A Fish Called Wanda (1988) on Netflix
In London, George Thomason plans a £13 million diamond heist. His crew includes Ken Pile, who stutters and loves animals, and two Americans, Wanda Gershwitz and Otto West, who pose as siblings.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.5/10167,346 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes96%
Trailer
Plot summary
George Thomason has assembled a crew to rob a diamond collection worth £13 million, and he intends to leave the country with the stones once the job is done. Ken Pile, an animal lover who stutters badly, is George's right-hand man. The other two are Americans: Wanda Gershwitz, who uses her charm on the men around her, and Otto West, who knows weapons and dislikes the English. Wanda and Otto are lovers, but they present themselves to George and Ken as brother and sister. Otto reads Nietzsche and considers himself an intellectual, and he resents being called stupid. Wanda has a weakness for Italian, which is how Otto won her.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- During the film's initial run a Danish audiologist 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, possibly caused by an increased heart rate from extended laughter.
- A Fish Called Wanda grossed $62.5 million in the United States and Canada, becoming the highest-grossing British film of all time, and took $126.1 million outside the US for a worldwide total of $188.6 million.
- John Cleese admitted in press interviews that he had no knowledge of how to direct a film, yet served as co-director because MGM's studio executives were worried about Charles Crichton's age - he was 78 at the time.
- John Cleese called his character Archie Leach, actor Cary Grant's real name, because, he told an interviewer, "I feel this film is as near as I'll ever get to being Cary Grant."
- In March 1989, a few months after the film's release, the Orange County chapter of the National Stuttering Project picketed outside MGM's offices in Culver City in protest at the movie.
- On set, Charles Crichton wore a T-shirt presented to him by John Cleese and inscribed "Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill". Cleese also cast his real life daughter Cynthia as his screen daughter Portia.
- Michael Palin has said the film started out under a different name: the original title was "A Goldfish Called Wanda".
