A Fish Called Wanda is a 1988 heist-comedy film written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton.
It was directed by Crichton and stars Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael
Palin.
Kline won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Otto.
Cleese and Palin won BAFTA Awards for Best Lead and Best Supporting for their acting.
The plot involves members of the crew of a successful jewel heist who attempt to steal
the jewels for themselves after finding that they have been moved.
The actual location is known only to the gang leader, but he has been caught by the police.
His lawyer becomes a central figure in the attempt to reveal their location.
Plot London-based gangster George Thomason and
his right-hand man, Ken Pile, an animal lover with a bad stutter, plan a jewel heist.
They bring in two Americans to help: con artist Wanda Gershwitz and "weapons man" Otto West,
a loud-mouthed Anglophobe who fancies himself an intellectual and hates being called stupid.
Wanda and Otto are lovers, but they hide this from George and Ken, pretending to be brother
and sister, so Wanda can work her charms on them.
The robbery goes well, and the thieves get away with a large sum in diamonds.
However, they are briefly spotted during their getaway by Mrs. Coady, an elderly lady walking
her three dogs.
The group then hide the loot in a safe in an old workshop.
Soon after, Wanda and Otto betray George to the police and he is arrested.
They return to collect the loot, with Wanda planning to double-cross Otto as well, only
to find that George has moved it.
Wanda decides to seduce George's barrister, Archie Leach, so that he can persuade George
to plead guilty and give up the location of the diamonds.
Unhappily married, Leach is brow-beaten by his vindictive wife, Wendy, and spoiled daughter,
Portia, so he quickly comes under the spell of Wanda's charms.
Otto is insanely jealous, and his interference, combined with instances of bad luck, causes
Wanda and Archie's attempted liaisons at his friend's flat to go disastrously wrong.
Wanda reveals that she likes Archie but would stay only with a rich man.
Archie eventually calls off their attempted affair when a family walk into the flat, having
agreed a new tenency without his knowledge.
Meanwhile, George gives Ken the task of killing Mrs. Coady, the Crown's only eyewitness.
During his various attempts to murder her, Ken accidentally kills off her three Yorkshire
Terriers one by one.
This causes him great grief, as well as suffering bodily harm as each attempt goes wrong.
When he kills the last of her dogs, Mrs. Coady suffers a fatal heart attack, and finally
Ken is successful in his mission.
Wanda and Otto want George to remain in jail; but, with no witness, he now seems set to
get off.
At his trial, defense witness Wanda gives evidence that will lead to a conviction rather
than an acquittal.
Archie, stunned by her unexpected testimony, flubs his cross-examination and inadvertently
calls her "darling."
Enraged, George starts a brawl that leads to everyone fleeing the courtroom.
Archie is confronted by Wendy, who is now convinced he has had an affair and decides
to divorce him.
With his career and his marriage in ruins, Archie resolves to cut his losses, steal the
loot himself, and flee to South America.
Promised less jail time, George tells Archie that Ken knows where the diamonds are.
Archie sees Wanda fleeing the courthouse, pulls her into his car, and races to Ken's
apartment.
They review what has happened, and he asks why he should take her to South America with
him.
She counters that she has the key to the safe deposit box where the loot has been moved.
While the court drama is unfolding, Otto has been trying to get Ken to reveal the location
of the diamonds.
He torments Ken by eating the fish in his aquarium one by one, leaving the fish called
Wanda until the end.
Ken gives away the location of the diamonds, at a hotel near Heathrow Airport.
Otto is leaving just as Archie runs into the building.
Otto steals Archie's car, taking Wanda with him.
Ken tells Archie, as quickly as he can – given his stutter – where they are going, and
the two give chase.
The protagonists all end up at Heathrow.
Otto and Wanda recover the diamonds, but Wanda quickly double-crosses Otto and leaves him
unconscious in a locked cupboard.
Otto shoots his way out of the cupboard and is briefly captured by Archie, only to turn
the tables.
As Otto is about to kill his love-rival, Archie manages to stall by taunting Otto about his
nation's failures, such as the Vietnam War.
Before Otto can shoot, he is distracted by the arrival of Ken driving a steamroller,
seeking vengeance for the demise of his fish.
Otto accidentally stands in wet cement and is soon run over after he runs out of bullets.
Archie joins Wanda on board the plane, which taxis for takeoff.
Through the plane window, Otto, who has somehow survived the steamroller attack, curses them
until he is blown off as the plane takes off.
A closing text explains what happens to the gang members after the events of the movie.
Archie and Wanda move to Rio de Janeiro, have 17 children, and start a leper colony.
Ken, his stutter lost, becomes the Master of Ceremonies at London's Sea World.
The immoral Otto moves to South Africa and becomes 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. Eileen Coady
Cynthia Cleese as Portia Leach Geoffrey Palmer as Judge
Roger Brierley as Davidson Llewellyn Rees as Sir John
Stephen Fry as Hutchison John Bird as Clerk of the Magistrate's Court
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.
Cleese and Crichton received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Crichton was also nominated for Best Director, Cleese won a BAFTA for Best Actor in a Leading
Role and Curtis received nominations for Leading Actress at the Golden Globes and BAFTA awards.
Michael Palin won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Role. and Maria Aitken received a BAFTA nomination
for Best Supporting Actress 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 AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs,
its list of the 100 funniest movies ever made.
The film is number 27 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".
It is also included in the Reader's Digest "100 Funniest Films" list.
As of November 2013, the movie holds a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sequels and adaptations The principal cast reunited in 1997 for Fierce
Creatures, playing different roles.
Fierce Creatures was not as well received by critics as was A Fish Called Wanda.
The novelization of Fierce Creatures, written by Iain Johnstone, who co-wrote the film,
begins with a letter from Archie to his brother Rollo.
According to the letter: Archie and Wanda are still living happily
in Rio, and Wanda enjoys having a new child each year;
Otto visited them once, having left South Africa after Nelson Mandela's election and
the end of the apartheid regime; he is looking for like-minded individuals to form a similar
group of National Socialists, and Archie and Wanda are both heartily glad when he is gone;
Ken is still Master of Ceremonies at the London Sea World; before visiting Rio, Otto "looked
him up" as if they were old friends, but didn't even get close before Ken had security guards
throw Otto out of the park.
In 2008, it was reported that John Cleese and his daughter, Cynthia, had started to
work on a stage musical version of the film.
Ole Bentzen A Danish audiologist named Ole Bentzen died
of laughing whilst watching a scene with Kevin Kline and Michael Palin.
His heart was beating 250-500 times a minute.
It is thought he finally gave out to cardiac arrest.
References
External links A Fish Called Wanda at the Internet Movie
Database A Fish Called Wanda at AllMovie
A Fish Called Wanda at Rotten Tomatoes A Fish Called Wanda at Metacritic
A Fish Called Wanda at Box Office Mojo A Fish Called Wanda at The Numbers