The Many Disguises of James Bond in Octopussy

    James Bond, as a secret agent at the disposal of Her Majety’s Secret Service, holds probably the toughest job in the world – to stay unknown and in stealth mode while doing whatever task is at his hands (or lips, *wink*).

    With that, we saw Bond do different disguises and covers throughout the 24 Bond films up until    “Spectre” (2015), the latest as of writing. There was Mr. and Mrs. David Somerset in “From Russia with Love””, Peter Franks in “Diamonds are Forever”, and Sir Hillary Bray in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, among many other covers. Ironically though, these covers often get blown eventually.

    From all he 24 Bond films that we have as of writing, there is one film that boasts the greatest number of disguises and covers, and that is “Octopussy” with Sir Roger Moore as James Bond.

    “Octopussy” was released in 1983 and had the trouble of going up against another 007 movie in the form of Sir Sean Connery’s return to the role with “Never Say Never Again”. However, that would have to be a story for another time. Although it was still campy and there were cringe-worthy moments (*Tarzan yell*), “Octopussy” was one of the better Moore Bond films. From the seven, I would rank it in the middle for “Octopussy” had equal portions of the seriousness of “For Your Eyes Only” and the breathtaking, big-budget stuff that “The Spy Who Loved Me” had. It had neither Sir Paul McCartney nor Duran Duran though.

 

    With that, let’s get on with the list.

 1. Col. Luis Toro

Right from the start, we are graced with Bond’s first disguise – Col. Luis Toro. This was back when pre-title sequence had no significant relation to the actual film’s plot and the introduction had one of my favorite one-liners from the Moore era (even better than the “Fill her up please” moment later on in the pre-title sequence) – “Toro, sounds like a load of bull”.

Bond and Col. Toro, small world

2. Dead Body

While infiltrating Kamal Khan’s castle, Bond had to disguise as a lifeless human in a body bag to not get seen by Kamal’s henchman, Gobinda. During the transport, Bond escaped. Luckily, there were only low-level guards who were easily scared by Bond’s ghost-like scream.

Bond hidden in a body bag

3. Crocodile

Bond infiltrated Octopussy’s castle disguised in a Crocodile-like submarine. This was Moore’s version of the bird-like disguised used by Connery in the pre-title sequence of ‘Goldfinger” (1964).

Bond swimming his way to Octopussy's castle

4. Circus Worker

While in East Berlin, Bond put on a workers’ uniform for Octopussy’s Circus to investigate further on the anomalies between Kamal Khan, Octopussy and General Orlov (who delivered a SUPERB performance in this film as a secondary villain). 

Bond doing heavy lifting as a Circus worker

5. Mischka

Bond encountered one of the twin knife-throwing acts of the Circus, who were the murderers of 009 as seen in the opening sequence of the movie. After a brief fight, Bond took Mischka’s dress as his own to disguise which led him to his face off with General Orlov who then revealed the true plans of him and Kamal Khan.

Bond and General Orlov at gunpoint, with Bond dressed as the knife-throwing villain

6. Gorilla Suit

The Circus was indeed like a walk-in closet for Bond in this film. He had lots of choices for disguise, which made hiding very convenient for him. In another scene, Kamal, Gobinda, and Grischka were together in the same carriage with Bond and he had no time to move out of the carriage. Thanks to a Gorilla suit large enough to fit him, he had bought time before he could escape.

Promotional still of King Kong doing a cameo role in "Octopussy"

7. Circus Clown

This would have to be the most unexpected out of the bunch. Bond in a clown uniform, complete with makeup. But then again, Sir Roger Moore was able to pull it off without being cringe-worthy. Two notes though, why couldn’t Bond just told the authorities and even Octopussy about the bomb? And last, the more explosive question, how the hell could Bond have prepared the complete clown uniform and makeup within the time left before the bomb would go off? 

News reports placed Christopher Reeve with Sir Roger Moore in the same filming location in Pinewood Studios for Superman 3. Apparently, it was the Joker that had a meet-cute with Clark Kent.

Just James Bond things, I guess.

How Die Another Day Paid Homage to Previous Bond Films

    The James Bond movie franchise is regarded as one of the longest movie franchises in history, dating back from Sir Sean Connery's first Bond film in 1962, "Dr. No."

    In 2002, the movie franchise held its 40th anniversary and to help celebrate it, EON Productions gave us Pierce Brosnan's 4th Bond film "Die Another Day", which is also the 20th in the series.

