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 recover stolen diamonds hidden by their jailed leader. His barrister becomes a central figure – and jealousies rage – as femme fatale Wanda seduces him to locate the loot. The picture grossed over $188 million worldwide, becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 1988. It received three nominations at the 61st Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and, with Kline winning, Best Supporting Actor. A spiritual sequel, Fierce Creatures, was released in 1997. The British Film Institute 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. 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.