Wanda The Wonderful (2014)

“Wanda the Wonderful” is about a gun slinging wild-woman, a story about family, sacrifice, struggle and the American West; about what it means to forge your own way; and the realities behind a glamorous and exciting lifestyle. Born in 1900 in the Chickasaw Indian Territory, Wanda grew up to be a rebel, a woman who toted guns and wore pants when skirts were the norm. Opting for career and independence over motherhood, Wanda joined the circus to escape a never-do-well husband. She traveled the world as “Wanda Savage,” entertaining audiences large and small with her sharpshooting act. Along the way, she bore seven children by four different men, performed in Western movies as a stunt-double in Hollywood, and worked at “The Ritz Hotel”, a brothel in Thermopolis, Wyoming. It was at The Ritz that she met her fourth and final husband, a sheep rancher named Carl Hampton. Wanda and Carl lived happily ever after, until the mistakes of Wanda’s past caught up to her. In an act of passionate recklessness, Wanda shot Carl. The pathos that Wanda experienced in pursuit of her independence is as vital an aspect of her story as the story itself. It is through Wanda's human fallibility that we gain insight into her wild life and magnetic, volatile persona. Wanda was a woman who followed her passions - at whatever cost, and actually lived the Wild West.