Octopussy (1983) - 47 mistakes

Revealing: In the scene where Bond is trying to escape with his new Mini-Jet, he flies through a big hall. If you look carefully, you can see that the aeroplane which is supposed to be flying with its wings vertical is fastened to some kind of sustainer.

Continuity: At the end of the film, Bond chases Kahn following the battle at Octopussy's mansion. In the short time it takes to run to a nearby plane, it turns from pitch darkness to bright sunshine.

Continuity: When Bond takes off in the plane we see - in one shot from Bond's view - the Cubans approaching.The background is a flat (English) countryside. In the next clip we see a close-up of one of the Cubans. Behind him are quite large hills/mountains.

Factual error: At the East German / West German checkpoint, there is a level crossing. The warning signs for road traffic are clearly visible and are unique to the UK (where the shot was filmed).

Factual error: Being in Berlin talking about the Octopussy Circus, M says that Karl-Marx-Stadt (now again "Chemnitz") is further to the east, however it is 200 km to the south of Berlin.

Factual error: Bond tells Q at one point "I've lost my PPK." However, he has been carrying a Walther P-5 throughout the movie, and continues to use it in the later action sequences. A PPK never does make an appearance in the movie. The P-5 was also used that year by Bond in "Never Say Never Again").

Continuity: In the scene in the freezer at Kahn's palace you don't see any breath - neither from Bond nor from the two guys picking up the bodies.

Continuity: When James Bond is trying to escape from Kamal Khan in the jungle, he passes through a spider web and crushes a spider that is on his elbow. The stain disappears in the following shots.

Factual error: During one of the chases, when James Bond hops into the water, he is picked up by a group of American tourists on a tour boat.  The city of Cincinnati is misspelled as Cincinatti on it.

Plot hole: When Bond is on the roof of the train ,he opens the roof panel on the rail car, jumps down into the car, and puts on a gorilla suit to hide. He does all this while the knife thrower is in the small car. Wouldn't the knife thrower have heard something? The roof panel opening alone would have amplified the train's noises, not to mention the air that would have blown in.

Revealing: The nail-bed's steel nails that James Bond flips a henchman onto are the most obvious rubber nails ever seen in a film. They ALL move like crazy rubber in a bunch of separate directions when he falls onto them, including ones he never even comes close to touching.

Revealing: When the police cars chase Bond and stop outside the circus, you can clearly see a lot of brake-marks. It's quite obvious that the filmmakers re-shot the scene several times, before they got it right, but didn't bother to remove the marks made in earlier takes.

Continuity: In the opening story, Bond flies in the small plane with a single jet engine. When the plane approaches the hangar to fly through it (the shot taken FROM the hangar towards the plane) you can see that the plane has TWO engines at the back.

Revealing: When Gobina first slashes at Bond during the climactic fight on the plane, a subsequent medium shot reveals a stunt double (note the bald spot). He's even wearing completely different clothing - a black stunt suit instead of a blue jacket and white shirt.

Factual error: When riding in the truck with the Cuban soldiers Bond pulls their parachutes. In the next clip they are 5-6 meters up in the air. That is impossible. First, parachutes are not shot out, but merely pulled by the passing air. And the truck does not go fast enough to pull the parachutes. Second, even if the truck went fast enough, the soldiers would be pulled horizontally - and just fall off the truck, not get pulled vertically up in the air.

Continuity: When Bond passes under the Autobahn bridge you can see the traffic is very slow. But seconds before - when Bond's car left the Autobahn, there was no traffic congestion.

Continuity: When we see Q fishing, the lighting is totally different from when he's seen from the back in the next clip. Also the bank rises close behind him when seen from the front, but in the next clip the camera position is further back. Those are not shot in the same place.

Plot hole: What did the jewellery smuggling and the fake jewels have to do with the A-bomb? It wasn't payment to Kamal for services rendered, since the jewelry was transferred to General Orlov's car while Gobinda was watching. Kamal and Orlov could easily have placed a bomb in the circus without the jewelry-story.

Plot hole: Bond would not have had (nor taken himself) time to lay a complete and careful clown make-up while changing clothes in the circus trailer.

Other: In the balloon scene it seems like Q can circle around and land on a spot where he flew past previously. A balloon can only fly in the direction of the wind.

Continuity: During the fight at the Monsoon Palace it is dark. When Kamal rides to the plane, the sun is high in the sky (at least three hours after sunrise).

Continuity: Gobinda kills the two helpers at the Monsoon Palace and throws them on the floor in the freezer and we hear the thumps. Minutes later Bond hides in the freezer. The bodies now hang on meat hooks, and have already turned gray.

Other: When Bond drives into the train tunnel, below the train cart with the jewelry, we see that welding is going on in the other train cart. But that is before the bomb is placed in the hole below the cannon. There is no sign of weldings, and no sign of welding equipment once we get inside that cart.

Continuity: When we see the Monsoon Palace from the lake, it is set very high on a barren brown mountain. But when Bond escapes on foot, he very quickly is in a dense and moist jungle - and walking out in a low-lying march land with a wide river. That can't be the same lake, since we don't see him running down a steep barren cliff-side.

