007: Octopussy contra las chicas mortales

They didn't know what type of Bond film to make: an overblown action comedy best personified by Moonraker or a down to earth action thriller like they had done in For Your Eyes only, the previous picture. Solution: they gave the audience both! Result: this movie is very uneven. There are some great sequences: the teaser featuring the mini jet, the killing of 009, the auction, the backgammon game and subsequent chase scene, the fight in Octopussy's bedroom and the train sequence all come to mind. But there is just too much misplaced humor in between and the rest of the movie after Bond diffuses the bomb is unnecessary and somewhat silly. Moore really shows his age in this one too, as does Maude Adams. Stephen Berkoff is awful, but Louis Jordan is great. Christina Wayborn deserves top marks as well. While not a bad film, and certainly one of Moore's better outings, this could have been so much better. Some of the best Bond scenes ever are present here, but they are overwhelmed by the shear enormity of it all: the producers just tried to put all of the past elements into this movie to please every Bond fan. So while there is something for everyone and it is entertaining, Octopussy is ultimately a victim of it's own excesses.

Bond again in an electrifying movie that scored a new hit in the action genre . The immortal agent 007 , whose deadly precision , sourness , irony and irresistible attractive is perfectly portrayed by Roger Moore. This time he investigates the killing one his colleagues who appeared dead with a Russian egg Faberge of incalculable price . He undergoes an incredible adventure with spectacular pursuits until a chilling countdown , leading to a possible nuclear holocaust . This time OO7 taking off an elegant villainnamed Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan) living in India, as Bond tries to stop him but the maniacal nasty wreak all sorts of havoc until Bond steps in and the heinous mastermind schemes to put a nuclear bomb at a circus whose owner is Octopussy (Maud Adams ,the only Bond girl who repeated acting , she previously played ¨The man with the golden gun¨) . Nobody does it better...thirteen times. James Bond's all time action high. Roger Moore. James Bond 007 . Nobody does him better. James Bond's all time high

The film contains excitement, emotion , lots of action , suspense , gorgeous women (a beautiful Kristina Wayborn) and extreme nasties (Jourdan , Steven Berkoff , Kabir Bedi) . The plot tosses in every cliché including the obligatory intervention from MonneyPenny (Lois Maxwell), M (Robert Brown) , and Q (Desmond Llewelyn) . Before essaying the role Bond , Roger Moore honed his suavity in the series as ¨The Saint¨, hence he adds a humorous-tongue-in-cheek dimension to Ian Fleming's famed creation as the connoisseur (women and wine especially) spy hero , starting his role Bond with ¨Live and let die¨. Film displays gimmicks and silly set pieces that usually marred the best Moore outings . In spite of a moving opening sequence and some thrilling scenes along the way the Bond-Moore series is starting to look a little bit tired , just as its main star . John Barry's music is unforgettable ,as always , and including a colorful cinematography by cameraman Alan Hume. An agreeable screenplay and more believable excitement with cliff-hangers situations come to mind ; still, this solid outing isn't a bad Bond and it does star the most sympathetic OO7 . This is one of the more watchable entries based on a short book by Fleming with the same title ¨Octopussy¨ and stars Roger Moore in top form as 007 and adding an assured direction by John Glen .

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs.

Revisited it recently.

This is the thirteenth in the Bond series and the sixth to star Roger Moore as James Bond.

After the death of 009, Bond is assigned the task of following a general who is stealing jewels and relics from the Soviet government. The mission leads Bond to cross paths with an exiled prince n his associate, Octopussy and later Bond discovers a plot involving nuclear weapon.

The film has one of the best pre credits scene of an aerial chase.

For a change, Bond does a Tarzan stunt, dons a gorilla outfit n also of a clown.

There is a lovely train sequence and a lol scene of that of a car being run on tracks by Bond.

It has a jungle chase sequence involving elephants, tiger, leeches, spiders n crocodiles.

But the best is the climactic aeroplane sequence which is tension filled n well shot.

Bond's sliding on the rail of stairs n shooting villains is epic and he riding a horse n catching up an aeroplane is amazing. Both the scenes are copied by the Bollywood spy film Ek Tha Tiger but done in a good way by Salman Khan.

This film has some very weak villains but a mighty strong n loyal henchman known as Gobinda played by an Indian actor Kabir Bedi.

