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Revisiting Octopussy


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#1 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 12 May 2015 - 11:04 AM

Sorry, quantumofsolace - but since there was no thread about it yet I thought I should start it.

 

OCTOPUSSY (re-watch)

 

1983.  I was 14 years old.  Of course, I was looking forward to a new Bond - well, even two Bonds - but this was the year of STAR WARS coming to a close.  Or so I thought.  It was also two years since RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, and that one had upped the ante for action movies.  I was still a Bond fan and enjoying it.  But somehow I remember being just as lukewarm towards the film as I had been towards FOR YOUR EYES ONLY.  

 

Expectations.  Oversaturation.  And the competition was gearing up majorly.

 

Even in the next years OCTOPUSSY had never been one of my favorites - although I do love them all - and I did not watch this one too often.  Maybe even discouraged by the well known nitpickers ("Moore is too old", "the film is too camp", "the story does not make sense", "it is prejudiced against India" etc.)

 

Well, this time I enjoyed every second of it.  Even more, I think this is one of the most underrated Bond films and definitely one of the best during the Moore era.  I was entertained throughout, the story has a much better pace than FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, the location work is excellent, Moore - IMO - seems to be much more relaxed, enjoying his role the most since THE SPY WHO LOVED ME.  The action scenes are very well done and fresh, the one-liners are funny, and John Barry´s score is wonderful.

 

And yes, I love the title song as well.  Because it is a beautiful melody, mixing the light fun of "Nobody does it better" and the melancholy of "Moonraker".  Also, it´s the main theme of the score, so - why do people complain about it?  Because it was time to do so?

 

Let´s turn to the well-known arguments against the film.

 

- Moore is too old.

 

 Well, his age is showing but he still commands the screen, and he is visibly doing most of the action scenes himself (and those he doesn´t do no actor would have been allowed to do anyway).

 

- The film is too camp.

 

 Maybe I have a high tolerance for it, but the camp-factor only really is ramped up, IMO, when Octopussy´s amazons attack... and Bond is flying in with Q in a balloon showing the Union Jack.  But, hey, this is a nice nod towards THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, and at this point of the film it was fun for me.  Yeah, yeah, yeah - John Glen loves to combine Bond and animals, especially in this one (tiger, spider, snake, crocodile, ape (2x)).  And the Tarzan yell... and the...  Oh!  The way Louis Jordan stresses the "pussy" everytime he says "Octopussy" - hilarious!

 

Okay, maybe the film is more camp than I want to admit.  But still, I enjoyed it.  And maybe you have to take into account that this film as every film and especially every Bond film is a mirror of the zeitgeist.  During the early 80´s it was all about escapism and fun.  And all those elements today´s audiences cringe at were hugely successful during that time.  Does that make them bad? No, it only proves that perception is influenced by socialization.  In a few years, people will complain about the 00´s being drab and joyless.  Oh, sorry, that has already begun.

 

- The story does not make sense.

 

Doesn´t it?  Orloff does destroy the real Fabergé egg (which is enhanced by Q).  Octopussy thinks that she is just smuggling jewelry with Kamal Khan and Orloff - but Orloff is using the circus to transport the bomb, and Khan just wants to be rich and good friends with the man who wants to expand Russia.  Am I wrong?

 

- The film is prejudiced against India.

 

And Russia.  And Germany.  And US soldiers.  And... well, arrogant Englishmen.  And men in general.  And women. 

 

C´mon, none of these characters are meant to be taken as a representative for a nation or a sex.  And the way Bond utters his "curry"-line towards his Indian colleague is just harmless amusement between friends.  Should I as a German be offended because the film depicts this annoying old couple eating bockwurst and offering beer while offering Bond a lift?  Or the German woman who just can´t stop blabbering on the phone when Bond needs to inform the police?  Or the young Germans in the car making fun of Bond?

 

Naw...

 

And yes, I am aware that the film disregards the actual location of the Taj Mahal and uses clichés like the nail bed etc.   So what?  Was "Slumdog Millionaire" really an honest description of life in India, with people dancing in unison all the time?

 

For me, "Octopussy" is probably my third-favorite Moore film.  

 

AND... I became aware (wow, finally!) that SKYFALL´s PTS actually quotes/steals from the fight on the train in OP.  I also noticed (finally, yeah not too quick up there, am I) that M has travelled with Bond so many times before Dench-M did it.  So, nothing to accuse her for.



