Movie Notes: Octopussy
= 3 stars
Starring Roger Moore, Maude Adams
Directed by John Glen
Roger Moore (James Bond)
Maud Adams (Octopussy)
Kristina Wayborn (Magda)
Moving through the James Bond films, Octopussy is the second-to-last one starring Roger Moore (the last being A View To A Kill. In this oddly named adventure, he’s older and looks more than a bit tired. Overall, the film is decent with a fair number of definite thrills, but a few minor organizational gripes harm it, and frankly, I found myself pretty bored during the first half. Maybe I’ve just seen too many Bond movies (no surprise).
The film follows a fake Faberge egg (found by a 009). The real egg appears at a London auction, where prince Kamil Khan (Louis Jourdan) has been instructed to buy it at any price. James Bond is sent to figure out the reasons and possibly why 009 was killed.
There’s a sinister Soviet connection here (this film was made while the west and the Soviet Union were still in the Cold War). A Russian General Orlov (Steven Berkoff) (with fantasies of starting a nuclear war) is involved with Khan and Octopussy (Maude Adamse), a wealthy “businesswoman” based in India, in a jewel-smuggling ring.
Anyhow, Bond travels to India to figure this all out. The first half is standard Bond: sneaking around an ornate palace learning of a nefarious, world-ending plot while henchmen and stooges try to kill him (there’s one neat weapon in the form of a huge saw blade on a string, deployed like a yo-yo). Some nice parts: India makes a lush location for a Bond film. The first damsel Bond sets his eyes on (Kristina Wayborn) is quite exquisite. Also, “Q” actually gets to join Bond for the final exciting battle. Usually, he just hangs out back at home base in the gadget lab.
My small complaints: As mentioned by others, there are more than enough baddies, Orlov, Khan, and Octopussy, plus a tall henchman or two. One or possibly two could have been shelved.
Second, I would have flipped the exotic locations of India and Germany. It’s kind of a bummer to begin in sunny India with palaces, rivers, elephants, and crocodiles only to end up in Germany at a cornball circus (with Bond in both a gorilla and clown suit) of all places.
Lastly, as inevitable with later-period Bond, some scenes seem like nods to ones previous: An evil henchman crushing dice in his hands is similar to Odd Job (Goldfinger) crushing a golf ball. Bond swinging on vines to a Tarzan yell (definitely cheesy) is similar to the looping car jump in The Man With The Golden Gun (also starring Maud Adams as Andrea Anders).
Other than that, it’s a decent Bond outing and slightly above average, but that’s not saying much.
Some amusing trivia: At the time of this film’s creation, Timothy Dalton and James Brolin were already in the works as Bond successors, as Roger Moore only had A View To A Kill left in his contract.
IMDB: Octopussy
Wikipedia: Octopussy
Next Bond Movie: A View To A Kill
Previous Bond Movie: For Your Eyes Only
women overpowering men, while one girl SMASHES a guard in the balls w/ a tambourine!
does anyone know what ever happend to the octopussy girls? I’m looking for Camella Donner(Nelson), she was the black girl that was part of the womens guard.
thanks
Almost immediately, the quality control on Roger Moore’s Bond movies got the speed-wobbles, vacillating wildly between drama and ‘comedy’. This one cautiously continued the low-key feel of his previous effort ‘For Your Eyes Only’, but the forces of farce were massing for an all-out attack of the sillies (see ‘A View To A Kill’). They do make a couple of sorties into ‘Octopussy’, most notably when Bond swings on a jungle vine and Johnny Weismuller’s long familiar ‘Tarzan yell’ plays on the soundtrack. There is also an impossible ‘quick-change’ moment when Bond exits a gorilla costume in the time it takes for Gobinda to turn around. Yeahyeahyeah, so far so whatever. However, what really holes this one below the waterline is poor casting (Maud Adams as the titular character was a bore, Magda looked a bit fish-like, Vijay was a lump of wood dressed as a human and watch out for the scenery, lest the guy who played General Orlov start to chew it up) and a well-nigh unfathomable plotline. We’re in India, but there’s something about fake Faberge eggs, nuclear bombs, a travelling circus, and some sort of secret society composed entirely of attractive women in brightly-coloured leotards. There’s a big all-in mass punch-up near the end, and Bond defuses a nuclear bomb whilst dressed as a clown (now there’s an extremely effective age-disguising use of cosmetics. They should have utilised the technique on Moore for the entirety of ‘A View To A Kill’) but by then I’d long given up trying to follow the meandering storyline. Sir Roger wasn’t trying very hard this time and neither was anybody else, so why should we.
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Octopussy Is probably one of my favourite James Bond films. Roger Moore for the 6th time brings elegance, charm, sophistication and suave into his acting as he takes on his next evil villain Kamil Khan. The film at times was a little cheesy but it adds depth to the film. Bond was never meant to be utterly serious, he was meant to be so good at what he does that he can be sarcastic. The bond girl Octopussy, is probably one of the most beautiful girls that James Bond has encountered! She brings also charm and sex appeal by just wearing a gown with the image of the blue ringed octopus on the back that she keeps in her tank. Magda also brings sex appeal when she leans back away from bond on the balcony and whilst in the air her clothes come off, slowly and with elegance.
The villain was good to play the part but didn’t have a very interesting death. Octopussy is full of entertaining action and thrills. Its definately a classic. Also, well done on Roger Moore’s part. He is the oldest James Bond actor and he has pulled of some of the hardest scenes!