''A Fish Called Wanda'' is a 1988
heist comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Charles Crichton
Charles Ainslie Crichton (6 August 1910 – 14 September 1999) was an English film director and editor.
Born in Wallasey, Cheshire, he became best known for directing many comedies produced at Ealing Studios and had a 40-year career ...
and written by Crichton and
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
. It stars Cleese,
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...
,
Kevin Kline, and
Michael Palin
Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries.
Palin w ...
. The film follows a gang of diamond thieves who double-cross one another to find stolen diamonds hidden by the gang leader. A
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
becomes a central figure as ''
femme fatale
A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of ...
'' Wanda uses him to locate the loot.
''A Fish Called Wanda'' premiered in New York City on July 7, 1988, and in Los Angeles on July 13, 1988, and was released theatrically on July 15, 1988, by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
to critical and commercial success, grossing over $188 million worldwide, becoming the
seventh-highest-grossing film of 1988. The film received three nominations at the
61st Academy Awards
The 61st Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1988, and took place on Wednesday, March 29, 1989, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, beginning at 6:00&nb ...
:
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* BA ...
,
Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
, and, with Kline winning,
Best Supporting Actor. A
spiritual sequel
A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...
, ''
Fierce Creatures
''Fierce Creatures'' is a 1997 British-American farcical comedy film. While not literally a sequel, ''Fierce Creatures'' is a spiritual successor to the 1988 film '' A Fish Called Wanda''. Both films star John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kli ...
,'' was released in 1997. The
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
ranked ''A Fish Called Wanda'' the
39th-greatest British film of the 20th century.
Plot
London-based gangster George Thomason plans a
jewel heist with his right-hand man, Ken Pile, an animal lover with a
stutter
Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the ...
. They bring in two Americans:
con artist
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...
Wanda Gershwitz and weapons expert Otto West, an ignorant and mean-spirited
anglophobe
Anti-English sentiment or Anglophobia (from Latin ''Anglus'' "English" and Greek φόβος, ''phobos'', "fear") means opposition to, dislike of, fear of, hatred of, or the oppression and persecution of England and/or English people.''Oxford ...
. 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
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
s, 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
A safe deposit box, also known as a safety deposit box, is an individually secured container, usually held within a larger safe or bank vault. Safe deposit boxes are generally located in banks, post offices or other institutions. Safe deposit ...
, giving Ken the key. Wanda finds it in Ken's fish tank and hides it in her locket.
Wanda decides to seduce George's barrister, Archie Leach, in hopes of learning where the safe deposit box is. Archie is in a loveless marriage and quickly falls for Wanda, but Otto's jealous interference causes their liaisons to go disastrously wrong. Wanda accidentally leaves her locket at Archie's house; his wife, Wendy, delightedly assumes that the ''W'' on it means it is a gift for her.
Inventing a reason, Wanda demands that Archie retrieve the locket, but Wendy will not give it up. He finally fakes a robbery at his own home in order to explain its disappearance. Just then, Otto arrives there to apologise to Archie for earlier insults, and decides to help Archie by knocking the burglar unconscious. Archie does get the locket and returns it to Wanda at their next tryst, but they are interrupted. He subsequently telephones her to call off their affair as he now realizes she only wants a rich man. Otto arrives at Archie's house again to apologise, but Wendy overhears their conversation and learns about Archie and Wanda.
George asks Ken to kill
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
's only eyewitness to the robbery, the elderly Eileen Coady, who owns three small dogs. Ken repeatedly tries to kill her, but each time accidentally kills one of the dogs instead, causing him great distress. But he succeeds when the last dog's death gives her a fatal heart attack. With no witness, George seems poised to be released. He gives instructions to Ken, revealing the location of the diamonds. When Otto learns that Ken knows this, he tortures Ken into revealing it by eating Ken's various pet fish, leaving Ken's favourite, named Wanda, until last. Ken reveals that the diamonds are at the Cathcart Towers Hotel near
Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
, but does not know that Wanda has the key.
With Otto's knowledge and Wanda's key, the two want George to remain in prison. At his trial, Wanda, as a defense witness, unexpectedly gives evidence incriminating him. Archie is stunned by her statements and flubs his
questioning, inadvertently calling her "darling". Wendy, watching from the public gallery, declares their marriage over.
With his career and marriage ruined, Archie resolves to cut his losses, steal the loot himself and flee to
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
with Wanda. Promising less prison time, Archie asks George about the diamonds and learns of Otto and Wanda's complicity and that Ken knows their location. Archie sees Wanda fleeing the court and they race to Ken's flat together. As they arrive, Otto steals Archie's car, taking Wanda with him. While Ken stutters uncontrollably, Archie painstakingly gets him to reveal the location of the safe deposit box. They then set out for Heathrow on Ken's moped.
