Ok , this movie is one of those that you will not watch over and over and over again. Its kinda goofy , has it all, fantasy ,taboo, action,romance, and AMAZING scenery to see! One of the best parts of the movie is the scenery. As far as the plot and acting goes, well.. i aint too impressed, its not bad but too much fantasy in it, maybe it would look way better if it was made to be more realistic. As far as the taboo part goes, well... someone already said it, age doesnt really show maturity. Age is like a road sight that says , next city is in 100 miles, it doesnt and cannot say how much time you'll need to get there, that is up to you how fast you can/wanna drive. And im always glad i mean was,cause today its rare that they make a 13yo caracter be played by a real 13yo,when theres a "mature" subject in the movie,.. well at least thats how it is in Hollywood now ... too bad. I totaly love it when the actors are really the age they are playing. What to say about Brooke? .. trully one of a kind. All in all , not so well acted movie, with a tabooish story in it ,and a great scenery all around.

In the southwest circa 1950, a poor gambler (not above a little cheating) wins an orphaned, would-be teen Lolita in a botched poker game; after getting hold of a treasure map promising gold in the Grand Canyon, the bickering twosome become prospectors. Peter Fonda is an actor/director asleep at the wheel. He is so enervated on-screen, his lachrymose line-readings cancel out any irony or humor in the dialogue. While trading would-be sassy barbs and non-witty repartee with Brooke Shields, or fingering a non-existent mustache on his grizzled face, Fonda doesn't reveal a character so much as an unsure actor being directed by himself, an unsure filmmaker. The movie has a few lovely touches and pretty vistas, also an odd but interesting cameo by Henry Fonda as a grizzled canyon man, but the rest is fatigued comedy-drama, with the two leads being trailed by cartoonish killers who will stop at nothing 'til they get their hands on that map. Pouty Shields is a young beauty, no doubt about it, however her tinny voice has no range; every time she opens her mouth, one inclined to either cringe or duck. *1/2 from ****

Peter Fonda lends a great comic performance in this film, which is his 3rd time directing. It's a great little film and I enjoyed the humorous quarrels and spats between him Brooke Shields. She is surprisingly great as a funny sassy brat posing as a woman . Fonda's character can see right through and calls her "a skinny little runt " that talks way too much. The funny scenes where Fonda pleads with God and talks to a mule for assurance are great. Shields' character knows how to push Fonda's buttons and even steals a ride with him unaware. After all the near death experiences they go through, along with cleverly used male and female counterpoints for jealousy between the two, they do fall in a caring love for each other. I see his character as a father figure protecting her begrudgingly so she doesn't wind up as "buzzard's bait" in the Grand Canyon search for gold. He even tells her he's too old for her. This is not an exploitation film of a younger girl older man romance but rather a fantasy adventure of two money hungry misfits out for riches with killers following them. It is a fun film and the chemistry between Fonda and Shields is warm and undeniable, though never sexual. I find the humor and performances stand above all else .

In 1979 I avoided this movie. Such were my tastes then. Most people in my age group at the time, late 20s, were somewhat aghast about the whole Brooke Shields-as-a-movie-star concept. People in my age cohort will remember how she was regarded back then: a little bit gawky, and with her long dark hair, flawless skin, and overpowering eyebrows, she was also seen as preternaturally adult-like, uncomfortably so. Her mother exacerbated that discomfort, with her apparent intent to get her daughter cast into roles to highlight and exploit that preternatural adult-like quality, to essentially sexualize her preteen, early-teens daughter. Mom seemed convinced she had the next Elizabeth Taylor on her hands which she was determined to cash in on. The camera loved Brooke, no question, still and moving cameras alike, she was photogenic her entire life, but this nevertheless was a phase when watching her on screen was on the uncomfortable side. With all that I took a pass in 1979, and never really thought about it again. Brooke went on to have a credible career as a real adult, particularly on television, and particularly after she began making her own career decisions. When thinking about Brooke Shields as she was, her early career, and her being sexually exploited, I've flashed on Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon. Wanda Nevada was forgotten about, at least by me.Wanda Nevada was on cable TV this weekend, and I decided to watch it. I must say, it surprised me. Premium cable being what it is, movies shown are shown over and over, so I watched it twice. It is a charming, almost whimsical little movie. Equally charming is Brooke Shields in it. A few things about the movie bothered me, but overall I found myself liking it more than not. This movie is largely Peter Fonda's movie. He directed and he starred as the male lead opposite Brooke Shields, but he didn't write it and he didn't produce it, the importance of which distinctions will become clear below. Fonda directed the players, mainly himself and Brooke. And with Brooke, he did it well. Little Brooke steals the movie.One little thing Fonda could have corrected if he had known to is the annoying repetitive pronunciation of Wanda's last name as "Nev-ah-da," the way many east coast people say it. This movie was set in the desert southwest, where people know how to properly pronounce Nevada, something I know, because I'm from there. Nev-aaa-da. The middle "a" is a short "a", as in bad, mad, sad or dad. Another thing I could've done without was the supernatural sub-text. The Native American lore was great. Even the psychological fear of Indian ghosts by itself would've been great. But when glowing ghost Indian arrows start flying, actually harming and killing real characters, verisimilitude goes out the window, and it stops being a movie which takes itself seriously. My biggest problem with the movie relates to my comments above about the sexualization of Brooke Shields. First, let's be clear: Brooke Shields IS NOT sexualized in this movie, nor is she exploited in that way either. The story itself is nevertheless disturbing. Brooke Shields and her character were 13 years old here, and Fonda and his character were 38. There is no way to mistake or misinterpret the implied intended love interest between them, especially with them riding off into the sunset with one another, which is what we are left with, him 38 and her 13, together, that way, end of story. Beaudray is clearly not Wanda's father figure, guardian, big brother, or business partner. Happily, nothing overt, untoward, or even suggestive between them is explicitly depicted. No touches, kisses, embraces, not even any coy glances or facial expressions. Peter Fonda deserves enormous credit for this. My guess is whoever put this movie project together, along with the stage mother, conceived it as another explosively hot vehicle for Brooke Shields as the marquee player, fresh off Pretty Baby the year before, with The Blue Lagoon to follow the next year. In other words, to be exploited the same way. They knew what they wanted, and Peter Fonda was thusly told to follow the script as written. Fonda meanwhile recognized what this material was, and he knew what NOT to do with it. I read elsewhere that Fonda's acting performance was not good here, that Brooke out-performed him. Maybe that's for a reason. Maybe Fonda the actor was trying to take the Beaudray Demerille character some place other than that of a 38-year old man who would take a 13-year old girl as his lover, layering him with other nuances, giving him other motivations. Remember, Peter Fonda's daughter, Bridgette, is just a year older than Brooke Shields. Men with 14-year old daughters don't want such aged girls in the way this story goes, nor are they remotely titillated by the idea. Usually it's a repulsive thought. Which I submit is what may have been going on here with Peter Fonda. Left to his own devices and given the freedom, I say he would've told a little different story, and probably a better one too. Riding off into the sunset as they did, into the ever-after, was a disturbingly poor ending under the circumstances. Chalk it up to the times. In the 1970s movie makers either pushed the envelope with these themes, or seemed oblivious to what they were doing. Summer of 42, Taxi Driver, Pretty Baby, The Blue Lagoon, Wanda Nevada. Could these movies have ever been made at any other time, before or since? Of those, maybe Wanda Nevada, maybe because Peter Fonda saved it from itself. Say what you want about the Fonda clan, but sexploitation of 13-year olds is not their style. And by the way, watch for the cameo of Henry Fonda.