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So the following weekend my folks took me to see OP. As we left the Saturday matinee theater in the beautiful incredible hot sun, my mom remarked that this Bond had far more action than the others. My Dad commented that Roger Moore's hair was getting lighter and lighter with each film. He then told me Sean Connery was playing Bond in a rival film coming out later that year.
Two years later, my Dad had a music gig at a party- kind of an end of summer work event for his job, and they hired his band to perform. Beautiful house in the woods with a hot tub, and more importantly, a VHS player. The owner of the house offered to rent GOLDFINGER for me while the party went on, so his wife took me to their local video store. Sadly, they didn't have GF. They did have TMWTGG, OP and NSNA. For some reason we picked OP.
I sat in front of their relatively big 27 in screen and popped it in. I probably watched the gunbarrel 10 times before letting the film play. I backed up multiple scenes and watched them repeatedly: the Bond, James Bond, the stuffed sheep's head, and so forth.
It probably took me four hours to get through the film. I had a blast.
About two months later, my folks and I were shopping at the local mall, and there was a sale for a 27 inch RCA television (very new looking in 1985), and an VCR. We got it, and brought it home in a cab.
The next day we went to a used record store that happened to have just a few VHS movies. We bought DARK STAR for $10 and OCTOPUSSY for $20. There were two copis of OP. One was a rental copy in a clear plastic rental case, the other came in the CBS/Fox video box. My Dad chose the rental version. We watched OP that night, and I watched it again the next day after school. During that month in November, 1985 I was popping OP in almost every other day. On the weekends we 'd go to Tower Records and begin renting the other Bonds, GOLDFINGER being the first. By early 1986 I had finally seen them all.
At the time OP wasn't exactly my favorite, it was just a novelty to have it and be able to watch it whenever I wanted. Today I look back at that time and nostalgia brings OP to the top of my childhood memories as well as a pretty solid number in my rankings.
Thanks for sharing our memories. I always like hearing other fans' experiences with the series. It was a special time to be a fan.
A little piece of trivia: that ABC airing of DN in the summer of '83 was actually tied for the highest-rated show of the week.
Octopussy was the first Bond film outside of the Brosnan ones that i fell in love with 20 years ago (must have been 98/99). On my latest Roger marathon i noticed a couple things changed with his movies for me, especially the fact that i fell in love with TSWLM, a movie i never really 'got' before.
FYEO, sadly is still a movie i don't get. I doesn't draw me in, and is usually a chore to sit through for me.
So i was a bit worried about OP, would i love it as much as before? Would it sink in my ranking? But i was relieved to find that i still love it every bit as much as i did before, and actually found even more appreciation for it.
To start off with my review, i don't really watch Bond movies for the plot. Honestly, i never really understood the plot in Octopussy to begin with. The connection between Kamal Khan, Orlov and Octopussy and their individual motivations was never 100% clear to me and felt convulted, so i made a concious decision to REALLY pay attention this time.... and all i can say is "ok got it!". After 20 years i finally understand what this movie is about :)) it is a bit more complex that usual with Bond movies though.
What i find trully amazing, is the fact that this movie features so many characters, 2 main villains, 3 henchmen, side characters like Margot and Vijay, but all these characters still feel fleshed out and distinctive! There is a personality to them. For example Kamals pissed off and angry but overly loyal Henchman, who occasionally has silly bits where he gets scared, or confused. You have Michka and Grishka, who are Great. Kamal Khan as the slimy bugger, who has a lot of charisma and is a genuine trickster who likes to f*** people over on all sides.
I absolutely love the little character bits in the movie, like when Kamal and his Henchman leave the circus, climb into the car and the ignition doesn't work on first try and they look at each other for a second like "WTF!" :D
Orlov is also great as this egoistical, paranoid wannabe napoleon.
OP feels like a geniuine espionage film, in my opinion even more than FYEO, but it still features plenty of iconic Bond moments.
The PTS feels very iconic, you have the casino bit which has me in stitches every time "two sixes, fancy that". A great dinner scene later on, and Roger sells every second of it.
But also you have very gritty scenes with Bond going undercover, left on his own and doing real investigations. The bit behind the iron curtain where Bond sneakes on the Train, that whole sequence is great, there's a real sense of danger, as well as in the Bomb disarming sequence. And then the hunt through the jungle, which is very tense as well. And even the idiotic tarzan jell can't ruin that (unlike the whistle blow in TMWTGG).
The locations are great, especially the floating palace of Octopussy really made a huge impression on me this time around. I could watch Roger stroll through that for hours.
Kamal Kahns estate is impressive as well. East Germany feels gritty and tense as it should be.
And Maud Adams is fantastic, she really was a completely different type of Bond girl, not a damsel in distress but a woman trully in control of her world, which she doesn't get enough credit for imo (maybe it's the name?). After she got one of the worst Bond girl roles in TMWTGG, where she's just a total victim (as to quote Maud herself) used and abused by pretty much all male characters and then dispatched distastefully, i can see why the Bond producers wanted to make up for that and gave her a trully strong and powerful character to play.
