Octopussy (1983)
d. John Glen, 131 minutes

Opening Credits, Title Sequence

Gun-barrel Sequence: Designed by Maurice Binder Main Title Sequence: Designed by Maurice Binder Title Song: "All Time High" (sung by Rita Coolidge). This was the first Bond theme song that didn't include the movie's title in the lyrics.

Film Plot Summary

In the exciting pre-title credits sequence (unrelated to the main plot of the film), Bond (Roger Moore) drove a horse trailer behind a convertible Range Rover to an equestrian event (in an unnamed and unidentified Latin American (Cuban?) location), being held at an air-base. It was attended by a bearded, hefty, lascivious cigar-smoking general (suspiciously a Fidel Castro look-alike). Bond disguised himself as a mustached, brown-haired version of high-ranking military commander Colonel Luis Toro. He was teamed up with sultry Hispanic female agent Bianca (Tina Hudson) in a mission to infiltrate the restricted compound of the air-base and plant and detonate a bomb to destroy a top-secret experimental spy plane and radar system. After knocking out a technician in the base's hangar, he opened a small demolition briefcase with a false-bottom hiding a bomb, and attached the timer for the explosive device onto the plane. He was immediately taken prisoner by the real Colonel Toro (Ken Norris) (Bond: "Well, it's a small world. You're a Toro too"), and the device was removed.

As Bond was transported away in an open truck, the sexy, flirtatious and charming Bianca (in a bra-less low-cut dress) pulled alongside and temptingly distracted the guards, allowing Bond an opportunity to pull their parachute ripchords and sail them backwards. He jumped onto Bianca's Range Rover and shot out the tires of the truck, to make his escape. He thanked Bianca with a kiss ("I'll see you in Miami"), and then detached the horse-trailer being pulled behind. A one-man Acrostar Mini-jet with retractable fold-down wings, disguised as the back-end of a horse (with moving tail), was contained inside - he flew off to evade the enemy's pursuit, although a heat-seeking missile doggedly followed. He piloted the small jet back to the airbase and daringly maneuvered into the air-hangar. He narrowly flew sideways through closing doors, as the bomb exploded behind him, killing everyone inside (number of deaths unknown) and destroying the spy aircraft.

After the credits, the action commenced in East Berlin (near the checkpoint) in East Germany where a red-haired clown-costumed man was pursued through a forest by two identical-looking, knife-wielding twin assailants (also circus performers) (later identified as Mischka and Grischka (David and Anthony Meyer)). The clown was mortally wounded when a knife was thrown into his back. He fell into a fast-flowing river stream but managed to struggle to its banks, where he then made his way to the residence of the British Ambassador. He staggered in and fell dead (# 1 death). He had gate-crashed a British Embassy party in East Germany, dying with a jeweled, ornamental Russian Faberge egg in his hand - the key to the film's plot.

At the London headquarters of MI6, Bond encountered (for the first time) a pretty young assistant in secretary Miss Moneypenny's (Lois Maxwell) outer office. He greeted her: "I must say, you become more beautiful every day" - and before giving his entire bouquet of red carnations to Miss Penelope Smallbone (Michaela Clavell), he reassured Moneypenny with one flower: "There never has been and there never will be anybody but you." Bond met with his superior "M" (Robert Brown in his first appearance), the Minister of Defence Frederick Gray (Geoffrey Keen), and the British Secret Service's art expert Jim Fanning (Douglas Wilmer). They discussed the priceless and very rare Faberge eggs, created by Carl Faberge as an Easter gift for the Russian royal family. The one in the hand of murdered British agent 009 (Andy Bradford) in the opening sequence in East Germany was a "near-perfect forgery." [This was the first time another 00- agent was shown in the field.] An identical, real Faberge egg was scheduled to be auctioned at Sotheby's later that afternoon. Bond was to accompany Fanning to the auction, in an operation dubbed Operation Trove - where the expert was to identify the buyer and anonymous seller (with a Swiss bank account) of the precious green/gold Easter egg gem, labeled in the auction book: "The Property of a Lady." He hypothesized that the vendor was a Russian, and the sale was possibly a way to raise funds for covert operations abroad, or for pay-offs.

