This leads Bond to the exiled Afghan prince Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan), and his associate Octopussy (Maud Adams), and the discovery of a plot to force disarmament in Western Europe with the use of a nuclear weapon.

Praise was directed towards the action sequences and locations, with the plot and humour being targeted for criticism; Adams's portrayal of the titular character also drew polarised responses.

MI6 suspects Soviet involvement and, after the real Fabergé egg is to be auctioned in London, sends James Bond to identify the seller.

The explosion would cause Europe to seek unilateral disarmament in the belief that the bomb belonged to the US and was detonated at the airbase accidentally, which would leave the unprotected borders open to a Soviet invasion.

Bond kills Mischka and Grischka to avenge the murder of 009, and after falling from the train, hitch-hikes a lift from a passing motorist to reach the airbase, eventually stealing a car from a nearby town to complete his journey.

While the Minister of Defence and Gogol discuss the return of the stolen jewels to the Kremlin, Bond recuperates with Octopussy aboard her private galley in India.

Other actors in smaller roles include Andy Bradford as MI6 agent 009, Dermot Crowley as Lieutenant Kamp, Orlov's nuclear weapons expert; former Pan's People dancer Cherry Gillespie as Midge, an Octopussy subordinate; Peter Porteous as Lenkin, the Kremlin art expert; Eva Rueber-Staier as Rublevitch, Gogol's secretary; Jeremy Bulloch as Smithers, Q's assistant; Richard LeParmentier as General Peterson's aide; and Gabor Vernon as Borchoi.

[5] Michael G. Wilson, Richard Maibaum, and George MacDonald Fraser were hired to write a film based on short stories from Ian Fleming's posthumous collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights.

The scene at Sotheby's is, though, adapted from the short story "The Property of a Lady" (included in 1967 and later editions of the collection), while Kamal Khan's reaction following the backgammon game is taken from Fleming's novel Moonraker.

[6] Fraser was hired to work on an early draft of the script and he proposed that the story be set in India, as the series had not yet visited said country.

They discarded his idea for the opening sequence, featuring a motorbike chase set at the Isle of Man TT, but still retained moments that producer Albert R. Broccoli had first criticized, where Bond dressed as a gorilla and later, a clown.

Given his reluctance to return for Octopussy, the producers engaged in a semi-public quest for the next Bond, with Timothy Dalton and Lewis Collins[5] being suggested as a replacement and screen tests carried out with Michael Billington, Oliver Tobias, and American actor James Brolin.

[9] It has been reported that Brolin had actually been hired and was on the point of moving to London to begin work on Octopussy, while Broccoli refused to dispute Tobias's public statements that he was about to be cast as Bond.

[12] The role of Magda went to another Swedish actress, Kristina Wayborn, who gained the attention of producers with her portrayal of Greta Garbo in the TV miniseries The Silent Lovers.

[15] The first actor to be cast in the film was Vijay Amritraj, a popular Indian professional tennis player whom Broccoli met while watching The Championships in Wimbledon.

For the villains, Broccoli brought in his friend Louis Jourdan as Kamal Khan, while his daughter Barbara suggested Steven Berkoff for Orlov after having seen him perform his own play, Greek, in Los Angeles.

[9] Much later in the film, Bond steals Orlov's Mercedes-Benz at a depot defended by antagonist soldiers; as he tries to escape, he drives over barrier spikes shredding the tyres and then manoeuvres the car's bare wheels onto the rails to pursue Octopussy's circus train.

[22] Stunt coordinator Martin Grace suffered an injury while shooting the scene where Bond climbs down the train to catch Octopussy's attention.

The egg in the film is listed in the auction catalogue as being "The Property of a Lady", which is the name of one of Ian Fleming's short stories released in more recent editions of the collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights.

[35] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post felt Octopussy was "one of the snazziest, wittiest productions" of the film series, in which he praised John Glen's direction, Louis Jourdan's performance, and the screenplay.

[37] Gene Siskel, reviewing for The Chicago Tribune, awarded the film three stars out of four, stating it is "surprisingly entertaining—surprising because in his previous five Bond appearances Roger Moore has always come off as a smug stiff.

However, he felt that the character Octopussy was detrimental to the film and the action "blunts a script that is weak on characterization and long on male chauvinism".

[38] Variety felt the film's strong points were "the spectacular aerial stuntwork marking both the pre-credits teaser and extremely dangerous-looking climax.

"[40] Richard Corliss of Time magazine negatively reviewed Moore's performance, writing he has "degenerated [Bond] into a male model, and something of a genial anachronism.

The website's critical consensus reads: "Despite a couple of electrifying action sequences, Octopussy is a formulaic, anachronistic Bond outing.

[45] A particular point of contention are comedic scenes where Bond is dressed in a clown costume, a gorilla outfit and doing a Tarzan yell during a jungle chase.

[49] C. J. Henderson reviewed Octopussy in The Space Gamer magazine, writing "there isn't a moment in the movie when we worry for the slightest instant that anything could happen to suave ol' James.

[51] GQ writer David Williams said Octopussy was "one of the best 'Bad Films' of the franchise", praising the entertaining characters but finding the silliness and Moore's advanced age problematic.

Also, the filmmakers make the mistake of demeaning Bond by having him swing through the trees and emitting a Tarzan cry and having him hide in a gorilla suit and later disguise himself as a clown (who all the kids at the circus laugh at).

The movie started 18 minutes late due to an overrun earlier in the day of Wide World of Sports,[59] which may have negatively impacted its performance slightly (a key action sequence near the end of the film[60] did not air until after 11:30pm in the Eastern Time Zone).