11 Things You Learn Rewatching Octopussy

By Jack Pooley / March 12, 2020

4. The Vulgar Puns Are Hilariously Bad

Punnery is one of the cornerstones of just about every James Bond movie - especially in the Moore era - but Octopussy bungles it spectacularly by dialling things up to an offputtingly crude, vulgar level.

When Bond is drinking champagne in bed with Magda, for instance, she tells him, "I need refilling", to which Bond retorts, "Of course you do!" It lacks the cheekiness of something like, "Keeping the British end up, sir" or "I think he's attempting re-entry", and just feels a little too classless for its own good.

That's not to forget Magda explaining her octopus tattoo to Bond moments later as her "little octopussy", a line so absurdly on-the-nose in its suggestiveness even Moore takes a few seconds to visibly reel from it.