Splash (film)
Encyclopedia
Splash is a 1984 American fantasy
romantic comedy film
directed by Ron Howard
and written by Lowell Ganz
and Babaloo Mandel
. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The original music score was composed by Lee Holdridge
. It was the very first film released by Touchstone Pictures
(then called Touchstone Films).
, but his bond with the mermaid proves so strong that his subsequent relationships with women invariably fail as he seeks the connection he felt with the mermaid.
Years later, Allen (Tom Hanks
) is a co-owner of a wholesale fruit and vegetable business in New York City
with his womanizing brother, Freddie (John Candy
). Depressed after his latest breakup, Allen returns to Cape Cod, where he briefly encounters eccentric scientist
Dr. Walter Kornbluth (Eugene Levy
), and again falls into the sea. He wakes up on a beach where he encounters a beautiful nude woman (Daryl Hannah
) who, unknown to him, is the mermaid he met as a boy (her tail transforms into legs when it becomes dry). He instantly becomes attracted to her, as she again saves him from drowning. After kissing him, she dives into the sea and leaves Allen to return home. Kornbluth, while diving seeking proof of strange sea creatures, also encounters the mermaid in her sea form, whom he becomes obsessed with finding again.
The mermaid finds Allen's wallet that he dropped in the water and decides to find him in New York. She comes ashore nude
at Liberty Island
, where she is arrested for indecent exposure
. Garnering information from Allen's wallet, the mermaid gets released in his care. She picks up English from watching television
all day and chooses the name Madison from a Madison Avenue sign. Madison is vague about where she comes from and tries to distract Allen from asking questions about her country of origin. She tells Allen that she will be in New York for "six fun-filled days when the moon is full" and if she stays longer, she can never go home again. The reason for this is unexplained, though in the Special Features of the 2004 DVD edition, there is a reference to a deleted scene in which Madison has visited a sea hag and made some sort of bargain.
Despite Madison's occasional unusual behavior, she and Allen fall in love. Meanwhile, Kornbluth, realizing that the nude woman at Liberty Island was the mermaid he had encountered, pursues the couple, trying to expose her as a mermaid by splashing her with water. When he finally does so, Madison is taken in by government scientists led by Kornbluth's cold-hearted former colleague and rival Dr. Ross for examination. However, Kornbluth regrets his actions after he learns that Madison is due to be studied and dissected, as he just wanted to prove that he wasn't crazy.
Impersonating two scientists, Freddie and Allen enter the lab with Kornbluth and manage to smuggle Madison outside. Madison makes it back to the ocean and tells Allen that he can survive under water as long as he is with her. Allen realizes she was the young mermaid he had met so long before, and although Madison warns him that if he comes to live in the sea "he can't go back," he jumps into the water after her and they elude their pursuers. Together they swim along the ocean floor toward what appears to be an underwater kingdom.
Cameos
Screenwriters Lowell Ganz
and Babaloo Mandel
both make cameo appearance
s in the film. Ganz plays Stan, the tour guide, in the scene set at the Statue of Liberty. Mandel 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. Director Howard's father, actor Rance Howard
, can be seen early in the film, screaming at Hank's character about "his cherries". Howard's brother, Clint Howard
, can be seen as a wedding guest, identified by Candy's character as the bride's brother and yelled at by Hanks.
had pitched the film to numerous studios but was turned down repeatedly until Walt Disney Productions
, then headed by Ron Miller
, agreed to produce the film. An issue at the time of production was the competition between Splash and another announced mermaid
film from Warner Brothers that had lined up Warren Beatty
as its star. Director Ron Howard
promised the studio that Splash would be filmed quicker and cheaper than the other film, which eventually fell through.
The film's content (including some language and brief nudity), which was deemed inappropriate for a Disney film at the time, led to the creation of the Touchstone Pictures
label, which would release films targeted towards older audiences. Splash was the first film to be released by the new label.
, the private island paradise of the Disney Cruise Line
.
's The Little Mermaid
story.