Bond surfing the tsunami in "Die Another Day" from operationgrandslam.wordpress.com

    The film was quite watchable in its own right even though the suspension of disbelief would have to be really stretched out when  watching. There was the tsunami surfing, "Your mama", and the invisible car to blame for that. However, there were still something that wasn't easily regarded as nuisances to the film, and that's because some viewers love what this things do to movies - and these are the references, or the callbacks to past movies in a references.

    Since the release of "Die Another Day" coincided with a big anniversary, I guess it couldn't be helped that there were a lot of callbacks, with at least one for each previous films.

    Here they are.

1. Dr. No

It was quite obvious what they did to tick off the "Dr. No" Callback Checklist. Bond was in Cuba, investigating the person that he thought betrayed him. All of a sudden, a woman in an orange bikini, Jinx, appeared from the sea as Bond was watching from a distance. The "underneath the mango tree..." was replaced with "now, there's a mouthful" though.

Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder from wikipedia.org

Halle Berry as Jinx from Pinterest.com

"Casino Royale", Daniel Craig's first Bond film, also did this homage but better.

2. From Russia With Love

In the hotel room, just as Bond was shedding the beard he grown when he was a prisoner of the Korean Army, there was some flirting going on with the hotel hostess, presumably as compliments of the hotel owner. It was revealed, however, that the hostess was working for an intelligence agency and their interaction was being filmed with a camera hidden by a one-way mirror. 

Bond and Tatiana Romanova with Rosa Klebb watching behind the mirror from cowbird.com

Bond and Mr. Chang's operative from operationgrandslam.wordpress.com

3. Goldfinger

A laser machine was used again as an aid for interrogation. Only this time, it wasn't Bond who was strapped but Jinx instead.

Another reference to Goldfinger was when Bond reveals a different type of clothing beneath his wet suit after emerging from a body of water, both in the pre-title sequences.

Bond revealing his white tux from bondsuits.com

Bond revealing his double-leather jacket from operationgrandslam.wordpress.com

4. Thunderball

John Cleese was the Q for this film and with him in his laboratory were the past gadgets used in past Bond films to serve not only as a major reference, but also as continuity to the character and purpose of the Quartermaster in a Bond film. Long-time Q tragically died in an accident after the release of "The World is Not Enough" in 1999. In the film, R portrayed by Cleese was introduced as some sort of intern . With this film, he rose to being Q.

Aside from the jetpack used in "Thunderball", there was also the rebreather which Bond used in underwater exploration.

Bond using the rebreather in Largo's shark-filled pool from Quora.com

Bond using the rebreather in Grave's ice palace from tvtropes.org

5. You Only Live Twice

In both films, Bond visited health clinics which were supposed covers of a bigger criminal operations. In "You Only Live Twice", Bond visited Mr. Osato, head of Osato Chemicals and Engineering while in "Die Another Day", Bond infiltrates a health clinic in Cuba which did the villain's gene therapy.

Bond in Osato's clinic from twitter.com

Bond visiting the gen therapy clinic from them0vieblog.com

6. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

In both films, Bond had a heated conversation with M which ultimately led to Bond wanting to file resignation from Her Majesty's Secret Service in George Lazenby's Bond film. As for "Die Another Day", Bond was retrieved in a prisoner exchange and his license to kill was revoked to prevent leaking of sensitive information to his captors.

M (left) and Bond (right) from jamesbond007.se

Bond escaping M's custody from bplusmovieblog.com

7. Die Another Day

The villains of both films underwent changing of their physical appearance with Blofeld changing his facial features and having a clone and Col. Moon transforming into Gustav Graves.

Blofeld's clones from puzzledpagan.com

8. Live and Let Die

The only times when Bond used a revolver were in this films. Bond used a .44 Magnum at the end of the film, similar to Dirty Harry's, While in "Die Another Day', Bond used a .38 revolver which he borrowed from his contact in Cuba.

Bond using a .44 Magnum from imfdb.org

Bond using a revolver from bamfstyle.com

"Mind if I borrow these?"

9. The Man with the Golden Gun

Bond faced an obstruction in the health clinic similar to the mirror set up in Scaramanga's fun house.

Bond in Scaramanga's fun house from secretagentlair.blogspot.com

Bond infiltrating the health clinic in Cuba from operationgrandslam.wordpress.com

10. The Spy who Loved Me

In both films, Bond got to be paired with his female counterpart from another country's Secret Service, Agent Triple XXX Anya Amasova in "The Spy who Loved Me" and Agent Jacintha Johnson in "Die Another Day".