The next scene was set in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, where a high-ranking Russian disarmament-defense meeting among pragmatic bureaucrats was in progress. General Gogol (Walter Gotell), a proponent of detente, was countered by fanatical militaristic maverick Soviet General Orlov (Steven Berkoff) for having "timid, outdated, and unrealistic policies," especially in relation to the adoption of NATO proposals. Orlov was opposed to bargaining away their advantage in disarmament talks. On a wall map, the hard-liner Soviet demonstrated the overwhelming military superiority of Russian ground forces in East Germany and Czechoslovakia, and the placement of further tank divisions in Western Russia. The rogue Russian general proposed a pre-emptive strike - armed aggression against NATO forces in Europe ("a lightning thrust by ten armored divisions from the north and by five more through Czechoslovakia leads to total victory in five days against any possible defense scenario"). Gogol admonished and reprimanded Orlov for his mad plan to risk all-out war with his thirst for conquest: "NATO will counter-attack with nuclear weapons." Orlov denied the assertion, claiming Europe was instead clamoring for nuclear disarmament: "The West is decadent and divided. It has no stomach to risk our atomic reprisals." The Soviet Chairman (Paul Hardwick) ended the bickering discussion with his assertion that Russia would only adopt defensive strategies during a period of relaxed and warming relations with the West.

After his plan was rejected, the hot-tempered, infuriated, and power-hungry Orlov was notified by Gogol's assistant Rublevitch (Eva Rueber-Staier) that he had been summoned to the Kremlin Fine Art Repository. There, he learned from curator/treasurer Lenkin (Peter Porteous) that the reproduced egg had been stolen in transit (one of the twins reported that it had been lost in the river, although the agent was killed), and there was no time to manufacture a replacement (inventory would be taken in two days). (Orlov had been smuggling/selling stolen pre-Revolution Russian jewelry and treasured relics from the Fine Art Repository and replacing them with clever, well-crafted forgeries.) To cover up his duplicity, Orlov planned to contact his "people in London" to return with the genuine egg.

At the Sotheby's auction, the genuine, imperial Faberge Easter egg, enameled in translucent green and decorated with blue sapphires and four petaled gold flowers with diamonds, was the next item up for bidding, and it could possibly fetch 250,000 or 300,000 pounds. Bond noticed the arrival of a beautiful brunette ("Now there is a lady") who seated herself next to corrupt, wealthy Afghan prince Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan), described by Fanning: "Usually a seller. Marginal quality from dubious sources." When the bidding reached 400,000 pounds, Bond decided to call the bluff of bidder Khan - and began bidding against him, to Fanning's amazement, to discover his upper limit ("Let's see how badly he wants it"). At one point, Bond examined the egg (and switched it with the fake one taken by Agent 009). The sale ended with Khan's bid of half a million pounds, after which Bond observed as the brunette and Khan departed in a black Mercedes Benz. The two were tailed to Heaththrow Airport and a plane bound for Delhi, India.

In "M's" office, Bond revealed he had switched the eggs and claimed that only a "legitimate" buyer would complain - and Khan wouldn't complain ("He usually sells. Now he buys. I believe that the fake will smoke him out"). M16 agent Sadruddin in Station "I" (India) would provide surveillance on Khan until Bond arrived. After landing in India, Bond left a boat in Udaipur's harbor (views of Agra's Taj Mahal were seen earlier) and heard a Cobra snake-charmer playing the "James Bond theme" tune on his flute - the individual signaling him was Universal Exports' special expediter field agent VIjay (real-life tennis star Vijay Amritraj), Sadruddin's (Albet Moses) assistant. The three rode in a motorized, 3-wheeled open-air Tuk-Tuk taxi to Bond's hotel, as Vijay explained Khan's background: "Exiled Afghan prince. Sportsman." The aristocrat lived on a mountain-top in a heavily-guarded palatial structure known as the Monsoon Palace. Vijay also worked as a tennis professional at a resort owned by Khan, who most often amused himself playing backgammon in the casino of Bond's hotel. From his luxurious hotel room's balcony, after flirting with the female Indian chambermaid and checking his room for bugs, Bond glimpsed the brunette from the Sotheby auction, stepping off Khan's yacht flying an Octopus flag.