Her chemistry with Rog feels genuine, and even their final moment is not just played for laughs or sexy-time but feels rather romantic. I wish Roger would have stopped after OP as this would have been a beautiful scene to end his run on. You could imagine the two of them sail across the world together (Daniel, take note).
And on top of all that you get a beautiful John Barry score, definitly one of his better ones.
As for negatives, there are a couple nitpicks that i have, but nothing that ruins the movie for me.
-The "charming tune" bit is annoying to me as hell, i still can't wrap my head around the stupidity of that. Why would Bond know his own theme music?! In an otherwise smart and occasionally gritty movie, this bit is even more misplaced than the "This never happened to the other fella" line from OHMSS.
-The Tarzan yell is not a big deal but it should have been left out.
-Not a big fan of the Raid at the end. It's just silly.
Putting soldiers, armed to the teeth with AK47's, up against silly acrobats who do half-assed flips and karate chops AND NO ONE DIES(!!!) is not very convincing to say the least. That "war zone" is so save that even good old Q doesn't think twice about jumping in there.
But that's really it, other than that the movie has some genuine tense moments and great pacing from start to finish.
Right now it's pretty must tied with TSWLM for Rogers best for me.
For an American, he's exceptionally cultivated.
Ha ha! I remember seeing this I think at the time and it always stuck with me. Though he often nods, on this occasion Homer was dead right. Octopussy is one of my all-time favourite Bond films.
I'll also defend the clown scene all day long as one of the strongest scenes in Roger's reign. It is unfairly criticised as somehow symbolic of Roger's comedy slant, but that totally misunderstands the scene.
Couldn't agree with you more @cwl007 I even had to 'correct' my wife and son on that very matter the other day.
It seems logical too me that if you need to gain access to a circus big top, but you're being chased by local police and military personnel, then a good disguise would be a clown.
I particularly like that it's the same clown outfit that OO9 used as well. Fantastic scene, full of tension. Only Sir Rog's Bond could dress as a clown and create edge of seat thrills without looking bad. I understand Sir Rog did have reservations about the scene, but it works beautifully for me.
It's a nice serious bit of acting by Roger isn't it. You really feel he is rushing to get to the bomb and is "damn it man there's a bomb in there" is delivered perfectly. I think in a film that contains a Tarzan yell they could have easily sold that scene short and relied on the comedy with a prat fall or a silly music cue but they resisted. The scene is great.
The main thing that stands out for me when I watch Octopussy and NSNA close together is how sumptuous Octopussy looks and how cheap NSNA looks in comparison. It looks like a TV production at times.
The idea of Bond being metaphorically placed in 009's (clown) shoes during the bomb scene ties the story together and enhances the suspense. The tension also arises from the fact the general and his aide don't take him seriously. And as @Benny says, it's a plausible disguise.
Look at it the other way: imagine if the filmmakers had had Bond dressed in more conventional attire during that scene. Something would have been lost. The scene seems to beg for the quirky and macabre touch of the clown attire, and it's quite an important part of the film's visual identity, in my opinion.
This film is so good, though, that after this fantastic "pre-climax", we get the palace fight and the terrific airplane sequence.
That's why its #1 in my rankings :)
Indeed, I think it's no. 1 in my heart if not in my head on my rankings. It's a very special film to me ever since I bought it on video from Woolworths in June 1996 along with TMWTGG for a £15 special offer. Ah, those were the days!
It was extra special as I'd never seen any of Octopussy before, though I had seen TMWTGG on TV before. I have very happy memories of watching it for the very first time. So I think nostalgia plays a bit part in why I love that film so much. It's also one of the most enjoyable films in the series with a great rewatch factor!
I suspect for a good few people here Roger wouldn’t be their favourite Bond as such. So I’d be interested to hear thoughts on how much do you feel OP’s success is down to Roger as opposed to all the other factors mentioned? What does Roger bring to this film especially, that maybe you don’t feel applies to his other films?
Same here as it was the first Bond film I saw at the cinema in 1983 when I was 13.
My 13,000th post! I'll try to make it a good one!
Yes, I was over 11 1/2 when I first saw it on video. It's one of those happy childhood memories I often think back to. And as you say, @barryt007, Octopussy has excellent characters and is always a pleasure to watch. I'm sure it was great to see it at the time in the cinema too. I'd love to see it on the big screen some time!
The action is varied and memorable, villains are interesting and slimy.
I also did not know the octopus is not real!!!
There's not the overwhelmed by what's going on around him of the two Gilbert films, the burned-out Bond of AVTAK or the over-serious Bond of FYEO. I guess it's what I'd call vintage Bond.
That being said, it also has spectacular stunts, a hilarious Orlov, breathtaking female co-stars, Lamont’s finest hour as production designer, larger roles for Q and Gogol, some really tense scenes both action and non-action, an excellent central performance by Sir Rog and a gorgeous Alfa Romeo.
Top half, or maybe even top 10.
Love that moment ! Can imagine the crew cursing him and then John Glen going "hang on lads, that looks good!"
Its like the Kenworth truck crashing at the start of the set piece in LTK. Wasnt planned either but looked so good they left it in.
Back to OP, without a doubt, Moore's best Bond movie. Also under appreciated is the theme song. Always liked 'All Time High!'