| A Fish Called Wanda | |
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 A Fish Called Wanda movie poster |
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| Directed by | Charles Crichton |
| Produced by | Michael Shamberg |
| Written by | John Cleese Charles Crichton |
| Starring | John Cleese Jamie Lee Curtis Kevin Kline Michael Palin Maria Aitken Tom Georgeson |
| Music by | John Du Prez |
| Cinematography | Alan Hume |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) |
| Release date(s) | July 15, 1988 |
| Running time | 108 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
A Fish Called Wanda is an acclaimed comedy film released in 1988 by MGM. Charles Crichton ( August 6, 1910 in Wallasey, Cheshire – September 14, 1999 in South Kensington, Michael Shamberg (born 1945 is an American former Time-Life correspondent and current Film producer. John Marwood Cleese (ˈkliːz born 27 October, 1939) is a British Actor, Comedian, Writer, Film producer Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22 1958 is a two-time Golden Globe -winning BAFTA -winning and Emmy -nominated American Film Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24 1947 is an American Academy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and two time Tony Award -winning stage and film Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born 5 May 1943 is an English Comedian, actor writer and Television presenter best known for being one of the members Maria Aitken (born 12 September 1945) is a British actress and director Tom Georgeson (born 8 August 1941) is a British actor known for his television and film work John Du Prez (born December 14, 1946 in Sheffield, United Kingdom) is a musician Alan Hume, BSC (b October 17, 1924, in London, England) is a British Cinematographer. Events 1099 - First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Comedy film is a genre of Film in which the main emphasis is on humor. Events Michael Jackson 's first film was Moonwalker Top grossing films (U It was written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton and directed by Charles Crichton, and stars Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. John Marwood Cleese (ˈkliːz born 27 October, 1939) is a British Actor, Comedian, Writer, Film producer Charles Crichton ( August 6, 1910 in Wallasey, Cheshire – September 14, 1999 in South Kensington, Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22 1958 is a two-time Golden Globe -winning BAFTA -winning and Emmy -nominated American Film Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24 1947 is an American Academy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and two time Tony Award -winning stage and film Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born 5 May 1943 is an English Comedian, actor writer and Television presenter best known for being one of the members
Contents |
Plot
The film is a comedy about a jewel heist, planned by George Thomason (played by Tom Georgeson), and its aftermath. Tom Georgeson (born 8 August 1941) is a British actor known for his television and film work George's right-hand man is Ken Pile (Michael Palin), an animal lover with a bad stutter. Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born 5 May 1943 is an English Comedian, actor writer and Television presenter best known for being one of the members They bring in two Americans, an alluring con artist, Wanda Gershwitz (Jamie Lee Curtis) and a "weapons man", Otto West (Kevin Kline), who fancies himself an intellectual but, as most of the other characters keep pointing out, is "just stupid" (even though he hates being called stupid). The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22 1958 is a two-time Golden Globe -winning BAFTA -winning and Emmy -nominated American Film Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24 1947 is an American Academy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and two time Tony Award -winning stage and film Wanda and Otto are lovers pretending to be siblings so that Wanda can work her charms on George and Ken.
The robbery is executed with perfect precision. After the robbery, however, Wanda and Otto betray George to the police. They belatedly learn that George has moved the loot to a new hiding spot in a public locker and will not reveal its location. Ken is hiding the key, but Wanda sees him doing so and takes it. Wanda decides that the best way to get the information is by seducing George's lawyer, Archie Leach (the legal name of Cary Grant) (John Cleese), a man stuck in a loveless marriage to a rich shrew of a woman (Maria Aitken). John Marwood Cleese (ˈkliːz born 27 October, 1939) is a British Actor, Comedian, Writer, Film producer Maria Aitken (born 12 September 1945) is a British actress and director Otto, in the meantime, deflects Ken's suspicions about Otto and Wanda's true relationship by pretending to be a homosexual attracted to Ken, who still doesn't trust him.
Wanda almost manages to seduce Archie, but their first romantic evening is interrupted by Archie's wife Wendy and daughter Portia returning unexpectedly early. Wanda loses her locket in which she had hidden the locker key. Wendy, on finding it, assumes it is a present to her and keeps it. Archie's second meeting with Wanda is interrupted by the jealous Otto, who then dangles Archie out of the window to get him to apologise for having called him stupid. Wanda persuades Otto to apologise to Archie. Otto drives to Archie's house, where he finds Archie (in disguise) staging a burglary to get the locket back. Not recognising Archie, Otto knocks him out and ties him up. Wendy finds him, but Archie manages to hide the locket from her. A third meeting between Archie and Wanda is interrupted by a family entering the flat where they meet, having just leased it. After that, Archie decides to end their relationship, leaving Wanda to realize that she is truly in love with him.