8 million budget, grossing $6,174,059 in its opening weekend and finished its domestic run with $69,821,334, making it the tenth highest-grossing film of 1984
. The movie was also well received by critics and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1984. It earned a 91% "Fresh" rating from the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes
.
Nominations
American Film Institute
Lists
and Stephen Dubner's 2006 book Freakonomics
credits the film with popularizing the name "Madison
" for girls, as does Steven Pinker
's 2007 The Stuff of Thought
. 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. 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. In both cases, the characters have practically no social life and various enemies.
In Tom Green
's 2001 film Freddy Got Fingered
, when Gord is showing his cartoon "Zebras in America" to the head of the cartoon studio in an attempt to shop the drawings, he compares the cartoon to Splash calling it "A fish out of water story".
IMDB's actress & underwater stunt woman "Mermaid Melissa" films Real Life Adventures, have been a modern day tribute to Splash by replicating the mermaid tail in the likeness of the tail used for the movie. Becoming a real life mermaid underwater performer just as seen in the movie, underwater scenes are filmed using the tail not only as a prop but as a functioning realistic costume.
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
directed by Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
and written by Lowell Ganz
Lowell Ganz
Lowell Ganz is an American screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is the long-time writing partner of Babaloo Mandel.-Life and career:...
and Babaloo Mandel
Babaloo Mandel
Marc "Babaloo" Mandel is an American writer. His writing credits include the television series Happy Days and the movie Night Shift. He is the long-time writing partner of Lowell Ganz. Mandel was born in New York City, the son of a taxi driver...
. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The original music score was composed by Lee Holdridge
Lee Holdridge
Lee Holdridge is a Haitian-born American television composer and orchestrator.-Biography:He was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, of a Puerto-Rican mother and an American father, the botanist an climatologist Leslie Holdridge...
. It was the very first film released by Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
(then called Touchstone Films).
Plot
As an eight year-old boy, Allen Bauer (David Kreps) is vacationing with his family near Cape Cod. While taking a sight-seeing tour on a ferry, he gazes into the ocean and sees something below the surface that fascinates him. Allen jumps into the water, even though he cannot swim. He grasps the hands of a girl who is inexplicably under the water with him and an instant connection forms between the two. Allen is quickly pulled to the surface by the deck hands and the two are separated, though no one else apparently sees the girl. After the ferry moves off, Alan continues to look back at the girl in the water, who cries at their separation. She then dives underwater again, showing her mermaid's tail. Allen comes to believe the encounter was a near-death hallucinationHallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
, but his bond with the mermaid proves so strong that his subsequent relationships with women invariably fail as he seeks the connection he felt with the mermaid.
Years later, Allen (Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
) is a co-owner of a wholesale fruit and vegetable business in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with his womanizing brother, Freddie (John Candy
John Candy
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
). Depressed after his latest breakup, Allen returns to Cape Cod, where he briefly encounters eccentric scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
Dr. Walter Kornbluth (Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein...
), and again falls into the sea. He wakes up on a beach where he encounters a beautiful nude woman (Daryl Hannah
Daryl Hannah
Daryl Christine Hannah is an American film actress. After making her screen debut in 1978, Hannah starred in a number of Hollywood films throughout the 1980s, notably Blade Runner, Splash, Wall Street and Roxanne and Kill Bill.-Early life:Hannah was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Susan...
) who, unknown to him, is the mermaid he met as a boy (her tail transforms into legs when it becomes dry). He instantly becomes attracted to her, as she again saves him from drowning. After kissing him, she dives into the sea and leaves Allen to return home. Kornbluth, while diving seeking proof of strange sea creatures, also encounters the mermaid in her sea form, whom he becomes obsessed with finding again.
The mermaid finds Allen's wallet that he dropped in the water and decides to find him in New York. She comes ashore nude
Public nudity
Public nudity or nude in public refers to nudity not in an entirely private context. It refers to a person appearing nude in a public place or to be seen from a public place. It also includes nudity in a semi-public place, where the general public is free to enter, such as a shopping mall...
at Liberty Island
Liberty Island
Liberty Island is a small uninhabited island in New York Harbor in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. Though so called since the turn of the century, the name did not become official until 1956. In 1937, by proclamation 2250, President Franklin D...