Bond and Anya from bondvsbond.wordpress.com

Bond and Jinx from Hollywood.com

11. Moonraker

The best scene in "Die Another Day" was probably the fencing fight scene with Bond and Gustav Graves, minus the cringey double-entendre with Madonna. This fencing fight scene served as the scene wherein Bond would have the chance to provoke the villain (e.g., Bond and Goldfinger's golf match, Bond and Largo's shooting exhibition, also with Drax').

Additionally, the breaking of glasses and the swordfight was similar to the fight in "Moonraker" with Drax' henchman. "Play it again, Sam."

Bond versus Chang in "Moonraker" from musingsofamiddleagedgeek.blog

Bond and Graves' swordfight from warpedfactor.com

12. For Your Eyes Only

Both films featured the singer of the theme song in the actual film. Sheena Easton appeared in the title sequence of "For Your Eyes Only" while Madonna made a cameo appearance as the fencing trainer of Rosamund Pike's double agent character.

Sheena Easton in the film's pre-title sequence from imdb.com

Madonna in "Die Another Day" from popsugar.com

13. Octopussy

One of the interesting side of "Octopussy" was the many disguises Bond did, especially the one in the pre-title sequences Col. Toro. Also in the pre-title sequence, Bond hijacks a merchandise exchange between a thug and the gang of Col. Moon. However, Bond's disguise was made and he was eventually captured.

Bond and Col. Toro from 007museum.com

Bond intercepting and disguising from bondsuits.com

14. A View to A Kill

During the pre-title sequence of "Die Another Day", Bond's cover is blown when his face was scanned on a facial recognition device. A similar equipment was used in Zorin's office as Bond was having small talk with Zorin in "A View to A Kill".

Max Zorin's facial recognition device from spywhothrills.com

Bond getting his cover blown in "Die Another Day" from operationgrandslam.wordpress.com

15. The Living Daylights

At the climax of both films, cargo planes were instrumental to the plot of the film. In "The Living Daylights", Bond placed a bomb to the location of the smuggled items which he and Kara Milovy would hijack. Due to the impending crash of the film, the pair escaped through a jeep located on the back exit of the plane. They drove off as the plane went plummeting.

Kara Milovy (left) and Bond (right) escaping from the crashing cargo plane from tgemm.home.blog

 

It was the same escape scenario with Bond and Jinx. Only for this film, a chopper was used.

The chopper escaping from the cargo plane from whatculture.com

16. License to Kill

In both these films, Bond had his license to kill revoked by M, portrayed by Robert Lee, and Dame Judi Dench.

Additionally, Bond aimed a sniper rifle but never actually fired them in these films.

Bond setting up his personalized sniper rifle from imdb.com

Bond aiming at Grave's plane from ballisticmag.com

17. Goldenye

With the Pierce Brosnan era embracing the BMW Bond cars, the few times that an Aston Martin was used in a car chase scene were in "Goldeneye" and "Die Another Day".

In the latter, the car chase was between Bond and Xenia Onattop's Ferrari while on the former, it was Bond versus Zao's Jaguar.

The Aston Martin versus Ferrari car chase in "Goldeneye" from Pinterest.com

The gadget-filled car chase in "Die Another Day" from theguardian.com

18. Tomorrow Never Dies

Bond was introduced to the remote controlled BMW Bond car in "Tomorrow Never Dies" and it was featured in a fun, and gadget-filled car chase in the film.

Bond controlling the remote-controlled BMW from imcdb.org

In "Die Another Day", the remote control feature of the Aston Martin was used when Bond infiltrated and investigated Gustav Graves actions after the presentation of the Icarus.

Bond controlling his Aston Martin to infiltrate Grave's ice palace from mi6-hq.com

19. The World is Not Enough

In both these films, viewers were reminded of the cover that the MI:6 had been using, the Universal Exports. Bond used this cover for the I.D. he needed as he infiltrated the pipeline station in 'The World is Not Enough" while in "Die Another Day", it was used to locate his contact in Cuba.

Bond using his "Universal Exports" I.D. as cover from bondmovies.com

Bond in Cuba, using the "Universal Exports" cover from bondmovies.com

    Unfortunately for the film, despite the numerous callbacks to past glorious Bond moments, the 20th James Bond film is still remembered for the CGI Tsunami surfing, and the invisible Aston Martin.

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James Bond 30-Day Challenge: Worst Gadget (Day 9)

With the emergence of Q as the one who would be responsible for the armory and items that Bond would use in the field, the gadgets filled with extreme subtlety in order to blend in everyday items also came into the surface of the James Bond movies. 