Otto and Wanda recover the diamonds, but Wanda double-crosses Otto and leaves him unconscious in a broom cupboard at Heathrow. She reluctantly boards her flight to
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
without Archie. Otto recovers, steals a boarding pass, and makes his way to the tarmac, where he is confronted by Archie. Otto is about to kill Archie, but Archie stalls him by taunting Otto about America's defeat in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. Ken arrives, driving a
steamroller
A steamroller (or steam roller) is a form of road roller – a type of heavy construction machinery used for leveling surfaces, such as roads or airfields – that is powered by a steam engine. The leveling/flattening action is achieved through ...
, seeking vengeance for his fish. Otto finds he has stepped in wet
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
and cannot move; he is run over, but survives. Archie and Wanda board the plane while Otto, clinging to the window outside, curses them until he is blown off during takeoff.
Cast
*
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
as Archie Leach
*
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...
as Wanda Gershwitz
*
Kevin Kline as Otto West
*
Michael Palin
Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries.
Palin w ...
as Ken Pile
*
Maria Aitken
Maria Penelope Katharine Aitken (born 12 September 1945) is an English theatre director, teacher, actress, and writer.
Early life and career
Aitken was born in Dublin, Ireland, the daughter of Sir William Aitken, a Conservative MP, and Penelo ...
as Wendy Leach
*
Tom Georgeson
Tom Georgeson (born 8 August 1937) is an English actor, known for his television and film work. His most notable credits have been supporting parts in '' Between the Lines'' (1992–94) and in three dramas by Alan Bleasdale: ''Boys from the Bl ...
as George Thomason
*
Patricia Hayes
Patricia Lawlor Hayes (22 December 1909 – 19 September 1998) was an English character actress.
Early life
Patricia Hayes OBE was born in Streatham,Dennis Barker, "Hayes, Patricia Lawlor (1909–1998)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biogra ...
as Mrs Eileen Coady
*
Geoffrey Palmer Geoffrey Palmer may refer to:
Politicians
* Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet (1598–1670), English lawyer and politician
*Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 3rd Baronet (1655–1732), English politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicestershire
*Geoffrey Pa ...
as Judge
*
Cynthia Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
as Portia Leach
*
Ken Campbell
Kenneth Victor Campbell (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English actor, writer and director known for his work in experimental theatre. He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre".
Campbell achieved notoriety in the 1 ...
as Bartlett
*
Al Ashton
Al Hunter Ashton (26 June 1957 – 27 April 2007), born Alan Hunter, was an English actor and script writer.
Life
Hunter was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, and came from a working-class background. Born Alan Hunter (he later changed his name ...
as Warder
*
Roger Brierley
David Roger Brierley (2 June 1935 – 23 September 2005) was an English actor.
Career
Brierley appeared in dozens of television productions over a forty-year period. He twice appeared in '' Doctor Who'', as Trevor in ''The Daleks' Master P ...
as Davidson
*
Llewellyn Rees
Walter Llewellyn Rees (18 June 1901 – 7 January 1994) was an English actor.
Career
His television roles included appearances on ''Doctor Who'' (in the serial ''The Deadly Assassin'' (1976) playing the assassinated Time Lord President), '' Th ...
as Sir John
* Michael Percival as Percival
*
Jeremy Child
Sir Coles John Jeremy Child, 3rd Baronet (20 September 1944 – 7 March 2022) was a British actor.
Early life
Coles John Jeremy Child was born on 20 September 1944 in Woking, Surrey, son of Foreign Office diplomat Sir Coles John Child, 2nd ...
as Mr. Johnson
*
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...
as Hutchison (Cameo)
Production
Cleese and Crichton had attempted to make a film together in 1969.
Although the project never entered development, they promised each other that they would eventually collaborate on a film.
In June 1983, the two began writing the script for ''Wanda'', and, for the next two and half years, they met three times a month to work on the script.
[ According to Crichton, "We had a week of rehearsals and then a gap of two weeks in which to incorporate any new ideas which had been thrown up and to polish the script." According to Michael Palin, the original title was "A Goldfish Called Wanda."
Cleese told an interviewer that he called his character Archie Leach, the late actor ]Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...
's real name, because "I feel this film is as near as I'll ever get to being Cary Grant." While in character as Archie Leach, Cleese recited a longer passage from Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...
's poem ''Молитва'' ("Prayer").
Cleese, admitting in press interviews that he had no knowledge of how to direct a film, served as co-director, since the studio executives at MGM were worried about Crichton's age—he was 78 years old at the time. On the set, Crichton wore a T-shirt presented to him by Cleese and inscribed "Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill".[
Filming began in England on July 13, 1987, and wrapped on September 21, 1987, after 70 days.][
]
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds a 96% approval rating, based on 67 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Smartly written, smoothly directed, and solidly cast, ''A Fish Called Wanda'' offers a classic example of a brainy comedy with widespread appeal." On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film holds a score of 80 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." According to CriticsTop10, "A Fish Called Wanda" appeared on over 60 critics' top ten lists, making it the fifth most acclaimed film of 1988. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
After six weeks of wide release in the United States, it reached number one at the box office. It eventually grossed $62.5 million in the United States and Canada.[ It was the highest-grossing British film of all time with a gross of £12 million. Outside of the US (including the UK), it grossed $126.1 million, for a worldwide total of $188.6 million. It was the number one rental video in the US in 1989.