In the casino that afternoon, white-tuxedoed Bond observed the brunette and Kamal cheating at a gaming table, using loaded dice to fleece an elderly British opponent Major Clive (Stuart Saunders). At the bar, Bond introduced himself to the brunette, Kamal's right-hand assistant Magda (Kristina Wayborn), reminding her of their previous meeting at the auction (Magda: "You have a very good memory for faces." Bond: "And figures"), but she snubbed him when he offered her a drink. He then stepped into Kamal's backgammon game as a new opponent, accepting a doubled stake of 200,000 rupees after losing the first round. With Kamal's own "lucky dice," Bond put up the genuine Faberge egg as "ample security" for his bet and won the game. Kamal was not pleased and threatened: "Spend the money quickly, Mr. Bond." Khan's strong-arm, turbaned Sikh bodyguard Gobinda (Kabir Bedi) crushed the pair of dice into powder with his bare hand before the group left. [In Goldfinger (1964), henchman Oddjob similarly crushed a golf ball after a gambling loss to Bond.]

Bond and Vijay were hotly pursued in their souped-up Tuk-Tuk 'company taxi' (that reared up on two wheels) by another taxi commanded by Gobinda and his henchmen - it was a wild chase through the crowded city streets and into a busy Indian marketplace. During the lengthy and violent chase, a jeep with four additional henchmen pulled alongside and VIjay helped fight them off with his tennis racket used as a weapon (spectators turned left and right, and Vijay exclaimed: "Game, set, and match") until the Jeep crashed. Gobinda's taxi kept up the pursuit, in the midst of a wedding procession, a fire-walker on hot coals, a holy-man on a bed of nails (where Bond ended the life of one thug) (# 2 death, # 1 Bond kill), a flaming torch juggler, and a sword-swallower! They escaped by throwing Bond's cash winnings into the streets ("Easy come, easy go") to create a frenzy, and then hid by driving through a camouflaged billboard/poster ("It certainly pays to advertise").

In disgruntled "Q's" (Desmond Llewelyn) Indian gadgets laboratory, Bond was shown a faulty remote-controlled elevating rope ("Having problems keeping it up, Q?"), and destructive spiked door knocker ("Smashing, Q"). Afterwards, a homing device and extremely delicate microphone were concealed inside Bond's egg. "Q" also equipped Bond with a gold Mont Blanc fountain pen (with a twist top that dispensed a highly-concentrated acidic mixture of nitric and hydrocloric acid to dissolve all metals - "Wonderful for poison-pen letters") that also contained an ultra-sensitive earpiece to listen in on the bug in the egg. Bond was also informed about his Seiko wrist-watch with a compatible homing receiver (it was equipped with a radio-directional finder to follow or track the movement of the egg). A second experimental Seiko watch had a liquid crystal TV/video display (LCD) connected to "Q's" video camera - Bond's "adolescent antics" included focusing the camera on a lady's buxom chest.

That evening, Bond was surprised by a dinner invitation from Magda - she was assigned by her associate Khan to deliver an offer to Bond: "He suggests a trade - the egg for your life." When her direct approach failed after flirtatious witty banter at dinner, she was determined to seduce Bond in order to recover the stolen, genuine Faberge egg. They retired to his hotel bedroom, where they stripped down and drank champagne under his silk sheets. She asked, devilishly: "I need refilling." He noticed a tattoo of an octopus on her naked rear-end (Bond: "Forgive my curiosity, but what is that?"). She replied: "That's my little Octopussy." After love-making (# 1 tryst), Magda attempted to sneak off early the next morning. She dressed and stole the egg from Bond's dinner jacket (and tucked it snugly in her bodice). Bond awoke, noticed her departure and kissed her goodbye (deliberately allowing the theft) - he set his watch's homing device to track the egg as she descended gracefully with her long, unwrapping sari from Bond's balcony to Khan's awaiting car below, where she handed over the egg. Bond was knocked unconscious from behind by Gobinda.

A group of beautiful athletic females dressed in skin-tight spandex catsuits, part of an all-female "Octopus" cult or entourage, rowed Khan to a luxurious Floating Palace on an island, where he was escorted into the interior of the complex - the exotic, guarded abode of wealthy jewel smuggler Octopussy (Maud Adams), the head of the cult. In her quarters as she fed her pet octopus in an aquarium (with her face unseen), Khan reported to her, and she expressed her unhappiness with him. She also ordered Bond brought to her rather than executed. Khan (with the egg) returned to his mountain-top Monsoon Palace, where Bond revived after being taken captive. At a dinner engagement with Khan, Bond was served a stuffed sheep's head - and was warned that he would be tortured for more information, using brain-damaging crurare "with an effective psychedelic compound." After dinner, Bond escaped his locked room by burning the bars on his window with the acid from his fountain pen. As he climbed around the outside of the building, he spied upon Magda undressing in an adjacent room, and then watched as a helicopter carrying General Orlov landed in the compound. The homing device on his watch brought him close to the egg's location, and the fountain pen's earpiece allowed him to listen in on part of Khan's and Orlov's conversation.