, where she is arrested for indecent exposure
Indecent exposure
Indecent exposure is the deliberate exposure in public or in view of the general public by a person of a portion or portions of his or her body, in circumstances where the exposure is contrary to local moral or other standards of appropriate behavior. Indecent exposure laws vary in different...
. Garnering information from Allen's wallet, the mermaid gets released in his care. She picks up English from watching television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
all day and chooses the name Madison from a Madison Avenue sign. Madison is vague about where she comes from and tries to distract Allen from asking questions about her country of origin. She tells Allen that she will be in New York for "six fun-filled days when the moon is full" and if she stays longer, she can never go home again. The reason for this is unexplained, though in the Special Features of the 2004 DVD edition, there is a reference to a deleted scene in which Madison has visited a sea hag and made some sort of bargain.
Despite Madison's occasional unusual behavior, she and Allen fall in love. Meanwhile, Kornbluth, realizing that the nude woman at Liberty Island was the mermaid he had encountered, pursues the couple, trying to expose her as a mermaid by splashing her with water. When he finally does so, Madison is taken in by government scientists led by Kornbluth's cold-hearted former colleague and rival Dr. Ross for examination. However, Kornbluth regrets his actions after he learns that Madison is due to be studied and dissected, as he just wanted to prove that he wasn't crazy.
Impersonating two scientists, Freddie and Allen enter the lab with Kornbluth and manage to smuggle Madison outside. Madison makes it back to the ocean and tells Allen that he can survive under water as long as he is with her. Allen realizes she was the young mermaid he had met so long before, and although Madison warns him that if he comes to live in the sea "he can't go back," he jumps into the water after her and they elude their pursuers. Together they swim along the ocean floor toward what appears to be an underwater kingdom.
Cast
- Tom HanksTom HanksThomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
as Allen Bauer - Daryl HannahDaryl HannahDaryl Christine Hannah is an American film actress. After making her screen debut in 1978, Hannah starred in a number of Hollywood films throughout the 1980s, notably Blade Runner, Splash, Wall Street and Roxanne and Kill Bill.-Early life:Hannah was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Susan...
as Madison - John CandyJohn CandyJohn Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
as Freddie Bauer - Eugene LevyEugene LevyEugene Levy, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein...
as Dr. Walter Kornbluth - Dody GoodmanDody GoodmanDolores "Dody" Goodman was an American character actress known for her playing the mother of the title character Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman...
as Mrs. Stimler - Richard B. ShullRichard B. ShullRichard Bruce Shull was an American character actor.-Career:Shull was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Zana Marie , a court stenographer, and Ulysses Homer Shull, a manufacturing executive. Shull attended the University of Iowa and served in the U.S. Army before starting his Broadway career...
as Dr. Ross - Shecky GreeneShecky GreeneShecky Greene is a comedian known for his nightclub performances in Las Vegas, where he has been a headliner for more than thirty years...
as Mr. Buyrite - Bobby Di CiccoBobby Di CiccoBobby Di Cicco is an American actor. He has starred in several films since the 1970s, but has mostly been involved in television work such as The A-Team. His early work includes the film 1941 by Steven Spielberg, in which he plays one of the main characters, 'Wally Stephens'...
as Jerry - Howard MorrisHoward MorrisHoward Morris was an American comic actor and director who was best known for his role as Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show.- Life and career :...
as Dr. Zidell - Patrick CroninPatrick CroninPatrick Cronin is a stage, television, and film actor best known for his television appearances spanning 3 decades.He is currently working as a professor at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. He received his bachelor of arts degree from La Salle University and his master's...
as Michaelson - Jeff DoucetteJeff DoucetteJeff Doucette is an American television and film actor. Doucette has appeared in over 92 films and television series which include Bedazzled, That '70s Show, Malcolm in the Middle, Murphy Brown, Invasion, "Gilmore Girls", Desperate Housewives, Newhart, Little House on the Prairie, Highway To...