#2 David_M

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Posted 12 May 2015 - 06:57 PM

 

1983.  I was 14 years old.  Of course, I was looking forward to a new Bond - well, even two Bonds - but this was the year of STAR WARS coming to a close.  Or so I thought.

 

Would that it had been.

 

OP opened in my town the day I graduated high school, so I'll always remember as the first Bond to take a back seat to my real life.  But not the last.  I remember being lukewarm to it, as well.  For me, it was at constant pains to stop short of the complete "over the top" approach of TSWLM and MR, but also not fully committed to the "earthbound" approach of FYEO.  Consequently it came off as neither fish nor foul, though I did enjoy it as (what I assumed was) Roger's victory lap.

 

 

 

Moore - IMO - seems to be much more relaxed, enjoying his role the most since THE SPY WHO LOVED ME.

 

I got that impression, too.  I think there may have been a little awkwardness with John Glen in FYEO because of the turn that one took.  We all know Roger and his director had a disagreement over the "kick," but I wouldn't be surprised if Roger didn't feel his hands were a  bit tied on that one, all around.  He wasn't allowed to dip as deeply into his standard bag of tricks.  

 

OP, I think, probably reversed that a bit, as the creative balance of power shifted firmly to Roger as Cubby's "great white hope" against the Connery vehicle (whatever other shortcomings it had, NSNA got tons of free publicity from giddy journalists).  I get the impression OP is designed to play up the elements of the Eon brand that NSNA could not duplicate, like Barry's Bond theme certainly but also certain other hallmarks.  And if you're going to fight a Connery Bond with a Moore Bond, it only makes sense to let Moore be Moore.

 

 

 

the one-liners are funny

 

This is a big one, for me.  This may be the last film in the series to have genuinely funny lines.  In AVTAK they were forced and half-hearted (like the film itself, IMHO), Dalton obviously never enjoyed delivering any of his, Brosnan's were without exception idiotic and juvenile non sequiturs shoehorned in because "everyone expects double entendres  in a Bond film," and Craig's era has made them nearly extinct.

 

 

 

 

 Maybe I have a high tolerance for it, but the camp-factor only really is ramped up, IMO, when Octopussy´s amazons attack... and Bond is flying in with Q in a balloon showing the Union Jack.  But, hey, this is a nice nod towards THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, and at this point of the film it was fun for me.  Yeah, yeah, yeah - John Glen loves to combine Bond and animals, especially in this one (tiger, spider, snake, crocodile, ape (2x)).  And the Tarzan yell... and the...  Oh!  The way Louis Jordan stresses the "pussy" everytime he says "Octopussy" - hilarious!

 

Note that except for the Barbara Woodhouse impersonation (which Roger has said was his idea), the humor (or "camp") in this one can't be pinned on the star.  The Tarzan yell was added in editing, the balloon and circus girls, the gorilla suit and yes, the clown suit were in the script.  The most childish, unfunny gag in the film comes when the swami (yogi?) yells, "Get off my bed!" but again, that's not on Roger.

 

As a general rule, I ignore any review, overview or list that dismisses OP with something like, "They put Bond in a clown suit!"  That tells me whoever's talking either hasn't seen the movie or went in determined to hate it and/or Moore from the outset.  That sequence works for me after the death of 009 and I think it's quite effective.  Something about it reminds me of Hitchcock, or at least vintage Avengers.

 

The big thing I remember about OP is that it was "Mom friendly." My Mom's always loved innocuous entertainment like "Hart to Hart" or "The Love Boat" and when OP got to the dollar theater (remember those?) I talked her into seeing it.  She loved it.  To this day, I can't decide if that's a good thing or not.

 

Not at the top of my list, but I love the music and the scenery and think overall it's one of the better-cast entries.  And for whatever reason, despite my declarations of what film is my favorite, out of the whole series the Bond footage I have watched and re-watched the most often over the years is the stretch from Roger's confrontation with Orlov in the train car (which I can recite from memory, in a fair Roger impersonation), through the shoot-out, car-to-train transfer, knife fight and car chase to the defusing of the bomb.  It's like a film-within-a-film.  



#3 glidrose

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Posted 12 May 2015 - 09:36 PM

As a general rule, I ignore any review, overview or list that dismisses OP with something like, "They put Bond in a clown suit!"  That tells me whoever's talking either hasn't seen the movie or went in determined to hate it and/or Moore from the outset.  That sequence works for me after the death of 009 and I think it's quite effective.  Something about it reminds me of Hitchcock, or at least vintage Avengers.