Q was first introduced in "Dr. No" wherein he supplied Bond the standard-issue Walther PPK. However, the character developed into a different designation, and actor starting with "From Russia With Love". From then on, it was established that Q would be supplying Bond different weaponry items that he would find conveniently useful for the film's plot. 

For 24 films, and one gadget per film at least, there ought to be the worst and the best ones. And depending on my preference, I'm going to choose my top pick for the Worst Bond Gadget. 

Although this was the main gadget for "Moonraker", I thought it was very risky to carry this around. Q gave Bond the "Wrist Dart Gun". It was very useful for Bond in the two out of three occasions that he fired it. One was when he was spinning endlessly in Drax's simulator and the other one was when he shot Drax into space, surrendering to the void. 

It would be very handy having this just having its downtime in your wrist. However, there would be the risk if firing it accidentally, or what is called unintentional discharge, since it would be fired through nerve impulses from the wrist muscles according to Q. 

That could be very dangerous having that concealed weapon in your wrist, ready-to-fire whenever your wrist muscles would feel the itch to do it, without even aiming at your target. 

I could be wrong about my perception of this. It was fun and very convenient for Bond but I thought it had its downsides. 

MOVIE REVIEW: Goldfinger Part 2

(Continued from the previous post.)

Bond was eventually captured and what followed was one of the most iconic scenes, an exchange of dialogue between an antagonist and a protagonist in a film. Goldfinger really had lots of iconic scenes.

Goldfinger (left) interrogating Bond (right) from independent.co.uk

Bond was fixed on a platform before a laser machine as Goldfinger was laying out his evil plans. Bond tried to buy himself some time and maybe convince Goldfinger not to kill him by saying different reasons. One was that MI6 would undoubtedly send 008 to replace him if he would not report about his assignment. Another was that he overheard Goldfinger's evil plan "Operation Grand Slam". This was when Bond asked Goldfinger, "You expect me to talk?" and Goldfinger answered, "No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die." Soon after, Bond was released and was just kept as a prisoner inside Goldfinger's lair.

Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore from jamesbondfanon.wikia.com

Bond met Goldfinger's pilot, Pussy Galore, as they were on their way to Goldfinger's lair in the United States. Unlike in "Dr. No", Goldfinger's lair did not have a fancy hotel room and services for Bond, although he would be treated fairly good in later scenes. Bond escaped his guards and overheard Goldfinger's evil plans again, this time in detail because Goldfinger was actually presenting it to a set of businessmen whom would also be all killed by Goldfinger. Although one was shot by Odd Job and not killed alongside his businessmen mates. This scene would be replicated 21 years later in "A View To A Kill".

Bond placed his GPS tracker and left a note in it to be fetched by Felix Leiter. As the day of Goldfinger's plans came near, Bond made Pussy Galore fell for him despite her obvious resistance ever since they met each other.

Pussy turned sides and would be revealed to help Bond stop Goldfinger's plan.

Bond, together with Odd Job and a bunch of Goldfinger's troops made it to Fort Knox and executed the plan. Bond was handcuffed inside the vault and the CIA, and the authorities swooped in to foil the plan. Goldfinger escaped hastily leaving his plan to Odd Job.

Although left for damnation by his employer, Odd Job stayed loyal to the plan and still went on to stop Bond from foiling their plan. After a heavily painful fight with Bond, Odd Job came across death when he was electrocuted after reaching for his metal hat. He came out to be one of those villains who was ultimately killed because of their unique weapon of choice, or characteristic.

Bond diffused the bomb set by Goldfinger and was soon on his way for recognition from the President of the United States. However, Bond's plane to the White House was hijacked by Goldfinger and Pussy. 

Bond was shocked to see Goldfinger pointing his golden gun at him inside, but he managed to distract Goldfinger by asking where Pussy was. He tried to grab the gun from Goldfinger, however, a shot was fired during the process and led to the breaking of the airplane window. Goldfinger got sucked out to his death as Bond and Pussy tried their luck in landing the airplane.

Goldfinger and his golden gun from wikipedia.org

They did land down safely, and Bond told Pussy this cool one-liner, "this is no time to be rescued", as the film shifts into its end credits.

As what would happen over the next 50, or more, after this film, the next Bond actors would get to their top Bond form by the time they would be in their 3rd movie (The Spy Who Loved Me, The World Is Not Enough, Skyfall). They would be in their best shape, and they would be more confident than ever by the time they would reach their 3rd Bond outing. This film, Goldfinger, started it all. Sean Connery was the epitome of coolness and suave spy action hero. Although the plot was not the best, the gadgets, the action scenes, the chase scenes, the characters, and Bond were all top-notch.

