FILMS… A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

#1980s #AllPosts

 

An unhappily married barrister doesn’t realise there’s something fishy going on as he defends a jewel heist ringleader in this Oscar nominated script…

 

After a jewel heist, the ringleader of the thieves is imprisoned, he shares the key to the safe with his most trusted sidekick, but not the whereabouts of the loot.

 

Archie and family

The Thieves

A Fish Called Wanda (1988) | Official Trailer | MGM Studios, MGM

 

So it was that I watched the movie, A Fish Called Wanda (1988) again, many, many years later. Now one can’t help but wonder if the writers of John Wick: Chapter 1 (2014) had been inspired by a scene in this comedy film. As both crime films show similar plot fuelled scenes that have a hitman out for revenge against a bad guy, for killing his pet.

In the former, a pet tropical Angel fish, Wanda and in the latter, a puppy named Daisy. A Fish Called Wanda has the hitman equipped with a steamroller, and in the latter – a neo-noir – Wick is armed with a selection of guns and ammo. However, the deadly intent on these hitmen’s faces is set up just as dramatically and convincingly foreshadow the fate of those bad guys. 

But you’ll find that Wanda is not the only pet to meet its death in the R rated comedy. The R rating is partly for explicit scenes showing swearing, sex and when a character reaches a climax in the throes of passion in bed. It’s shown from this man’s expressions alone, and the woman’s point of view, as the actress on the receiving end – so to speak – reportedly had tried to stop laughing out loud with the use of pillows.

A Fish Called Wanda was a three times Oscar nominated pet project – no pun intended – co-written and co-directed by the Ealing comedies director, Charles Crichton with Monty Python and Fawlty Towers (1975 and 1979) writer and comedian, John Cleese. Cleese took credit with Crichton for the movie’s Oscar nominated original screenplay, but not for his smaller role in the double act in the also Oscar nominated direction of the movie. Additionally, John Cleese took on the protagonist role in this English-American film.

It is not just a revenge film, as these two writers added a touch of crime, noir, Hitchcock and romance to this film’s comic screenplay. This combination was lauded by professional film critics, and film writers and this film currently has a Tomatometer score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.

It has a wonderfully, manically fuelled villain in Otto, the loose cannon and inept gun-happy American thief. Kevin Kline as Otto steals the movie with his believed intellect – so don’t call him, stupid – and undeniable hatred of all Brits. At his worst and best he’s in a key scene where he tortures his co-conspirator, Ken by eating his pet fish to find out the location of the hidden loot. This leads the English, Ken to seek revenge against Otto for this dish served cold, and the actor behind his over the top American character, Kevin Kline won the film’s only Oscar, as Best Supporting Actor.

The film begins with a shot of London. Each of the four acting talents is introduced with just a few visual hints to the coming film plot. We meet stuffy English middle aged barrister, Archie Leach (John Cleese) in a prestigious London courtroom. A pretty American brunette in a big hat, the non-titular Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) is seen leaving a jewellery shop and is seen discreetly taking photos of this location using a camera hidden in her handbag.

Otto is seen sleeping, after apparently reading books by Nietzsche and about ninjas. He wakes up to his alarm call and with his loaded gun fires at a poster of a man with a gun, then seems to be questioning his actions. Finally, a kindly looking animal rights lover Ken (Michael Palin) is seen admiring his tropical fish and he greets one by name. Simultaneously, the film title introduces us to the titular, angel fish in A Fish Called Wanda.

These disparate characters come together as the London based plot develops with Wanda, the woman – and later the fish – as the central muse to these characters. Animal lover, Ken it seems has named his favourite fish after the vampy American, Wanda. He’s obviously as besotted with her as the fish, as she flirts with him and she introduces him to her brother, Otto.

Otto is a loud and obnoxious American man, who immediately mocks Ken’s stutter and is just plain nasty about his love of tropical fish. Both these actions result in the polite English and mild mannered Ken disliking him. In a telling moment after Ken’s back is turned, Otto is overfamiliar with his sister, Wanda who smiles at him and then tells him off.

Wanda is clearly seen in a romantic relationship with weasley, small and Cockney hardman, George (Tom Georgeson), and this ‘ard man is a friend of Ken. After Wanda introduces George to Otto, we learn Otto is a self-confessed weapons expert who is hoping to join his American sister and these two English men in a jewel heist. After Otto shows George his skills with a handy dagger, he gets the gig, and Otto seems a jealous man as he’s green with envy, as Wanda makes romantic moves with George. 

