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Comments
That's gone right over my head! ;-)
If that's an American reference @SirHenry, you're forgetting I'm English and @Dragonpol is from Northern Ireland.
Seriously, I'm not trying to disparage your characters at all. There's something in the Christian Bible about "the meek shall inherit the Earth". I can imagine it would be quite the bumpy journey being like that. It's just not me to be this way. I don't believe in confrontations myself and would prefer to avoid them, but unless you have someone else to do it for you then you have to be able stand up for yourself, and paying for a crappy meal without complaint is a waste of good money.
Yes, it was lost on me too, Willy.
Perhaps a few retorts referencing Some Mothers Do Ave Em will suffice? ;-)
Perhaps, though that was before my time!
Yeah, that's really not helping my cause there Draggers ;-)
Clearly my mother "ad em" and it must have rubbed off. Was that Brit enough for you :))
Yes, sorry @WillyGalore!
Thanks to all for your understanding and good wishes. Particular thanks to @CommanderRoss. Yes, we do indeed have all the time in the world until, sometimes surprisingly, that time runs out.
My Octopussy review will be up later today. Thanks for all your patience and thanks to @SirHenry for the fascinating trivia!
This is the one with Roger Moore’s Bond in a clown suit. Bond in a gorilla suit. Bond swinging through the trees voicing a Tarzan yell. Bond in a crocodile sub. After the relative sobriety of FYEO, I had hoped that the camp Bond had been discarded with the end of the ‘70s and we might be treated to a few more serious outings. Alas, such was not to be…
BOND 3.5/5 Roger Moore’s Bond is once again too eager to play the whole thing for laughs. This is a darned shame to my mind, as there’s plenty of tension and drama in this movie that gets diffused by the light-hearted sensibilities of our leading man. Moore does work very well with Maud Adams, though; and the question of his advancing age is rendered moot by the casting of Adams as his leading lady. Still, when Bond-as-clown is trying to convince the American General to take his warning of impending atomic holocaust seriously, insisting “I’m a British agent!” my own reaction is something along the lines of “It’s about TIME you realized that Jimbo! You still look too much like a clown for my tastes -- and half the time you’re acting like one as well!”
WOMEN 5/5 Maud Adams was criminally under-utilized in TMWTGG, and while I might have objected to Eon re-using another actress in this fashion, for Adams and in this movie it totally works. Her chemistry with Moore is one of the strongest facets of this film. Even if their relationship sometimes seems a bit too convenient -- Octopussy being the daughter of an old professional acquaintance of Bond’s and well-inclined towards him because of a kindness he once showed her father -- it’s nice to utilize the Ian Flemingshort story as the germ around which this movie is based, but our script is still a little clumsy in the execution of that connection. Kristina Wayborn is beautiful and tremendously appealing as Magda -- but there’s something mildly off-center about the layout of her face that makes her inappropriate for the part of leading lady and perfectly cast in the secondary female role she occupies here. Is she a bad girl? A potential ally? Hard to say…and her uncertain nature, her unusual features, and her graceful athleticism (especially when departing from Bond by sliding down her unwinding scarves while in possession of the Faberge magguffin,) make her one of the more interesting secondary females of the series. Combine these two extraordinary women with the dozens of other beautiful femmes on Octopussy’s island…and there’s no way I can give this category less than full marks this time around!
VILLAINS 4/5 Louis Jourdan is wonderfully cast as Kamal Khan. He’s suave, sophisticated…and cold as ice, a perfect foil for James Bond. He also gets off some wonderfully droll one liners -- “Let the sport commence!” and “You have a nasty habit of surviving,” among them. And of course, who can forget his delivery of the simple defensive declaration: “Octopussy. Oc-to-pussy…”? Simply charming, while simultaneously being duplicitous and slimy. Kabir Bedi is a great henchman as Gobinda, nowhere near as over-the-top as Jaws, almost but not quite at Oddjob level as a memorable physical adversary. And Steven Berkoff is an effective scenery-chewer as General Orlov. At this point in the nearly-dormant cold war, his character was very well conceived, and Berkoff plays him brilliantly. One can easily believe that there were voices in the Kremlin to match his at this point in time, and if none of them had the ingenuity to come up with a scheme to match Orlov’s, then we can only be thankful that George Macdonald Fraser was not born behind the iron curtain. Finally, Mischka and Grishka are a great knife-throwing brother act that give Bond plenty of trouble throughout much of the film. Lots of good villains this time around, and a strong showing for this category.
