Octopussy (1983)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

John Glen

Writers:

George MacDonald Fraser (screen story and screenplay) and
Richard Maibaum (screen story and screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 June 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

Nobody does it better...thirteen times.

Plot:

A fake Fabergé egg and a fellow agent's death leads James Bond to uncovering an international jewel smuggling operation, headed by the mysterious Octopussy, being used to disguise a nuclear attack on NATO forces.

Plot Keywords:

Egg | Agent | Circus | British | James Bond

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Roger Moore	...	James Bond
Maud Adams	...	Octopussy
Louis Jourdan	...	Kamal Khan
Kristina Wayborn	...	Magda
Kabir Bedi	...	Gobinda
Steven Berkoff	...	General Orlov
David Meyer	...	Twin One
Tony Meyer	...	Twin Two (also as Anthony Meyer)
Desmond Llewelyn	...	Q
Robert Brown	...	M
Lois Maxwell	...	Miss Moneypenny
Michaela Clavell	...	Penelope Smallbone
Walter Gotell	...	General Anatol Gogol
Vijay Amritraj	...	Vijay
Albert Moses	...	Sadruddin

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Russian | German | Spanish

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Ireland:PG | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Iceland:12 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1983) | Peru:14 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG (Certificate #27025) | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG | Brazil:Livre

Filming Locations:

Agra Fort, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Company:

Danjaq

Trivia:

The Soviet Chairman was made-up and cast with an actor (Paul Hardwick) in order to resemble Leonid Brezhnev. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1964 to 1982, the latter year being when this movie was made. This was also Hardwick's final film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After James has the guards distracted thoroughly by his accomplice and pulls their ripcords, the two guards are pulled from the truck by a visible line.

Quotes:

[first lines]
James Bond: You didn't tell me there was going to be this much security.
Bianca: They moved the flight up to this afternoon.
James Bond: Well, we're going to have to go ahead as planned anyway.
[Bianca hands an ID badge with the name 'Luis Toro' to Bond]
James Bond: Toro. Sounds like a load of bull.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Secrets of 007: The James Bond Files (1997) (TV)

Soundtrack:

All Time High

Anther great one

"Octopussy" is really peculiar in the series. Because, for example, we see Bond dressed like a clown or keeping a plaster; there's an exotic and romantic atmosphere -which reminds us of some adventure books (like Emilio Salgari's "Sandokan" and "The count of Monte-Cristo"...) Here 007 has to travel between India and Germany for stopping a catastrophic plan of Soviet General Orlov and Afghan prince Khamal Khan.

With a little more parody than in the previous film "For your eyes only", "Octopussy" continues in the line of more down to earth Bond adventures.

Roger Moore's performance is good as usual, the cast is also remarkable -Louis Jourdan is one of the French actors who built a good Hollywood career, starring in films like Hitchcock's "The Paradine case" and Vincente Minnelli's "Gigi". He's Kamal Khan, a very charming and sophisticated villain -he's the criminal equivalent of Bond. Jourdan brings a special touch of glamour -you see he's an actor of the golden years of Hollywood!

Maud Adams is the only actress who played twice a Bond girl -she was Andrea in "The man with the golden gun".

Steven Berkoff is an established English actor, mainly for theater, but he played also in Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon".

Kabir Bedi is an Indian actor very popular in the second half of the Seventies -he was "Sandokan" in a famous TV film made by RAI, Italian public TV.

John Glen directs the film with a lot of fun and assures a great show. The film doesn't disappoint.

"Octopussy" is the last great Roger Moore movie as Bond, and maybe the last BIG Bond of the series as well -because it's original, lavish, acrobatic, romantic and pompous.

8,5/10