The action then cuts the unhappily married, barrister Archie Leach. He returns home to his opulent home after winning a court case. He’s jubilant, yet his middle class wife, Wendy (Maria Aitken) seems brusque, self-preoccupied and not listening to her husband’s happy news. His teenage daughter, Portia (Cynthia Cleese, billed as Cynthia Claylor) is full of demands for a new pony. He’s crestfallen at their lack of reaction.

In short scenes, we see vignettes as the jewel heist is carried out as the four thieves plot, plan and execute their heist and steal jewels including two diamonds. As they make their getaway by car, Wanda drives into the path of an elderly woman, Eileen Coady (Patricia Hayes) and this terrifies her and her three pet Yorkshire Terriers.

At their hideout, George insists they lie low before they split up. He suggests they meet at Heathrow in 72 hours, and then leave for a new life in South America. He hides the loot in a safe in full view of his accomplices. After they split up, we learn Otto and Wanda are not brother and sister, but secretly lovers and are after all the loot.

George tells Ken he has hidden the key to the real location of the loot in his fish food container, and is then arrested after an incriminating phone call. This call is from the double-crossing American lovers, and George is also identified by that little old lady, as the man she saw in the car who had terrified her dogs. The American accomplices visit George after they discover this safe is empty (and you’ll note that Wanda was about to kill her lover, Otto to get the loot after he opened the safe).

On visiting George, he and Wanda practise his alibi. George is met by his legal representative, the barrister Archie Leach. He’s advised to tell all about the others involved in the robbery for a lighter sentence. Ken hides the key to the loot in a treasure chest in his fish tank… as he’s observed by Wanda who then unobserved hides it in her locket. 

Wanda then tells Otto she intends to chat up Archie and seduce him when he’s home alone. Her plan is to see if George has told him where the loot is, and this riles the jealous Otto. Otto – who is now claiming to be Wanda’s gay brother – stalks her and watches her every move. After she seduces Archie after visiting him at home when his family is out, Archie’s wife and daughter return suddenly. As Wanda hides, Archie’s wife finds Wanda’s dropped locket and believes it’s a present for her from Archie. Meanwhile, George asks Ken to kill Eileen Coady, his only witness… 

John Cleese famously said of his character, “It is the nearest thing I’ll ever get to being Cary Grant.” Yet he proves it’s not only their shared English leading man role they have in common in this film. This comedy has both noir and Hitchcockian motifs which remind you of Grant’s filmography. Additionally, his innocent bystander character – the barrister defending her lover – is named Archie Leach –  named after Cary Grant’s real name – we see his character fall for the duplicitous Wanda as this femme fatale uses her best seduction techniques to find out the location of the loot.

In the plot, he’s duped into believing she fancies him and that she wants to learn about the English legal system. He takes silly risks such as faking a robbery, to retrieve Wanda’s locket (still hiding that all-important key) from his wife after Wanda makes up a story about the importance of the locket. However, this femme fatale is more motivated to find the MacGuffin of this piece, the diamonds and she will double-cross, all of the men in this movie by using her womanly wiles for her own ends.

The hunt and the ownership of these jewels fuel the bad guys in their actions throughout the movie. They double-cross, scheme and torture each other to find the location of the diamonds. It leads to running gags where at first Ken accidentally kills the old lady’s dogs – one by one – instead of his intended target. A jealous Otto turns up unexpectedly as his girlfriend tries to grill Archie about his dealings with George and when everyone reminds him how stupid he is, it is much to his chagrin. 

This film should come with a disclaimer as all the pets in this movie, listed as three dogs and a number of tropical meet grisly ends in this film, albeit for comic effects. The plotlines to the obvious upset of their on-screen owners, and yet these animals deaths have an impact on poor old Ken. As for the fish, these are used as bait in that well documented scene, as Otto tortures Ken to discover the location of the loot. As Otto takes things into his own hands and devours in this scene you must remember this, Palin’s pet fish is not a fish… 

 

Weeper Rating: 😦 /10

Handsqueeze Rating: 🙂🙂🙂🙂/10

Hulk Rating: ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ /10

 

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The Friends Fur Life Blogathon 2023, No 21 

This review was added to Hamlette’s Soliloquy and The Midnite’s Drive-In’s Friends Fur Life Blogathon. Jamie Lee Curtis stars in reviews for Escape from New York, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Love Boat, Charlie’s Angels, Columbo, Knives Out, The Fog and Halloween. John Cleese in Bullseye, Doctor Who and Yellowbeard. Kevin Kline in Soapdish, Dave and The Big Chill. Michael Palin in Jackanory. Tom Georgeson in Ashes to Ashes. Patricia Hayes in Willow and Lovejoy.

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