Octopussy (1983) | Dumb Name, Fun Movie

At last, we have come to Octopussy. Goldfinger established dumb-named character names with the titular villain and his accomplice Pussy Galore. However, Octopussy is right out there in the open as one of the most memorable titles of any film or character, let alone a James Bond movie. Despite being the punchline to countless jokes I made as a middle-school student, I wouldn’t actually watch this movie from start to finish until I was an adult. When I did finally see it all the way through, I thought the most notable thing about it was the name. Having watched it again recently, however, I think there are some interesting things about it besides the titular character, even if the movie is not as good or memorable as some of the other Roger Moore classics.

Pros

Bond’s tactics of getting the villains to reveal themselves are clever
Uneasy alliances work to the film’s benefit
Good chase sequences
Decent, though flawed, evil plot

Cons

Yo-yo weapon is dumb
The Faberge egg portion of the plot abruptly ends
Spy tech undone by a hairdryer?
Sequence in streets of Delhi is uninspired

Plot & Thoughts

Octopussy opens with a presentation by a Soviet general to his superiors and various members of the KGB. He’s the very zealous and warmongering type, determined to turn the Cold War into a hot war that ends swiftly with the U.S.S.R. the immediate victor. Unfortunately for General Orlov (Steven Berkoff), the rest of the committee does not share his enthusiasm or viewpoint on the situation. The film then cuts to a clown on the run. Yeah, it’s a bit strange to suddenly watch a clown run from two knife-wielding assassin twins before we even see Bond for the first time, but whatever. He nearly gets away, but one well-thrown blade hits him in the back. It turns out that the clown was a double-o agent, which seems a little odd considering how scared he was when running away. James Bond (Roger Moore) often has to flee situations, but he never has a look of fear. Obviously, Bond is a cut above the rest, but I would think all double-o agents would be made of sterner stuff, even if dressed as a clown with a frowning face.

Double-o Pennywise was apparently trying to deliver information that was potentially tied to the opening scene of the film and the only method that MI6 has of flushing out who might be responsible for learning of their intentions is to attend an auction of a rare and unique Faberge egg. James Bond plays the auction and intentionally drives up the price when he finds his mark, Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan). He also manages to swap out the real egg with a fake one. Bond knows that Khan will recognize the fake when he takes a closer look at it, so he makes himself relatively easy to find in the area in which Khan is residing: India. After yet another instance in which Bond demonstrates his abilities at winning card games, the henchwoman of Khan, Magda (Kristina Wayborn) “seduces” Bond and steals the egg from him. Bond clearly let her steal it and placed a hidden tracking device and microphone within it to find Khan’s base and potentially infiltrate it. He gets captured and brought inside, but Bond has some nifty tools from the Q branch to get out of his room and find out more about the evil plot through the microphone within the egg. However, he misses some important clues when Magda turns on her hairdryer several floors up. It’s meant to be something of a joke and a method of not letting Bond hear the whole conversation, but I think it’s just lame that the advanced technology of Q branch is so easily undone by a hairdryer’s electrical field several floors above it.

Now, you may be wondering if you haven’t seen this movie, what’s an Octopussy? Well, the first time we hear the term is from Magda when she is seducing Bond for the egg. He asks her about a symbol on her clothes (an octopus), and she replies, “Oh, that’s my little octopussy.” Bond, of course, raises an eyebrow just as anyone would at that response. It turns out, however, that the symbol is that of a notorious smuggler by the name of (you guessed it) Octopussy (Maud Adams). Magda is actually employed by Octopussy, who seems to have a fair amount of influence in the criminal world as Khan demonstrates a level of fear at the thought of crossing her in a few pieces of dialogue.

It takes a while before Octopussy is formally introduced in the film and Bond meets her for the first time. We don’t quite know her intentions, but it’s clear that she’s not a cold-hearted villain. She talks about just falling into the smuggling business because she had a natural ability for it. She also talks about how many of the women who work for her and perform in the circus front that she has for her smuggling came from hard lives and she’s offered them sanctuary and family. She’s clearly involved in some capacity with the plot between Khan and Orlov, but Bond and the audience do not know where her loyalties lie. Bond turns on the charm with her to get more information, but has to make a cheeky escape at some point to contact MI6 and get them the information.

Where Octopussy works is in its titular character and the somewhat mysterious plot surrounding her. Octopussy is an interesting character and Maud Adams does a good job of bringing charisma to the role that balances really well against Roger Moore’s charm. She gives off the same sort of confidence and personality as Tracy from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but with the maturity that is suitable for Moore’s version of Bond. It’s not clear until the final act if she’s a real antagonist or just someone unwittingly involved in a terrible plot. What the plot ends up being is also somewhat interesting, if a little farfetched. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen the movie, but you definitely wonder how it got to that point from the opening portion of the film surrounding the Faberge eggs.

This brings up my main criticism of the film. It’s a little disjointed and feels like a movie that is made up of multiple sub-plots that do not fully connect with each other. It could be an issue with editing, or with how some scenes connect, or just with the writing, but I feel like the different moments in the movie just don’t line up. While I’m able to recall the series of events that take place throughout most of the different Bond films many days after watching them, I struggle with Octopussy. I remember the individual scenes and sequences just fine—including scenes involving Bond being chased through the city streets in India that involve a bunch of low-hanging fruit for set pieces using the various stereotypes associated with Indian culture like snake charming, coal walking, or nail beds. I also remember the scenes involving the man with the stupid yo-yo weapon with a saw blade on it. I just struggle to remember at which point the scenes occur because the plot sort of discards some sub-plots and languishes in the middle a bit as we learn more about Octopussy and her potential intentions.

TL;DR

Regardless of it being a movie that doesn’t fully connect its beginning to its end, there are some good action scenes, car chases, and battles that take place throughout Octopussy. It’s a fun ride, even if the journey gets a little lost in the middle. Octopussy is an interesting character and manages to help carry the movie to its finale and works well as a counterbalance to James Bond. It’s already fading from my mind, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable.

Hair of the Dog Drinking Game Rule

Before we meet the titular character of the movie, there are many close-camera shots of her pet octopus in its tank. It’s a blue-ring octopus. They’re a small species of animal that reside along the Australian coast and happen to be extremely dangerous for the toxin their bites can carry. Despite all these nifty little tidbits of information about the animal, it serves no real purpose in the plot. It’s just there to look pretty and give the audience something to look at before they know what Octopussy looks like. After she’s revealed, we see a lot less of her pet, but we can still celebrate its cameos in the movie.