MOVIE REVIEW: Dr. No Part 2

Welcome to the second part of the Dr. No movie review.

Bond is welcomed to Jamaica by an uninvited guest. Bond learns that the driver was not sent by the government, but was from the man who wanted Strangways dead. Bond tried to dig information from the driver, however, he sacrificed himself opting to be kept silent through a cigarette filled with cyanide poison.

Bond learns about Strangways’ colleagues in the island, the most notable one being Professor Dent who also tested Strangways’ samples from Crab Key. Now, Crab Key is a secluded portion where fishermen and the likes do not dare to come near. They were scared of the dragon that is guarding the place. (Bond will know later on that the dragon they are afraid of is just a mechanical robot dragon, perhaps placed by the mastermind of everything that has happened on the island.)

We also meet Felix Leiter, Bond’s friend and ally from the CIA. He will occasionally pop in and out of Bond movies, often played by different actors. In this film, he is almost equal to Bond. They both look cool, wearing suits on sunny beaches, neatly-combed hairs, and menacing physiques that complete the package of being the ultimate spy.

Being an ultimate spy can give you ultimate danger. James Bond is in deep trouble in Jamaica. The Three Blind Mice tried to have a shot at Bond, but for some reason, they did not try at all. Professor Dent becomes bothered by Bond’s investigations leading him to go to Crab Key himself, revealing the lair, and the voice of the main villain Doctor Julius No. We learn here that the doctor does not tolerate failures, which explains the cyanide death scene earlier. Dr. No gives dent the deadliest creature that can possibly end James Bond – 007, a tarantula.

Waking up to a tarantula

Of course, James Bond survives the tarantula with a help of a cartoon-like musical score.

The next few scenes are building up to probably the second best scene in this film – the cold-blood shooting of Bond at Professor Dent. Bond discovers that the secretary, Miss Taro, is working for Professor Dent. He arranges to meet up with her, making her believe that hey we’re going out on a date. Bond insists that they meet.

Before reaching Miss Taro’s house, Bond was disturbed again by the Three Blind Mice in an effort to finish the spy off. Bond survives the very first car chase of the series which, to be honest, has not dated well. It still looked magnificent and massive, though. Bond bangs Miss Taro and then, gives her to the police. He then waits for someone to reach Miss Taro. He has his suspicions proven right after seeing Professor Dent at the door.

Bond, being the spy that he is, creates a decoy on the bed and waits behind the door. Dent shoots the decoy, using up all of his bullets. Bond takes advantage as he says, “You’ve had your six.”

Shooting Dent

Bond, Leiter, and Quarrel, the fisherman friend of Strangways, meet up at the docks. Bond opted to go with Quarrel to help him reach Crab Key, the forbidden island. Reluctantly, Quarrel agrees despite his fear of the dragon. They wait up until the next morning before they make their move as Bond wakes up to the very first Bond girl’s song. 

Honey Ryder

Bond meets Honey Ryder who was looking for shells, while Bond was just looking, at her in her swimsuit. Who wouldn’t?

The next scenes do not do much except that Quarrel is burnt alive by the fire-breathing mechanical dragon, and Bond and Honey Ryder are caught leading to their stay in the Doctor No Hotel.

Yes. A hotel.

Dr. No and Bond

They are treated very well in the villain lair, complete with bed, bath, breakfast and new clothes for their dinner with Dr. No. Dr. No reveals that he is not alone in his evil schemes. He reveals that he is a part of the group SPECTRE – Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion. Bond is not happy with his plan, so then he is locked up in a dungeon, or a room which is very escapable.

Bond foils Dr, No’s plan after a lousy fight due to Dr. No’s metal hands. Yes, he has metal hands. And as we go deep into the Bond movie franchise, you will get to know more villains who have physical irregularities.

Dr. No

Honey Rider rides with Bond at the end of the film away from their audience from the theaters, and their rescuers for privacy.

Do I like this film?

 Yes, no reason not to, but to be fair, this film has its flaws. Aside from its technical aspects, there are also scenes in the movie that can really be unaccepted by today’s audience. An example is when Bond tells Quarrel this, “Fetch my shoes.” And of course, another one is the womanizing antics of James Bond.

It is the perfect Bond movie to jumpstart the franchise, this film actually has the right ingredients. Not too much and not too dull. Shaken, not stirred.

This review will return with From Russia With Love.

*Photos are grabbed from the Internet and all thanks are for those who own it. For sharing purposes only. Thank you.