Thoughts on A Fish Called Wanda

 

via Giphy/Courtesy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

"... and you come loping in like Rambo without a jockstrap and you dangle him out a fifth-floor window. Now, was that smart?! ... Was it shrewd? ... Was it good tactics, or was it stupid?!"
"... Don't call me stupid."
"Oh, right, to call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people. I've known sheep that could outwit you. I've worn dresses with higher IQs, but you think you're an intellectual, don't you, ape?!"

I've explained the reasoning behind The Women of 1988, right? September is my birth month and I wanted to celebrate it with movies from my birth year. I've always been proud of 1988's movie comedies. So many are really well-written. Take A Fish Called Wanda, by John Cleese from a story by himself and director Charles Crichton. When a movie has such a solid foundation, as Wanda does, and you have your characters defined just right, again, as Wanda does, then after a certain point all you need to do is vary the ways that things get complicated. I know, I know, "that's farce, Frank," but when it's done right, it's a sight to behold.

Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis), "brother" Otto (Kevin Kline), boyfriend George (Tom Georgeson) and stuttering Ken (Michael Palin) steal nearly $18 million in diamonds. George re-hid the loot, something only discovered by Wanda and Otto after they've sicced the law on him. Wanda obtains the key to George's safe deposit box, but doesn't know where he's keeping the jewels. She turns on the charm for a willing Archie (Cleese), George's barrister, married to Wendy (Maria Aitken). Otto, pretending to be gay to keep up appearances with Ken, cannot stop foiling Wanda's plans. Ken, seemingly meek and peaceful, tries following George's order to kill eyewitness Mrs. Coady (Patricia Hayes). It's Coady's dogs, however, that Ken kills before she finally bites the dust. Oh, yes, and chips (fries) go up Ken's nose as Otto feasts on Ken's fish.

Everybody got that?

If the clever plot wasn't enough, Wanda has some especially well-developed characters. Even Ken, who initially just seems to be there for jokes about his speech impediment, gets the business of the failed (human) killings, which end up leaving him increasingly grotesque. Archie, at first glance, is set up to be straight man and/or patsy to his wife, his temptress and the vulgarian American, but he ultimately holds his own. There's also Wanda, who may vamp with the best of them but still gets weak for foreign languages. To digress from comedy for a moment, John Du Prez's love theme is quite gorgeous. That and the beauty of Apartment 2B took me out of the shenanigans for a second. Anyway, we conclude with Otto, who doesn't like being called stupid. Really, his actions and demeanor ("ASSHOLES!") say it more than the word could.

"Apes don't read philosophy."

"Yes, they do, Otto, they just don't understand it. Now let me correct you on a couple things, okay? Aristotle was not Belgian. ... The central message of Buddhism is not 'Every man for himself.' ... And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked 'em up."

There's so much going on in Wanda, from Wanda trying to get Archie to reveal where the safe deposit box is to Archie rebelling against his marriage and motherland by having a fling. Curtis is the female star, but Aitken is also brilliant. She holds her own opposite Kline ("... Mr. Manfredjinsinjin ...") and, along with Cleese, deserves a medal for fearlessly conveying an absolute lack of intimacy between husband and wife. You can understand why Archie feels so free with Wanda, even if it results in him standing naked before a family of six and their nanny. When a movie is as funny as this is, the odd weak plot twist can be forgiven. I'm looking at you, Wendy being so wowed by Wanda's "W"-inscribed locket, which contains George's key. Still, it does result in Archie burglarizing his own home and getting beat up by Otto in the process. Otto had been directed by Wanda to apologize to Archie after the window incident. Otto, naturally, has a hard time apologizing until he realizes he's knocked out Archie. Then he can't stop saying how sorry he is.

I'm sorry that there's so much recapping in this particular Thoughts On post. Wanda is one of those movies where trying to discuss its strengths becomes "And then this happens! ... And then this happens! ... And it's really funny!" The central four are first-rate, but since this is a month devoted to women, let's talk a bit more about Jamie Lee Curtis. Not to take anything away from Aitken, Palin, Kline and Cleese, but I'd say Wanda is the movie's most challenging role. She's a seductress who can also be seduced, greedy but capable of love. You can understand why Archie destroyed his marriage and his career for Wanda. At the same time, right up to the end, there's the excitement of "She could still pull the rug out from him once and for all, couldn't she?"

"So, you robbed the jewelers, turned one of your lovers over to the police, kept the other one on to help you find the diamonds, and when he does, you commit perjury in the high court, right?"

"Come on, Archie, everybody does it in America."

Recommended.

Thoughts:
-- "I'm sorry about my brother, Ken. I know he's insensitive. He's had a hard life. Dad used to beat him up." *Wanda walks off as Ken considers this* "... Good."

-- Box Office: Grossing nearly $62.5 million in the United States on an $8 million budget, this opened wide at No. 4 and eventually topped the box office.

-- Awards Watch: Wanda was nominated for three Academy Awards, losing Best Director and Best Original Screenplay to Rain Man. Perhaps if Tom Cruise had been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Kline might not have won his Oscar. The movie also was a Golden Globe nominee for Best Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in the field, losing both to Working Girl (Cleese, a Best Actor nominee, lost to Tom Hanks for Big). The four leads, plus Aitken, were BAFTA-nominated, as was the movie, Crichton, the screenplay and the editing. Cleese won over Kline for Best Actor, with Palin winning for Best Supporting Actor. Palin was the only one of the quartet not to get an American Comedy Award nomination, although Cleese, Kline and Curtis were also-rans. Finally, the screenplay was nominated for the Edgar and Writers Guild of America awards (losing to The Thin Blue Line and Bull Durham, respectively).

-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "Low comedy at high speed ... it's a smart farce," raved Sheila Benson. "One hilarious sequence after another," said Roger Ebert. "Everyone knocks himself himself out to be funny," Vincent Canby wrote. "The worse the material becomes, the harder the actors work for increasingly less effect." Desson Howe felt the movie was "rather tame ... aimed all too conventionally for American audiences" and didn't reach Cleese and Palin's previous heights. Rita Kempley loved it: "A Harlequin romance for men, a breakthrough for Britain and a deftly directed and wonderfully acted sex farce for consenting adults."

-- Critic's Corner, Jamie: "(She) has the most purposeful retreating walk since Marilyn Monroe," Benson wrote. Canby said Jamie was skilled enough to get laughs just from reacting. "Ordinarily Curtis is hard to watch, but here she grows on you," Kempley wrote. "She's justifiably proud of her body, and playing a sex object d'art seems to come naturally to her."

-- Fanservice Junction: Otto walks in on Wanda, in her black bra and panties, to find out if she has the hots for Archie. "I'm not into necrophilia, thanks."

-- As perfect as Kline is, I'll admit there is one other American actor whose take on Otto I wouldn't have minded seeing. Steve Martin. I said it when I reviewed L.A. Story; Steve's one of the few people who can make sex really, really funny. Ah, well, I guess I'll see him in a U.S. vs. U.K. comedy later this month when I review Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. That movie was written by Dale Launer, whose Ruthless People would make a fine double feature with Wanda.

-- Hey, It's ...!: Geoffrey Palmer and Stephen Fry.

-- "I love watching your ass when you walk! Is that beautiful or what?! ... Don't go near him! He's mine!"

-- Next: Crossing Delancey. On deck: Married to the Mob.