A Fish Called Wanda

Starring: John Cleese, Michael Palin Director: Charles Crichton Original UK Premiere: 1988 Dvd Release: 1st February, 2000 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: PAL, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish Dubbed In: French, German, Italian, Spanish

Article Index: [Background Info] [DVD Review] [Biographies] [Articles/Resources] [Link To This Article] Looking To Buy? Buy This DVD Here

A Fish Called Wanda is a movie released in 1988 by MGM. It was written by John Cleese & directed by Charles Crichton. The film is a comedy about a jewel theft, planned by George Thomason & its aftermath. Georges right-hand man is Ken Pile, an animal lover with a bad stutter. They bring in two Americans, sexy con artist Wanda Gershwitz & dim-witted hitman Otto West, who are lovers pretending to be siblings so Wanda can work her charms on George & Ken. After the robbery, Wanda & Otto betray George to the police. They then find out that George has hidden the loot & wont reveal its location. Wanda decides the best way to get the information is by seducing Georges lawyer, Archibald Leach.. The movie was a major critical & commercial success when it was released & has remained a popular favorite since. Kline won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work. The principal cast reunited in 1997 for Fierce Creatures, playing different roles & meeting less success. In 2004 the magazine Total Film named A Fish Called Wanda the 41st greatest British film of all time.

A Fish Called Wanda was the blockbuster which proved that John Cleese could be a movie star in his own right. Directed by the Veteran Charles Crichton, who made the 1951 Ealing Comedies classic The Lavender Hill Mob, Wanda combined Ealing-comedy capers & Basil Fawlty-esque farce with contemporary big-screen swearing & black comedy. The plot develops in classic film noir style as Cleeses lawyer, Archie Leech, gets sucked into the double-crossing aftermath of a London diamond heist.

For sound box-office reasons, British comedies often sport an American star & here Cleese delivers not only Jamie Lee Curtis as a smooth operating femme fatale, but Kevin Kline as her idiotic, & insanely jealous lover . Pushing the limits of bad taste is Michael Palins animal-loving Ken, who in the films best running gag attempts to murder an old lady, only to slay her beloved pet dogs. Other highlights include Palin as a man with two chips up his nose & Cleese showing the world a different sort of Full Monty. One of the funniest British films ever made, A Fish Called Wanda was followed by Fierce Creatures , which reunited the lead cast & claimed to be an equal not a sequel, but sadly wasnt.

John Marwood Cleese is a British comedian & actor most well known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python & for playing Basil Fawlty in the sitcom Fawlty Towers. Cleese was educated at Clifton College in Bristol. His talent for comedy emerged as a member of the Cambridge Footlights Revue during the time that he was a law student at Downing College, Cambridge. His familys surname was previously Cheese, but his father Reginald Francis Cheese, an insurance salesman, changed his surname to Cleese upon joining the army in 1915  . He married Connie Booth on February 20, 1968 & they divorced in 1978. He became famous as one of the members of the Monty Python team which created the 1969-74 television series Monty Pythons Flying Circus ; Cleese is particularly remembered for the Cheese Shop, The Ministry of Silly Walks & Dead Parrot sketches. He achieved later success as the awful hotel manager Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, which he also cowrote with then wife Connie Booth. Cleese is noted for his talent for expressing indignation & peevish outrage. Posters Of John Cleese

Editors Choice: Fierce Creatures, Erik The Viking, A Fish Called Wanda, Monty Pythons The Meaning Of Life, Clockwise, Fawlty Towers, Monty Pythons Meaning Of Life, Time Bandits, View DVDology

Michael Edward Palin is a British comedian who was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire. He is famous for being a member of Monty Pythons Flying Circus in which he generally played roles that called for manic enthusiasm, or unflappable calmness. As the latter, he was often the perfect foil to the rising ire of characters portrayed by John Cleese. Michael Palin was educated at Birkdale prep school & Shrewsbury public school. He went on to read History at Brasenose College, Oxford. After Monty Python, Palin subsequently collaborated with Python writing partner Terry Jones on the television comedy series Ripping Yarns. In later years, Palin rejoined Cleese for the movies A Fish Called Wanda & Fierce Creatures & played an information retrieval specialist in fellow Python Terry Gilliam s Brazil. He has assisted Transport 2000 & others with campaigns on transport policy issues, particularly those relating to urban areas. More recently, he has presented several series of travel programmes on television; Michael Palin. Posters Of Around The World In 80 Days

Editors Choice: Around The World In 80 Days, Sahara, Full Circle With Michael Palin, A Fish Called Wanda, The Wind In The Willows, Pole To Pole With Michael Palin, The Missionary, A Private Function, View DVDology

©2004-2008 DVDArk.co.uk