Splash (1984)

Directed by Ron Howard. With Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, Eugene Levy, John Candy. A young man is reunited with a mermaid who saves him from drowning as a boy and falls in love not knowing who/what she is.

Splash is a 1984 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Ron Howard, written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, and starring Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, John Candy, and Eugene Levy.

This story begins in 1959, when a young boy is rescued from a watery grave by an adolescent mermaid. Twenty-five years later, the mermaid surfaces in search of her long-lost love. The girl manages to win his heart, but trouble ensues when a government lab captures her for research purposes.

There is a funny movie lurking at the edges of SPLASH, and sometimes it even sneaks on screen and makes us smile. It's too bad the relentlessly conventional minds that made this movie couldn't have made the leap from sitcom to comedy. They must have thought they had such a great idea (Manhattan bachelor falls in love with mermaid) that they couldn't fail. But great ideas are a dime a dozen. SPLASH tells the story of a young man who is twice saved from drowning by a beautiful young mermaid. She falls in love with him and follows him to Manhattan, where he is a fruit and vegetable wholesaler. He falls in love with her. She can, it appears, metamorphose from a mermaid into a human; she has a tail when she's wet, but it turns into legs when she's dry. There are a lot of jokes about her total ignorance about all the ways of civilization. She walks naked onto Ellis Island, for example, and eats lobsters -- shell and all.

Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.

Splash is a 1984 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 Disney's...

It's a rambunctious comedy coming from director Ron Howard who, with his previous, wacky 'Night Shift,' unarguably shows that beneath that Opie Taylor/Richie Cunningham persona, there's a wild and crazy spirit.

Overview of Splash, 1984, directed by Ron Howard, with Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, John Candy, at Turner Classic Movies

Read the Empire review of Splash. Find out everything you need to know about the film from the world's biggest movie destination.