Renegade General Orlov was in league with cheating schemer Kamal Khan in India -- Orlov was stealing valued objects from the Kremlin (such as the egg), and selling them to Khan, who constructed fakes according to Lenkin's specifications. In exchange for the genuine stolen jewels, the fakes were auctioned in London through a fence in Zurich - to aid Orlov's real objective, to be accomplished in one week in Karl-Marx-Stadt (in Berlin). The next large consignment of forged jewelry (including the Romanov Star) was delivered by Khan and placed in Orlov's helicopter. Believing the egg that Khan had recovered from Bond was fake, Orlov smashed it with the butt of his gun. Khan noticed the homing device hidden inside.

When the "Englishman" was found to have escaped, a hunting party with rifles was assembled to track him, with Khan atop an elephant (Khan: "Let the sport commence"). Bond fled through the jungle, where he evaded giant spiders, a tiger, and a snake. He swung on a vine (accompanied by the Tarzan yell), removed a leech from his chest, and fought off a menacing crocodile. He waded out to a day-excursion boat (filled with a group of Cincinnati Moose-Lodgers) to escape, where one female tourist asked: "Are you with our group?" Bond quipped: "No, ma'am, I'm with the economy tour."

Back at "Q's" base, Bond learned that the 'Octopus' tattoo, portraying the blue-ringed octopus, was from Genus hapalachleana. It was the sign of an old secret order of female bandits and smugglers. The creature produced a venom that was fatal in seconds. He also learned of a fabulously wealthy woman, living on the floating island, who led the "Octopus" cult ("beautiful women, no men allowed") (Bond exclaimed: "Sexual discrimination!"), known as Octopussy. He paid a visit in "Q's" fake crocodile submarine to the palace, where from a distance, he saw Octopussy climb stark naked from her pool, surrounded by her attendants. As he stealthily entered, he was unaware that she was watching him on closed-circuit TV. She greeted him: "I wondered when you might arrive." As he held a gun on her, she knew his identity and then asked: "Am I to be your target for tonight?" He asked about the jewelry smuggling operation and why a 00- agent was killed in East Berlin. She explained how she was knowledgeable about Bond by revealing her past history. She was the daughter of disgraced British agent Major Dexter Smythe, who failed in a mission to recover a cache of Chinese gold seized in North Korea - he and his native guide disappeared and so did the gold. Twenty years later, agent Bond was sent after Smythe to arrest him - he found the guide shot to death, and Smythe was located in Sri Lanka. Smythe committed suicide rather than face a humiliating court-martial for crimes against the state. Octopussy thanked Bond for being sympathetic to her father - "for giving him an honorable alternative."

When Khan arrived to let her know of Bond's escape, Bond came out of hiding, and although Khan wanted "to take care of Mr. Bond personally," Octopussy asserted: "I will take care of Mr. Bond myself." After Khan left, Octopussy explained more about her background. Her father was a leading authority and lover of octopi, and gave her the pet name as a child. Bond was invited to stay for a few days as her guest, although the guard was doubled at his quarters. [Meanwhile, Khan, through Gobinda, hired thugs, one with a deadly yo-yo weapon (William Derrick) to assault the floating island and seize Bond, although they were specifically told: "the woman must not be harmed."] Later, Bond found out that Octopussy, after her father's gold ran out, was offered a commission by his associates in Hong Kong to smuggle a consignment of diamonds. She discovered she had a "talent" for it and went into the smuggling business. She needed an organizational front for her business, so she revived the old octopus cult, recruiting the "lovelies" from all over Asia who were looking for "a guru, spiritual discipline" - they were trained and given a purpose and way of life in the sisterhood. The business had diversified beyond smuggling into shipping, hotels, carnivals, and circuses.

