Octopussy (1983)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1983
Running Times: 125 130 131 mins
Format: Metrocolor Panavision (anamorphic) 35mm 70mm (blow-up)
Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: 70mm 6-Track Dolby Stereo

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Eon Productions / Danjaq / United Artists
Executive Producer: Michael G. Wilson
Producer: Albert R. Broccoli
Associate Producer: Thomas Pevsner
Production Managers: Philip Kohler, Barrie Osborne, Leonhard Gmur, Gerry Levy
Production Supervisor: Hugh Harlow
Production Controller: Reginald A. Barkshire

SCRIPT
Script: George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson
Stories: Ian Fleming (Octopussy and The Property of a Lady)

DIRECTION
Director: John Glen
Assistant Director: Anthony Waye, Terry Madden, Michael Zimbrich, Andrew Warren, Tony Broccoli
Additional Assistant Director: Baba Shaikh, Don French
2nd Unit Director: Arthur G. Wooster
2nd Unit Assistant Director: Gerry Gavigan

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Alan Hume
Additional Photography: Jimmy Devis, Bob Collins
Camera Operator: Alec Mills
Assistant Camera: Nick Schlesinger
2nd Unit Director of Photography: Arthur G. Wooster
2nd Unit Camera Operator: Malcolm Vinson, David Nowell, Jack Lowin
Clapper Loader: Ian Foster

EDITING
Supervising Editor: John Grover
Editor: Peter Davies, Henry Richardson

MUSIC
Music: John Barry, John Philip Sousa
James Bond Theme: Monty Norman
Song Lyrics: Tim Rice (All Time High)
Song Performed By: Rita Coolidge (All Time High)
Music Recording: John Richards

SOUND
Sound Recording: Derek Ball
Sound Re-Recording: Gordon K. McCallum, Ken Barker
Sound Editor: Colin Miller, Derek Holding, Michael Hopkins
Sound Effects: Jean-Pierre Lelong

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up Supervisor: George Frost
Make Up: Peter Robb-King, Eric Allwright
Hair Supervisor: Christopher Taylor
Costume Designer: Emma Porteus
Costume Supervisor: Tiny Nicholls

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects Supervisor: John Richardson
2nd Unit Effects Supervisor: John Evans
Model Effects Supervisor: Brian Smithies
Model Photography: Leslie Dear
Front Projection: Charles Staffell
Title Opticals: National Screen Service

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Peter Lamont
Art Director: John Fenner
Additional Art Director: Michael Lamont, Ken Court, Ram Yedekar, Jan Schlubach
Main Title Designer: Maurice Binder
Set Decorator: Jack Stephens
Set Dresser (India): Crispian Sallis
Scenic Artist: Ernest Smith, Jacqueline Stears

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Elaine Schreyeck
Production Accountant: Douglas Noakes
Assistant Accountant: Sarah Lucraft
Prod Continuity: Reginald A. Barkshire
Director of Publicity: Charles Juroe
Indian Production Adviser: Shama Habibullah
Production Assistants: Iris Rose, Joyce Turner, Sheila Barnes, May Capsaskis, Mohini Banerji
Boatmaster: Michael Turk
Helicopters: Management Aviation Inc

LOCATIONS
Locations: Black Park Country Park, Buckinghamshire, England, UK, London, England, UK, Checkpoint Charlie, West Berlin, Kurfnrstendamm, Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany, Nene Valley Railway, Peterborough, England, UK (train scenes), Norholt Air Force Base, England, UK (scene at horse track and Feldstadt, West German airbase), Oakley, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (aircraft hanger), USAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, England, UK (circus parade scene), Udaipur, India
Studio: 007 Stage, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
Location Manager: Peter Bennet, Rashid Abassi

STUNTS
Action Sequence Arranger: Bob Simmons
Stunt Supervisors: Martin Grace, Paul Weston, Bill Burton
Driving Stunts: Remy Julienne
Aerial Team Director: Philip Wrestler
Aerial Team Co-Ordinator: Clay Lacy
Aerial Team (Beech 18): R.J. Worth, Rande DeLuca, Jake Lombard, Joe Taylor
Aerial Team (Acro Star): J.W. 'Corkey' Fornof, Richard Holley
Stunts: Dorothy Ford, Clive Curtis, Del Baker, Pat Banta, Bill Weston, Rocky Taylor, Jim Dowdall,
Wayne Michaels, Nick Hobbs, Jazzer Jeyes, Christopher Webb, Malcolm Weaver

