For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy- Alternate Names

DoubleOhhSeven

By the early 80s EON had pretty much used up all of Fleming's feature length stories and were relying on the titles of his short stories for their current films. Yes at this point EON had pretty much abandoned the idea of being faithful to the novels, atleast after what they considered to be a disappointing performance from OHMSS. But like I mentioned before after a while the James Bond films reach levels of absurdity that leave no other direction but back to where the series started from.

For Your Eyes Only would be the first film in 12 years to faithfully adapt not one but two Fleming short stories. The first third of the film would adapt parts of For Your Eyes Only while the next two thirds would adapt Risico. Two years later Octopussy would follow suit, only to a lesser extent. The film features elements of both Octopussy and The Property of a Lady.

Now on to my topic. These 2 films could have easily switched the titles of their source materials. FYEO could've been released as Risico in 1981 and Octopussy could have been released titled The Property of a Lady.

With Bond 23 rumored to be adopting one of the three final Fleming titles (the other being The Hildebrand Rarity) it'd be interesting to speculate. Naming FYEO Risico might have made more sense as more of that short story is intrical to the plot. But it seems like it would've been common sense to name Octopussy The Property of a Lady as, let's face it, Octopussy sounds like a porno. While I guess so does TPOAL but to a lesser extent. What do you think their logic was? Did they think that a more controversial sounding title would fare better against NSNA? The dvd's documentary even has actors admitting to being embarrassed of saying the film’s title. When I watched the VHS with my parents when I was a child I'll admit I wished the film had a different title, haha.

Either way these are by far my 2 favorite Roger Moore films regardless of what they were called.

Which would you have preferred?

Virage

I like them the way they are

(by the way theres 4 you missed 007 In NY)

DoubleOhhSeven

I hardly consider that a possible title. Eon won't use it.

Virage

The Same was said for Quantum of solace

DoubleOhhSeven

I don't recall ever hearing that. People said it was confusing title. 007 in New York is simply a silly title.

Samuel001

I would say it was down to both For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy being names of Fleming's novels, whereas Risico and The Property of a Lady weren't.

I don't recall ever hearing that. People said it was confusing title. 007 in New York is simply a silly title.

I agree with you on this point. Quantum of Solace was always open to being a title as much as Fleming's other three - which I believe could well be used for the next three films. 007 in New York isn't though by all means use New York in the title for a film or any country for that matter - it's only been done once.