Other: When Bond kicks the curry onto the hot coals, the flames flare up very high over the length of the coals, and not just where the curry hits.

Continuity: When 009 is knifed in the back, the knife goes in all the way to the handle. When he crawls out of the water, the blade is visible. And if the knife had moved out by itself, it would be loose and would have fallen out.

Revealing: When Bond and Gobinda are fighting on top of the train, Gobinda rolls over with his sword, which bends like a rubber prop.

Revealing: When the clown falls into the water in Berlin, and floats down river, it is obviously a dummy - check the strangely wrinkled forehead.

Continuity: When Bond and the twin fall off the train, Bond's movements do not make sense. In the first clip they are both moving away from the train. In the next clip they are rolling partly along the tracks, partly towards them. In the next clip Bond is rolling forward straight into the bushes.

Factual error: Udaipur where the floating palace is located is 350km from Agra, so Bond wouldn't be passing Taj Mahal upon landing in the helicopter.

Revealing: During the climax when the plane explodes, you see a shot of Kamal Kahn screaming, the you see it explode. When it explodes you can see the plane is crumpled up before it even hits the ground.

Visible crew/equipment: During the climax on the plane Kamal Kahn asked the henchman with the turban to get Bond. When Bond uses the antenna to push him off the plane, you see the henchman fall off from a below view, you can see that the henchman is wearing a parachute.

Other: The performance of the Octopussy Circus is amazing. After the performers left K-M-Stadt by train, the Russian soldier explains in the train that the maximum delay of explosion for the bomb is four hours. After the train has crossed the inner-German border, Gobinda activates the bomb, which will be deactivated by Bond just in time. Within these four hours: 1) the circus goes about 100 km from the border to the US base "Feldstadt" near Nürnberg (to be seen by the "N" on the numberplates of the police cars) 2) the circus celebrates a parade through Feldstadt 3) the circus people put up the tent 4) the circus performs a whole show.

Continuity: In the Circus scene towards the end of the movie James Bond holds up a program to cover his face, and you can clearly see a clown's face on the back of the program. A few seconds later (and in subsequent shots) the back of the program is blank.

Factual error: In some scenes, the Communist soldiers use the wrong armament: the Cubans use American M16s (whereas they should be using AK-47s), and Orlov's bodyguards (in the scene where the jewels are switched for the bomb) have Austrian Steyr AUGs. It would have been rather problematic for socialist countries (during the period of the film) to keep captured Western weapons constantly supplied with spare parts and ammunition.

Continuity: During the fight on the roof of the train, the scenery in the background changes dramatically between shots. Especially when the surviving knife artist climbs up on the roof. There we are in a dense forest, and when we cut to Bond, we are on an open field.

Factual error: When the German police are chasing Bond into the air base, they are simply waved in at the gate. That wouldn't happen - without authority, local authorities wouldn't be allowed to enter an armed forces installation, especially a foreign one.

Continuity: Just before the clown hits the embassy window the lighting changes significantly between shots. There are some strange reflections when he hits the glass, which were not there a millisecond before.

Other: There is no way Bond has time to switch the Faberge eggs. You can see his fingers the whole way below the booklet. His finger position does not change. It is impossible that he opened his fingers and grabbed the other egg in that motion.

Factual error: When Bond is being pursued through the jungle, we see what appears to be a crocodile swimming towards him. It is obviously an alligator, which can be identified by its broad snout (crocs have a narrow snout). There are no alligators in Asia.

Continuity: When Bond's Mercedes is on the railroad tracks, it is hit head on by an oncoming train. As it is shown sailing in the air backwards, it is very clear that the drive-train has been removed. When the car is shown again, it is now sailing nose first as it hits the water.

Factual error: On the railroad when the knife-thrower is welding the jewel canister onto the circus equipment, there are bright flashes of light. Later however, the knife-thrower attacks Bond with a gas welder. Oxyacetylene torches (gas) merely heat the metal until it melts. They do not produce blinding flashes, unlike arc and MIG welding kits (electric).

Other: When Bond runs out of fuel in his mini-jet, his landing was obviously filmed on an airport runway, given the heavy black landing marks on it.

Continuity: Octopussy is standing next to her bed when Bond comes to kiss her. They kiss. In the next shot when they lay down on the bed they are inside the golden 'legs' of the bed. But they didn't move sideways and definitely did not step over the leg.

Audio problem: Just after Bond Disarms the bomb at the circus, Octopussy asks Magda 'Where was Kahn heading?' We hear Magda reply 'Back to India,' but her mouth doesn't move with the words. It's apparent she says something completely different.

Continuity: The knife-thrower attempts to use a welder to temporarily blind Bond - we can see in that shot that it's an acetylene torch. However, in earlier shots when the welder is being used (off-camera), the sound is that of an arc welder.

Other: At the end of Octopussy, in the credits it says "James Bond will return in From A View To A Kill"; but the film he returns in is just called "A View To A Kill."