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Comments
The fixes I would make are relatively minor: get rid of the racist Indian jokes, sharpen the hunting scene (taking out the vines and the Tarzan yell would go a long way). Get a better singer for the song (a higher voice befitting the song).
The rest of the humor is pretty good as is. "No, ma'am, I'm on the economy tour." "I'd heard the price of eggs had gone up, but isn't that a little high?" Classic Moore hitting his stride, and in a lot of ways, his quintessential Bond performance.
He definitely should have retired after this one.
Agree almost with everything here, except I quite like Kristina Wayborn. The 009 scene was excellent.
For me as in the previous film, just cut the silliness (not forgetting the gorilla suit @Birdleson) and it would make a good Bond into a great Bond!
Don't have issue with the clown suit - he's in a circus and needs to disguise himself, seems pretty obvious choice really.
I'm mostly okay with Octopussy. The only usual trouble point I'd dump is the Tarzan yell.
But I would add the horrible scene where he zooms in on the woman's boobs in Q's lab. Not even getting into making Bond a creepy sexual harrasser, it's just immature and stupid. He acts like he's seven years old.
Overall though, Octopussy is a wonderfully bizarre film that could only ever, ever exist in the Bond series. And that's what I want from these films: uniquely Bondian experiences.
Yes!
Suspension of disbelief.
I have issues with the obvious things, of course: The Tarzan yell, the racist Indian jokes, and the Bond Theme on a flute. I never cared that much for the PTS, either. Also agree on the point from @Birdleson about replacing both the safari and the raid on Kamal Khan's fortress with better action scenes.
Other than that, I can forgive most of the silliness (the clown costumes, etc.), as it has some dark moments there, as well. Also think that Maud Adams as Octopussy was Moore's best main Bond girl by far.
2. New song, for the love of gawd.
3. No Bond theme via Vijay's shenai
4. No Tarzan yell
5. Magda is the woman Bond falls for
That could have been a really tense,well executed and original scene.
It's still good once Bond is in the marshes with the leaches and being chased by the crocodile,you can see the fear on his face,but it could have been better.
Agreed. Also, it's important to the tension that Octopussy disbelieve Bond at first because (1) she thinks he's dead and (2) he's in disguise.
Bond getting into full clown makeup quickly is no less believable than Bond dropping into the plane in the GE teaser, Bond surviving on a disintegrating plane in DAD, or many other moments in the series that require the suspension of disbelief.
Probably one of the five Bond films (of the official franchise) I like to re-watch the least. Keeps me cringing whenever I see it. Even less than AVTAK.
That would probably have worked if Octopussy Smythe had been a villainess as was originally intended in earlier script drafts.
"...neither [the director] nor the writers appear to have thought out the women's roles. Magda, a mysterious, tall, greasy-lipped blonde (Kristina Wayborn, who played Garbo on TV), has an amused manner; she seduces Bond, then disappears without any explanation, and when she turns up again he barely gives her a nod. The naughty, chic perversities that are promised by the title and some of the decor are left to our minds—as if the moviemakers had no idea they'd planted them there. As the title character, the beautiful Amazon Maud Adams is disappointingly warm and maternal—she's rather mooshy. At one moment, Octopussy is a leader, and the next moment she's a dupe, who doesn't know what's going on around her. The role is a washout, and the performance is so smiley-innocuous that when she leads Bond to her octopus-shaped bed it must be to lie back against the pillows and have a nice cup of tea and milk."
Perhaps Magda and Octopussy's roles could have been merged and played by a more tigerish actress. Octopussy doesn't necessarily need to be a villain, but she needs to give off an electric, dangerous vibe even when you know she'd good.
I love the PTS, the last time that it's
been a mini movie. The pts is nothing to do with the movie that follows.
I would remove the Tarzan swing and yell. The gorilla suit, and probably the 'hiss off' and 'Siiiit!'
Other than that I'd keep it just as it is, a gem of the series with Sir Rog giving a wonderful performance.
Seriously? He trying to escape being killed, so he lets out a Tarzan yodel drawing attention to himself? The slide-whistle is just annoying, the Tarzan swing is just plain stupid.
You don't see Bond yell. In stead of a music cue, you hear a sound snippet. For me, it's more like a backgroundsound than a yell coming from Bond.
Just like the soundtrack, there isnt a orchestra playing music in the background.
Agreed,its just another stupid sound as per the car jump in TMWTGG.
Bond doesn't make the sound,personally,that's why I can 'tolerate' it.
Neither of those ever really bothered me. The California Girls intrusion during the AVTAK ski is far worse IMHO.
The raid on Kamal Khan's fortress with Q's hot air balloon, sporting a Union Jack design, is toe-curling bad. Remove it and replace it with a raid something more akin to OHMSS's Piz Gloria attack, certainly tonally. Boy, was I missing Harry Saltzman's touch after an absence of 4 movies by this point. Didn't like Bond dressed as a clown either, but thought it fitted in well with Moore's portrayal, so quite apt really. Otherwise, rewrite this final segment and don't have Bond dressed as Coco The Clown. I'd rather they'd just lifted Goldfinger wholesale and had 007 handcuffed to the bloody bomb. Mrs Kael is totally correct in her summary when she says: "At one moment, Octopussy is a leader, and the next moment she's a dupe, who doesn't know what's going on around her. The role is a washout, and the performance is so smiley-innocuous that when she leads Bond to her octopus-shaped bed it must be to lie back against the pillows and have a nice cup of tea and milk." Overall, a much better looking entry than its predecessor, but a damp squib nonetheless. Good poster, apart from Moore's incredibly long legs! Looks like he's on stilts.
No - he's swinging through the feckin trees with the Tarzan yodel played over the top!