Hall of Fame - About Diamonds - Current Info - Site History - Links - Contact

BRYSON BURKE
Home
Mission
Board
History
Business Plan
Latest Information
Building Our Drill
Innovation
Photo Album
Satellite Weather
Free News - Sign Guestbook

INVESTING
Investment
Stock Quotes

COMMUNICATION
Press Releases
Newsletter
Current Information
Contact

SITE GEOLOGY
Geology Reports
Site Geologic History
Magnetic Maps Index
Heavy Minerals Index
Grenville Province Index

DIAMOND POLITICS
Blood Diamonds
Kimberley Process

DIAMOND GEOLOGY
Indicator Minerals
Kimberlites
Decay of Kimberlites
Kimberlites & Magnetics
Placer Deposits
Magnetic Reversal
Crustal Thickness
How Diamonds are Made
Glaciation Issues
Mineral Transport Index
Doing the Map Work
Gathering Samples
World Mining Index
Excavation and Recovery
Mining Corporations
Mining News Magazines
Environmental Issues
Diamonds in Space
World's Only MineCam
Live Volcano Geo-Cams

EXPLORATION
Site Exploration History
Topography Map Index
Location Map
Claim Maps Index

DIAMONDS
Diamonds and Graphite
Diamond Formation
Grading Diamonds
Price of Diamonds
Industrial Diamonds
Drilling Equipment
Medical Use of Diamonds
Gemstones
Birthstones
Hall of Fame

DIAMONDS IN CULTURE
Good Books on Diamonds
Cremains to Diamonds
Diamonds in Lawsuits
Irish Diamonds
Unusual Diamond News
Diamonds in the Media
Famous Jewelers
In Advertisements
Top Twenty Cut Diamonds
Top Diamonds
Diamond Lore
Theft/Hoaxes/and Fraud
Religion Index
Diamond/ Culture Index
Television
Movies
Games - Play Now
Music
Weddings
Royals
Our Darlings
Diamond Animal Index

INTERACTIVE
Reflection/Refraction Index
Crossword Puzzle Index
Which Is A Diamond I
Which is a Diamond II
Become a Gemologist

Octopussy is fused together from 2 of Fleming's short stories. Octopussy contained the history of Bond and Dexter Smythe (who was octopus-obsessed and end up allowing one to kill him) and The Property of a Lady involved Bond in Sotheby's bidding against a top Russian agent.

Octopussy brought Bond away from the 'Action Thriller' section of the video store, and into the 'Action-film-that-could-have-been-a-good-thriller-but-was-messed-up-by-some-duff-humour' section. Promising parts, in a good performance by Bond, a good Bond girl, some decent starts, a lively cast, a fine script and some top locations were messed up by overt and unfunny gags which took away just what a film needs: Tension and credibility. The result was a loose and, at times embarrassing, film which endears itself to those brought up on a diet of Roger Moore's films, but not those brought up on Fleming, Connery, Brosnan or decent taste. Once again, I don't blame Moore. The directors were to blame for this change of direction which resulted in lower audiences, worse reviews, and more anger for 007 fans. I'm not saying Octopussy was bad. It's a reasonable Bond film. I'm just saying that it was spoilt.

Following Bond's irrelevant devastation of a banana state base and his spectacular airborne escape in the pre-intro, the plot of Octopussy is basically a triangle of villains. General Orlov is a renegade Russian wanting war with the West. He needs to smuggle a bomb into Karl Marx Stadt so that either it starts war, or it looks like an accident and the West will decommission. His middleman is Kamal Khan, the Indian underworld character who is being paid by way of joining Orlov by taking advantage of fake Faberge eggs. Khan is a diamond dealer, and his diamonds are smuggled by Octopussy, the beautiful leader of the all-female Octopus cult. Khan replaces the diamonds with a nuclear bomb to travel with Octopussy's circus. The bomb is set.

Bond has already been well in the action by this time. He pushed up the price of the egg at auction in Sotheby's and exchanged it for a fake, following up the clue given to him when 009 staggered into the Berlin embassy dying with the fake egg. He traced Khan to India, thrashed him at Backgammon, evaded his henchman in a car chase, got captured, escaped in an animal hunt, met Octopussy, seduced her and turned her, faked his death, worked out the enemies' plan, and got onto Octopussy's train: All with few stunts, and any action being degraded by bad jokes. Suspense and characterisation were also pretty non-existent.

In Karlmarxstadt Bond, dressed as a clown, defuses the bomb. Orlov is uncovered and killed by Gogol's men. Octopussy, helped by Bond, takes revenge by destroying Khan's HQ. Bond delivers the coup-de-gras to Khan and Gobinda on their plane. Octopussy is a mediocre film, and a poor Bond film. This is despite, rather than because of, Moore who plays a solid role throughout.