This time Bond faces knife throwing assassins, a deluded General Orlov, an exiled prince Khan, a strong henchman Gobinda with an intimidating glare that causes Bond to lose his appetite, lots of thugs, guards, hunters, Colonel Luis Toro n his soldiers n a very ruthless contract killer with a yo-yo saw.

This time Bond gets to cool off with a sultry Hispanic female agent played by Tina Hudson, another hottie Kristina Wayborn and once again Maud Adams.

This film is the only one with a Bond Girl whose name is used as the title of the film.

Also Maud Adams played Bond girl in two different films, The Man With the Golden Gun and this film.

Watch out for poor Q getting seduced by a bunch of females to which he replies, "later perhaps".

Roger Moore plays James Bond once again in this thirteenth installment, where Bond. while tracking a stolen Faberge Egg, finds out about a plot by a renegade Russian general to detonate a nuclear missile on American soil, thereby striking first in a proposed third world war. The missile is traced to a circus(!) so Bond must go undercover to retrieve it, and defeat the general(played by Steven Berkoff). Story also takes him to India, where he meets up with the title character(Maud Adams) and her circus performers, staying with villain Kamal( played by suave Louis Jordan) who is involved with the evil plan.

Despite the sight of James Bond dressed as a clown(!) this entry is still a lot of fun, striking the right balance between seriousness and high adventure, resulting in a satisfying film, though it does go on a bit too long! (Not that bad a thing here.)

Octopussy is directed by John Glen and adapted to screenplay by George Macdonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson. It stars Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jordan, Kabir Bedi, Steven Berkoff, Vijay Amritraj and Robert Brown. Music is scored by John Barry and cinematography by Alan Hume.

Bond 13 and 007 is assigned to find the link between the murder of 009 and the Fabergé egg found in the slain agent's possession. His investigation leads him to uncover a fiendish plot by a rogue Soviet General to detonate a nuclear device that will leave Western Europe vulnerable to a Soviet attack.

Undeniably the film that should have been Roger Moore's last as James Bond, Octopussy contains both the best and worst of the James Bond franchise. On the plus side is a very good core story that encompasses intelligent political overtones that were prevalent of the time period. A nuclear crisis is in the air and the East and the West, who have until now been casting suspicious eyes over each other, must co-operate to avert disaster. This closing down of the Cold War is nicely etched into the plot structure by the makers. The cast assembled is mostly impressive, with Adams and Jordan doing great characterisations, the photography by Hume makes India look like a paradise, Glen orchestrates some excellent action set-pieces, including one of the best pre-credits scenes of the series, and Barry's score is a swirl of romanticism and invention. The title song, All Time High sung by Rita Coolidge, is magnificent and this writer's personal favourite of all the Bond theme songs. While there's a new man enviably following the much missed Bernard Lee by playing M (Robert Brown) and Q (Desmond Llewelyn) gets a bigger role to play in the story.

Sadly, even though Moore is continuing the good acting of Bond he achieved in For Your Eyes Only, he is looking his age and not physically suited to the action. He is also saddled with having to do moronic things like swinging on a vine whilst doing the Tarzan jungle yell. It's pretty painful to watch and you have to wonder who on earth thought it was a good idea? There's moments when a silly bit of humour undermines the good plotting, while Berkoff and Amritraj are in turn over the top villainy and scarcely believable as a field agent. The film looks cheap, a rarity for a Bond film, and the smartness of the story often gets buried beneath the weight of convolutions. Most galling is that we should have had a classic Bond movie, a gargantuan feast of sets and tough secret agent shenanigans, for this was the year when Bond as we know it was facing off against the Kevin McClory rival Bond movie, Never Say Never Again, and that had Sean Connery in it; though he was also like Moore in his early 50s and too old for the suit.

The two films never met head to head at the box office, because McClory's was delayed. Both films made monster cash, with Octopussy grossing $184 million and Never Say Never Again copping $160 million, Bond, and the two actors playing the role were enough to ensure the cash tills rang loud and proud. But both films were solid rather than special, the profit margins were high but the quality wasn't. Octopussy has a bit of something for all types of Bond fans, but they just can't make a successful whole. From the Eon side of things there surely had to be a new direction, some decision making assertiveness instead of fluctuating between earthy Bond and ridiculous button pushing Bond, it needed some vim and vigour brought back into the fray. Moore planned to retire, and rightly so, was we about to see the dawn of a new Bond era? 7/10