Goofs for
Octopussy (1983) More at IMDbPro »

• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Bond kills the first twin, Mischa, and hides him in a cannon. While the border guards search a cannon, it's a duplicate.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The tiger head that roars out of the jungle at Bond during the hunt is a rather obvious, immobile stuffed head.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Gobinda is fighting Bond on the outside of the plane toward the end, his jacket opens up to reveal the stuntman's parachute underneath, just as he falls from the plane.
  
  

• Errors in geography: After the Octopussy Circus train leaves East Germany and enters West Germany, the train passes through a tunnel entrance festooned by an East German-style propaganda banner.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Bond and Vijay are trying to escape from Gobinda, Bond is fighting an assassin and flips him over, landing on the bed of nails. The nails are clearly made of rubber, as they bend around the assassin's body.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Gobinda attacks Bond on the train, he rolls over and the rubber sword bends.
  
  
• Continuity: Bond blows out the front two tires when he fires his machine gun into the tires of the military transport he had just escaped from. When that transport veers off into a small shed, both front tires are still clearly inflated.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: As the Acrostar jet is flying thru the hanger, you can see that it has been mounted on a pole and is being pushed through the scene.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: After James has the guards distracted thoroughly by his accomplice and pulls their ripcords, the two guards are pulled from the truck by a visible line.
  
  
• Continuity: When Bond is taking off in the jet in the beginning sequence, the jet's wheels are down as it lifts off over the cars in the roadway. In the next shot, the jet flies over the heads of the vehicle occupants, and the wheels are up.
  
  
• Continuity: When Bond blows the tires out on the military transport, one of the guards flies out of the truck into the hay bales, yet when the transport is fully at rest, the guard is back in the truck.
  
  
• Continuity: By the end of the film, after having escaped from Kamal's plane, Bond is holding Octopussy with his left hand, preventing her from falling off the cliff. In this scene the position of his right arm significantly changes between shots, once being strung-out and away from his body, then suddenly being very close to his body.
  
  
• Errors in geography: It is said that Karl-Marx-Stadt is east of Berlin. Karl-Marx-Stadt was the name of the city of Chemnitz between 1953 and 1990, which is situated slightly south-west of Berlin.
  
  
• Factual errors: A shot of a sign which says "National Art Repository" in both English and Russian has the Russian word for "art" misspelled: the fourth letter should be the Russian "u" not the Russian "ch." The two letters do look alike, which suggests that the text was likely copied out of a dictionary erroneously.
  
  
• Continuity: When Bond and M driving through West-Berlin towards Checkpoint Charlie, they pass the same place at Kurfürstendamm several times, heading in the opposite direction to Checkpoint Charlie.
  
  
• Factual errors: When Bond is on the airplane he scoots back and moves the elevator down with his feet for just a moment, then scoots back forward again. In the movie this puts the airplane in an uncontrollable dive and crashes. In reality there would be no loss of control.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: During a close-up of the car-on-railroad stunt, the car has proper flanged railroad wheels rather than shot up and skinned up automobile wheels (albeit dressed up to resemble the original wheels).
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Octopussy claims that her father was a leading expert in 'octopi'. While the correct plural should be octopuses, most dictionaries also list octopi as a plural for octopus and it is now a part of common vernacular to use the word octopi.
  
  
• Continuity: Dressed as a clown, James Bond alternates between wearing and not wearing long clown shoes.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Gobinda and Bond fight on the roof of the moving train and fall, the sabre Gobinda holds in his hand bends on contact with the train roof.
  
  
• Factual errors: The three Soviet soldiers Bond fights at the tunnel entrance carry the Austrian Army "Steyr AUG" standard rifle and not as they should (and all other Soviet soldiers in the movie do) a Kalashnikov or derivate of it.
  
  
• Continuity: At the beginning, Bond takes his cap off and turns it inside out to create an army cap. However, he then puts on a 'stiff' cap for his officer uniform.
  
  
• Continuity: When Bond tries to escape the rocket that is shot at his plane, he is seen in the cockpit pulling the control lever to the right. But the plane turns to the left.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Incorrectly regarded as goof: The train of the "Octopussy Circus" has a steam engine which was considered to be an anachronism as the film takes place in 1983. In fact, due to the rising oil prices in the 1970s the railroad company of the German Democratic Republic started re-using steam engine trains in their regular traffic. The last steam engine got out of order in 1988.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The train scene (shot in Peterborough, England) is meant to be in Germany, but features quintessential English countryside and British pylons. East Germany's topography is markedly different, particularly as it has more pine trees as opposed to the hedgerows and broadleaf typical of England.
  
  
• Errors in geography: You can just about make out that the cars driving over a bridge in the railway scene are driving on the left, not the right.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Gobina slashes at Bond atop the plane, a medium shot clearly shows a stunt double (note the bald spot) who is wearing a black outfit, not a blue suit.
  
  
• Factual errors: General Orlov's uniform features some inaccuracies, among them his cap is closer to the design of an enlisted Soviet soldier's cap rather than a General's cap.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: During Kamal's backgammon game with The Major, Kamal doubles then rolls a double 6 and the Major resigns. In fact, The Major had his home board locked and there is no roll that would have helped Kamal. (In the long shots, one can see the 1 through 5 points are closed; in the closeup of the double 6, one can the 6 point is closed).
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: During the Comrad Chairman's Committee Meeting in Russia, the world map shown in the background incorrectly shows South Korea, as well as North Korea, being color-coded as a communist country.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Bond comes out of hiding among the circus trailers (right before the clowns start running) you can hear one of the German police officers shout "He's got to be around here somewhere!" as a group of officers run by where Bond is hiding. He speaks with a very clear American accent.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: After Bond disarms the bomb, Octopussy asks the blonde thief were Kamal was going. She responds "Back to India." But her lips say something else.
  