CASTING
Casting: Debbie McWilliams

CAST
Roger Moore (James Bond)
Maud Adams (Octopussy)
Louis Jordan (Kamal Khan)
Kristina Wayborn (Magda)
Kabir Bedi (Gobinda)
Steven Berkoff (General Orlov)
David Meyer (Twin One)
Paul Hardwick (Twin Two)
Desmond Llewelyn (Q)
Robert Brown (M)
Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny)
Michaela Clavell (Penelope Smallbone)
Walter Gotell (General Gogol)
Vijay Amritraj (Vijay)
Albert Moses (Sadruddin)
Geoffrey Keen (minister of defence)
Douglas Wilmer (Fanning)
Andy Bradford (009)
Philip Voss (auctioneer)
Bruce Boa (US general)
Richard Parmentier (US aide)
Paul Hardwick (Sovit chairman)
Suzanne Jerome (Gwendoline)
Cherry Gillespie (Midge)
Dermot Crowley (Kamp)
Peter Porteous (Lenkin)
Eva Reuber-Staier (Rublevitch)
Jeremy Bullock (Smithers)
Tina Hudson (Bianca)
William Derrick (thug with yo-yo)
Stuart Saunders (Major Clive)
Patrick Barr (British ambassador)
Gabor Vernon (Borchoi)
Hugo Bower (Karl)
Ken Norris (Colonel Toro)
Tony Arjuna (Mufti)
Gertan Klauber (Bubi)
Brenda Cowling (Schatzl)
David Grahame (petrol pump attendant)
Brian Coburn (South American VIP)
Michael Halphie (South American officer)
Mary Stavin, Carolyn Seaward, Carole Ashby, Cheryl Anne, Jani-Z, Julie Martin, Joni Flynn, Julie
Barth, Kathy Davies, Helene Hunt, Gillian De Terville, Safira Afzal, Louise King, Tina Robinson,
Alison Worth, Janine Andrews, Lynda Knight (Octopussy girls)
Susanne Dando (gymnasts supervisor)
Teresa Craddock. Kirsten Harrison, Christine Cullers, Lisa Jackman, Jane Aldridge, Christine
Gibson, Tracy Llewellyn, Ruth Flynn (gymnasts)
Roberto Germains (circus ringmaster)
Richard Graydon (Francisco the Fearless)
Hassani Troupe, Flying Cherokees, Carol Richter, Josef Richter, Vera Fossett, Shirley Fossett,
Barrie Winship (circus performers)
Ravinder Singh Revett, Gurdial Sira, Michael Moor, Sven Surtees, Peter Edmund, Ray Charles,
Talib Johnny (thugs)
Michael G. Wilson (passenger on riverboat - uncredited)
Gary Russell (teenager in car - uncredited)

PLOT SUMMARY

009 is found murdered, clutching a rare Faberge egg. James Bond is sent to investigate and comes up against the exiled Indian Prince, Kamal Khan, who is snapping up the eggs that have suddenly turned up on the auction circuit. Khan is in league with a renegade Soviet General with plans to invade Europe, starting by detonating a nuclear weapon on a USAF base in West Berlin. But to get the weapon in place, he needs a cover - which is provided by the circus run by the mysterious Octopussy...

A disppointingly routine outing for Bond with Roger Moore beginning to look long past his sell-by date. Octopussy is unforgivingly bland and forgettable, peppered with juvenile 'comedy's skits and burdened with a plot that is barely coherent and seriously dull.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: MGM / United Artists
Video Distributor: CBS / Fox

Finland
Rating: K-16

France
Rating: U

Germany
Rating: 12

Norway
Rating: 15

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: PG
On British TV, Vijay's murder is usually so badly cut that it isn't actually clear that the man is dead. The yo-yo attacks are also conspicuous by their absence.

USA
Rating: PG

1983
June
6: UK premiere, London
10: USA - theatrical release

July
23: Sweden - theatrical release

August
5: West Germany - theatrical release
12: Finland - theatrical release
15: Denmark - theatrical release

October
5: France - theatrical release

November
24: Australia - theatrical release

1988
January
30: UK TV (ITV)

October
26: UK TV (ITV - Thames)

1990
January
20: UK TV (ITV)

1992
May
25: UK TV (ITV)

1999
August
14: UK TV (ITV)

2000
December
25: UK TV (ITV)

2002
April
20: USA - television broadcast (on ABC)

James Bond's all time high.

James Bond - Octopussy - German title
Octopussy operazione piovra - Italian title

SEQUEL TO
Dr No (1962)
From Russia with Love (1963)
Goldfinger (1964)
Thunderball (1965)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Live and Let Die (1973)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Moonraker (1979)
For Your Eyes Only (1981)

SEQUELS
A View to a Kill (1985)
The Living Daylights (1987)
Licence to Kill (1989)
Goldeneye (1995)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Die Another Day (2002)

SEE ALSO
Casino Royale (1967)
Never Say Never Again (1983)
Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
Superman (1978)
Alien (1979)
Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond (1987)
Free Enterprise (1998)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
The James Bond Story (1999)
Premiere Bond: Die Another Day (2002)

MAGAZINES

The Hollywood Reporter 12 April 1982 pp.3, 9 (USA)
interview with Albert Broccoli (by Robert Osborne)

NEWSPAPERS

Daily Mail 30 May 1983 (UK)
review

BOOKS

The Bond Files pp.204-209
review, synopsis, credits

The Incredible World of 007 pp.146
illustrated article

The James Bond Bedside Companion pp.232-237
illustrated article (by Raymond Benson)

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

james bond, spies, secret agents, horses, aircraft, cuba, parachutes, missiles, horse boxes, gas stations, clowns, circuses, east berlin, twins, faberge eggs, knives, london, moscow, detente, nuclear weapons, auctions, art collectors, royalty, princes, india, delhi, snakes, snake charmers, boats, casinos, backgammon, taxis, car chases, homing devices, watches, tattoos, yachts, military, military officers, soldiers, red army, jewellry, mansions, hunting humans, spiders, leeches, crocodiles, tigers, islands, smuggling, smugglers, assassins, birds, rivers, trains, cars, gorilla costumes, air force bases, counterfeiting, hot air balloons, galleons

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008