Ditto. It was also Fleming's own idea to put Bond in a clown suit. In early 1964, Fleming allowed a Daily Express reporter to copy several ideas from Fleming's notebook - his "Golden Book of Ideas". "A masquerade ball in which the benign clown is the Russian killer and the crowd thinks that a real fight is part of the buffoonery." So OCT does contain Fleming elements, regardless of the naysayers.

On a side note, a reporter interviewed John Pearson some time ago and the conversation drifted to the films. "Pearson noted that he always was impressed that so many aspects of Ian Fleming's personal traits and idiosyncrasies were on display in all of the Bond films, not merely the early '60s films."

#4 AMC Hornet

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Posted 12 May 2015 - 11:30 PM

Loved OP upon release, and my love for it has not diminished.

 

I figure the Tarzan yell, like the slide whistle in TMWTGG, was not meant to be taken as heard by the characters in the scene. Bond trying to be get the USAF general to take him seriously while disguised as a clown heightens the tension for anyone sensitive to tension-heightening.

 

Lapses in logic (when did Bond get out of the gorilla costume, why did the points man switch Bond into the path of an oncoming train, etc) can be forgiven -as it can with all the other films - as necessary to keep up the pace. I'm good with that.

 

I never thought Roger looked too old (I'm the age he was then, and I don't feel old - often). OP was a more successful 60s-retro romp than NSNA was a modern updating. Just goes to show you - 007 works better as an anachronism.

 

The only thing that really bothers me was when Alex Trebek's fact-checkers claimed that three Bond films were named for the villain, OP being one of them. WTF?

 

Watch for me to mention OP on the 'What Bond film do you feel like watching?' thread - it's getting to be that time again...



#5 tdalton

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Posted 13 May 2015 - 01:25 AM

I'd have to rank Octopussy as my second-favorite Moore film, just behind For Your Eyes Only.  I agree with SecretAgentFan with regards to the camp aspects of the film.  It really isn't as overly camp as it's made out to be.  It's not Moonraker, after all.  I think it just seems a bit moreso coming on the heels of For Your Eyes Only, which played things, more or less, straight.



#6 DaveBond21

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Posted 13 May 2015 - 07:43 AM

There is an excellent serious spy plot in this one but there is an increase in silliness after FYEO- in particular the 7 animals Bond faces within 90 seconds in India, the camel reacting to the tuktuk chase, and the fact that Q thinks his ridiculous inventions are more important than a nuclear bomb going off in Germany.

But as I have said in my own thread on the subject, is Octopussy perhaps the most FUN Bond movie?



#7 Emrayfo

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Posted 15 May 2015 - 03:03 AM

I agree with the general consensus in the posts above. As a kid in the Eighties I absolutely loved Octopussy for its mix of fun and derring-do but with that underlying seriousness that pokes through every now and then like a sharp blade through silk. It was one of the few VHS tapes we owned and my sister and brother and I would watch it over and over again. There are so many good sequences, particularly in the latter half of the film. Bond in the clown suit at the end is full of pathos for me and brilliantly played by Moore. And the film repays handsomely re-watching now. It is a well-balanced narrative that achieves a rare harmony between what I consider the 'signature' Bond elements and the cartoonish superhero elements that so many cinema fans of Bond subscribe to.

 

And also, at least Moore Bond can disarm a nuclear bomb - something Connery Bond couldn't achieve in Goldfinger (not that Bond really achieved much of anything in Goldfinger - to this day it mystifies me this so often tops the lists of favourite or best Bond films, but I digress...).

 

I would easily place Octopussy in my top 6 Bond films, even though the others would seem strange company for it given what I usually go for. Maybe that is just sentimentality talking when it comes to Octopussy for me, but I won't resile from that opinion.

 

Cheers!



#8 quantumofsolace

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Posted 18 May 2015 - 08:35 AM

http://www.denofgeek...iting-octopussy



#9 sharpshooter

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Posted 18 May 2015 - 08:54 AM

OP is my third favourite Moore film, after The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. I agree with Dave - it's simply a fun movie. And as said, there's still a serious undertone about it all.



#10 Matt Monro

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Posted 18 May 2015 - 05:59 PM

 

 

1983.  I was 14 years old.  Of course, I was looking forward to a new Bond - well, even two Bonds - but this was the year of STAR WARS coming to a close.  Or so I thought.

 

Would that it had been.

