Wanda

Barbara Loden (who was married to Elia Kazan) wrote, directed, and starred in this moving and insightful film which was brought in at a budget of $115,000. It's a powerful character study of an uneducated Pennsylvania coal-country woman who allows her husband a divorce and custody of her two children because, she admits, "I'm just no good." She leaves her hometown and drifts into a series of one-night stands with traveling salesmen whom she meets in bars. One day she wanders into a tavern while it is being held up by a neurotic thief, Higgins, who kidnaps her and makes her his hostage. Loden takes a liking to the disturbed man and accompanies him on his petty crimi...