Robert Downey Jr.’s new version of the wicked-smart, pipe-smoking sleuth Sherlock Holmes comes to screens on Christmas Day, but long before Tony Stark wore the deerstalker cap, there was another Hero Complex fave lurking in the alleys of London. Here’s a flashback photo of Leonard Nimoy as Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous hero. It’s from the “Star Trek” icon’s 1970s stint of playing the role during a national stage tour.
Many other actors have played Holmes – Charlton Heston, Michael Caine, Roger Moore among them – but with Nimoy’s enduring aura of brainy calm from his years as Spock he was an especially, um, logical choice as a detective.
– Jevon Phillips
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How fitting for an intelligent hero to emerge in theaters on Christmas to dispel silly superstition. Guy Ritchie did a great job portraying this master detective based on the actual Doyle stories and did not rely on the old Holmes movies. In other words, this movie was a good adaptation, not a remake ten times over…. He made Holmes more than an armchair detective and focused on the crime fighter that Doyle intended.
Holmes and Spock fans: Check out "Elementary My Dear Spock" on Squidoo–no wonder Nicolas Meyer added that line in Star Trek VI. http://www.squidoo.com/EMDS-00-intro
I have always been a big fan of Sherlock Holmes. I was a bit worried about the moive when I went today. Well I just got back from seeing Sherlock Holmes and the movie rocks. Well done all involved. A great movie from start to finish.
(Now hoping USC can close the season on a high note currently 14-0)
Cheers
Happy New Year
D.D
I actually saw Nimoy in this in Hamilton, Canada. The surprise announcement that he was going to be in the lead role for our matinee performance is one of my favourite theatre memories.
The new movie is an expansion and a re-emphasis of the Holmes legend but there's nothing there that wasn't in the books. For example there's the famous scene in "The Speckled Band" where he bends a fireplace poker in his bare hands. In some ways the movie is closer to the written Holmes while being a move away from all previous screen interpretations. In the books Holmes starts his career in his late twenties but most of the actors who played him were in their forties.