Wanda

PG

Released Feb 28, 1971

1h 45m

Drama

List

92%

Tomatometer

38 Reviews

70%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

Wanda (Barbara Loden) is a wanderer in a dreary Rust Belt town, drifting from bars to motels, jobs to jobs and men to men. She's directionless and futureless, an aging beauty seen by men as usable and disposable. She hands over custody of her children because she knows they're better with their father. She eventually tags along with Norman Dennis (Michael Higgins), a petty criminal on the run. He's desperate, disreputable and abusive, but Wanda, meekly accepting her fate, still sleeps with him.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Max

Stream Now

Max

Watch Wanda with a subscription on Max.

John Powers

NPR

Wanda refuses to embody any of the female images she comes across in the film...You see, just because she can't articulate her desires, doesn't mean she doesn't yearn for something more.

Mar 18, 2019

Full Review

Justin Chang

Los Angeles Times

"Realism" doesn't entirely do justice to the world Wanda inhabits, which, for all the grit and grunge of its bars and diners and factory floors, is also a world of startling everyday beauty.

Aug 3, 2018

Full Review

Chuck Bowen

Slant Magazine

Writer-director-actor Barbara Loden's 1970 feature has a wonderful, hard-won sense of everyday rapture.

Rated: 4/4

Jul 19, 2018

Full Review

Taylor Baker

Drink in the Movies

An abrasive and cajoling film with a unique singular voice.

Rated: 80/100

Aug 27, 2021

Full Review

Amelie Lasker

FF2 Media

It's delicious to see this kind of character taking up so much space on screen: unkempt, dazed, and aimless, with occasional moments of alertness to take pleasure in something tiny, just because she wants to.

Dec 28, 2020

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Wanda is a small masterpiece of verite-style naturalism, both in sympathy with its heroine and ruthlessly unsentimental about her plight.

Oct 15, 2020

Full Review

Read all reviews

Audience Member

Well, I saw it, now I don't have to see it again. Too much 'House of Hummingbird' going on here with the relentless bleakness, utterly dour misery; and the emptiness of this character. Are we supposed to think being poor means you're automatically dimwitted and hopeless, by and large? Or is it mostly a character study of a pathetic and very frustrating person? Hell, the jerk petty criminal was more interesting. As one insightful critic commented, "The trouble with aimless drifter stories is that too often they result in aimless movies.". 2.7 stars

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

mert s

What kind of stupidity was this.... whatever the hell you want to explain do it in a 5/10 min b&w crap. This was horrible... i dont even think this will get better....if it does will change my rating. But for now it doesnt deserve a 1/2 star. Rotten

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This a grimy story of a grimy woman from a grimy coal-mining town leading a grimy existence with a grimy small-time domineering crook. It's a movie without a soundtrack that is defined as much by its creepy long silences as any dialog or action. Barbara Loden wrote, directed, a and starred in it. She's convincing as a woman without a direction, witless, guileless, easily manipulated by the cruel, demeaning crook in another fine performance by Michael Higgins. This is one that will stick with you for a long time.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Una película con un inicio muy difícil de sobrellevar debido a su paso lento, pero a medida que nos adentramos en la vida de Wanda, vemos la soledad, una verdadera soledad en el mundo urbano, en donde las necesidades básicas se vuelven el premio al final del día, y la torpeza y falta de convicción del personaje principal, hace muy difícil verla irse a dormir y levantarse a la mañana siguiente.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Barbara Loden's only film is a quiet and sad one. The earlier pin-up model plays a useless girl that breaks up with her husband and leave him with her young kids in one of the earlier scenes. She is up to no good. Poor and lounging around without friends she teams up with the first man to fetch her some beers at cheap bars. She hooks up with a crook. A really mean guy treating her really bad. She accepts it - she know she's nothing. This is presented in a quiet and subtle way. It feels very real and you feel sorry for the poor girl. It got re-released recently with a facelift. It looks fresh, still got that old look. It's a great portrayal and the type of film that hits you even after it's done. 7.5 out of 10 hair rollers.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

delysid d

a White Trash Woman named Wanda goes for a Wander

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/22/19

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Barbara Loden

Director

Barbara Loden

Wanda Goronski

Michael Higgins

Norman Dennis

Charles Dosinan

Father

Frank Jourdan

Soldier

Valerie Manches

Girl in Roadhouse

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

60%

84%

Tomorrow

80%

75%

Panic in Needle Park

39%

47%

The Great Gatsby

TRAILER

for The Great Gatsby

69%

79%

Conrack

100%

83%

I Never Sang for My Father

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

What To Watch During TCM’s Trailblazing Women

View more photos

Synopsis

Wanda (Barbara Loden) is a wanderer in a dreary Rust Belt town, drifting from bars to motels, jobs to jobs and men to men. She's directionless and futureless, an aging beauty seen by men as usable and disposable. She hands over custody of her children because she knows they're better with their father. She eventually tags along with Norman Dennis (Michael Higgins), a petty criminal on the run. He's desperate, disreputable and abusive, but Wanda, meekly accepting her fate, still sleeps with him.

Director: Barbara Loden
Production Co: Foundation for Filmakers
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 28, 1971, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 25, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $51.7K
Runtime: 1h 45m

Most Popular at Home Now