Taglines: A Pro & A CoN – The rest is history.
Wanda Nevada movie synopsis. The story starts in 1950’s Nevada with 13 ½ year old Wanda Nevada (Brooke Shields) primping in front of a barber shop mirror while her current companion, Slade (Larry Golden) 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 Wanda as a marker. Demerille wins the hand, but Slade claims that he cheated and a confrontation results in which Slade is shot. Demerille grabs his winnings, including Wanda, and takes off in his Studebaker.
Wanda reveals that she a runaway from an orphanage with dreams of being a country-western singer. Demerille tells her he will not let her go until she pays back the money she was the marker for. The two stop overnight at a cheap motel with a suspicious front desk clerk (Teri Shields), but Demerille keeps a respectful distance from Wanda, though he makes her sleep on floor.
In the next town Demerille is trying to sucker gangster Ruby Muldoon (Luke Askew) during a pool match at the local saloon while Wanda and Ruby’s sidekick, a shifty looking character named Strap (Ted Markland), look on. In the middle of the game an elderly prospector, Texas Curly (Paul Fix), wanders into the bar claiming he had found gold in the Grand Canyon. Everyone laughs at him till he pulls out a bag full of gold nuggets.
Wanda is waiting outside the bar when she sees Texas Curly leave and the bag of nuggets fall out of his back pocket. She picks it up and is considering if she should return it to him when she hears Ruby and Strap leaving the bar and hides. She then sees them follow Texas Curly and murder him in an attempt to find the location of the gold mine. Strap and Ruby then see Wanda has observed the murder and give chase. Strap and Ruby try to overtake Demerille and Wanda in the Studebaker, but Demerille manages to shoot out a tire on Ruby’s car sending it crashing into a roadside sign.
An examination of the bag reveals not only nuggets, but a treasure map. Demerille takes Wanda to a store near the canyon where he trades his car for pack mules, clothes and equipment for an expedition to find the gold. During the trip down into the canyon the two meet an old prospector (Henry Fonda) going the other way who tells them “Everybody knows there no gold in the Grand Canyon” a running gag line that is repeated throughout the film.
Wanda Nevada is a 1979 American western comedy film starring Peter Fonda and Brooke Shields as the title character. It was also directed by Peter Fonda. Henry Fonda makes a cameo appearance as an Arizona prospector, making it the only film to feature the father and son together. Peter Fonda reportedly paid his father Henry $1000 (equivalent to $3,523 in 2019) for one day’s work on the film after receiving a call from his father that he was out of work.
Wanda Nevada (1979)
Directed by: Peter Fonda
Starring: Peter Fonda, Brooke Shields, Henry Fonda, Fiona Lewis, Luke Askew, Ted Markland, Severn Darden, Larry Golden, John Denos, Bert Williams, Jason Clark, H. Samuel Hackin
Screenplay by: Dennis Hackin
Production Design by:
Cinematography by: Michael Butler
Film Editing by: Scott Conrad
Set Decoration by: Thomas L. Roysden, Arrigo Breschi
Art Direction by: Lynda Paradise
Music by: Ken Lauber
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: United Artists
Release Date: May 25, 1979
Visits: 1050
