Octopussy (1983)

Octopussy is one of the cleaner and more entertaining of Roger Moore's Bond films, despite a title that tends to elicit blushes. Bond films are always a miniature world tour, but this one's plot carries off the usual jet-setting with more finesse than some of its predecessors and some that followed. It's got a colorful slate of villains, starting with Louis Jourdan's slippery Kamal Kahn and Steven Berkoff's vain-popping Russian general Orlov, and continuing with such minions as the bodyguard who can crush dice in his fist, the twin circus knife throwers, and the man with the yo-yo razor blade. Memorable set pieces include a dangerous ride through an Indian marketplace and the safari game hunt in which Bond is the target. But the film's lingering image is of Bond sliding down an ornate banister, machine gun blazing, just barely blowing off the decorative flourish at the bottom to keep his privates from getting pulverized. Ever perfecting that playful grin and dry wit, Moore makes his sixth and penultimate Bond film, one of the series' more satisfying. Octopussy was one of eight Bond films that John Glen either directed or edited. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide