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, a volatile 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: suspecting duplicity, George had moved it to a safe deposit box and given Ken the key. Wanda sees Ken hide it in his fish tank, steals it, and conceals it in her locket.
To learn where the box is, Wanda decides to seduce George's barrister, Archie Leach. He is in a loveless marriage and quickly falls for her, but Otto's jealous interference causes their liaisons to go disastrously wrong. When Wanda accidentally leaves her locket at Archie's house his wife, Wendy, finds it and delightedly assumes it was a gift for her.
Wanda demands that Archie retrieve her keepsake, but Wendy will not give it up. He then fakes a robbery at his home as a cover for its disappearance. It too is interrupted and foiled by Otto.
Archie is later able to retrieve the locket, and returns it to Wanda at their next tryst, this time unraveled by innocent intruders. Realizing he will be unable to give her all she seeks, he subsequently telephones her to call off their affair. Otto arrives at Archie's house seeking to apologise for his rudenesses, but Wendy overhears their conversation and learns of Archie's liaison.
George asks Ken to eliminate the Crown's only eyewitness to the robbery, the elderly Eileen Coady. Ken repeatedly tries, but each time accidentally kills one of her three small dogs instead, causing him great distress. Finally, the last's grisly death gives Mrs Coady 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 him into revealing it by tying him up and putting various items of food up his nostrils and in his mouth before hilariously eating all of his pet tropical fish one by one, leaving Ken's favorite, named Wanda, until last. Ken divulges that the diamonds are at the Cathcart Towers Hotel near Heathrow Airport, but does not know that Wanda has the key.
Even with Otto's knowledge and Wanda's key, the two still need George to remain in prison. Testifying as a defense witness at his trial, Wanda 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 dead.
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 shunts her into his car. With his career and marriage ruined, Archie resolves to cut his losses, throw in with her, steal the loot, and flee to South America together.
They race to Ken's flat. While Archie interrogates him, Otto steals Archie's car, with Wanda in it. Archie painstakingly draws out from an uncontrollably stuttering Ken that the safe deposit box is at an airport hotel. They then set out for Heathrow on Ken's moped.
Otto and Wanda recover the diamonds, but Wanda double-crosses him and saps him unconscious in a Heathrow broom cupboard. She reluctantly boards her flight to Rio de Janeiro 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 him, but is stalled while Ken approaches on a steamroller, seeking vengeance for his fish. Otto finds he has stepped in wet concrete and cannot move. Ken runs him over.
Archie joins Wanda aboard the plane. Improbably, Otto again appears seeking to derail things between them. Covered in encrusted cement, he clings outside their window until he is blown off during takeoff.
An epilogue relates that Archie and Wanda were married in Rio, had seventeen children, and founded a leper colony; Ken became Master of ceremonies at SeaWorld; and Otto became the Minister of Justice for South Africa.
Cleese and Crichton had attempted to make a film together in 1969.[6] Although the project never entered development, they promised each other that they would collaborate again.[7] 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.[7] 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."[8] According to Michael Palin, the original title was "A Goldfish Called Wanda".[9]
Cleese told an interviewer that he called his character Archie Leach, actor Cary Grant's real name, because "I feel this film is as near as I'll ever get to being Cary Grant."[10]
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.[6][7][11] On the set, Crichton wore a T-shirt presented to him by Cleese and inscribed "Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill".[11]
Cleese cast his real life daughter Cynthia as his screen daughter Portia in the film.
Filming began in England on July 13, 1987, and wrapped on September 21, 1987 after 70 days.[7]
Reception
Box office
The film 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. Six weeks later, it reached number one at the box office there.[12]
It eventually grossed $62.5 million in the United States and Canada,[12] became the highest-grossing British film of all time with a gross of £12 million.[13] Outside of the US (including the UK), it grossed $126.1 million,[14] for a worldwide total of $188.6 million. It was the number one rental video in the US in 1989.[15]
In 2016, Empire 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's later Brit-com oeuvre by establishing that British eccentricism can sell, revived the world's interest in Ealing comedies, and allowed a character with Cary Grant's real name – Cleese's bumbling lawyer Archie Leach – to live again on the big screen."[23]
The film is number 27 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".[24] It is also included in the Reader's Digest "100 Funniest Films" list.[25]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 96% approval rating, based on 67 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10.[as of?] 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."[30]
On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 80 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[31][as of?]
According to CriticsTop10, "A Fish Called Wanda" appeared on over 60 critics' top ten lists, making it the fifth most acclaimed film of 1988.[32]
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale as of July 2020.[33]
During the initial run of the film, a Danish audiologist named Ole Bentzen died while laughing during a screening, which led newspapers to report that he had died from laughter.[39][40][41] The official cause of death was heart fibrillation, which may have been caused by an increased heart rate due to extended laughter.[42] Cleese considered using the event for publicity, but ultimately decided that doing so would be in bad taste.[40]
Sequels and adaptations
The principal cast reunited in 1997 for Fierce Creatures (dubbed an "equal" rather than a sequel or prequel, by Kline), playing different roles. Fierce Creatures was not as well received by critics or audiences as A Fish Called Wanda.[43]
The novelization of Fierce Creatures, written by Iain Johnstone, who co-wrote the film, begins with a letter from Archie (John Cleese'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's election and the end of the apartheid regime; he is looking for like-minded individuals to form a similar group of National Socialists, 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, apparently showed up with a bag of tropical fish as a peace offering but did not even get close before Ken had security guards throw Otto out of the park. Otto as an act of final revenge empties the bag of fish into his mouth and swallows with no remorse.
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.[44]
Fawlty Towers is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and, in 2019, it was named the greatest ever British TV sitcom by a panel of comedy experts compiled by the Radio Times.
Graham Chapman was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the surreal comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel and the lead role in two Python films, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and Life of Brian (1979).
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and presenter. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he cofounded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus. Along with his Python costars Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Graham Chapman, Cleese starred in Monty Python films, which include Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979), and The Meaning of Life (1983).
Monty Python were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus, which aired on the BBC from 1969 to 1974. Their work then developed into a larger collection that included live shows, films, albums, books, and musicals; their influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles' influence on music. Their sketch show has been called "an important moment in the evolution of television comedy".
Sir Michael Edward Palin, is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.
Archibald Leach is the birth name of film actor Cary Grant (1904–1986).
Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress, producer, and children's author. Known for her performances in the horror and slasher genres, she is regarded as a scream queen, in addition to roles in comedies. Curtis has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as nominations for an Emmy Award and a Grammy Award.
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American actor. Kline is known for his over five decade career as a leading man on stage and screen. He is the recipient of an Academy Award and three Tony Awards, and has been nominated for two British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards. In 2003, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Fierce Creatures is a 1997 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 Kline and Michael Palin. Fierce Creatures was written by John Cleese and directed by Robert Young and Fred Schepisi. The film was dedicated to Gerald Durrell and Peter Cook. Some scenes were filmed at Jersey Zoo, a zoological park founded by Durrell.
And Now for Something Completely Different is a 1971 British sketch comedy film based on the television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus featuring sketches from the show's first two series. The title was taken from a catchphrase used in the television show.
Clockwise is an absurdist 1986 British comedy road film starring John Cleese, directed by Christopher Morahan, written by Michael Frayn and produced by Michael Codron. The film's music was composed by George Fenton.
The Fish-Slapping Dance is a comedy sketch written and performed by the Monty Python team. The sketch was originally recorded in 1971 for a pan-European May Day special titled Euroshow 71. In 1972 it was broadcast as part of episode two of series three of Monty Python's Flying Circus, which was titled "Mr & Mrs Brian Norris' Ford Popular".
Charles Ainslie Crichton was an English film director and editor.
John Du Prez is a British musician, conductor and composer. He was a member of the 1980s salsa-driven pop band Modern Romance and has since written several film scores including Oxford Blues (1984), Once Bitten, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), and the final Carry On film, Carry On Columbus (1992). He contributed to The Wild (2006) soundtrack.
Robert William Young is a British television and film director.
David Roger Brierley was an English actor. He appeared in dozens of television productions over a forty-year period.
Sophie's Choice is a 1982 psychological drama directed and written by Alan J. Pakula, adapted from William Styron's 1979 novel of the same name. The film stars Meryl Streep as Zofia "Sophie" Zawistowska, a Polish immigrant to America with a dark secret from her past who shares a boarding house in Brooklyn with her tempestuous lover Nathan, and young writer Stingo. It also features Rita Karin, Stephen D. Newman and Josh Mostel in supporting roles.
Python Night was an evening of Monty Python-related programmes broadcast on BBC2 on 9 October 1999, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first broadcast of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It featured newly written sketches, three documentaries and a screening of Monty Python's Life of Brian.
Steve Abbott is a British film producer best known for A Fish Called Wanda, Brassed Off, Fierce Creatures and his affiliation with the Monty Python troupe. Films he has produced have been awarded an Oscar, a Cesar, and several BAFTA awards. He was the Chairman of Bradford UNESCO City of Film.
↑ Bjørnkjær, Kristen (April 10, 2013). "Manden, der døde af grin"[The man who died from laughter]. Dagbladet Information (in Danish). Videnskaben anerkender ikke, at man kan dø af grin, men i praksis dør man nogle gange under et latteranfald. Pulsen kan ryge drastisk i vejret. Den officielle dødsårsag for Ole Bentzen var hjerteflimmer.
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