Splash (film)
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| Splash | |
|---|---|
 original film poster |
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| Directed by | Ron Howard |
| Produced by | Brian Grazer |
| Written by | Bruce Jay Friedman Lowell Ganz Babaloo Mandel |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Daryl Hannah |
| Music by | Lee Holdridge |
| Distributed by | Touchstone Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 9, 1984 |
| Running time | 111 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8,000,000 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Splash is a 1984 fantasy film and romantic comedy film directed by Ron Howard and written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. It was the first movie released by Touchstone Pictures, which was established by The Walt Disney Company to release films targeted towards older audiences. Although originally conceived as an "adult" film, Splash today is considered by some to be a family-friendly movie.
Tagline: Two days ago, this girl showed up naked at the Statue of Liberty. For Allen Bauer, it was love at first sight. Now, everyone is chasing her... trying to prove she's a mermaid. From the first laugh you'll be hooked.
Contents |
[edit] Main cast
- Tom Hanks - Allen Bauer
- Daryl Hannah - Madison
- Eugene Levy - Dr. Walter Kornbluth
- John Candy - Freddie Bauer
[edit] Plot summary
As a boy, Allen Bauer is rescued from drowning off Cape Cod by a young mermaid. Years later, now co-owner with his brother (John Candy) of a wholesale fruit business in New York City, Allen returns to the same location and again falls into the sea. He wakes up on a beach in the presence of a beautiful woman who, unknown to him, is the mermaid he met as a boy. Allen instantly becomes attracted to her, as she again saved him from drowning. But after kissing him, she dives into the sea and leaves Allen, who cannot swim, to return home.
The mermaid finds Allen's wallet that he dropped in the water and one day decides to find him in New York. She comes ashore at Liberty Island naked, arrested for indecent exposure but released in Allen's care (when she has been dry for a certain period of time, her tail turns into legs). She later picks up English from watching television all day at a department store. Needing a name, Allen lists some choices as they walk. While doing so when on Madison Ave., he asks himself aloud "Where are we? Madison," which the mermaid picks as her name.
Allen quickly falls in love with her. While Madison requites his love, Allen finds it hard to understand her unusual behavior (for example, eating an entire lobster, shell and all). To compound her problems, she is pursued by Dr. Walter Kornbluth (Levy), an eccentric scientist intent on proving mermaids exist. When he finally proves Madison is a mermaid by dumping water on her and turning her legs into a tail, she is taken in by scientists for examination. Sorry for what he has done, Kornbluth helps a rescue along with Allen and his brother. After a pursuit through the streets of the city, she jumps back into the ocean. Allen jumps in after her (she tells him that as long as she's with him, he's safe under the water) and they both continue their lives in what appears to be an underwater kingdom.
[edit] Cameos
Screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandell both make cameo appearances in the film. Ganz plays Stan, the tour guide, in the scene set at the Statue of Liberty where he yells "Don't be doing that!" to the horde of tourists who crowd around the naked Daryl Hannah. Mandell plays the man in charge of ice skate rentals who tackles Tom Hanks' character when he tries to run out with his skates still on.
[edit] Spinoffs
- A sequel, Splash, Too (directed by Greg Antonacci), appeared in 1988 as TV movie. Only one member of the original cast reprises her role.
- A novelization of the film, written by Ian Marter (under the pen name Ian Don) was published by Target Books in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Impact on popular culture
The film is credited with popularizing the name "Madison" for girls. In the film, Daryl Hannah's character takes her name from Madison Avenue after walking past a road sign. Hanks' character comments that it is not a real name as, at the time, it was a rather unusual name for a woman. However, in the years since the film was released in theatres and re-released on VHS and then DVD, the name's popularity has skyrocketed.
According to the Social Security Administration, the name "Madison" was the 216th most popular name in the United States for girls in 1990, the 29th most popular name for girls in 1995, and the 3rd most popular name for girls in 2000 [1]. In 2005, the name finally cracked the top 50 most popular girls' names in the United Kingdom, and articles in British newspapers credit the film for the popularization.
Butch Hartman once credited the Eugene Levy character as the inspiration for his character of Denzel Crocker on The Fairly Oddparents. Both characters are obsessed with a certain legendary creature and spend their free time trying to prove that such creatures exist. As a result in both cases, the characters have practically no social life and various enemies.
[edit] Songs in movie
- "Love Came for Me" by Rita Coolidge
- "Stay With Me Tonight" by Jeffrey Osborne
- "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham
- "She Works Hard for the Money" by Donna Summer
[edit] Trivia
- The beach where Tom Hanks first encounters the naked Daryl Hannah is on the former Gorda Cay in the Bahamas. It is now Castaway Cay, the private island paradise of the Disney Cruise Line.
- According to his autobiography, John Candy wanted the role of Dr. Walter Kornbluth, but the producers thought he would be better as Freddie Bauer. John accepted the role of Freddie if Eugene Levy got of the role of Dr. Kornbluth
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Splash at the Internet Movie Database
- "Mohammed the lad leaps up league of names" at Times Online – article about the popularity of names, mentioning the name Madison
- "Madison and Her Sisters" at TeeVee Archive – another article about the name Madison and its link to the film
