Octopussy (1983)

“Octopussy” (1983) pretty much has all the escapism action and heroism you could want, quite preposterous—Moore avoids falling from Jourdan’s plane despite his efforts to throw him off at great heights, Moore in a jungle telling a tiger to sit, Moore driving his tire-less BMW on a railroad pursuing Berkoff’s train, Moore avoiding peril despite running atop train cars full speed while henchman Bedi pursues him—and oftentimes eye-rolling in its cheese—Moore in clownface and costume disarming an atomic bomb at a circus (???), Moore swinging from vines in an Indian jungle while the sound of Tarzan echoes (!), Moore sliding down a staircase rail while toppling Jourdan’s guards like dominoes with his machine gun…--but never boring despite its running time. India is very much the location of the film, featured in exotic fashion often, particularly Octopussy’s (Maud Adams) compound and Kamal Khan’s (Louis Jourdan) posh estate (way up on a hill). Moore hides in a fake crocodile to swim to Octopussy’s compound—a commune of only women, serving her cause, seeing her as a leader and adviser (spiritually, too)—later coming to Octopussy’s rescue when she (and her female assassin/commando squad) tries to stop Khan from fleeing with money and assets after his attempt to betray and kill her with the atomic bomb (offered to him from Berkoff’s Soviet General Orlov, inspired to set off the bomb, killing civilians, so that European disarmament would leave their continent weakened so that his Russian armies scattered territorially could strike, despite his own government telling him this idea would not be acceptable) inside a hot air balloon operated by Q! General Golgol (Gotell) returns to oppose Orlov, while a Faberge egg and Romonov Star factor as expensive plot devices that offer connections to Bond action sequences as Octopussy loves her jewelry, very involved in various projects like the circus, trade, transport, etc…Bond knows she is very much also a criminal enterprise. Magda (Kristina Wayborn) is Octopussy’s second (she also assists Khan, until he betrays Octopussy), obviously bedding Bond early in the film so she could get her hands on the Faberge egg he took out of Sotheby’s auction, leaving behind the fake (taken by 009, who tried to escape East Germany to get information back to the British Government, undermined by the “knife throwing twins”). The opening sequence certainly kicks of the film with gusto: the Acrostar plane with unfolding wings out of a horse trailer (literally the horse’s ass lifts up!) that jets with great speed (and can avoid a heat-seeking missile thanks to Bond’s sharp flying) takes care of a hanger full of adversaries in quite an exhilarating stunt, complete with Bond turning it vertical to move through an opening slit as the doors are closed. There are elephants with Jourdan’s hunting team pursuing Bond, crowded streets with Indians scattered about trying to avoid Bedi’s Gobinda in a small car chasing after Bond (who just defeated Khan, who had loaded dice to take funds from a victim in backgammon) who physically fights off Khan’s men while an Indian agent (Vijay Amritraj) coordinates narrow roads, and Octopussy’s skilled women of “bandits and smugglers” initiating an attack on Khan’s estate feature extra thrilling actions scenes…it very much feels like “Octopussy” was “get all the shit in” Bond entertainment. I felt while watching this that it was very kitchen-sink Bond where the producers threw everything left in the film because Moore’s time as the iconic character was about to come to an end. Every Saturday for the last few weeks has been Moore Bond specific, and I felt this was definitely an improvement to last weekend’s “A View to a Kill” which disappointed me, quite honestly. I just like that this Bond film took us to a part of the globe that wasn’t as familiar as San Francisco in A View…. Sure, the film still features a lot of extravagant palaces, and a circus, with a brief visit to England where Bond could say hi to Moneypenny and the new M (Robert Brown) and Minister (Keen), but India just felt like a fresh locale so I appreciated that. I recall a few years ago watching this and being quite surprised (maybe startled was more of an apt description) at just how wowed by “Octopussy” I was. This was the Moore film I didn’t watch at all when I was younger—that was “For Your Eyes Only” and “A View to a Kill” in the 80s and early 90s—and Bond dressed as a clown didn’t inspire much confidence in seeing it. But I can say this is the film that has moved up the ranks in my Moore Bond list, especially. I still prefer “For Your Eyes Only”, but “Octopussy” is gradually approaching it. 4/5

*Magda “rolling” out of her gown off a balcony after taking the egg while Bond watches impressively (until clunked in the head by Gobinda) is a showstopper.

**Gobinda is yet another towering brute, this time Indian, Bond had major problems with. We are led to believe that during the train action sequence, Bond will get to the bomb and disarm it, but Gobinda (and the other knife throwing twin) makes sure otherwise. When Khan tells Gobinda to go out to get Bond while in the plane, his response to such a command cracked me up. And sure enough Gobinda takes a flight that reasons he was right in questioning such a command, even if doing so for “his excellence”.
***Weapon of the film has to be the spinning saw on a cord. How the henchman can yoyo that bad boy is insane.