["Q" (and Vijay) kept watch on the island from afar, joking: "007 on an island populated exclusively by women? We won't see him till dawn."] A poster found in a drawer by Bond advertised the next performance of Octopussy's Circus, at Karl-Marx-Stadt (in Berlin, West Germany) - connecting her to General Orlov. The next day, Octopussy announced that she was traveling to Europe on a week-long business trip. She was interested in hiring the talented, risk-taking agent as a paid assassin, but he refused. She was frustrated by his double-standard: "Naturally, you do it for Queen and country" and called him "a paid assassin" - refusing to apologize for her own criminal activity. But then she gave in to his romantic advances when he forced a kiss from her in her bedroom: "You're right. We are two of a kind." She moaned: "Oh, James!" as they dropped down onto her circular, Octopus-styled bed (# 2 tryst).

As VIjay kept watch on the shore, he was attacked and murdered by Khan's hired assassins, one of whom employed the yo-yo circular saw to kill him (# 3 death). Early that morning, Bond awoke in Octopussy's bed, as Khan's thugs approached closer and panicked a flock of birds on a rooftop - putting the agent on guard. In a brief fight sequence, Bond and Octopussy retaliated against the intruders who interrupted them mid-kiss, avoided the Yo-Yo Thug from the upper balcony, and killed one of the others by thrusting his head into the Octopus tank where he was bitten by the poisonous creature attached to his face (# 4 death, # 2 Bond kill). Octopussy aided by shooting another thug in the neck (# 5 death). Bond crashed through a window with the last surviving henchman, the Yo-Yo thug, and fell into the river below, where the two were presumed dead - eaten by a crocodile (# 6 death). Bond lead Octopussy to believe that he had been killed - he floated away in his crocodile submarine to the far shore, where "Q" informed him of Vijay's murder.

Bond traveled to East Germany, to follow the route of Octopussy's circus - and Orlov's scheme. It had been verified by "M" that the Octopussy Circus was in East Berlin when agent 009 was lost (in the pre-title credits sequence). It seemed strange that General Orlov was engaged in a simple "jewelry caper" - Bond thought the jewelry was "only the tip of the tentacle." During the circus performance that evening, Bond sat in seats surrounded by Russian soldiers - avoiding being spotted by Magda, Gobinda, or Khan in the crowd. [The next day, at the National Fine Art Repository in the Kremlin, Soviet General Gogol introduced Comrade Borchoi (Gabor Vernon), the curator from the Hermitage, to Lenkin. Art expert Borchoi was outraged to find a forged piece of jewelry, the Romanov Star, in the collection just arrived from Leningrad - and he smashed it. Gogol was conducting his own investigation into reports of thefts or rare jewels and smuggling.]

The stolen, genuine gems were concealed in one of the circus train cars. They were welded into the platform holding the circus cannon for Francisco the Fearless, and were scheduled to be smuggled out of East Germany following the final circus show there. Bond found himself trapped underneath the train car with the gems when it was coupled and began moving, and he watched as the car was switched with another identical one. He soon realized how contraband jewel smuggler Octopussy was going to be double-crossed. She believed that the container in the platform that she was smuggling into West Germany, across Cold War frontiers aboard her train, was full of jewels - in fact, it contained a nuclear weapon (100 kiloton yield) designed to look like an American medium-yield bomb device. It was primed to be set off with a timer-detonator, and would devastate a surrounding area of 20 miles. The train car's destination was the US Air Force Base at Feldstadt in West Germany - the locale of the next circus performance. Octopussy believed the smuggled goods would net 300 million in Zurich, after they crossed the border.

Bond became engaged in a fierce struggle with Mischka, one of the circus, knife-throwing twins inside the train car with the gems, and killed him by releasing the heavy cannon above his head (# 7 death, # 3 Bond kill). He then disguised himself as the twin, and stuffed the twin's body inside the cannon-gun. He observed as the canister of genuine, smuggled jewels was taken to Orlov's vehicle. Bond confronted Orlov at gunpoint, and began to understand the ramifications of the madman's plan. He wanted to use the smuggling route to get a nuclear bomb into a US Air Force base in W. Germany, where it would be detonated, and force a full-scale nuclear war. Thousands of innocent people would be killed by the "accident." The US would be tricked into plausibly assuming it was an American bomb triggered accidentally. Western Europe would then insist on "unilateral disarmament, leaving every border undefended" - thereby open for Orlov's military conquest. When a Russian guard entered the car door and interrupted them, Bond shot the guard dead in the forehead (# 8 death, # 4 Bond kill), as Orlov seized the opportunity to flee. Bond killed two more guards who defended Orlov (# 9-10 deaths, # 5-6 Bond kills), and then stole General Orlov's vehicle.

