Wanda Nevada

I have to say I'm not sure what to make of this film after seeing Peter Fonda with Brooke Shields at the tender age of 14 making this film in the title role. Does the concept jailbait have any meaning here?

The film is set in the more innocent early 50s, in fact 1950 as one of our villains is worried about just getting a draft notice for Korea. Gambler/Drifer Peter Fonda winds young Brooke Shields in a poker game and then Brooke happens to get the map and some gold nuggets courtesy of a recently deceased Paul Fix. Fonda and Shields decide to go prospecting in the Grand Canyon.

You know had Wanda Nevada been cast with someone Brooke's age as the lead, say Christopher Atkins for instance this film might have worked as a kid's adventure film. But with Fonda or anyone his age the movie is strange at best.

Henry Fonda plays a grizzled old prospector with a beard like Gabby Hayes which completely covers his face together with goggle glasses. But his voice is unmistakable. He's only got one scene with his son and Wanda Nevada as mediocre and strange as it is has some historical significance as a joint project with father and son. Sister Jane did a whole lot better with On Golden Pond.

This film is not one of the all-time greats, or even close to becoming one, but it does have two of the most memorable badmen ever portrayed on film...Ted Markland as Strap the Be-Bop Killer, and Lew Askew as his trusty sidekick, Ruby. The two of them are positively hysterical in what should have been a straight badguy role, but they work so well together (great friends in real life) and play off each other so smoothly that their deadpan delivery makes this otherwise droll film shine. We get an idea of what is to come when Wanda innocently turns to Strap and asks what he does for a living. "Banks," he deadpans, cracking his gum. "We rob banks." The mayhem continues from there, as Strap and Ruby chase their quarry into the Grand Canyon. Don't miss it!

A poker playing Peter Fonda winds up the winner of an attractive and spunky thirteen year old orphan played by Brooke Shields. Too young to be his girlfriend, he nevertheless finds himself stuck with her, in a plot that has the two of them in a kind of buddy film about a gold strike in the Grand Canyon. The first few scenes are interesting. A poker game in the back room of a barber shop, and later a scene in a bar, and the adventure through the Grand Canyon is beautifully captured by the cinematographer. As well, this is essential viewing for fans of Brooke Shields, who has plenty of vitality and energy. In spite of its good points, the characters are mostly unbelievable, especially the two bad guys. That's because this film doesn't establish itself as much more than a misdirected new age adventure comedy.

The story starts in 1950's Nevada with Wanda Nevada (13-year-old Brooke Shields) primping in front of a barber shop mirror while her current companion , Slade is in a heated poker game in the back room with gambler and con man Beaudray Demerille (Peter Fonda). Slade runs out of money and uses nubile Wanda as a marker . Demerille wins the hand, but Slade claims that he cheated and takes place a violent confrontation . It results in Demerille grabs his winnings, including Wanda , and takes off in his Studebake ; after that, , both of whom are going to prospect in the Grand Canyon . Along the way , they are pursued by two greedy , botcher crooks : Ruby (Luke Askew) , and Strap (Ted Markland) . By the way , they meet a grizzled varmint appearance briefly from a popular daddy (Henry Fonda). A Pro & a Con - The rest is history !.

A sentimental adventure with fantastic events , brief touches of humor , supernatural Indians and gold prospecting in which our two protagonists go to the Grand Canyon to look for richness . Romantic drama following the fortunes of a swindler , Peter Fonda , who wins and drags teen Shields in a poker game , then they set out to prospect for gold , along the way they enjoy wonderful and rocky landscapes in the Grand Canyon . The picture relies heavily on the strange and unusual relationship betwen a mature drifter and a very young girl . In fact , when the film was made Brooke Shields was barely 13, and Fonda was 38, so he was in fact 25 years older. In this flick were any more laid-back it would be nonexistent . Nice and sympathetic interpretations from Peter Fonda as a drifter named Beaudray Demerille who wins a young orphan named Wanda in a poker game , while Brooke Shields is fine as the obstinate , feisty teenager. As Shields in her usual form form-stellar for a shampoo comercial. They are nicely accompanied by an enjoyable support cast , such as : two likeable , bumbling cons performed by Luke Askew , Ted Markland , the beautiful Fiona Lewis , veteran Paul Fix , Severn Darden as a leering old man , and special mention for Henry Fonda, Peter Fonda's father , plays an old prospector in the Grand Canyon , being Peter and Henry's only movie together .

Highlights the colorful and brilliant cinematography by Michael Butler shot on several locations in Prescott, Arizona, Monument Valley, Utah , Mexican Hat, Utah, Glen Canyon, Utah, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, Colorado River, Moab, Utah, USA . The motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Peter Fonda. Peter Fonda was born Hollywood royalty , as the only son of classic , iconic movie star Henry Fonda. Like his notorious elder sibling Jane , he had a tense relationship with his dad . Unlike Jane he didn't have his own On Golden Pond (1981) to share with his father . Their only film together was this some forgotten Wanda Nevada . Not that Peter's career was without its own hits and flops , having commercial and creative peaks. This famous actor began what would become a famous association with Roger Corman, starring in ¨Wild Angels¨ , with Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, and Diane Ladd ; later on , Fonda starred in Corman's 1967 psychedelic film ¨The Trip¨, also starring Dern and Susan Strasberg . Fonda's next project was the seminal 1969 anti-establishment film ¨Easy Rider¨ which he produced and co-scripted, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Fonda directed his first feature film, The Hired Hand, in 1971. A critically acclaimed western in which he also starred. Other directing credits include the science fiction feature ¨Idaho Transfer¨, starring Keith Carradine and ¨Wanda Nevada¨ in which he starred as a gambler who wins Brooke Shields in a poker game.

Wanda Nevada is probably one of the oddest movies ever made, yet it ends up working very well. Brooke Shields is salty and sassy and delightful but the two bad guys in this movie actually steal the show and they're performances are a 'must see' reason to watch this movie. Entertaining in a Pups, Ghost World kind of way.