Wanda Whips Wall Street (1982)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Larry Revene

Writer:

Rick Marx (screenplay)

Release Date:

1982 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Adult

Tagline:

When Wanda Talks - Everybody Listens

Plot:

Wanda Brandt is a shrewd corporate takeover engineer. She plots to seize control of the most stable...

Plot Keywords:

Blackmail | Business | New York | Stock Market | Sex

Cast

Veronica Hart	...	Wanda Brandt, the 'new girl'
Jamie Gillis	...	Lou Perrini, the investigator
Samantha Fox	...	Lisa Rogers, an exchange stockbroker
Tish Ambrose	...	Janie, Wanda's secretary (as J.T. Ambrose)
Sharon Mitchell
Ron Jeremy	...	Ed, Lou's assistant
Lisa Be
Ron Hudd	...	Guy with shades and yellow shirt at party
Chantel Duclos
Ashley Moore
Peter Johns
Suzanne Tyson
Steve Milner
Pat Finnegan		(as Patricia Dale)
Kurt Mann	...	Hartman Callison, the gay board member

Also Known As:

Stocks and Blondes (video title (cut version))

Runtime:

83 min (X rated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (uncut) (1986) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1987) | USA:X

Company:

Evart Enterprises

Movie Connections:

Edited into Stocks and Blondes (1984)

Soundtrack:

Holiday Commercial

It's a Man's World But It Would Be Nothing Without a Woman or a Girl

The overall best of the excellent cinematographer Larry Revene's all too scant directorial output, WANDA WHIPS WALL STREET should pacify all those prickly protesters who want a complete storyline and mainstream level production values in addition to sex that is both explicit and erotic. This is one adult movie that truly has everything going for it, from an inspired and genuinely witty screenplay by another Chuck Vincent regular (Rick Marx, who delivered a double sucker punch with ROOMMATES and IN LOVE) to an immaculately professional big name cast at the top of their form.

A former high class prostitute, Wanda Brandt (the radiant Veronica Hart in one of her most appealing performances) has found an even more lucrative way of acquiring wealth, setting up dummy companies in order to take over some of Wall Street's most powerful players. She achieves her goal by sexually blackmailing major investment firms' stock holders out of their holdings by seducing them prior to reminding them just how married they happen to be. Watching his company being eaten away under his nose, the president hires intrepid investigator Lou Perrini (Jamie Gillis) to find out what exactly is going on. He tracks down and subsequently woos Wanda, who's about to be duped herself for once, while their respective henchpersons - Janie (Tish Ambrose) and Ed (Ron Jeremy) - try their best to cover their employer's tracks and throw each other of the scent. Unfortunately - but for whom, one might ask ? - they fall in love instead...

This stands as an excellent example of how to incorporate hardcore sex into a well thought out narrative, each encounter furthering the plot while simultaneously enhancing already impressive characterization. Hart and Gillis always worked well together (as Gary Graver's first-rate AMANDA BY NIGHT attests), their seasoned chemistry matched by the out of left field combination of Ambrose and Jeremy. I always felt Tish was rarely given her due by fans and critics alike. Apart from this and Thomas Paine's superlative CORPORATE ASSETS (which, oddly, share some of their themes), she rarely got the chance to display her full range. A party thrown by disgruntled stockbroker Samantha Fox as a last ditch attempt for Wanda to buy up the remaining stock once she has learned Perrini's on her heels supplies most of the movie's sexual content, including a hot little throwaway number involving Ron Hudd and too little-seen Sandra Hillman, who wowed viewers in Cecil Howard's FOXTROT and Shaun Costello's masterpiece PANDORA'S MIRROR.

The movie looks every bit as good - if not better, in fact - as anything showing on multiplex screens around that time. A master in his field, Revene undoubtedly kept tight reigns on DoP "Sven Nuvo" (a/k/a Steven Kaman) who came on board courtesy of producer John Christopher with whom he had collaborated on BABE and BLUE JEANS. I don't know whose idea it was to re-edit much of this film's non-explicit footage into an R-rated sequel of sorts, the distinctly strange STOCKS & BLONDES, but you can read all you ever wanted to know (and much more besides) about this oddity in the estimable Casey Scott's excellent review on www.dvddrive-in.com. Revene finally stepped out of the shadows of longtime Svengali Chuck Vincent with this film yet would rarely receive comparable praise again, except perhaps for his controversial RAW TALENT.