 

OP opened in my town the day I graduated high school, so I'll always remember as the first Bond to take a back seat to my real life.  But not the last.  I remember being lukewarm to it, as well.  For me, it was at constant pains to stop short of the complete "over the top" approach of TSWLM and MR, but also not fully committed to the "earthbound" approach of FYEO.  Consequently it came off as neither fish nor foul, though I did enjoy it as (what I assumed was) Roger's victory lap.

 

 

 

Moore - IMO - seems to be much more relaxed, enjoying his role the most since THE SPY WHO LOVED ME.

 

I got that impression, too.  I think there may have been a little awkwardness with John Glen in FYEO because of the turn that one took.  We all know Roger and his director had a disagreement over the "kick," but I wouldn't be surprised if Roger didn't feel his hands were a  bit tied on that one, all around.  He wasn't allowed to dip as deeply into his standard bag of tricks.  

 

OP, I think, probably reversed that a bit, as the creative balance of power shifted firmly to Roger as Cubby's "great white hope" against the Connery vehicle (whatever other shortcomings it had, NSNA got tons of free publicity from giddy journalists).  I get the impression OP is designed to play up the elements of the Eon brand that NSNA could not duplicate, like Barry's Bond theme certainly but also certain other hallmarks.  And if you're going to fight a Connery Bond with a Moore Bond, it only makes sense to let Moore be Moore.

 

 

 

the one-liners are funny

 

This is a big one, for me.  This may be the last film in the series to have genuinely funny lines.  In AVTAK they were forced and half-hearted (like the film itself, IMHO), Dalton obviously never enjoyed delivering any of his, Brosnan's were without exception idiotic and juvenile non sequiturs shoehorned in because "everyone expects double entendres  in a Bond film," and Craig's era has made them nearly extinct.

 

 

 

 

 Maybe I have a high tolerance for it, but the camp-factor only really is ramped up, IMO, when Octopussy´s amazons attack... and Bond is flying in with Q in a balloon showing the Union Jack.  But, hey, this is a nice nod towards THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, and at this point of the film it was fun for me.  Yeah, yeah, yeah - John Glen loves to combine Bond and animals, especially in this one (tiger, spider, snake, crocodile, ape (2x)).  And the Tarzan yell... and the...  Oh!  The way Louis Jordan stresses the "pussy" everytime he says "Octopussy" - hilarious!

 

Note that except for the Barbara Woodhouse impersonation (which Roger has said was his idea), the humor (or "camp") in this one can't be pinned on the star.  The Tarzan yell was added in editing, the balloon and circus girls, the gorilla suit and yes, the clown suit were in the script.  The most childish, unfunny gag in the film comes when the swami (yogi?) yells, "Get off my bed!" but again, that's not on Roger.

 

 

 

The big thing I remember about OP is that it was "Mom friendly." My Mom's always loved innocuous entertainment like "Hart to Hart" or "The Love Boat" and when OP got to the dollar theater (remember those?) I talked her into seeing it.  She loved it.  To this day, I can't decide if that's a good thing or not.

 

I wish I had a mother who could be entertained by Maud Adams' bare bum.



#11 David_M

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Posted 18 May 2015 - 07:12 PM

 

 

I wish I had a mother who could be entertained by Maud Adams' bare bum.

 

Took me a minute to figure out that remark. (And even longer to find it!)

 

I guess there is a glimpse of Octopussy's bottom as she gets out of the pool, isn't there?  Or more likely Maud's body double.

 

Anyway, if I forgot it I'm sure it wasn't the highlight for my Mom, either.  But just to be sure, I guess it would make an interesting conversation starter next time I see her...



#12 Call Billy Bob

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Posted 18 May 2015 - 07:14 PM

I believe you also get a shot of it when she's having a massage on the train... but, I may also be mistaken.

#13 Golddragon71

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Posted 05 August 2015 - 03:37 AM

Octopussy was only my second Bond film and at the time I had not yet read any of the books at length. I collected them and carried them around but I didn't really read them until the hiatus between Licence to Kill and Goldeneye.
I'm watching the film as I type this and I just finished the Q-Branch scene. Moore's Bond was lucky that his camera zoom in on the cleavage gag came about long before the term sexual harassment was made commonplace.

#14 David_M

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Posted 05 August 2015 - 04:10 PM

 

 

Moore's Bond was lucky that his camera zoom in on the cleavage gag came about long before the term sexual harassment was made commonplace. 