HUMOR 2/5 For me, the inappropriate use of humor is one of the great downfalls of this movie. The humorous chases in the Bond series are very much a sore spot of mine. I understand how they can be effective in relieving the tension of the dangerous scenarios Bond constantly finds himself embroiled in -- but the audience cannot get the feeling that the characters are laughing as well, or the tension becomes obviously bogus and the movie itself suffers irreparably. I did not know that Vijay Amritraj was a tennis star in real life, and so in my first viewing of this film I was totally confounded by the sight of him pulling out a tennis racket to battle the bad guys during the taxi chase in the crowded city streets. The safari chase is one of the series' worst offenders in this regard, with Bond telling a snarling tiger to “SIT-tah!” This could have an amazing scene, with Bond in serious danger and elephants crashing through the jungle in hot pursuit. Indeed, Moore actually does give us the sense that he feels in serious jeopardy at various times throughout this scene -- only to release that tension with a weak joke. “No, ma’am I’m with the economy tour!” James Bond should NEVER travel economy unless there’s a good reason -- and the reasoning here is less than solid in my opinion.
ACTION 4/5 There is some very well staged action in this film, particularly in the train fight with Kamal Khan‘s men, plus Mishka and Grischka. A good train scene is often a highlight of Bond films for me, evoking fond memories of FRWL, and this one is among the best. Unfortunately for Octopussy, this section of a review is also where I generally unload my problems with the movie’s storyline as a whole…and I do have a few of those this time around We will leave aside minor issues of logic and timing. How does Bond manage to get into the gorilla suit without his adversaries noticing that he’s doing just that? They’re right there inside the moving railroad car with him! Despite all the other clutter and noise of the car, they’d have to be blind and deaf not to notice him! But upon thinking about the scenario we are given, there are a couple of issues that come to mind. First of all, let us consider the issue of Octopussy’s traveling circus. While Octopussy has an island to house the female performers when the circus is not on the road, we are never told what happens to the male performers in said circus during the off-season. Is there a neighboring island to house the male performers? Do they all just split up and go to their individual homes and families? Whatever happens to them, it really seems to me that this situation is likely to damage the intra-cast bonds that a true traveling troupe must develop in order to function effectively. Let us also consider the issue of the Faberge egg that Bond takes possession of during the auction that forms this movie’s other authentic Fleming connection, based on The Source’s short story, “The Property of a Lady.” If I follow the storyline correctly, a counterfeit egg shows up in the possession of a slain 00 agent, alerting MI-6 that something is up. Bond attends an auction at Sotheby’s where the authentic egg is being auctioned off, and there he switches the real one with the counterfeit. M TELLS BOND THAT THE REAL EGG IS NOW GOVERNMENT PROPERTY, AND HE’LL HAVE TO SIGN OUT FOR IT IN ORDER TO HAVE USE OF IT DURING THE COURSE OF THIS MISSION. BOND IS ALSO EXPECTED TO RETURN THE EGG TO MI-6 WHEN THE MISSION IS OVER. OTHERWISE, HIS PAY WILL HAVE TO BE DOCKED UNTIL HE’S PAID FOR ANY DAMAGE TO THE EGG. All clear so far? Good. Now then: Bond puts a tracking device into the egg and allows Magda to steal it from him so that he can follow her to the hideout of the true culprit, who turns out to be Kamal Khan. Unfortunately, Orlov learns of Bond's egg, and in a fit of rage, HE CRUSHES THE TRUE ONE, whereupon the bug inside it is discovered. Does this mean that Roger Moore’s Bond is doomed to have his pay docked from now until the sky falls so that he can pay HM’s government back for the value of that egg? It seems a shabby way to repay Bond for saving the world umpteen times, but there we have it. Oh well, let’s just forget about the consequences of the scenario we’re given and get back to the actual action. Octopussy’s island is a location tailor-made for Bond. The circus sequences are lots of fun, with Bond disarming the atomic bomb while dressed as a clown, and Octopussy realizing that Kamal Khan has double-crossed her. Octopussy is then taken prisoner by Kamal Khan. General Orlov, almost in passing, is shot down by Russian soldiers under the command of the General we love to co-exist with, General Gogol. Bond and Octopussy’s women attack Khan’s Monsoon palace to rescue her, in one of the film’s many action highlights, which again neglects to give us any indication of what happens to the male members of Octopussy’s circus troupe once the circus leaves town. Don’t they care about their boss at all? Don’t they want any retribution on Kamal Khan for trying to sacrifice them in the atomic explosion? Oh well, no matter -- it’s a lot more fun seeing Octopussy Amazon squadron attack Kamal Khan’s minions. Q gets in on the proceedings by landing at the palace in a hot air balloon, just in time to rescue the imperiled Magda (and presumably to receive her womanly gratitude for his welcome arrival.) Bond makes good use of a horse at the climax of the film (in nice contrast to the shoddy use of a horse in NSNA) just prior to the mid-air confrontation between Bond and Gobinda, and the resulting death of Kamal Khan in a crashing airplane plus the narrow escape of Bond and Octopussy from same. All told, a highly enjoyable bunch of well-staged action sequences that were only slightly too camp to be taken seriously.