as Junior - Royce D. ApplegateRoyce D. ApplegateRoyce D. Applegate was an American actor and screenwriter. Born in Oklahoma, his most visible role was that of Chief Petty Officer Manilow Crocker on the first season of the Steven Spielberg-produced television series seaQuest DSV.In 1985, Applegate played tragic family man-turned-kidnapper Donald...
as Buckwalter - Tony LongoTony LongoTony Longo is an American actor who has appeared in many well-known television series such as Laverne & Shirley, Simon & Simon, Alice, Perfect Strangers, Sydney and Monk...
as Augie - Nora DenneyNora DenneyNora "Dodo" Denney was an American stage, television, and film actress.One of her most notable roles was as Mrs. Teavee in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder and Jack Albertson. She was initially the producers' second choice behind Jean Stapleton who did the pilot for All in...
as Mrs. Stein - Joe GrifasiJoe GrifasiJoseph G. "Joe" Grifasi is an American character actor of film, stage and television.Grifasi was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Patricia and Joseph J. Grifasi, a skilled laborer. Grifasi graduated from Bishop Fallon High School, a now defunct Catholic high school in Buffalo. He played...
as Manny - Rance HowardRance HowardRance Howard is an American actor who has starred in film and on television.-Life and career:Howard was born Harold Rance Beckenholdt in Oklahoma, the son of Ethel Cleo and Engel Beckenholdt, a farmer. He changed his name to "Rance Howard" when he became an actor. He married Jean Speegle Howard...
as McCullough - Lowell GanzLowell GanzLowell Ganz is an American screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is the long-time writing partner of Babaloo Mandel.-Life and career:...
as Stan, the Tour Guide - Babaloo MandelBabaloo MandelMarc "Babaloo" Mandel is an American writer. His writing credits include the television series Happy Days and the movie Night Shift. He is the long-time writing partner of Lowell Ganz. Mandel was born in New York City, the son of a taxi driver...
as Rudy - Clint HowardClint HowardClinton "Clint" Howard is an American film and television actor. He is a character actor with numerous brief appearances on television and films. He has played many bit parts in movies directed by his brother, actor-turned-director Ron Howard. He is also the uncle of actress Bryce Dallas Howard...
as Wedding Guest - Lee DelanoLee DelanoLee Delano is a character actor who was born in New York City. He graduated from the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater, where he studied with Sandy Meisner for acting and Martha Graham for dance...
as Sergeant Leleandowski - Migdia Chinea Varela as Wanda
- Eileen SakiEileen SakiEileen Saki was the final and longest-running actress to play Rosie, proprietor of Rosie's Bar in the television series M*A*S*H. She also had a small but memorable role in the season 5 premiere episode as the head 'Madam' of a coquetteish group of prostitutes.The switching of actresses in the role...
as Dr. Fujimoto - Jodi LongJodi LongJodi Long is an American actress.She was raised in Queens, New York. Her parents are Kimiye , a showgirl performer of Japanese American descent, and Lawrence K...
as Reporter - Bill SmitrovichBill Smitrovich-Personal life:Bill Smitrovich was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Anna and Stanley William Zmitrowicz, a tool and die maker. Bill is a graduate of the University of Bridgeport and holds an MFA from Smith College . He is married to Shaw Purnell from Pittsburgh, PA...
as Ralph Bauer
Cameos
Screenwriters Lowell Ganz
Lowell Ganz
Lowell Ganz is an American screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is the long-time writing partner of Babaloo Mandel.-Life and career:...
and Babaloo Mandel
Babaloo Mandel
Marc "Babaloo" Mandel is an American writer. His writing credits include the television series Happy Days and the movie Night Shift. He is the long-time writing partner of Lowell Ganz. Mandel was born in New York City, the son of a taxi driver...