 

Oh, it was commonplace enough, even if we hadn't yet reached "zero tolerance" level.  Even in 1983, this scene felt hugely out of step with the times and worse, in my opinion, extremely low-brow and gauche.  I tend to prefer Bond humor to lean more towards Noel Coward than Benny Hill.

 

The funny ("odd" funny, not "haha" funny) thing about this scene is that it somehow manages to make Roger seem juvenile and ancient at the same time.  For the most part he looks great in this one, given his age, but when he pulls this stunt he suddenly becomes that lecherous old fart at the retirement home, pinching butts like it's still 1942.

 

I'd never identify as a feminist, but the part that really puts this one in the tank is the woman's reaction: she's got the patented, "Oh my god, James Bond is interested in ME" expression.  Like having an old guy zoom in on your breasts with a camera to flash them on a monitor for all your work colleagues to oggle is a dream come true.  I'm sure it's every woman's dream to be hit on by a near-60-year-old with a sense of humor right out of "Porky's."



#15 tdalton

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 12:38 AM

Yeah, that was another one of those stupid moments that they used to include in the films where someone needed to be the adult in the room and say "no".



#16 Bondage007

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 12:23 PM

Of all the criticisms about this film, the cleavage scene is rarely mentioned? Why? Actually most of the sexually inappropriate scenes aren't discussed

 

That aside, this has always been a favourite Moore film for it's mix of seriousness and fun (just like TLD). It's got a great cast of villains and the score is fantastic.

 

It also has the best villain line and delivery of the line of any Bond film. "Bond is indeed a very rare breed...soon to be made, extinct". And "You have a, nasty habit, of surviving!"



#17 hoagy

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 02:10 PM

It was  a great breath of fresh air when it was released.  A lot of Fun.  Not ridiculous as was MR, not as serious as was FYEO (though FYEO had the ridiculous young girl who was COMPLETELY unnecessary in it).  It struck a great balance of all the things people like in the Connery-Lazenby-Moore-Brosnan films, though certainly -- wait for it -- Moore-so.  As for Moore's age, yes, it was evident.  Look at the use of vests and his clothing, in general, to hide his belly.  The attempt at running that he gives up...oh, those were awful and should not have been included.  This should have been Moore's last film.  Still, again, it was great fun.  People enjoyed it the way they had not enjoyed a Bond film since TSWLM.

 

SecretAgentFan:  I missed the dialogue-lift in the Skyfall train fight -- please, help me out on this ?  You must have an amazing memory.



#18 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 02:43 PM

No dialogue-lift - just the fighting on top of a moving train  :P

 

 

As for the cleavage-scene... c´mon, guys.  Back then, nobody was so uptight.  And the scene actually makes fun of Bond´s mischievous use of Q´s camera.  Boys and their toys, you know?



#19 David_M

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 04:45 PM

 

 

As for the cleavage-scene... c´mon, guys.  Back then, nobody was so uptight. 

 

I was.  And trust me, at 18 I was no champion of women's rights, political correctness or high-brow humor.  I just found the scene childish and beneath the character.  Funny, I know, from someone who had no trouble with "Keeping the British end up" or "I think he's attempting re-entry," but somehow there is a line there that can be crossed, and this one was so ham-fistedly Benny Hill in nature it made me cringe. For me, it's the "sight gag" equivalent of the slide whistle in TMWTGG; so stupid it throws me right out of the story. It didn't help that after Q protests, Roger gives his patented cat-that-ate-the-canary smirk, like he's just pulled off the gag of the year.

 

On the plus side, it's brief, unlike Brosnan-Bond's entendre-laden conversations with Jinx in DAD, which are equally infantile and cringe-worthy, but seem to go on forever.  There's that same feeling that it was all written by a clueless pensioner whose sense of humor was formed by old Playboy cartoons, and the delivery that suggests everyone involved is convinced it's the greatest material ever, and destined for the "best of" clip reel in all future Bond retrospectives.



#20 Turn

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Posted 06 August 2015 - 05:18 PM

Let's not forget the equally infantile "Having trouble keeping it up, Q?" line Moore uttered moments before.

 

I gotta' get out of this thread. OP is my favorite Moore-era film and the overuse of humor may harm my opinion if I think about it too much.



#21 tdalton

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Posted 07 August 2015 - 12:00 AM

 

 

  I just found the scene childish and beneath the character.  

 

Couldn't agree more.  Unfortunately, the Moore era had quite a few of these moments.  It is possible to have humorous moments between male and female characters without having to make the moments crass and demeaning.  