SADISM 4/5 The buzz-saw yoyo is probably the stand-out in this department, but there are various stomach-churning moments throughout the film. The bed of nails bit during the taxi chase was one such moment for me, and the sheep’s eye dinner never fails to get a mention. Michka and Grishka’s knives also merit our attention, and Bond pulling the leeches off his skin during the safari chase should certainly be acknowledged. The octopus to the face of one of Khan’s men is clearly worth noting in this category, and the crocodile that took out a couple more of Khan’s minions during their assault on Octopussy’s island is just barely payback to the reptilian breed for some of the slights they’ve suffered elsewhere in this movie. We will of course barely take notice of the fact that Khan and Orlov’s plan would have resulted in the atomic annihilation of thousand of innocent civilians. They’re villains, it comes with the job description…
MUSIC 3.5/5 While John Barry’s score is overall very nice, the theme song -- always an important element for me -- is only mediocre. I fault Rita Coolidge’s country-pop rendition of the song and Tim Rice’s uninspired lyrics in this regard. I suppose Rice just couldn’t find a credible way to use the word “Octopussy” in the lyrics to the song…but “All Time High” just has no meaning for me that is particular to this movie. Additionally, at times Rita Coolidge seems to be sliding her way UP to the notes Barry has written, rather than actually HITTING those notes, particularly with the word “All” in the song’s last use of the phrase “All Time High.” At this particular point, Barry has written a slightly different musical phrase to indicate that the song is ending…and yet, Coolidge seems not entirely sure which particular notes Barry is intending to use in this phrase. Nonetheless, her performance just lays there in its uncertain position…and evidently, everybody including the singer and conductor looked at their watches, concluded that the time allotted to record this piece was done with, and packed up to go on to their next gigs. I may not know as much about the various compositions throughout this movie’s score as do Sir Henry and various others, but as a singer myself, this performance has always really bugged me…and now I have a good idea why.
LOCATIONS 4/5 It’s hard for me to understand why the Bond series had never used India as a location before. It seems like the exotic nature of the place, plus Britain’s historic connection to the country, should have made it a natural location for a Bond adventure long before now. There’s lots of great footage in both the overcrowded cities and the jungles, rivers and mountains of India here, plus the sumptuous locations of Octopussy’s Island and Kamal Khan’s Monsoon Palace to enjoy. Some people may feel let down by the absence of the traditional Bond globe-trotting style this time around, but I’m perfectly happy with the sights we’re given here. The non-Cuban setting in the very enjoyable PTS could have been just about anywhere in Latin America, and Pinewood makes a reasonable stand-in for the East German locations that couldn’t have been filmed behind the Iron Curtain at this time. The gorgeous look of this film is one of the real contrasts with the far cheaper appearance given to NSNA, and is just one of the reasons OP won out over its’ rival production.
GADGETS 3/5 On the plus side, I appreciated the fact that most of Bond’s equipment was both realistic and practical. The tracking device and the acid pen were both plausible and well-used. The mini-plane (with horse’s ass trailer) used in the PTS was fine if just a little unfunny for my tastes. I was not a fan of the crocodile-sub. I don’t think this series has used crocodiles well during Moore’s tenure, and I’ll be happy to never see Sir Roger sharing the screen with another crocodile ever again. Just warn me if he’s ever cast as Captain Hook in a production of Peter Pan! For my money, the best gadget in this film was the buzz-saw yoyo -- I just wonder how its wielder was supposed to catch it without wearing heavy protective gloves!