both make cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s in the film. Ganz plays Stan, the tour guide, in the scene set at the Statue of Liberty. Mandel plays the man in charge of ice skate
Ice skate
Ice skates are boots with blades attached to the bottom, used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice. They are worn as footwear in many sports, including ice hockey, bandy and figure skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with...
rentals who tackles Tom Hanks' character when he tries to run out with his skates still on. Director Howard's father, actor Rance Howard
Rance Howard
Rance Howard is an American actor who has starred in film and on television.-Life and career:Howard was born Harold Rance Beckenholdt in Oklahoma, the son of Ethel Cleo and Engel Beckenholdt, a farmer. He changed his name to "Rance Howard" when he became an actor. He married Jean Speegle Howard...
, can be seen early in the film, screaming at Hank's character about "his cherries". Howard's brother, Clint Howard
Clint Howard
Clinton "Clint" Howard is an American film and television actor. He is a character actor with numerous brief appearances on television and films. He has played many bit parts in movies directed by his brother, actor-turned-director Ron Howard. He is also the uncle of actress Bryce Dallas Howard...
, can be seen as a wedding guest, identified by Candy's character as the bride's brother and yelled at by Hanks.
Spinoffs
- A sequel, Splash, TooSplash, TooSplash, Too is the 1988 Disney TV movie sequel to the 1984 movie Splash . Directed by Greg Antonacci and written by Bruce Franklin Singer...
(directed by Greg AntonacciGreg AntonacciGregory Antonacci is an American television actor, director, producer and writer.As a director, producer and writer, he worked on a number of television series namely Brothers, The Tortellis, Perfect Strangers, The Royal Family, The John Larroquette Show, Herman's Head, It's a Living and other...
), appeared in 1988 as a television film (contradicting the first movie's finale revelation that if Allen goes to live in the sea, he can never return). Only one member of the original cast, Dody GoodmanDody GoodmanDolores "Dody" Goodman was an American character actress known for her playing the mother of the title character Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman...
, the Bauers' slightly deranged assistant Mrs. Stimler, reprises her role. - A novelization of the film, written by Ian MarterIan MarterIan Don Marter was an English actor and writer, perhaps best known for his role as Harry Sullivan in the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, from December 1974 to September 1975 as a regular, with a one story return in November and December 1975...
(under the pen name Ian Don), was published by Target BooksTarget BooksTarget Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became well known for their highly successful range of...
in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Production
According to the documentary on the Splash: 20th Anniversary Edition DVD in 2004, producer Brian GrazerBrian Grazer
Brian Thomas Grazer is an Academy Award-winning American film and television producer who co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. Together they have produced many acclaimed films, including Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind .- Career :Brian Grazer began his career as a producer...
had pitched the film to numerous studios but was turned down repeatedly until Walt Disney Productions
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
, then headed by Ron Miller
Ron Miller
Ron Miller may refer to:* Ron W. Miller, son-in-law of Walt Disney and CEO and president of Walt Disney Productions in the 1970s and 80s* Ronald H. Miller, author and a professor of religion at Lake Forest College* Ron E...
, agreed to produce the film. An issue at the time of production was the competition between Splash and another announced mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
film from Warner Brothers that had lined up Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
as its star. Director Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
promised the studio that Splash would be filmed quicker and cheaper than the other film, which eventually fell through.
The film's content (including some language and brief nudity), which was deemed inappropriate for a Disney film at the time, led to the creation of the Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
label, which would release films targeted towards older audiences. Splash was the first film to be released by the new label.
Filming
The beach where Tom Hanks first encounters the nude Daryl Hannah is on the former Gorda Cay in the Bahamas. It is now Castaway CayCastaway Cay
'Castaway Cay' is a private island in the Bahamas which serves as an exclusive port for the Disney Cruise Line ships Disney Wonder, Disney Magic, Disney Dream, and Disney Fantasy. It is located near Great Abaco Island, and was formerly known as Gorda Cay...
, the private island paradise of the Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line is an American cruise line company owned and operated by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, a division of The Walt Disney Company and is headquartered in Celebration, Florida. The business is run by President Karl Holz. Disney Cruise Line operates the Disney Cruise Line Terminal,...
