a star of the caliber of Connery’s. It signified that while Bond was an important part of his filmography, it did not define his entire career.

The Offence is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

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