Octopussy

Factual error: In the forest, Bond runs into a giant spider web. First, the spider's thread is far too thick and resistant. No cobweb could slow a person down. Second, there are several spiders hanging in the same web. Spiders don't share their nets with others. Third, these spiders are supposed to look like tarantulas, which don't spin webs. (00:59:30)

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. (01:05:00)

Factual error: 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.

Jacob La Cour

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: 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."

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.

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: 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).

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.

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.

Andy Benham

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.

Jacob La Cour

Factual error: Bond pulls his mini jet out of the path of the missile racing in from behind, making it narrowly miss his aircraft. Like most such piloting stunts from Hollywood, it wouldn't have worked. Modern anti-aircraft missiles have proximity fuses and fragmentation warheads or continuous-rod warheads. They actually deliberately pass by the aircraft they are trying to destroy and explode next to them, because the cross-section is greater that way. There have even been cases when a missile actually hitting an airplane just disintegrated without exploding, thus saving the target.

Doc

Factual error: When Bond is fighting with Glenda on the wagon roof, shortly before passing a tunnel, which is supposed to be already in West Germany, a communist slogan is visible on the tunnel entry, stating 'Our contribution to a positive balance: daily fulfillment of the plan'. Not something that would be on the west side.

Octopussy mistake picture

Factual error: Bond is given a tag in Spanish, but it shows the word Col., short for Colonel. It should read Coronel.

Sacha

Factual error: Orlov hands Khan a map "Die Umgebung Berns." Bern is the capital city of Switzerland which has nothing to do with the movie.

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.

Jacob La Cour

Continuity mistake: At the end of the film, Bond chases Khan 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.

More mistakes in Octopussy

Octopussy: Who is he?
Kamal Kahn: Englishman. Likes eggs, preferably Fabergé, and dice, preferably loaded.

More quotes from Octopussy

Trivia: The tiger who briefly appears during the tiger hunt sequence is actually a stuffed tiger pushed out on a wheelbarrow.

More trivia for Octopussy

Question: How did Bond win the game of backgammon, with Kamal Khan, when he didn't get all his chips off the board? Even the two sixes he rolled wouldn't have done it.

kh1616

Answer: Bond (taking over for the Major) had 1 piece on point 2, 1 piece on point 3, and 2 pieces on point 6. Rolling doubles in Backgammon means you get to make 4 moves instead of just 2, so he was able to remove all 4 pieces. If you have a piece on point 2, you don't have to roll a 2 to remove it. Anything higher than a 2 can be used to remove the piece. Kahn even says Bond has to roll a double 6 in order to win, which he does.

Bishop73

Answer: Not knowing anything about backgammon so this is perhaps wrong. But I thought that Bond didn't win. And the fact that he produced the Faberge egg is what ended the game. (I'm more than likely wrong tho).

Alan Keddie

More questions & answers from Octopussy

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