A Fish Called Wanda
| A Fish Called Wanda | |
|---|---|
| File:A Fish Called Wanda DVD.jpg theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Charles Crichton |
| Written by | John Cleese Charles Crichton |
| Produced by | Michael Shamberg |
| Starring | John Cleese Jamie Lee Curtis Kevin Kline Michael Palin Maria Aitken Tom Georgeson |
| Cinematography | Alan Hume |
| Edited by | John Jympson |
| Music by | John Du Prez |
| Distributed by | MGM |
Release date | July 15, 1988 |
Running time | 108 minutes |
| Countries | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $62,493,712[citation needed] |
A Fish Called Wanda is a 1988 comedy film written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton and directed by Charles Crichton and John Cleese (uncredited), and starring Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. The film is a comedy about a jewel heist and its aftermath.
Plot
George Thomason (Tom Georgeson) and his right-hand man, Ken Pile (Michael Palin), a beleaguered animal lover with a bad stutter, plan a jewel heist and bring in two Americans to help: an alluring con artist, Wanda Gershwitz (Jamie Lee Curtis) and a "weapons man", Otto West (Kevin Kline), who fancies himself as an intellectual but is actually a stupid idiot — who resents being called that.
Wanda and Otto are lovers pretending to be siblings so that Wanda can work her charms on George and Ken. The robbery goes well, with the thieves getting away with a large sum in diamonds which is hidden in a safe in a old warehouse. However, after the robbery, Wanda and Otto betray George to the police only to find that George and Ken have moved the loot to a new location. Wanda, who was planning to double-cross Otto as well, decides to seduce George's unhappily married lawyer, Archie Leach (John Cleese)[1] to find out where the diamonds are. Meanwhile, Ken is charged by George to silence a key witness, and Otto exerts his energies in fits of jealousy over Wanda and Archie and of impatience with Ken and Britain in general. Otto's interference, and other incidences of bad luck, lead Wanda and Archie's liaisons to go disastrously wrong.
In various attempts to kill the witness, the animal-loving Ken accidentally kills off her three Yorkshire Terriers one by one. The witness eventually suffers a fatal heart attack when her third Terrier is killed. Later, in the course of George's trial, Wanda gives evidence that will lead to a conviction rather than an acquittal. Meanwhile, Archie's wife Wendy (Maria Aitken) discovers his affair and announces that she is going to divorce him (though in fact interferences from outsiders like Otto prevented them from actually consummating their relationship).
Archie resolves to cut his losses, find the loot and flee with Wanda to South America. Meanwhile Ken inadvertently admits to Otto that he knows where the diamonds are. Otto tortures Ken into revealing the location by consuming the fish from Ken's aquarium (one of which is the Wanda of the title).
The protagonists eventually converge onto Heathrow Airport where Wanda recovers the diamonds and double-crosses Otto (who promptly knocks out a passenger played by Stephen Fry). Otto also confronts Archie and is about to kill him when he is run over by a road roller by Ken who wants revenge for the "murder" of his fish. Otto survives having been run over in extremely wet cement. Archie and Wanda escape to South America.[2] They have 17 children and found a leper colony. Ken who lost his stutter while running over Otto became minister of ceremonies at Sea World. Otto emigrated to South Africa and became Minister of Justice.
Cast
- John Cleese as Archie Leach
- Jamie Lee Curtis as Wanda Gershwitz
- Kevin Kline as Otto West
- Michael Palin as Ken Pile
- Maria Aitken as Wendy Leach
- Tom Georgeson as George Thomason
- Patricia Hayes as Mrs Cody
- Geoffrey Palmer as Judge
- Stephen Fry as Man At Airport
Reception
The film was an enormous critical and commercial success. Kline received wide acclaim and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work.[3] Cleese and Crichton received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Crichton was also nominated for Best Director, and Curtis received nominations for Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes and BAFTA awards. Palin won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Role.
In 2000, the readers of Total Film magazine voted A Fish Called Wanda the 37th greatest comedy film of all time. In 2004 the same magazine named it the 41st greatest British film of all time. In 2000, the American Film Institute ranked the film 21st on its list of the 100 funniest movies ever made. This film is number 27 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". It is also included in the Reader's Digest list of the "100 Funniest Films" (a list rather than a ranking). A Fish Called Wanda was one of only 24 movies to be named on all three of the American Film Institute, Bravo and Readers' Digest "top 100 funniest" lists.[citation needed] The movie also garnered a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
American Film Institute recognition
Sequels and adaptations
The principal cast reunited in 1997 for Fierce Creatures (dubbed an "equal" rather than a sequel or prequel, by Kline), playing different roles and meeting less success.
John Cleese and his daughter, Cynthia (who played his screen daughter Portia), have reportedly started to work on a stage musical version of the film.[4]
Notes
- ^ The name of Cleese's character, Archie Leach, is an homage to Cary Grant, whose real name was Archibald Leach.
- ^ Wanda gets turned on by foreign languages and Archie recites to her a verse in Russian. namely "Prayer" by Mikhail Lermontov
- ^ "Awards Database," Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Jamie Lee Kurtis received nominations for Supprting Actress at the Golden Globes and BAFTA awards. Retrieved from http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1173727436268 on 2007-03-12.
- ^ Memories of Jamie Lee Curtis make John Cleese sing again - Telegraph
External links