.
Mermaid
The mermaid tail which Daryl Hannah wore was manufactured by Robert Short Productions. It is fully functional: Hannah swam with the mermaid tail so fast that her safety team could not keep pace with her. According to the DVD documentary, Hannah had been swimming "mermaid" style with her legs bound together since she was a child, due to her fascination with Hans Christian AndersenHans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
's The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid
"The Little Mermaid" is a popular fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince...
story.
Reception
The movie was a huge financial success. It was produced on an USD$United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
8 million budget, grossing $6,174,059 in its opening weekend and finished its domestic run with $69,821,334, making it the tenth highest-grossing film of 1984
1984 in film
-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.* Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....
. The movie was also well received by critics and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1984. It earned a 91% "Fresh" rating from the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Awards
Wins- Saturn Award for Best Actress - Daryl Hannah
- National Society of Film CriticsNational Society of Film CriticsThe National Society of Film Critics is an American film critic organization. As of December 2007 the NSFC had approximately 60 members who wrote for a variety of weekly and daily newspapers.-History:...
Award for Best Screenplay - Bruce Jay Friedman, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
Nominations
- Academy Award for Best Writing, Original ScreenplayAcademy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the...
- Bruce Jay Friedman, Lowell Ganz, Brian Grazer, Babaloo Mandel - Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
- Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original ScreenplayWriters Guild of America Award for Best Original ScreenplayThe Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay is one of the three film writing awards given by the Writers Guild of America Award....
- Bruce Jay Friedman, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel - Saturn Award for Best DirectionSaturn Award for Best DirectionThe following is a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Direction:-Multiple Winners:*James Cameron - 5 awards*Steven Spielberg - 4 awards*Peter Jackson - 3 awards*Bryan Singer - 2 awards...
- Ron Howard - Saturn Award for Best Fantasy FilmSaturn Award for Best Fantasy FilmThe following are a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Fantasy Film:...
- Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor - John Candy
- Saturn Award for Best Make-UpSaturn Award for Best Make-upThe following is a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Make-up:...
- Robert J. Schiffer - Young Artist AwardYoung Artist AwardThe Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...
for Best Family Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
Lists
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - Nominated
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions - Nominated
- AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
- Nominated Fantasy Film
Impact on popular culture
Steven LevittSteven Levitt
Steven David "Steve" Levitt is an American economist known for his work in the field of crime, in particular on the link between legalized abortion and crime rates. Winner of the 2004 John Bates Clark Medal, he is currently the William B...
and Stephen Dubner's 2006 book Freakonomics
Freakonomics
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything is a 2005 non-fiction book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner. The book has been described as melding pop culture with economics, but has also been described as...
credits the film with popularizing the name "Madison
Madison (name)
Originally, Madison, commonly spelled Maddison in Northeastern England, was only used as a surname, a variant of Mathieson meaning son of Matthew, although possibly occasionally standing for son of Maddy, where Maddy is a pet form of Maud.Madison has become a rather popular female given name in...
" for girls, as does Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
's 2007 The Stuff of Thought
The Stuff of Thought
The Stuff of Thought: Language As a Window Into Human Nature is a New York Times best-selling book by Harvard experimental psychologist Steven Pinker published in 2007...
. 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
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and then DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, the name's popularity has skyrocketed.
According to the Social Security Administration
Social Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits...
, the name "Madison" was the 216th most popular name in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for girls in 1990, the 29th most popular name for girls in 1995, and the 3rd most popular name for girls in 2000. In 2005, the name finally cracked the top 50 most popular girls' names in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and articles in British newspapers credit the film for the popularization.
Butch Hartman
Butch Hartman
Elmer Earl "Butch" Hartman IV is an American animator, executive producer, animation director, storyboard artist, voice actor, occasional singer, producer, and creator of the animated series The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy.-Childhood:Hartman was born in Highland Park,...
once credited the Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein...
character as the inspiration for his character of Denzel Crocker on The Fairly Oddparents
The Fairly OddParents
The Fairly OddParents is an American-Canadian animated television series created by Butch Hartman about the adventures of Timmy Turner, who is granted fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001 on Oh Yeah!...
