Themes: Heroic Mission, Race Against Time, Terrorism
Main Cast: Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan, Kristina Wayborn, Kabir Bedi
Release Year: 1983
Country: UK
Run Time: 140 minutes
Plot
This (13th) time around, "007" receives the usual call to come and visit "Mother" when another agent drops off a fake Faberge jeweled egg at the British embassy in East Berlin and is later killed at a traveling circus. Suspicions mount when the assistant manager of the circus Kamal (Louis Jourdan), outbids Bond for the real Faberge piece at Sotheby's. Bond follows Kamal to India where the superspy thwarts many an ingenious attack and encounters the antiheroine of the title (Maud Adams), an international smuggler who runs the circus as a cover for her illegal operations. It does not take long to figure out that Orlov (Steven Berkoff), a decidedly rank Russian general is planning to raise enough money with the fake Faberges to detonate a nuclear bomb in Europe and then defeat NATO forces once and for all in conventional warfare. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Review
Octopussy is one of the cleaner and more entertaining of Roger Moore's Bond films, despite a title that tends to elicit blushes. Bond films are always a miniature world tour, but this one's plot carries off the usual jet-setting with more finesse than some of its predecessors and some that followed. It's got a colorful slate of villains, starting with Louis Jourdan's slippery Kamal Kahn and Steven Berkoff's vain-popping Russian general Orlov, and continuing with such minions as the bodyguard who can crush dice in his fist, the twin circus knife throwers, and the man with the yo-yo razor blade. Memorable set pieces include a dangerous ride through an Indian marketplace and the safari game hunt in which Bond is the target. But the film's lingering image is of Bond sliding down an ornate banister, machine gun blazing, just barely blowing off the decorative flourish at the bottom to keep his privates from getting pulverized. Ever perfecting that playful grin and dry wit, Moore makes his sixth and penultimate Bond film, one of the series' more satisfying. Octopussy was one of eight Bond films that John Glen either directed or edited. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Steven Berkoff - Orlov; David Meyer - twin; Vijay Amritraj - Vijay; Desmond Llewelyn - "Q"; Robert Brown - "M"; Walter Gotell - Gogol; Geoffrey Keen - Minister of Defense; Suzanne Jerome - Gwendoline; Cherry Gillespie - Midge; Albert Moses - Sadruddin; Douglas Wilmer - Fanning; Andrew Bradford - 009; Lois Maxwell - Miss Moneypenny; Michaela Clavell - Penelope Smallbone; Cheryl Anne - Octopussy Girl; Patrick Barr - British Ambassador; Bruce Boa - U.S. General; Hugo Bower - Karl; Jeremy Bulloch - Smithers; Ray Charles - Thug; Brian Coburn - South American VIP; Brenda Cowling - Schatzl; William Derrick - Thug with Yo-yo; Michael Halphie - South American Officer; Paul Hardwick - Soviet Chairman; Gertan Klauber - Bubi; Anthony Meyer - Twin Two; Peter Porteous - Lenkin; Tina Robinson - Octopussy Girl; Mary Stavin - Octopussy Girl; Gabor Vernon - Borchoi; Philip Voss - Auctioneer; Richard Graydon - Francisco the Fearless; Dermot Crowley - Kamp; Carole Ashby - Octopussy Girl; David Grahame - Petrol Pump Attendant; Ken Norris - Col. Toro; Gurdial Sira - Thug; Stuart Saunders - Maj. Clive; Julie Martin; Richard Parmentier - U.S Aide; Eva Reuber-Staier - Rublevitch
Credit
John Fenner - Art Director, Tom Pevsner - Associate Producer, Emma Porteous - Costume Designer, Anthony Waye - First Assistant Director, John Glen - Director, Arthur Wooster - Second Unit Director, Peter Davies - Editor, John Grover - Editor, Henry Richardson - Editor, Michael G. Wilson - Executive Producer, John Barry - Composer (Music Score), Derek Ball - Musical Direction/Supervision, John Barry - Songwriter, Eric Allwright - Makeup, George Frost - Makeup, Peter Robb-King - Makeup, Peter Lamont - Production Designer, Alan Hume - Cinematographer, Albert R. Broccoli - Producer, Michael G. Wilson - Producer, Rita Coolidge - Singer, Jack Stephens - Set Designer, Derek Ball - Sound/Sound Designer, Billy Burton - Stunts, Dorothy Ford - Stunts, Jim Dowdall - Stunts, Martin Grace - Stunts, Remy Julienne - Stunts, Paul Weston - Stunts, Jazzer Jeyes - Stunts, Christopher Webb - Stunts, Clive Curtis - Stunts, Del Baker - Stunts, Pat Banta - Stunts, Wayne Michaels - Stunts, Nick Hobbs - Stunts, Malcolm Weaver - Stunts, John Richardson - Special Effects Supervisor, George MacDonald Fraser - Screen Story, Richard Maibaum - Screen Story, Michael G. Wilson - Screen Story, George MacDonald Fraser - Screenwriter, Richard Maibaum - Screenwriter, Michael G. Wilson - Screenwriter, Don Lusher - Musical Performer, Tim Rice - Lyricist, Ian Fleming - Short Story Author