Kline won an ]Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while worki ...
for his performance. 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 screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
. Crichton was also nominated for Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* BA ...
, Cleese won a BAFTA for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best or The Best may refer to:
People
* Best (surname), people with the surname Best
* Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer
Companies and organizations
* Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain
* Best Lock Corporatio ...
and Curtis received nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role
The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. ...
at the Golden Globes and BAFTA awards. Michael Palin
Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries.
Palin w ...
won a BAFTA for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Maria Aitken
Maria Penelope Katharine Aitken (born 12 September 1945) is an English theatre director, teacher, actress, and writer.
Early life and career
Aitken was born in Dublin, Ireland, the daughter of Sir William Aitken, a Conservative MP, and Penelo ...
received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
In 2016, ''Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' magazine ranked ''A Fish Called Wanda'' 35th on their list of the 100 best British films, with their entry calling it "a must-own for any British comedy fan", adding, "it made possible Richard Curtis
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them '' ...
's later Brit-com oeuvre by establishing that British eccentricism can sell, revived the world's interest in Ealing comedies
The Ealing comedies is an informal name for a series of comedy films produced by the London-based Ealing Studios during a ten-year period from 1947 to 1957. Often considered to reflect Britain's post-war spirit, the most celebrated films in the ...
, and allowed a character with Cary Grant's real name – Cleese's bumbling lawyer Archie Leach – to live again on the big screen."
Death of Ole Bentzen
During the initial run of the film, a Danish audiologist
Audiology (from Latin , "to hear"; and from Greek , ''-logia'') is a branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Audiologists treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage. By employing vario ...
named Ole Bentzen died while laughing during a screening, which led newspapers to report that he had died from laughter. The official cause of death was heart fibrillation, which may have been caused by an increased heart rate due to extended laughter. Cleese considered using the event for publicity, but ultimately decided it was in too bad taste.
Accolades
The film is number 27 on Bravo
Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels
*Bravo (band), a Russian rock band
* Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984
*Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...
's "100 Funniest Movies". It is also included in the ''Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
'' "100 Funniest Films" list.
In 1999, it was voted 39th on the BFI Top 100 British films
In 1999, the British Film Institute surveyed 1,000 people from the world of British film and television to produce a list of the greatest British films of the 20th century. Voters were asked to choose up to 100 films that were "culturally British". ...
list compiled by the British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
Also in 2000, the American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
placed the film on its 100 Years...100 Laughs list, where it was ranked number 21. Then in 2003, AFI nominated Otto West as a villain from this film for AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains.
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
of ''ReelViews
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
'' awarded the film four out of four stars in his review; it is also number 10 on his "Top 100" list.
Sequels and adaptations
The principal cast reunited in 1997 for ''Fierce Creatures
''Fierce Creatures'' is a 1997 British-American farcical comedy film. While not literally a sequel, ''Fierce Creatures'' is a spiritual successor to the 1988 film '' A Fish Called Wanda''. Both films star John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kli ...
'' (dubbed an " equal" rather than a sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
or prequel
A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.
The term " ...
, by Kline), playing different roles. ''Fierce Creatures'' was not as well received by critics or audiences as ''A Fish Called Wanda''.
The novelization
A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...
of ''Fierce Creatures'', written by Iain Johnstone
Iain Johnstone (born 8 April 1943 in Reading, Berkshire) is an English author, broadcaster and television producer.
Early life
Johnstone attended Crosfields School, Reading, Campbell College, Belfast and Bristol University.
Career
Johnst ...
, who co-wrote the film, begins with a letter from Archie (John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
's character in the first film) to his brother Rollo. According to the letter:
*Archie and Wanda are still living happily in Rio, and Wanda enjoys having a new child (or multiple children) each year;
*Otto visited them once, having left South Africa after Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
's election and the end of the apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
regime; he is looking for like-minded individuals to form a similar group of National Socialists
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
, 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 did not even get close before Ken had security guards throw Otto out of the park.
A loose Indian adaptation, ''Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav
''Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav'' is a Bollywood comedy film directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. starring Sunil Shetty , Mahesh Manjrekar Johnny Lever, Sharat Saxena and Gulshan Grover in supporting roles. The title, which comprises the names of th ...
'', was released in 2005.
In 2008, it was reported that John Cleese and his daughter, Cynthia (who played his screen daughter, Portia), had started to work on a stage musical version of the film.
See also
* BFI Top 100 British films
In 1999, the British Film Institute surveyed 1,000 people from the world of British film and television to produce a list of the greatest British films of the 20th century. Voters were asked to choose up to 100 films that were "culturally British". ...
* Michael Palin Centre for Stammering
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fish Called Wanda, A
1988 films
1988 comedy films
1980s crime comedy films
1980s heist films
American crime comedy films
American heist films
British crime comedy films
British heist films
1980s English-language films
Films about con artists
Films about fish
Films directed by Charles Crichton
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award-winning performance
Films scored by John Du Prez
Films set in London
Films with screenplays by John Cleese
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films shot in Oxfordshire
1980s American films
1980s British films