  
• Plot holes: The villains had set the bomb to go off in four hours prior to the circus arriving at the military base. This is not nearly enough time for the train to unload all crew, equipment and supplies and then set up to a full house audience to witness the last seconds of the timer.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The stock footage of the tiger is obvious, as is the rear-projection. The plants in the footage don't match up with those in the current scene.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: There are at least two scenes when Orlov's car is following the train, and Orlov's mouth is moving as if he is shouting something, and no words are coming out.
  
  
• Continuity: Bond's "rail car" gets hit by the train and ends up in the river. The car is towed and winched almost instantaneously after it lands in the water. This would not have been enough time for the vehicle to be called in, dispatched, towed, and winched.
  
  
• Continuity: Bond would not have had adequate time and privacy to change into the gorilla suit in the same room as the attackers without them noticing. Likewise, Bond seems to instantly change out of the gorilla suit and back into his red/black outfit in the same room when Gobinda is coming after him.
  
  
• Continuity: Bond and the knife thrower fall off the top of the train on the same side. It cuts to the next shot, and they are both on opposite sides of the train.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: There are scenes where it shows the front facing of the atomic bomb, fully lit, even though it is locked inside its casing, in which it would be pitch black at the time.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the circus girl does the see-saw back-flip and lands on top of the man on the elephant, you can see wires holding her up.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Bond runs the gate at the circus, the officer draws his pistol, presumably to shoot Bond or the vehicle, but instead shoots it in the air several times. The reasoning behind doing this is unknown.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: After Bond diffused the bomb, an officer comes up and says to him, "Thank you very much, you did a great job sir" but his mouth seems to be saying something else.
  
  
• Continuity: When Octopussy throws the bolos at the man on top of the wall, and he falls down, he falls straight forward. It cuts to the next shot, and he is falling sideways instead.
  
  
• Continuity: During the raid when Octopussy's circus girls attack Kamal's men, there are many punches, kicks, and everything else that miss very badly, but sounds are still played as if they connected.
  
  
• Factual errors: When Q is landing the hot air balloon, he revs up the flames. This is against physics, because the flames are what cause the balloon to rise.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Bond and Octopussy jump off the plane, Bond apparently says the words "Ocotpussy jump" or something similar, but his mouth is not moving.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: *SPOILER* when the plane crashes to the ground, if you slow down the footage, you see what appears to be 3 different explosions. Furthermore, the source of the explosions seems to be the ground itself, and not the airplane.
  
  
• Continuity: Octopussy is hanging onto Bond's left arm to keep from falling, causing the injury to Bond's arm. However, his opposite arm is the one that is in the cast later on.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The knife thrower sees Bond's "reflection" in the jewelry, and instantly recognizes him. However, to the naked eye, all that can be seen is a giant blur of colors, impossible to distinguish anything.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: Near the beginning, Bond's assistant says something like "They moved the flight up to this afternoon" but her mouth does not match what she is saying.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When James Bond tries to enter the Air Force Base without clearance, the Security Police guard fires warning shots in the air: this is highly illegal and would never be done.
  
  
• Continuity: When General Urloff destroys the Fabergé egg, he was actually destroying the real egg. This was the egg that James had the bug in. To be accurate he should have destroyed the egg without the bug.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: "Cincinatti" is misspelled on the tour group sign on the tour boat to which Bond escapes after the hunt. The correct spelling is "Cincinnati."
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The Cuban soldiers guarding Bond while riding in the deuce-and-a-half in the pre-credit sequence appear to be wielding Colt M-16s. They should in fact be Kalashnikov AK 74s, or some derivative.
  
  

• Plot holes: SPOILER: Bond is involved in a lengthy & dramatic chase to reach and disarm the atomic bomb that is hidden on the circus train, headed for the American military base. Instead of focusing on reaching the bomb himself (which of course makes for an exciting movie), why doesn't he just get to a telephone and phone in the dangerous situation to headquarters, who can then send in back-up and/or dispatch a team of bomb experts to meet the train as it arrives? At one point during the chase, he is even dropped off in a town after hitching a ride; he attempts to use a payphone, but gives up in less than 30 seconds after a women in the phone booth won't relinquish the phone - he then steals her car instead to continue the chase. Surely this isn't the only telephone in town - why not find another one? It's true that he may not have money or an ID on his person, but surely the British Secret Service has made provision for an agent to call in on a phone without these things (call collect, a special toll free number, etc.).
  
  
• Plot holes: SPOILER: With only 5 minutes left before the bomb explodes, Bond sneaks into a trailer at the circus and manages to disguise himself in an elaborate clown make-up and costume before making his way to the big top (where the bomb is located). Moments later, when he confronts the General, Bond states that the bomb will explode in "90 seconds". The clown make-up Bond wears is very professionally done, and, conservatively estimating that it took only 30 seconds to leave the trailer, enter the big top, and approach the General, that means that Bond entered the trailer, applied the complicated make-up, AND got into the elaborate clown costume in 3 minutes or less. This is highly unlikely. Anyone who has done professional clowning will affirm that it takes considerably longer than three minutes to properly apply a professional clown make-up and costume. If time is so critical (5 minutes before bomb explodes), why waste precious minutes applying the make-up and costume? Why not just grab a broom and/tool/clipboard & pose as one of the dozens of stagehands/crew people/clean-up crew that can be found at all such events?
  
  

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