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 here, his lachrymose line-readings cancel out any irony intended in the dialogue. Whether trading would-be sassy barbs with Brooke Shields or fingering a barely-there mustache under his nose, Fonda doesn't reveal a character so much as an unsure actor being directed by an unsure filmmaker--himself! The movie has a few nice touches and pretty vistas, and the camera loves Shields' youthful beauty (although the young actress exhibits very little personality and no screen presence). Still, it's a fatigued, forgettable comedy-drama with lots of puttering along plus an odd cameo by Henry Fonda, nearly unrecognizable as a grizzled canyon man. * from ****
Review of Wanda Nevada
