The movie of the day is Splash (1984) and starring Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, Eugene Levy and John Candy and directed by Ron Howard.

This is the first romantic movie I ever watched when I was growing up. It is about a man name Allen Bauer who had an interesting childhood experience while being on vacation at Cape Cod. Him and his family go on a boat to tour the area. Allen noticed something weird in the water so he jumps in (even forgetting that he cannot swim!) and upon closer inspection realizes he saw a mermaid.

Flash forward to him being an adult. Allen is in business with this brother who is played by John Candy in a fruit and vegetable business in New York City. One day on a drunken whim after his latest girlfriend dumped him. Allen takes a very expensive taxi ride to Cape Cod and ends up waking up on a beach. Very hung over and noticed a naked lady starring at him.

Both equally confused as to why the other is here. The naked lady (who is played by Daryl Hannah) kisses Allen and jumps into the water where she turns into a mermaid!!! I won’t spill the rest of the movie plot but it is available to watch on many streaming devices.

 

The first time I watched this movie. I was about ten years old. Mermaids was a popular subject with my friends and anything mermaid related was the hot topic!

Some interesting facts about the movie:

The fountain in the movie is on display at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Daryl Hannah had a fascination with the book the “Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Anderson and had been swimming mermaid style since she was eight years old.

Daryl Hannah’s fin was super heavy weighing 35 pounds and when the crew would break they would just lift her out with her costume and leave there because it would take her too long to reattach the fin.

Many actors turned down the role of Allen Bauer including Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and John Travolta.

Daryl Hannah is a strict vegetarian and did not want to eat a real lobster during the dinner scene. The crew decided to used the shell of a real lobster but filled it with a white tofu paste for her to use. However she cried after every take because of the fact they real lobster shells were used.

Steve Guttenberg auditioned for the lead role in this movie but obviously did not get it. However Ron Howard did cast him as the lead in his next movie (also a favorite of mine): Cocoon.