SUPPORTING CAST 4/5 Vijay Amritrage gave a very enjoyable performance as, well, Vijay -- and for once, Bond was allowed to show some genuine emotion at the passing of one of his allies. Robert Brown makes a reasonably credible M, and Walter Gotell has a very strong part this time around as General Gogol, who is really starting to serve a useful function in the cast of recurring characters. Lois Maxwell is always a pleasure to have around as Moneypenny, but I didn’t really feel the need for the series to introduce a Miss Smallbone. (Evidently, the rest of Eon Productions agreed.) Sanruddin, the nominal head of Section I, was something of a non-entity here, and the part allotted to Sir Frederick Gray was pretty forgettable as well. But the real standout in the supporting cast this time around was Desmond Llewellyn as Q. For the first time, here Q functions as field agent, not just as an expositional device. When he notes that with “007 on an island full of beautiful women? We won’t see him again until morning!” one gets the feeling that he actually envies Bond…and when he receives Magda’s thanks for his timely arrival during the raid on the Monsoon Palace, I for one had the sense that Q is actually starting to understand and appreciate Bond’s operational methods. I believe that when Q comes to Bond’s aid without M’s knowledge a few films down the road in LTK, he is actually treading a path that began in this film…and that without Q’s experiences in Octopussy, Bond may have had a much more difficult time taking out Sanchez’ operation in LTK!
TOTAL AND RECOLLECTIONS 37/50 When I first saw this film back in 1983, I was disappointed with the return of the Moore Bond’s campy sense of humor. At the time, I reckoned it in the bottom third of the series. Upon reviewing it now, I am still displeased with some of the out-of-place humor in this entry, but otherwise found it quite enjoyable. I suppose today I’d rank it about in the middle of the series. All of these things are subjective, of course…some people find the next film in the series to be one of Moore’s worst. Personally, it’s one of my guilty pleasures…and I’m looking forward to seeing it again very soon!
THE END of this review…
But BeatlesSanEarmuffs will return
To review the very last Roger Moore performance as James Bond in
A VIEW TO A KILL
Dude.
4.5
Whatever.
Go ahead. Make me sad. Like that tear on Roger's face.
[-(
;)
This is a middle-of-the-road Bond film for me, but I do enjoy it at times. I must say I like the PTS very much and Maud Adams and Moore together.
Thanks, @BeatlesSansEarmuffs, for another great review!
That's not quite correct. It is Orlov who smashes the egg with the butt of his service revolver, thinking it is the fake. Khan knows otherwise of course but only discovers the tracking device once it's been smashed but doesn't say anything until Orlov has left.
Well, yet another interesting and well thought out review from our comrade Beatles. @WillyGalore is right about Orlov being the one who smashed the real Faberge egg. Somehow, after all Bond did in saving lives and getting rid of some pretty sick and evil guys, I'm sure the Russians and MI6 didn't hold Bond responsible for the damages.
Much to I'm sure the dismay of some, I have to agree with Beatles' Bond score here and feel it's very fair, especially if he's comparing this one to FYEO. I actually went lower in my review and only gave a 3 myself. No question that Rog's performance was spot on in the second half of the film in the manner of FYEO, but there was too much goofiness for me in the first half that he was clearly on cruise control for, much like his Moonraker performance. It's part of what I feel is a schizophrenic quality of this film, not quite the MR acid trip, but much more comparable in some aspects regarding the India scenes. And not one I can overlook as others who are bigger fans of the film seem more readily able to do due to the strength of the second half. OP reminds me a lot of QOS in the sense that it improves and becomes much stronger in the second half.
You may be surprised to know that I don't even touch on the clown act, gorilla suit, or even a lowly croc sub specifically in tomorrow's thesis questions, but I would like to know then how everyone addresses the schizophrenic mash up we get here. So here's what I think. It was the sheer speed of these disguise changes on film that makes me wonder more than anything, but otherwise I was fine if we suppose the gorilla suit has a zipper in the back for easy access. I actually have no issue whatsoever with Moore in a clown suit, it was the perfect disguise to get past the security and police who clearly didn't believe what he was saying. I just sort of assume with the changeover time that in real time terms a few more minutes had elapsed that allowed Bond to get properly made up. He did whatever it took to disarm that bomb, his personal standards be damned, and Moore did a fantastic job with the material.
Personally, I didn't much care for Wayborn, a bit too wooden for me. Maud and the rest of the women though were terrific. I thought the locations weren't quite up to the previous films 1977-1981 in scope nor stylishness, and I didn't find the film to be nearly as sadistic as those either. Some of the things Beatles mentions, the bed of nails, the leeches, the scenes were just too jokey for me to consider the rest more seriously.
In short, Octopussy is a middle of the road type entry for me. A top 10 for my son and his favorite Moore film, but personally I see it around 14-15 in the series. And anything above 19 out of 23 for me means I find value in it and as many times as Alex wants to see it, I'm happy to watch it. The same applies for AVTAK, although I feel Octopussy is a better film all things considered.
