Customer Reviews

Wanda Nevada

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was 9 when this movie first came out and I loved it. In my early teens when it started being ran on TV, I watched again (probably while wearing my Brooke Shields brand jeans!) and loved it. And now (in my 30's), when it is being run on cable I still love it! This movie is a great adventure, great western and is just great fun. I highly recommend it. I just wish it was available on DVD.

My father-in-law loves movies. I have no idea where he first hears of some of these because he often requests movies I never heard of. But, to give him a DVD of a movie he wanted and couldn't find? - SCORE!!

This is a great western starring Peter Fonda and Brooke Shields searching for gold.It's a must see flick!!!

Wanda Nevada, 1979 film

The film begins in a watering place in Arizona in the early 1950s. There is a poker game in the back room. Two gamblers bet on a hand. One doesn't have enough cash to cover the bet so he offers a young girl who is a run-a-way from an orphanage. There is conflict over the winner, a gunshot settles the deal. Beaudray Demerol won the cash and the marker, the 13-year old girl. [A lucky number or just Jail Bait?] They leave quickly, then stop at a bar. An old prospector brags about finding gold in the Grand Canyon. "Everybody knows there is no gold in the Grand Canyon." But Curly shows off his nuggets! When Curly leaves he drops a pouch with the nuggets, and a watching Wanda scoops it up. Two criminals follow Curly to rob and kill him. Wanda is seen watching them and flees with Beaudray. They are chased by the killers for the usual chase to provide action. Later Beaudray and Wanda stay at a motel where they discover a hidden map to the lost mine!

Beau trades his Studebaker for pack mules and supplies to try to find Curly's hidden mine. [They know exactly what they'll need.] The two killers are on their trail! Beau and Wanda stumble upon a rope ladder which is a clue to the cave hidden below the trail. Wanda was taught how to use a pistol. They find the veins of gold in the cave and pick up bags of nuggets. When the two killers find them there is a shoot-out at close range. Many shots are fired but no one is hit! The two killer run off. Will Beau and Wanda discard their winnings? They wake the next morning to find their mules missing. They have to walk out of the desert without food or water. Later they find the bodies of the two killers; someone has passed judgment on them. But Wanda and Beau find the gold nearby! [An amazing coincidence?] Then they find an old boat (!) that will carry them down the river to safety, even after an arrow wounds Beau. [You can't be too lucky in Hollywood movies.] Upon their return to civilization the orphanage tries to reclaim Wanda, but she runs off again to join Beau in his new car. Will they live happily ever after? In Hollywood!

The faults in this film is to present two killers as bumblers for comic relief. This is not a serious film, but a comic fantasy that plays with the characters as if this was a cartoon. Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" was filmed many times, and remains a popular story for children of all ages. Setting it in the past may help its credibility. I see this film as another version where a young orphan is able to become wealthy through good fortune and overcoming perils to grab the gold. No mention of taxes and government claims on the loot! This is a low budget version, no expensive equipment or cast of hundreds was needed.

I read a book about the Lost Gold Mines in Arizona. This 1950 book cautioned tourists against wandering away from their hotels unarmed. People who did this somehow disappeared without a trace. Was it just "ghosts"?

Billy Wilder famously said "Audiences don't know somebody sits down and writes a picture; they think the actors make it up as they go along." Well, "Wanda Nevada" sure looks as if it was made up by the actors, actors who had no idea what they were doing.

It's difficult to describe just how awful "Wanda Nevada" is, but if you can imagine a mash-up of "Romancing the Stone", "Poltergeist", and "Lolita" (yes), you'll have a rough idea. It also breaks one of Aristotle's primary rules about storytelling -- there's no necessary or plausible logic to the sequence of many of the film's events.

One of the worst films I've ever seen. You have been warned.

This movie falls into the "so bad it's good" category. All the actors are terrible, even Henry Fonda's cameo stinks. Some of the scenery is great, some is obviously phony. But somehow it is watchable, perhaps because you keep imagining what is being parodied, especially toward the end. Yet it gives one a twinge of regret when it's over.

There was something very charming about this movie. I only wish there was a whole series of these films. "The Adventures Of Wanda Nevada". The VHS tape I purchased had some serious issues which detracted some of my enjoyment of the movie. Come on, when will the USA ever get a DVD release of this movie like Europe has?

I can only hope the Ms. Shields used the money she made from this film to take some acting lessons. She REALLY needs them!!

I rented this movie because it falls under the genres of "romance" and "western" with some Grand Canyon scenery thrown in. But if you're expecting a typical wholesome romantic western, forget it. This movie is pure trash! The romance is between a YOUNG GIRL who has not even gone through puberty and a MIDDLE-AGED MAN! The child is also lusted after by other leering men. It's sickening.

Peter Fonda is portrayed as being virtuous by trying to resist his attraction to Brooke Shields, and her character is mostly the one that pursues the relationship. He tries to shoo her away at first but eventually he gives in and they drive off as a happy, loving couple. It's revolting.

I don't see how this movie could appeal to anyone except pedophiles.