Bond was shot at - and then with the car's tires shredded by a tire spike, he mounted the car's hubcaps on the rail tracks to chase after Octopussy's speeding circus train (with the bomb) heading toward the border. He was switched to a separate parallel track and then pulled alongside, and barely survived by jumping onto the train as the vehicle was smashed by an oncoming train on his track. Soon after, the damaged car was hauled from the river by General Gogol, now suspicious and trailing Orlov, and the stolen gems were retrieved from Orlov's car trunk. At the same time, a frantic Orlov was being driven to the border, where the circus train was being inspected and then cleared by border guards. Bond had climbed into the car where the bomb was guarded by twin Grischka and Gobinda, and hid in a gorilla suit. As Orlov dashed on foot to the departing train crossing over the border, he was aptly shot by his own Soviet border guards as he tried to reach Octopussy’s train. General Gogol watched helplessly and then stood above the mortally wounded general, despising him: "A common thief. A disgrace to the uniform." Before dying, the deluded Orlov asserted: "Yes, but tomorrow, I shall be a hero of the Soviet Union." (# 11 death)

Disguised within the gorilla suit, Bond watched as Gobinda set the bomb's detonator-timer to explode at 3:45 pm, during the 3pm circus performance later that day. When Bond was discovered in the car by Gobinda, he fled to the train roof where a violent struggle ensued against the sword-wielding henchman. Gobinda was assisted by the arrival of the second twin Grischka atop the train. During their fierce fight, Bond and the twin both fell off and continued fighting in a woodsy area. With four knives, Grischka pinned Bond's shirt to a shed's wooden door and was about to stab him ("And this for my brother") when Bond unlatched the door and it opened. Grischka fell through the door opening - where Bond threw one of his own knives into his stomach (# 12 death, # 7 Bond kill), asserting: "And that's for 009." Suffering delays in getting to the big-top circus show held at the US Airbase, Bond was forced to steal an Alfa-Romeo GTV 6, and was pursued by local police for car theft and speeding. As he arrived at the base with only about 5 minutes to spare before the bomb detonated, Gobinda and Khan had already fled. Disguised as a circus clown, Bond infiltrated into the show and vainly attempted to convince the airbase's commander that he was a British agent, and that a bomb was about to explode in 90 seconds inside the cannon. Many in the audience believed that he was part of the act. As clown-costumed Bond was held back by security guards, Octopussy grabbed one of their guns and shot the lock off the cannon platform to reveal the bomb countdown. The detonator was removed by Bond only a second before the nuclear weapon exploded.

Gobinda and Kamal returned to India, where they planned to escape at dawn with their riches (including counterfeiting plates for every major currency in the world). Octopussy (and her female entourage) pursued after them at the Monsoon Palace. As the guards below were distracted by Magda's sexy dancing, Octopussy's acrobatic circus performers scaled the palace walls and disabled the remainder of the Indian guards. With her gun, Octopussy angrily confronted Khan about leaving her to die with thousands of other innocent people at the airbase. The villain professed his innocence: "Orlov betrayed us. I swear I knew nothing about the bomb. We're partners. We're friends." As Khan made excuses, Gobinda noticed the assault on the palace and sounded the alarm, and Khan took the opportunity to take Octopussy captive as a hostage ("She's our ticket out of here"). During the struggle throughout the palace (number of deaths unknown), with an athletic Magda aiding in the conflict, Bond arrived in a hot-air balloon bearing the Union Jack (piloted by Q). Khan and Gobinda fled (with an unconscious Octopussy) by horseback to an awaiting aircraft. After saving the lives of a few of the performers, Q received some unwanted affection from female cult members ("Cut it out. We haven't time for that. Later, perhaps"). Bond galloped on horseback to the plane - jumping on the wing as it took off. After Bond couldn't be dislodged from its roof when Khan spun the plane around, he disabled one of the engines. Furious, Khan ordered Gobinda to "go out and get him." During their fight atop the airborne plane, knife-wielding Gobinda was struck by the plane's antenna in the face and fell to his death (# 13 death, # 8 Bond kill).

