"Octopussy, a reappraisal"

2»

Comments

  • Posts: 1,310
    Octopussy is for sure good fun. The plot is very strong and I've always thought the two villains equalized each other very well (with Orlov's over the top performance and Jourdan's brilliantly cool Kamal). An enjoyable, and solid entry. Points off for George of the Jungle and the silly hot air balloon thing, but the rest of the film is paced well.
  • Posts: 2,341
    I always hear how great TSWLM was and it was when Moore finally hit his stride. but in my honest opinion my favorite Moore Bond film will always be Octopussy.
    I remember when it was playing in the theaters back in the summer of 1983 (the theater I saw it has since been torn down)
    I really liked the movie from beginning to end.
    I liked the villians especially Kamal Khan he had some great one liners: spend the money quickly, Mr. Bond" "Mr. Bond is a rare species soon to become extinct" Great.
    I thought that Octopussy's #2 Kristina Wayborn was smoking! Her exit from Bond's hotel suite was creative and the way she drove off with Khan...she was too hot and cool at the same time.
    The tiger hunt was fun, the scene with him hanging with those dead bodies then was dumped....was quite funny and only Moore could have pulled it off.
    The chase on the train with the knife thrower...
    My date could not stop laughing at him in the gorilla suit and when he went to check his watch, I totally lost it and joined her in laughing.
    Then the fight on the plane with Khan and Gobinda...I thought these two villians died some classy deaths. Both of them.

    I unfortunately do not own a DVD (or VHS) of Octopussy but this trip down memory lane makes me want to run out and buy my own just for my library.
  • Bond as a Clown, CASE CLOSED. My fave is LTK and it too polarises opinion so I understand the love for OP. "I want you to know this is nothing personal, purely buisness"
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,584
    I like how Octopussy stood out amongst Bond films because of the rich culture that is India. Very interesting to see. It's in the middle of my 'Best Moore Outing List', however it's pretty darn good. Louis Jourdan is always great to watch.
  • I think I'm out of my depth with the Fan Art Skyfall bits here so I'll merely have a quick review of this, should be somewhat easier :(

    Being quick, as this for me is where Moore just got into silly season.

    For your Eyes Only was a great success, Moore was serious, there was moments of Fleming, he played it straight for the most part, he seemed credible as a Government killer etc. Two years later and the one that followed, while having moments of a serious attitude, was for the most part just Moore hamming it up and well, it wasn't James Bond for the most part, people have criticized before the Clown set-up, Gorilla suit, Crocodile 'disguise', Tarzan Yell, if this is James Bond then I'm Lincoln's Grandfather

    some genuine moments of humor are evident here and there, usually from Moore's end. Maud Adams does a good job of it, as does Jourdan as Kamal Khan. Rita Coolidge put forth a nice soundtrack and the pre credits sequence was one of the most enthralling up to the time of release

    Moore was clearly unsuitable for the part of 007 by 1983 but returned two years later for his Bond swansong in a most often forgettable departure

    Octopussy gets a 6.5/10 this end

  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    To me Octopussy has gotten better with time. OP, along with LTK, are IMO the two underated Bond films.

    OP was always in the middle of the pack for me, but the more I watch OP, the more I'm enjoying it. Sure, it has the standard Moore silliness, but when you get past it, you have a great Cold War storyline, two plots that merge well together and some brilliant acting from the two main villians. Even with the jungle chase and the circus, there still is the seriousness of Bond trying to stop the dirty bomb from going off at the US Air Force base which is suspenseful to literary the last second. Moore does display the Fleming ruthlessness when he kills Mishka and Grishka. I've always considered FYEO as my favorite Moore film, but I think OP may have passed it for now.

    This really should have been Moore's departure.
  • octopussy isn't my fave moore outing and is near the bottom of my ranking, but its not that i dont enjoy it, its just that i enjoy other bond films more. The PTS was cool The plot was amazing and original, and alot better than some of the plots in other moore films (mega death ray lazer to wipe out human kind anyone?). Yes some of the indian scenes were for gags but i didn't mind, its a moore film you should expect gags (hiss of is one of my personal faves). But i don't think bond should've dressed like a clown. That to me, crossed the line a bit. Other than the clown thing though, good film.
  • Bond as a Clown, CASE CLOSED. My fave is LTK and it too polarises opinion so I understand the love for OP. "I want you to know this is nothing personal, purely buisness"

    Apart from the clown thing though, i thought it was alright. But its no where near as great as licence to kill.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,584
    C'mon, everyone loves clowns- right? Yes, I know- not when it comes to Bond dressing up as one. It was a bit silly. Although I'd rather see Bond as a clown and Blofeld as a woman than vice versa. :-S
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,138
    QBranch wrote:
    C'mon, everyone loves clowns- right? Yes, I know- not when it comes to Bond dressing up as one. It was a bit silly. Although I'd rather see Bond as a clown and Blofeld as a woman than vice versa. :-S

    I don't really see the problem with the clown suit. Bond arrives at the circus being chased by the German police, and US airforce troops. He needs to gain access to the big top in order to stop the atomic bomb exploding. In order to do this he needs a disguise of some kind.
    Circus...clown...clown...circus. Works for me. It also gives us some great tension as he still has to convince everyone of who he is, and what's going to happen. A very underrated scene.

