--- title: "Octopussy" year: 1983 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/octopussy" fi1m_score: 64 critics_score: 65 critics_reviews: 9 published: "2026-09-18T11:33:40.684174+00:00" updated: "2026-09-18T11:33:40.857431+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Octopussy (1983) Directed by John Glen · 2h 11m · MPA PG · Adventure, Action, Thriller **Fi1m score: 64** · Critics 65 from 9 reviews *In a sentence:* Louis Jourdan purrs, Steven Berkoff bellows, and Roger Moore raises an eyebrow at both of them > John Glen’s Bond film has a proper Cold War plot at the bottom of it and keeps burying it under jokes. India looks splendid, Louis Jourdan and Steven Berkoff are good value, and Roger Moore is running out of road. One for the fond. ## Synopsis James Bond (Roger Moore) is sent on the trail of Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan), a smooth, well-funded operator, and follows him to India, where Khan’s bodyguard Gobinda (Kabir Bedi) and the poised Magda (Kristina Wayborn) are waiting, and where a local contact, Vijay (Vijay Amritraj), lends a hand. Behind Khan stands Orlov (Steven Berkoff), a Soviet general with ambitions in Western Europe, and on a lake lives a smuggler called Octopussy (Maud Adams), whom Bond has been told to find. Q (Desmond Llewelyn) provides the gadgets, M (Robert Brown) provides the orders, and a pair of twins (David Meyer and Anthony Meyer) keep turning up wherever Bond does. ## Review John Glen’s Bond film has a proper Cold War story underneath it. James Bond (Roger Moore) is sent after Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan), a smooth, well-funded operator based in India, and behind Khan stands a Soviet general, Orlov (Steven Berkoff), who wants the Red Army in Western Europe. The screenplay, by George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, knows this is a good spine for a thriller. It then keeps losing its nerve about it. The pre-credits sequence is aerial stunt work, and it had us gripped in the old way. Alan Hume keeps the horizon in the frame so that we always know how far there is to fall, and for a few minutes nobody is joking. The film never asks us to feel anything like it again. Within the hour the gags have taken charge, and Moore is playing a man to whom danger is something that happens to other people. India is the film’s great asset, and Hume and Peter Lamont make the most of it. The palace on the lake where Octopussy (Maud Adams) lives is shot in the gold of early evening, and Lamont fills the rooms with brass, silk and a bed the size of a small boat. Khan’s hilltop palace is white stone and empty courtyards. Emma Porteous dresses the palace in red saris and Khan in high-collared suits, and never once lets him look warm. The chase through the streets, cut fast by Henry Richardson and Peter Davies, is the film’s best sustained action, half stunt and half slapstick and honest about being both. Jourdan is a pleasure: silk-voiced, unhurried, never raising his voice even when he is losing. Berkoff plays Orlov at full volume, pounding tables and shouting about Europe, and the two of them together are an odd, workable pair. Kabir Bedi’s Gobinda crushes dice in his fist and says almost nothing, which suits him. Moore was 55 when the film opened, and it shows in the fights, which are cut around him, and in the love scenes, which are cut around everyone. He is still good at the raised eyebrow and the dry line. He is less good at being in danger, because the film no longer believes he is. Adams plays the title character as a businesswoman who has made her peace with smuggling, and she and Moore are easy together, two adults with a history they are too polite to raise. Kristina Wayborn’s Magda gets the best exit in the film, down a balcony by way of her sari. Neither woman is given much to want beyond Bond, and the octopus cult is decoration rather than anything the film wants to think about. Vijay Amritraj is a cheerful sidekick and the target of several of the film’s weaker jokes, which tells you the level of the humour. John Barry’s score is warm and brassy and does most of the work of persuading us the stakes are real, and the title song, *All Time High*, is a lovely tune. Around the middle, after Bond has been captured, the film loses its pace. We were bored for a stretch of twenty minutes, and bored by a film that has the fate of Western Europe on the table, which takes some doing. The last act gets the pace back, and we will not describe it beyond saying that it asks Moore to do things no Bond should be asked to do. It runs 131 minutes and carries a PG. Glen moves the globe-spanning material along capably, and the gadgets are back in force. It opened in Britain on 5 June 1983, the same year as the rival *Never Say Never Again*, and it is the better-made of the two by some distance, which is not the same as being good. See it for Jourdan, for India and for the opening, and bring someone who can forgive a joke at the wrong moment. *Fi1m score 64, published 18 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (9) - **The AV Club**, Alex McLevy (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film one of the most enjoyably over-the-top Bond outings of the Moore era, with its campy tone and absurd set pieces making it a rollicking good time. They single out the lackadaisical performance by the aging Moore and the increasingly ludicrous action sequences for their engaging, consequence-free fun. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/octopussy-is-a-bond-movie-as-silly-as-its-title-and-tha-1842693819) - **Little White Lies**, Mark Allison (75/100, inferred): The critic views Octopussy as a fine entry in the Bond series with striking locations, a down-to-earth Cold War plot, strong stunt work and production values. It contrasts favorably with the rival Never Say Never Again in craft, style and spectacle. [Read](https://lwlies.com/article/battle-of-bond-octopussy-never-say-never-again) - **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (70/100, inferred): The critic finds 'Octopussy' better than most Bond films, praising its high good humor, wit, and standout action sequences like the pre-credit escape and the circus train climax despite an incomprehensible story. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/10/movies/james-bond-meets-octopussy.html) - **Time Out**, JP (70/100, inferred): The critic finds Bond in better form with tighter action sequences, more inventive visual gags and old panache, despite a weak plot. It highlights the shift to exotic Indian locations and Moore's performance. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/octopussy) - **Variety** (**): The review highlights spectacular aerial stuntwork in the pre-credits teaser and climax as the film's high points, while noting the story involves a Soviet general's scheme aided by Octopussy and others, with Bond on their trail through India and Germany. [Read](https://variety.com/1982/film/reviews/octopussy-1200425472/) - **Empire**, Ian Nathan (60/100, inferred): The oft-forgotten Bond entry suffers from an ageing Roger Moore, daft postmodern gags and unfocused villainy, but still has a good plot at its core. John Glen organises globe-spanning action effectively, with the knowing sense of humour saving it as one for the die-hards. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/octopussy-review/) - **Radio Times**, David Parkinson (3/5): The critic calls it the most frivolous Bond film, with a meandering plot across India and Europe and gadgets on display. Director John Glen struggles to control the action or glib dialogue. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-0mc2rk/octopussy/) - **The New Yorker**, Pauline Kael (30/100, inferred): The critic sees silliness as the film's chief charm but notes the director loses track of the story and the women's roles are poorly thought out, with the title character disappointingly warm and maternal rather than perverse. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1983/06/27/silliness) - **Den of Geek**, Max Williams (75/100, inferred): The critic views Octopussy as a good-natured and occasionally thrilling James Bond adventure that features strong villains and a well-developed heroine, with the positives outweighing flaws like an aging Roger Moore. They particularly highlight the nuclear bomb element and Q's hot air balloon sequence. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/octopussy-a-james-bond-movie-that-deserves-another-chance/) ## Details - **Director:** John Glen - **Director:** John Glen - **Screenplay:** George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson - **Novel:** Ian Fleming - **Cinematography:** Alan Hume - **Editor:** Peter Davies, Henry Richardson - **Music:** John Barry - **Production design:** Peter Lamont - **Costume design:** Emma Porteous - **Producer:** Albert R. Broccoli, Tom Pevsner - **Cast:** Roger Moore as James Bond; Maud Adams as Octopussy; Louis Jourdan as Kamal Khan; Kristina Wayborn as Magda; Kabir Bedi as Gobinda; Steven Berkoff as Orlov; Vijay Amritraj as Vijay; Desmond Llewelyn as Q - **Runtime:** 2h 11m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG - **Release (the US):** 10 June 1983 - **Genres:** Adventure, Action, Thriller - **Budget:** $28 million - **Box office:** $188 million ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: rent $2.99, sd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd - Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-18.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IN, IT, JP, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *For Your Eyes Only* (1981), Fi1m 68: The leaner, less silly Moore Bond, with him allowed to look his age — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/for-your-eyes-only.md) - *The Ipcress File* (1965): The Cold War spy film Bond pretends to be, with the glamour stripped out - *North by Northwest* (1959), Fi1m 89: Hitchcock’s man-on-the-run adventure, where the jokes and the danger arrive together — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/north-by-northwest.md) - *OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies* (2006): A French spoof that understands exactly how ridiculous this sort of thing is - *The Man Who Would Be King* (1975): Connery and Caine in the mountains beyond India, a proper adventure with a cost --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/octopussy