To force the plane to suddenly dive and land, Bond pushed down the tail elevator with his feet, and the aircraft was forced to descend and crash-land on a small plateau, as he and Octopussy jumped from the door to safety and miraculously survived. Khan clumsily lost control of the plane which plummeted over the plateau cliff and crashed below (# 14 death, # 9 Bond kill). Afterwards, General Gogol spoke to M: "My government categorically denies the incident ever occurred," although he asked for the Romanov Star to be returned by Bond.

The 'seriously-injured' British agent, not fit enough to travel, recuperated with Octopussy on her private barge rowed by her all-female crew (the women were appropriately commanded: "In, out, in, out") at sunset. As she kissed Bond (with his leg in traction rising up, erotically), she commiserated: "I wish you weren't in such a weakened condition." She sighed, "Oh, James," as he threw off the arm sling and the traction support for his leg - transforming and curing himself for love-making, as she again exclaimed: "James!" (# 3 tryst)

Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)

The 13th film in the series. The sixth film to feature Roger Moore in the James Bond role. This was the second of five films directed by John Glen, who directed all of the 1980s Bond films.

This was the second lead role for Maud Adams in a Bond film (she previously appeared in The Man With the Golden Gun (1974) as a Bond girl, who also died at the hands of her lover, villain Scaramanga), the only actress to have done so. She was also the only 'Bond Girl' whose name was used as the title of the film.

The title was taken from Ian Fleming's short story, published after his death. "Octopussy" was the nickname of the lead female character, named by her father after a pet Octopus.

Released in 1983, it competed with another Bond film (although "unofficial") - Never Say Never Again (1983), a non Broccoli-produced remake of Thunderball (1965). Octopussy was released four months before the remake. The 'first' James Bond actor Sean Connery made his final (and seventh) appearance.

With the death of Bernard Lee, "M" was replaced for the first time in this film by Robert Brown.

With a production budget of $35 million, and gross revenue of $68 million (domestic) and $188 million (worldwide).

Set-pieces: the pre-title credits sequence (with Bond dodging a surface-to-air heat-seeking missile in a mini-jet), the taxi chase through the streets of Udaipur, India, the hunting party safari with Bond as prey in the jungle, the moving circus train-top fight between Bond, Gobinda and knife-throwing twin Grischka, the bomb-defusing sequence under the circus big-top, and the concluding palace assault (by acrobatic circus performers) ending with an airborne plane-struggle.

Bond Villains: Colonel Luis Toro (Ken Norris), Mischka (David Meyer) and Grischka (Anthony Meyer), General Orlov (Steven Berkoff), Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan), Gobinda (Kabir Bedi), Yo-Yo Thug (William Derrick)

Bond Girls: Magda (Kristina Wayborn), Octopussy (Maud Adams)

Number of Love-Making Encounters: 3

Film Locales: Unnamed and unidentified Caribbean/Latin American country (with English road signs) - possibly Cuba, East Berlin (Checkpoint Charlie) in East Germany, London, England, Moscow, Russia, Udaipur, India, West Berlin and Feldstadt US Air Force Base in Feldstadt, West Germany

Gadgets: small demolition briefcase (with secret false-bottom compartment containing timer and explosives), experimental gadgets in Q's Indian lab (remote-controlled elevating rope, and destructive spiked door knocker), miniature tracking-homing device with ultra-sensitive microphone for Faberge egg, Mont Blanc gold fountain pen (with a twist-top to dispense a metal-dissolving acidic substance, also with an ultra-sensitive listening earpiece for the egg), Seiko digital watch with compatible homing receiver (equipped with radio-directional finder to follow or track the movement of the egg), a second Seiko wrist-watch with liquid crystal TV/video display (LCD) connected to Q's video camera, Octopussy's CCTV video surveillance, razor-sharp circular metal-cutting yo-yo buzz saw

Vehicles: convertible Range Rover and horse trailer, Bede Acrostar BD-5J Mini-Jet, Mercedes Benz 240D Saloon car, 3-wheeled Tuk Tuk 'Company Taxi', Orlov's red Helicopter, fake crocodile boat (submarine), Alfa-Romeo GTV 6, Q's Hot Air Balloon with Union Flag (equipped with CCTV monitors and video camera), Khan's twin-engine airplane

Number of Deaths (Bond Kills): 14 (9)