Finally, to Beatles, it's the darndest thing but I see your point about Bibi. Despite the annoyances, Johnson does seem to get hotter for me as I get older. I'm not sure considering she is supposed to be a teen here that it's proper to be thinking more than that, but I have to admit to the rest :)
You are quite correct Willy. My apologies for the inaccuracy.
1- In the PTS which appears to be set in Cuba complete with a Fidel Castro lookalike, Bond escapes from anti-aircraft missiles and still manages to accomplish his mission, only to escape any eventual pursuers by crossing a border gate and pulling up to a gasoline/petrol station. Considering that Cuba is an island nation with no border countries, was anyone else confused? Or are we supposed to believe that it wasn't really Cuba after all, despite all the all too obvious references?
2- I always found Octopussy to be a bit schizophrenic when it came to it's focus. The first few minutes of the film with the killing of 009 in Germany and the Sotheby's auction house scene seems to set a serious tone. Then we get to India where parts of the action seemed to tilt back towards both Spy and Moonraker with campy sight and sound gags, only to revert back again towards being a Cold War thriller once back in Germany where it all really started. Did you find the camp here to be distracting as far as your overall enjoyment, or was it once again just a case of being par for the course to appease a segment of Moore fans and something you could live with in the grand scheme?
3- It seems Octopussy can hardly be discussed without the "specter" of NSNA and "The Battle Of The Bonds" looming in the background. Knowing well in advance that the film was essentially a remake of "Thunderball", did seeing Connery break his promise of "never again" hold any interest for you, or were you of the mind like me that you wouldn't contribute to Kevin McGlory's pockets and would wait to watch it for free?
4- For the first time since the series began, one of the constant support roles was recast as Robert Brown replaced the late Bernard Lee in the role of "M". I think everyone appreciated that it wasn't immediately done out of great respect for Lee and in FYEO the absence of "M" was explained as he was "on leave". Were your first thoughts on Brown's performance and general demeanor positive, negative, or indifferent? And why?
5- Should NSNA be considered a "real" Bond film worthy of inclusion with the 23 official films produced by EON productions?
2. It annoyed, and still anoys me to this day. Octopussy could have been so much better without the goofing. The film has so much potential.
3. Well I wasn't old enough to go and see either, ut NSNA never did stick with me. Even more so becouse I'm a huge TB fan, which makes NSNA more of an insult. In the end I did buy it on DVD, and I've seen it twice since. Compared to the real Bond-films that's next to nothing.
4. I'm afraid Robert Brown had immense shoes to fill, and I personally think he didn't do a good job. They should've tried to find someone with a completely different style. That's why Judy worked so well: she was completely diffrent from her predecessors and thus never had their shadow hanging over her performance (that and she's an increadable actress of course).
1. I think we are supposed to believe that it is not Cuba but some generic South American dictatorship holding an uncanny similarity to Cuba ;)
2. Schizophrenic is the right word indeed! I wish the film had less camp but I still enjoy it. imilarly to @BeatlesSansEarmuffs (great review, by the way) this film is my guilty pleasure.
3. When the film premiered I was just a few months old, but if I were old enough I wouldn't contribute to McGlory's pockets. I watched NSNA only once, on TV, and wouldn't pay to watch it.
4. I'm quite indifferent to Robert Brown as M, I'm afraid. I don't think he was bad at it (although I find him a bit annoying) but I just don't like him as much as I liked Bernard Lee or would like Judy Dench (or even Fiennes, however recent) to be honest.
2. Yes, if you take the campness out of the film (the jungle hunt, gorilla suit etc) the film would have been as good, perhaps better, than FYEO.
3. I was way too young to understand why there were 2 competing Bond films but as a seven year old, I didn't care less. 2 Bond films meant it was like having 2 Christmases! Even at age 7 I realised OP was far superior to NSNA.
4. Yes agree totally and I think as John Cleese would later go on to prove in DAD, you can't replace like for like and expect continued success. Perhaps the reason we didn't see Q for the next two films and when he did return in SF he was the opposite of Desmond. Perhaps this is what EON should have done with M when dear Bernard passed away.
5- Should NSNA be considered a "real" Bond film worthy of inclusion with the 23 official films produced by EON productions?
It has none of the style of the EON Bond's and it's only the return of SC that made audiences want to watch it. Only the character of Fatima Blush could have made it into an official Bond.