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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 437490" data-attributes="member: 23">A Fish Called Wanda  (1988) <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages-na.ssl-images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F81RTvfQhOXL._SL1500_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=8c99410488beec6e3f069f56fb21eef9664c94a6a1860f97db9ac6f11382399e" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 652px" />I'm pretty certain I have never watched this film before, but I couldn't swear to it. I'm certainly aware of much of it - possibly through osmosis - and I know I've more recently watched several key scenes out of context - most notably John Cleese's striptease interruptus, the torture-by-chips scene and the steamroller moment. So there weren't any big surprises, but much of it felt - and probably was - new to me. And very enjoyable it was, too.It probably goes without saying that Cleese and Curtis are always solid and their pairing works really well. One stunt of John Cleese's - the dangling apology - looked particularly dangerous. This was before CGI took off, so no matter what camera tricked was used it's difficult to imagine this being done without some danger. My goodness, Jamie Lee had to snog a lot of different people here (including each of the three male leads at different points). And it looked as though she went for it every time. She's as charismatic and gorgeous here as I've ever seen her and she also looks amazing in glasses (I've tried on the same model as the round, red specs worn by JLC here, and they were not the most flattering to my features). Kevin Kline is enjoyably deranged, and I kept seeing Robin Williams. This film is my main association with his name, so I've not seen much of him. Michael Palin is great as well. Stammering is a condition that is rarely seen on film as anything other than a cheap laugh. This film is no exception, but I was surprised to read after watching that Palin's own father stammered and his role here informed the creation of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Palin_Centre_for_Stammering" target="_blank">The Michael Palin Centre For Stammering</a>.Having an awareness of the main players, it was the supporting cast that really shone for me. Take Maria Aitken (she's Jack Davenport's mother, don't you know) who is brilliant as John Cleese's wife, and earned that BAFTA nomination. In some ways she plays a more grounded, upmarket and realistic big-screen Sybil Fawlty - ignoring anything that's not about her own little world, which includes tuning out such boring trivialities as her husband trying to tell her about winning an important case.  Her catchphrase, "Oh do shut up, Portia" is always aimed at her spoilt, horsey daughter who is essentially a mini version of herself (Portia, by the way, is played by  the real-life daughter of John Cleese and Connie Booth). There's a scene which cuts between two different bedrooms - one in which Wanda and Otto have wild abandoned sex; the other in which Archie and Wendy silently undress to get into their twin beds, both practically unaware of the other. Wendy does hopefully take off her knickers though, only to resign herself to sleep when that, too, goes unnoticed. The hardest I laughed in the film was at Maria's  impeccable delivery of Wendy's parting line to her husband: "[ISPOILER]You can stick this marriage right in your bottom[/ISPOILER]."  She was the best thing in this film.Other familiar faces are Tom Georgeson, whom I recognised but struggle to place (I last watched him in an episode of Village Hall, probably remember him from Juliet Bravo, and I think he may also remind me of someone else); ever-reliable Geoffrey Palmer; Ken Campbell (recently watched playing Alf Garnett's neighbour, but best-remembered by me as Roger in The Anniversary episode of Fawlty Towers).And then there's Patricia Hayes as the woman whose dogs keep getting squished. The falling block gave me the second biggest laugh of the film, and I refuse to feel bad about that no matter what <a href="https://violence-hurt-animals-in-film.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-fish-called-wanda.html" target="_blank">this site</a> says (animal cruelty only bothers me when there's a real animal in jeopardy off-screen for the sake of entertainment, but the site makes no mention of the on-screen real snake snuff in Friday The 13th or the real Tiger Sharks killed to order to use in Thunderball and Jaws and I therefore dismiss it out of hand).This film ticks a lot of boxes. It's a heist movie. It's a black comedy about trying to murder an old lady. It's a study of class and cultural differences. It's even a bedroom farce. The scene where Cleese's wife returns home unexpectedly while JLC is seducing him and Kevin Kline is seething with jealousy, forcing the pair to hide in varous parts of the room is a contender for the best scene, nicely capped by Marjorie Aitken's scene-stealing crisp pronunciation of "Mr Manfregensengen". [MEDIA=youtube]PoaOwSPJPHw[/MEDIA]Incidentally, I usually try to seek out the original poster for this thread, but I just adore the one I found above . I'd almost always favour a nicely drawn piece of art over a cast short anyway, but this one in particular really captures the manic zaniness of this film (though it is admittedly a little spoiler-ish).And while I was looking for that, I stumbled upon this fan casting poster of Fish in the style of an Ealing comedy.<img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.mycast.io%2Fposters%2Fa-fish-called-wanda-1957-fan-casting-poster-124176-medium.jpg%3F1629600070&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=b8ee31ec05d30184b577a01f1f8a1d2fba8a7d82bfa41c65a1f20b7b041a484a" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />(Much as it would pain me to uncast Kenneth Williams, I feel Sellers might be better cast in the Palin role. But since I can't be bothered recasting Kevin Kline's role for the mid-Twentieth Century, perhaps I'd simply switch out Kenneth Williams for Kenneth Connor).</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?