sounds like a load of bull

So, Octopussy begins with Bond (Roger Moore, again, and always my baseline for evaluating any Bond) trying to blow up some satellite thingy, failing, and getting away in a plane hidden in a horse trailer (in a sequence that is not nearly as exciting as I remember it being when I was a kid).

And, thinking on what's coming in this film--it has been a while since I've watched it--it's occurred to me, because sometimes I can't quite put my finger on what these old movies put into my head all those years ago, that--and maybe this is odd since I was just seven when this film came out--that this is where I first heard of Faberge eggs, and when I was an undergrad history major, I took a few Russia-specific history classes and even did some research into Faberge eggs and how much they cost to own, what makes each one unique, stuff like that.

(Now, two things occur to me: 1) that was a really long and convoluted sentence. I apologize. 2) Writing that just now, it occurred to me that it might have been Arthur that got me interested in owning a Duesenberg if I was ever rich... But then I doublechecked to see if Arthur even had one of those, and he didn't. And I got to wondering where some odd specific interests of mine come from, if maybe they all come from movies. But then I had to wonder what strange interests I have that don't come from somewhere else obvious.

 

 

 

 

 

I decided that I am not actually that eccentric in my interests, as it turns out.

Then I get to looking at the trivia section on IMDb (as one does), and I realize just how many sequences in this Bond film were intended for other ones, how interchangeable the puzzle pieces of these things are. And, I learn as well that there were numerous British productions that filmed in India in the early 80s (Gandhi, Heat and Dust, The Far Pavilions, A Passage to India, The Jewel in the Crown) and then I get distracted thinking about Richard Nowel's Blood Money and the way slasher films followed specific trends, and as old familiar scenes played out on the screen before me, I'm thinking about trends I might never have noticed as a kid. Buddy cop movies, specifically with one white guy and one black, for example--that would be obvious even to a kid. Movies aping Star Wars or The Road Warrior. Or Conan. Or E.T..

I did see E.T. and other obvious movies in the theater by the way. Also saw a lot of movies on VHS through the 80s. But, they don't all fit the current phase of this blog, because, even if we owned a copy of a film (we owned a copy of E.T., for example) that didn't mean that we watched it regularly.

For the record, backtracking to 1982 for a moment, out of the top ten movies at the box office, I saw at least 6 of them on the big screen, saw a couple more on video, the rest on cable or regular tv within a few years. Looking down at the next ten, I only saw one of those (The Toy) on the big screen, and I remember specifically not getting to see Firefox, pretty sure because I was sick, when my family went to a double feature of that and The Thing.

Looking at 1981, I saw 8 of the top ten films on the big screen. 1980, 3.)

And, I'm going backward rather than write about Octopussy.

Like for example, as with any Bond, there are sequences that don't make sense. Here, Octavia (Maud Adams as the titular Octopussy) has specifically ordered Kamal (Louis Jourdan) to bring Bond to her. Instead, he takes Bond as prisoner (sort of), then hunts him when he escapes. She wants to meet Bond but he has to sneak into her place.

She invites him to stay at her place while she goes to Europe for a week, there's some disagreement about something or other, then Bond forces himself on her and--because he's James Bond--that's okay.