. Both characters are obsessed with a certain legendary creature and spend their free time trying to prove that such creatures exist. In both cases, the characters have practically no social life and various enemies.
In Tom Green
Tom Green
Michael Thomas "Tom" Green is a Canadian actor, rapper, writer, comedian, talk show host and media personality. Best known for his shock humour brand of comedy, Green found mainstream prominence via his MTV television show The Tom Green Show...
's 2001 film Freddy Got Fingered
Freddy Got Fingered
Freddy Got Fingered is a 2001 American comedy film directed, co-written by and starring Tom Green. Some of the scenes feature similar antics to those seen in his own The Tom Green Show and scenes in Road Trip. It is largely built around gross-out and shock humor...
, when Gord is showing his cartoon "Zebras in America" to the head of the cartoon studio in an attempt to shop the drawings, he compares the cartoon to Splash calling it "A fish out of water story".
IMDB's actress & underwater stunt woman "Mermaid Melissa" films Real Life Adventures, have been a modern day tribute to Splash by replicating the mermaid tail in the likeness of the tail used for the movie. Becoming a real life mermaid underwater performer just as seen in the movie, underwater scenes are filmed using the tail not only as a prop but as a functioning realistic costume.
Soundtrack releases
An official fourteen-track soundtrack for the film was released on both vinyl LP and cassette in the UK by Cherry Lane Records Ltd in 1984. Both have been out of print for many years. The catalogue numbers for these releases were PIPLP 710 and ZCPIP 710 respectively. In 2000 the soundtrack was released on a twenty six track CD in the U.S. by Super Tracks Music Group. The back cover states that this product is "For Promotional Use Only" and that it has been "Manufactured for the composer...". Although this release is very hard to find brand new and may in fact be out of print, it is still obtainable from certain movie soundtrack specialist retailers and also occasionally used from certain online stores. This CD has every track that the LP and cassette have but has a considerably longer running length due to the twelve extra tracks. These extra tracks include more of the original music from the film, the theme song (by Lee Holdridge and Will Jennings) sung by Rita Coolidge and alternate versions of some of the tracks which appear on the LP and Cassette. The catalogue number for this release is LH CD - 02.Cherry Lane album track listing
- Love Came For Me (Love Theme) (2:34)
- Madison In Bloomingdale's (1:37)
- Mermaid On the Beach (2:32)
- Underwater (2:20)
- Reflection (1:03)
- Rainy Night (2:40)
- Face To Face (1:25)
- Escape And Chase (2:54)
- Madison And Allen (3:04)
- Moonlit Night (2:56)
- Daydream (:55)
- Raid On A Museum (:50)
- The Leap To Freedom (3:35)
- Return Home (1:23)
Super Tracks album track listing
- Main Title (1:51)
- First Meeting (1:33)
- The Boat/Mermaid On The Beach (2:34)
- Underwater - Version #1 (1:29)
- Underwater - Version #2 (1:25)
- Daydream (:57)
- Madison At Bloomingdale's (1:09)
- In The Bar (2:12)
- Late At Night (2:35)
- Watching TV (1:24)
- "I Love You" (1:41)
- Rainy Night (2:38)
- All Wet (1:07)
- Sneak Attack (1:03)
- Raid On A Museum (:43)
- Reunion (1:21)
- Escape And Chase (2:55)
- The Leap For Freedom (2:20)
- Return Home (2:14)
- Love Came To Me (Love Theme) - Rita Coolidge (4:30)
- End Title (3:07)
- Rainy Night - Version #2 (2:37)
- Escape And Chase - Film Version (2:54)
- The Leap For Freedom - Film Version (2:20)
- Love Came For Me - Solo Sax Version (2:36)
- Love Came For Me - Solo Guitar Version (3:48)