Meanwhile, Ken is charged by George to silence a key witness, an old lady named Mrs. Eileen Coady (Patricia Hayes) who owns three Yorkshire Terriers. Patricia Lawlor Hayes, OBE ( December 22, 1909 – September 19, 1998) was an English comedy actress The Yorkshire Terrier (or known as a Yorkie) is a breed of small Dog in the In his attempts to assassinate her, Ken instead accidentally kills the dogs one by one, to his great dismay. The first is killed when Ken releases a Doberman Pinscher attack dog on Mrs. An attack dog is any Dog bred, trained or used for the purpose of attacking a target either on command or on sight Coady while she is walking her pets. The second is squashed by Ken's car, when he was trying to hit Mrs Coady. Mrs. Coady has funerals for the Yorkies, at which choirboys sing "miserere domine, canis mortuus est," which is Latin for "Lord have mercy, the dog is dead. A funeral is a Ceremony marking a person's Death. Funerary customs comprise the complex of Beliefs and practices used by a Culture to remember ". Following the death of her last little dog (crushed by a falling concrete block in Ken's most outlandish and cartoon-like assassination attempt), the woman dies of a heart attack.
Without Mrs. Coady, the only serious evidence against George is gone. In an attempt to keep him in jail, Wanda blows his alibi to smithereens in court, by revealing that he left the apartment on the day of the robbery with a sawn-off shotgun. A sawed-off shotgun ( US) also known as a sawn-off shotgun ( UK, AU, NZ; also used in US) or a short-barreled shotgun Archie, who is cross-examining her, accidentally reveals their relationship by calling Wanda "darling". He learns from George that Ken knows where the loot is hidden and drives to the flat with Wanda.
But Otto has begun torturing Ken, first by putting chips doused in ketchup up his nostrils, and then gagging him with a pear, finally threatening to eat alive his tropical fish (among which is an angel fish called Wanda). French fries ( North American English; sometimes not capitalized chips ( British English) fries or French-fried potatoes (formal A choke pear or chocky-pear is an Astringent Fruit. It is (the fruit of any variety of Pear that has an astringent taste and that is difficult Pterophyllum is a small Genus of freshwater fish from the family Cichlidae known to most aquarists as "Angelfish" He does so, ignoring Ken's pleas. When only Wanda is left, Ken finally reveals the hide-out of the loot and that of the key. But the key is already in Wanda (the woman)'s possession, so Ken has to watch helplessly as Otto eats Wanda (the fish).
When Archie and Wanda arrive at the flat, Otto gets into Archie's car and drives off with Wanda. Archie has a hard time trying to get the location of the locker out of Ken, because of his stutter. They finally rush after Otto and Wanda to the airport.
Wanda knocks Otto out, tries to call Archie, and gets on the plane with the loot. Archie finds Otto and threatens him with his own gun. However, Otto tricks Archie into putting the gun down. He takes Archie outside the terminal, forces him to climb into a barrel full of waste oil and is about to shoot him, when Ken arrives driving a steamroller. Otto, not paying attention, actually steps into some fresh cement and finds himself stuck. Ken rolls over him, clearing up his speech impediment out of the rush of confidence at having disposed of his enemy. Wanda and Archie fly off into the sunset. George is left in jail. Ken is arrested by converging police. Otto appears at the airplane window but is blown off the plane as it takes off.
A final note explains that each person had a happy ending. Otto became Justice Minister for South Africa (when it was still an international pariah due to apartheid and enforced the death penalty); Archie and Wanda married, had seventeen children and founded a leper colony in Rio; and Ken happened to become Master of Ceremonies at the London Aquarium. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment.
Reception
The film was a major critical and commercial success when it was released and has remained a popular favourite since. Kline received wide acclaim and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work. Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts [1] Cleese and Crichton received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material
In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted A Fish Called Wanda the 37th greatest comedy film of all time. Total Film, published by Future Publishing, is the United Kingdom 's second best-selling Film Magazine. 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. The American Film Institute ( AFI) is an independent Non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 This film is number 27 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". Bravo is a Cable television network owned by NBC Universal. It is currently seen in more than 80 million homes and was the first service dedicated to film drama It is also included in the Reader's Digest list of the "100 Funniest Films" (a list rather than a ranking). Reader's Digest is a monthly general-interest family Magazine co-founded in 1922 by Lila Bell Wallace and DeWitt Wallace. A Fish Called Wanda was one of only 24 movies to be named on all three of the A.F.I., Bravo and Readers' Digest "top 100 funniest" lists. The American Film Institute ( AFI) is an independent Non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 The movie also garnered an impressive and rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes is a Website devoted to reviews information and news of Movies.
Followup
The principal cast reunited in 1997 for Fierce Creatures (dubbed an "equal," rather than a sequel or prequel, by Cleese), playing different roles and meeting less success. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar Fierce Creatures is a 1997 Comedy film. Although not a sequel it was a follow-up to the wildly popular A Fish Called Wanda,
References
- ^ "Awards Database," Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved from http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1173727436268 on 2007-03-12.
External links
- A Fish Called Wanda at the Internet Movie Database
- A Fish Called Wanda at Allmovie
- A Fish Called Wanda at Rotten Tomatoes
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