A Fish Called Wanda
A Fish Called Wanda is a 1988 heist comedy film directed by Charles Crichton and written by Crichton and John Cleese. It stars Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin. The film follows a gang of diamond thieves who double-cross one another to find stolen diamonds hidden by the gang leader. A barrister becomes a central figure as femme fatale Wanda uses him to locate the loot.
Plot
London-based gangster George Thomason plans a jewel heist with his right-hand man, Ken Pile, an animal lover with a stutter. They bring in two Americans: con artist Wanda Gershwitz and weapons expert Otto West, an ignorant and mean-spirited anglophobe. Wanda and Otto are lovers, but pretend to be siblings, so Wanda can work her charms on Ken and George. The heist succeeds and the gang escapes with a large sum in diamonds, which they hide. Wanda and Otto then betray George to the police and he is arrested. They return to collect the loot, with Wanda planning to double-cross Otto as well, but it is gone: George had also returned, and moved it to a safe deposit box, giving Ken the key. Wanda finds it in Ken's fish tank and hides it in her locket.
Awards
Cast
- Andrew MacLachlan
- Cynthia Cleese
- David Simeon
- Geoffrey Palmer
- Jamie Lee Curtis
- Jeremy Child
- John Bird
- John Cleese
- Ken Campbell
- Kevin Kline
- Llewellyn Rees
- Maria Aitken
- Michael Palin
- Neville Phillips
- Patricia Hayes
- Robert McBain
- Roger Brierley
- Roger Hume
- Roland MacLeod
- Sharon Twomey
- Stephen Fry
- Tom Georgeson