Octopussy (1983): Cast, Plot, the Egg and Ending Explained

Octopussy (1983), directed by John Glen, is about a forged Fabergé egg, a dead agent and a plot that runs from East Berlin to India. A British agent code named 009, dressed as a clown, is killed in East Berlin while carrying a fake egg, and MI6 suspects the Soviets are behind it.

James Bond is sent to find out who is selling the real egg, and the trail leads him to an auction in London. There he swaps the fake for the real one and bids against Kamal Khan, a wealthy exiled prince played by Louis Jourdan. Bond then follows Khan to India, where he meets an ally named Vijay and a mysterious woman who goes by Octopussy, played by Maud Adams.

That is the setup: a forgery, an auction and a trip east, with the Indian leg as the point where the larger scheme starts to surface.

In Octopussy (1983), Bond follows a forged Fabergé egg from East Berlin and a London auction to India and finally to a nuclear bomb hidden in a circus at a US air base in West Germany. After 009 dies in Berlin with the fake egg, MI6 sends James Bond to the London auction to learn who is behind the forgery. Bond switches the eggs, and Kamal Khan outbids him for the fake.

In India, Bond follows Khan and beats him at backgammon, then escapes Khan's men with help from Vijay. Q's tracking device in the egg then shows that Khan is working with General Orlov, a rogue Soviet general who has been smuggling Russian treasures to the West. The route runs through a circus owned by Octopussy, a powerful woman whose father Bond once had arrested.

Bond visits her island palace, and the two of them survive an attack by Khan's assassins that kills Vijay. It is there that Bond learns the real scheme: Orlov plans to hide a nuclear bomb in the circus and set it off at a US air base in West Germany. Orlov hopes the blast will push Europe to disarm and leave it open to a Soviet advance.

The last act is a relay of three set pieces. Bond chases Orlov across the border, and East German guards shoot Orlov dead. Bond then reaches the circus on a train and fights the twins who throw knives, killing them. Dressed as a clown, he gets into the air base and defuses the bomb with seconds left.

Khan is still free. Octopussy and her followers attack his mountain palace, and Khan flees by plane with her as his captive. Bond catches the plane while it is taking off and fights his way along the outside of the aircraft, and that fight decides the film.

Octopussy had its UK premiere on 5 June 1983 and its US release on 10 June 1983, and both dates are reported rather than confirmed. For a British franchise the split matters: the UK premiere came five days ahead of the US release. The Australian release followed on 24 November 1983, also reported.

In the US, the film opened on 10 June 1983 with $8.9 million over its opening weekend. It went on to a $67.9 million domestic gross and $119.6 million internationally, for $187.5 million worldwide against a $27.5 million budget.

The film carries a PG certification in the US, the UK and Australia, and it runs 131 minutes. Its release year also puts it in a rare position: Never Say Never Again, the unofficial, non-EON Connery film, arrived in the same year. For the wider money picture, see the James Bond box office page.

Spoiler warning: the full ending of Octopussy follows, and the opinions in it are mine.

The ending of Octopussy stops a nuclear bomb at a US air base in West Germany and then kills Kamal Khan in a plane crash. Kamal Khan dies when his plane crashes into a mountainside.

Why does the bomb matter? General Orlov hopes the blast will push Europe to disarm and leave it open to a Soviet advance, and Khan is his partner in the treasure smuggling that hides the scheme. In my opinion, the plot works because the fake egg is a small crime that points to a huge one: the forgery is the thread, and the circus is the knot.

The clown costume is the detail I would watch for. 009 dies dressed as a clown at the start, and James Bond gets into the air base dressed as a clown at the end, defusing the bomb with seconds left. In my opinion, the film is quietly closing a loop, giving Bond the finish 009 never got.

The plane sequence breaks down into steps. Khan flees by plane with Octopussy as his captive, Bond catches the plane while it is taking off, and he fights his way along the outside of the aircraft. Gobinda is knocked off the plane and falls to his death. Bond and Octopussy then jump clear just before the plane runs out of fuel and crashes into a mountainside, killing Khan.

The nuclear plot has been stopped and the Soviet scheme is exposed. The story closes with Bond and Octopussy together in the aftermath. The next film in release order is A View to a Kill (1985).

Octopussy (1983) is set in East Berlin, London, India and West Germany; verified filming locations are not yet listed.

The journey is a useful map of the plot. Berlin carries the 009 opening, London the egg swap with Kamal Khan, India the backgammon match, Octopussy's island palace and the attack that kills Vijay, and West Germany the bomb. The finale on Khan's plane ends with a crash into a mountainside.

Michael G. Wilson, credited as writer and executive producer, held two of the film's key jobs at once, which makes him the one name that links the script to the production desk.

• Walter Gotell, who plays General Gogol, is credited at billing 13 in a cast of 15 listed names.
• David Meyer and Tony Meyer play the knife-throwing twins, credited only as Twin One and Twin Two.
• Q's tracking device hidden in the egg is what exposes the link between Kamal Khan and General Orlov.
• The film runs 131 minutes and carries a PG certification in the US, the UK and Australia.
• Its Australian release, on 24 November 1983, came almost six months after the UK premiere (both reported).
• It arrived in the same year as Never Say Never Again, the unofficial, non-EON Bond film starring Sean Connery.