  • Posts: 4,762
    I just watched OP a few days ago, and I was pleased as usual, if not even more pleased than the last time. I remember the first time I watched OP, I didn't like it very much, and I refrained from watching it again for a little while because it had such a "bad after-taste" from the first time. Now, however, it's a Top 5 Bond movie! The Cold War backdrop against the smuggling scheme gives it a chill that you know is coming but keeps hidden until it's right in your face, and then you realize there's a global threat! At that point, in the last thirty minutes or so, it has one of the most supensful climaxes to any Bond movie.
  • edited November 2011 Posts: 1,310
    The clown thing is hardly an offense when you compare it to some of the other things in the franchise (George of the Jungle, Beach Boys etc)...and after all, it was a legitimate disguise to get close to the bomb! It also helps that the bomb defusing scene is one of the most intense in a Bond film. Yes, it kind of seemed like the filmmakers were REALLY pushing what the audience could take with the clown suit, but the overall scenario worked for me.
  • Posts: 1,052
    Good to see some love for Octopussy, it's definitley one of my fav's, pure entertainment with Moore giving possibly his best perfomance in the role. I think it's fair to say there was no one like Roger Moore starring in action films in the 80's which helped distinguish Bond from the one man army films of the period, can the same be said now?
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    I think it's fair to say there was no one like Roger Moore starring in action films in the 80's which helped distinguish Bond from the one man army films of the period, can the same be said now?

    That's a really good point. There were so few sophisticated action stars in the '80s.
  • SharkShark Banned
    Posts: 348
    echo wrote:
    I have never understood Octopussy's lines just before Bond kisses her: "I don't have to answer to you. A paid assassin for what I am!" What?!? Shouldn't it be "A paid assassin is what you are"?

    "A paid assassin for what I am" means "compared to me, you're just a paid assassin." It's Octopussy trying her best get the moral high ground.
  • 002002
    Posts: 581
    honestly i felt that out of all the bond films in the moore era that Octopussy and Bond had the most Chemistry

  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    Shark wrote:
    echo wrote:
    I have never understood Octopussy's lines just before Bond kisses her: "I don't have to answer to you. A paid assassin for what I am!" What?!? Shouldn't it be "A paid assassin is what you are"?

    "A paid assassin for what I am" means "compared to me, you're just a paid assassin." It's Octopussy trying her best get the moral high ground.

    Agreed. That line is just poorly written/acted.
  • Posts: 11,425
    Octopussy suffers from some lame jokes occassionaly (often?) but is otherwise sound. Maud Adams is good (at least she looks of an age that it might be legal for Bond to get her in the sack) and I've always thought Bond in the clown suit at the end was actually incredibly poignant. Roger had an under-appreciated ability to bring gravitas and seriousness to the most absurd scenes and he uses this skill to maximum effect at the end of Octopussy.
  • Posts: 1,497
    Benny wrote:
    QBranch wrote:
    C'mon, everyone loves clowns- right? Yes, I know- not when it comes to Bond dressing up as one. It was a bit silly. Although I'd rather see Bond as a clown and Blofeld as a woman than vice versa. :-S

    I don't really see the problem with the clown suit. Bond arrives at the circus being chased by the German police, and US airforce troops. He needs to gain access to the big top in order to stop the atomic bomb exploding. In order to do this he needs a disguise of some kind.
    Circus...clown...clown...circus. Works for me. It also gives us some great tension as he still has to convince everyone of who he is, and what's going to happen. A very underrated scene.

    It's also often overlooked that Bond in clown suit alludes to the beginning of the movie. Agent 009, also dressed as a clown!, falls dead on the steps of the British Embassy with the egg after being chased by Mishka and Gobinda. This scene sets up some great foreshadowing for Bond later on in the same disguise. The opening death scene leaves such a striking impression, that later on when Bond is in the exact same scenario, we ask, will this be the same fate for Bond? Of course not, it's Bond so we no he'll prevail, but these parallel scenes nicely set-up some tension.

  • To me it is interesint that OP and LTK are two polarizing films for the opposite reasons. OP because it is campy and over the top and LTK because it is very serious.
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    To me it is interesint that OP and LTK are two polarizing films for the opposite reasons. OP because it is campy and over the top and LTK because it is very serious.

    Polarizing is a good way to describe both of these films. OP and LTK are IMO, the two most underated films of the franchise.
  • Posts: 11,425
    Excellent posts. Am loving the votes for OP and LTK. First time I saw LTK I thought it sucked, but that was before Brosnan. Going back to it since I appreciate it as a tidy little Bond film. The bit that jars though is when Bond goes rogue near the start and kicks M - it just seems completely out of character. Okay, he might lose it and run off, but he doesn't rough up M. To me that was a foretaste of the Brosnan era, when for whatever reason, the essence of Bond was completely lost.
Sign In or Register to comment.