#22 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 07 August 2015 - 06:05 AM

I can´t find anything crass or demeaning if a man looks at the open cleavage of a woman, especially if she has dressed that particular way.

 

But hey, I´m European.



#23 Double-Oh Agent

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Posted 07 August 2015 - 07:34 AM

As for the cleavage-scene... c´mon, guys.  Back then, nobody was so uptight.  And the scene actually makes fun of Bond´s mischievous use of Q´s camera.  Boys and their toys, you know?

I totally agree. It's just a little harmless sight gag using Q's equipment, and it's funny. I have more of a problem with the Tarzan yell later in the film, or Bond and Jinx's heavy handed get to know each other flirting, or Bond slapping Tatiana, Tracy, Tiffany, and Andrea.

 



#24 tdalton

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Posted 07 August 2015 - 07:38 AM

But it's not just a case of Bond looking at her in that way.  It's the use of technology to objectify her in front of a large, mostly male audience.  It's basically a moment where they're saying that this woman is only there for her looks and it's OK for the men in the room to objectify her in that way because, well, they're men, and the fact that she's a woman means that she has to stand there and take it.  Virtually any woman would, and should, be offended and appalled by the behavior on display in that scene, as it absolutely rises to the level of sexual harassment.



#25 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 07 August 2015 - 09:46 AM

But if a woman dresses in a manner that shows off her breasts, in front of a man like Bond - wouldn´t she at least have to consider that he will, um, look at her?

 

And let´s face it: men and women do like to objectify themselves sometimes, just to attract attention.

 

If the scene in OCTOPUSSY had been about Bond ordering Q to hire only busty assistants then you would have a point.

 

But this scene only plays off Bond´s typical chauvinistic attitude.



#26 David_M

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Posted 07 August 2015 - 12:14 PM

 

 

But if a woman dresses in a manner that shows off her breasts, in front of a man like Bond - wouldn´t she at least have to consider that he will, um, look at her?

 

That argument's not going to make you popular with the feminists (assuming any would frequent a James Bond message board!).  The idea that "she's got it coming to her if she dresses like that" is a real hot button, for them.  And in fairness, it's a short hop to, "Well if she left the house in that outfit, she obviously WANTED to be raped."

 

But I'm not even concerned with issues of sexual politics or proper work attire.  My concern is that -- and admittedly this is just for ME -- the gag is so infantile that it makes Bond look like a silly old fart.  I gladly admit it wouldn't be a Bond movie without busty girls flashing skin (I'm all for it!), and if "inappropriate workplace conversations" were out of bounds for the films, we'd have missed out on 50 years of wonderful flirtation between Bond and Moneypenny.  My point is that there are degrees of sex jokes and this one's at rock bottom.  Bond's line "I'm sure we'll be able to lick you into shape" in LALD walks right up to the line of "too much" but, for me, stops just short.  "No sense going off half-cocked", in the same movie, walks right over that line and tosses subtlety completely out the window, taking Bond from "naughty wit" to "boorish cad." But the "zoom in on her boobs" gag takes us all the way down to the level of frat-house sex comedies and, for me, has the same air as the Brosnan-era "bon mots."  You can just imagine someone in a script-writing session saying, "Oh, yeah, there's supposed to be sexually suggestive humor in these things, what've we got?"  Again, for me, it's not the kind of humor you get from a virile ladies' man who's getting all the action he wants.  It's the kind of humor you get from a frustrated geezer who kind of remembers what sex was like, or a 13-year-old in the locker room, trying to convince his buddies he's "experienced."

 

I feel like I'm spending way too much time criticizing a film I really love over a brief little throw-away scene. But I really do wish they'd actually thrown it away.



#27 tdalton

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Posted 07 August 2015 - 03:31 PM

[edit - nevermind]


#28 dtuba

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Posted 08 August 2015 - 12:41 AM

Here's a thought I had: The short story Property Of A Lady is quite prominent in the auction scene, even used in a line of dialogue.

 

Do you think that the producers may have had the title TPOAL in their back pocket, to be used in case the title "Octopussy" tested badly or was nixed by the studio?



#29 Trevelyan 006

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Posted 08 August 2015 - 05:33 AM

Octopussy is how Moore should've gone out, on an All Time High



#30 PrinceKamalKhan

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Posted 08 August 2015 - 05:49 AM

Octopussy is how Moore should've gone out, on an All Time High

 

Exactly. It would've been the perfect finale for his 007. I like to think that Moore's Bond retired to India with Maud Adams.