Octopussy vs. Never Say Never Again

Never Say Never Again was supposedly a remake of Thunderball, but there are definite differences. Klaus Maria Brandauer is a good villain but uneven. He wore a tied sweater on  his shoulders and that isn’t a good villain look. He had this calm eery way about him that made him smart enough to be a super villain but creepy. This guy, rather than kill Domino for betraying him, sells her into slavery.

The original Largo had an eyepatch and tux. He was smooth villain. Brandauer is cold and unfeeling.

The Bloefeld character while not called out, was practically not there.

Barbara Carrerra was a great villain. She was smart, vicious, and had a need for approval. Kim Basinger was pretty, but not much else. If McClory wrote Domino for the book, he should’ve used that character instead of this one.

They used Connery really well. They dressed him age-appropriate. He looked fit for the role. The toupee was believable. He sounded like the Goldfinger Bond. I read that Connery wanted to show his current at the time look, balding with a beard. The producers wanted 1960s Bond.

The soundtrack was smooth-jazz and it didn’t fit with the action. The intro song was forgettable.

The settings looked good. There were gadgets but not super out-there. Underwater fight scenes just don’t work. Actors in masks in dark water. It didn’t work.

Not considered in the Bond cannon for the Broccoli family. It was a pretty good movie.

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Octopussy

The Broccoli family wanted to rush this out to compete against the McClory-Connery movie. It was reported that Roger Moore was done after “For Your Eyes Only.” He was showing his age and that would be a solid ending for the Moore era. The Broccoli’s didn’t have time to do a search so Moore was offered a good deal to come back. The plus is that he could walk into the role and be natural. He didn’t phone it in, but he was comfortable.

The plot has some twists and solid investigations. A Soviet general sells Faberge eggs on the black market and then replaces them with fakes. Then he uses the money to buy arms to start a war in Europe. He has a partner in a smuggler and an unknowing partner in a circus operator. Yeah that last part sounded weird, but they make it work. He uses the traveling circus to smuggle bombs. Who would look for a bomb in a circus?

Moore is good in this role.

The opening is cheap and not suspenseful.

Louis Jordan is a good villain. He matches Moore charisma for charisma. He can be cold in some of the murders. He can be smooth at the backgammon games.

The henchman is brutal.

Maude Adams is a sympathetic character duped into the scheme.

Moore investigates the clues, follows leads, does some spy work. He gets caught, action, explosions.

The movie is over two hours and the plot had so much going on that they had to wrap it up. Bond disposes the villains too quick. They deserved better. Actually since the first two Moore movies ended with him not getting all the villains, Jordan should’ve come back for “View to a Kill.” Jordan and Chris Walken would’ve been a great villain team.

Other than the rushed end, it was a solid movie.

So how did the Bond vs Bond battle go:

James Bond-both actors did a good job. They dressed good and handled action. Both were older and had to hide that. Connery was known for action, but Moore had more action scenes. Connery was suave, Moore was funny.

Bond girl- neither movie had a really memorable one

Villain- both had good villains that made the movie. They equaled Bond. The producers shorted what could’ve been more.

Plot- both had investigations-clues- and a trail to follow.

Box office- Octopussy made more money.

Because Octopussy made more money, it was declared the winner.