Splash
original film poster
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 Films
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. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... For other people named Ron Howard, see Ronald Howard. ... Brian Grazer (born July 12, 1951, in Los Angeles, California) is a Jewish-American film and television producer who founded Imagine Entertainment with partner Ron Howard. ... Bruce Jay Friedman (born April 26, 1930) is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright who is credited with formalizing, if not inventing, black comedy as we know it. ... Lowell Ganz (born August 31, 1948 in New York, New York) is an American screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. ... Marc Babaloo Mandel (born: October 13, 1949 in New York City) is an American writer. ... Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor, Emmy-winning director, voice-over artist and movie producer. ... Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American film actress. ... The current logo for Touchstone Pictures films since 2002 Touchstone Pictures (also known as Touchstone Films in its early years) is one of several alternate film labels of The Walt Disney Company, established in 1984. ... March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (69th in leap years). ... Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ... // Events The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name. ... Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. ... Romantic comedy films are a sub-genre of comedy films as well as of romance films. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Lowell Ganz (born August 31, 1948 in New York, New York) is an American screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. ... Marc Babaloo Mandel (born: October 13, 1949 in New York City) is an American writer. ... Touchstone Pictures (also known as Touchstone Films in its early years) is one of several alternate film labels of The Walt Disney Company, established in 1984. ... The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. ...

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. Liberty Enlightening the World, commonly known as the Statue of Liberty, is a statue, given to the USA by France in the late 19th century, that stands at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor as a welcome to all: returning Americans, visitors, and immigrants alike. ... It has been suggested that Mermaids in popular culture be merged into this article or section. ...

She was the woman of Allen Bauer's dreams. She had large dark eyes, a beautiful smile and a great pair of fins.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. ...

Main cast

• Tom Hanks - Allen Bauer
• Daryl Hannah - Madison
• Eugene Levy - Dr. Walter Kornbluth
• John Candy - Freddie Bauer

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor, Emmy-winning director, voice-over artist and movie producer. ... Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American film actress. ... Eugene Levy (born 17 December 1946) is a Canadian Emmy and Grammy Award-winning actor, television director, producer and writer. ... John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian comedian and actor. ...

Plot summary

As a boy, Allen Bauer, who doesn't know how to swim, is rescued from drowning off Cape Cod by a young mermaid, and an instant connection forms between the two. When his parents retrieve him, no one sees the mermaid, who weeps at the loss of her new friend before departing. Allen comes to believe the encounter was a near-death hallucination, but his bond with the mermaid proves so strong that his subsequent relationships with women invariably fail as he subconsciously seeks the connection he felt with the mermaid. Cape Cod (or simply the Cape) is an hook-shaped peninsula nearly coextensive with Barnstable County, Massachusetts and forming the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States. ... A hallucination is a sensory perception experienced in the absence of an external stimulus, as distinct from an illusion, which is a misperception of an external stimulus. ...

Years later, now co-owner with his womanizing brother (John Candy) of a wholesale fruit and vegetable business in New York City, Allen, depressed after his latest breakup, returns to the same location, where he briefly encounters eccentric scientist Dr. Walter Kornbluth (Levy), and again falls into the sea. He wakes up on a beach where he encounters a beautiful naked woman who, unknown to him, is the mermaid he met as a boy (she is wearing the same necklace that she wore as a girl). He instantly becomes attracted to her, as she again saved him from drowning. But after kissing him, she dives into the sea and leaves Allen to return home. Kornbluth, seeking proof of strange sea creatures, also encounters the mermaid, whom he becomes obsessed with finding again. John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian comedian and actor. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

The mermaid finds Allen's wallet that he dropped in the water and decides to find him in New York. (In one scene that was deleted, the mermaid meets with a sea hag who tells her that she can only stay six days from the sea, but she has to wet her tail every day, which explains the bathtub scene. The movie instead clarifies that mermaids become human after they have been dry long enough but return to mermaid form if their bodies are soaked with water.) She comes ashore at Liberty Island naked, arrested for indecent exposure. The crowd boos at the cops for arresting a beautiful woman just because she is naked. She gets released in Allen's care. She later picks up English from watching television all day at Bloomingdales. Needing a name, Allen lists some choices as they walk. While doing so when on Madison Avenue, he asks himself aloud "Where are we? Madison," which the mermaid picks as her name. Liberty Island Liberty Island, formerly called Bedloes Island, is a small uninhabited island in Upper New York Bay in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Bloomingdales is an upscale department store owned by Federated Department Stores, which is also the owner of Macys. ...

Daryl Hannah as "Madison" from the film Splash.

Allen quickly falls in love with Madison, not realizing she is the mermaid he has subconsciously sought a reunion with all his adult life. While Madison requites his love, Allen finds it hard to understand her unusual behavior (for example, eating an entire lobster, shell and all) and has trouble accepting that this relationship might go well. Meanwhile, Kornbluth, realizing that the nude woman at Liberty Island was the mermaid he encountered, pursues the couple, although neither realize it at first. Image File history File links Production photo from the movie Splash. ... Image File history File links Production photo from the movie Splash. ... Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American film actress. ... Subfamilies and Genera Neophoberinae Acanthacaris Thymopinae Nephropsis Nephropides Thymops Thymopsis Nephropinae Homarus Nephrops Homarinus Metanephrops Eunephrops Thymopides Clawed lobsters comprise a family (Nephropidae, sometimes also Homaridae) of large marine crustaceans. ...

When Kornbluth finally proves Madison is a mermaid by dumping water on her and turning her legs into a tail, she is taken in by government scientists for examination. At first jubilant at having proven his belief that mermaids exist, Kornbluth, who only wanted people to stop thinking he was insane, deeply regrets his actions when Madison is studied like a laboratory specimen and slated for dissection. Meanwhile, Allen, stunned by the revelation, lapses into mortification at having fallen in love with a "fish". "People fall in love every day," he bemoans, "and look what I got." But Freddie finally sets aside the lascivious humor that has typified him throughout the movie to break through Allen's self-absorption: "People fall in love every day, is that what you said? Yeah? Well, that's a crock. It doesn't work that way." Freddie angrily berates Allen for giving up on Madison, with whom he has seen his brother so happy over the past few days. "A lot of people will never be that happy!" Freddie declares. "I'll never be that happy!" Realizing Madison's situation is more important than his mixed emotions, Allen calls various government officials, but no one will arrange for her freedom or even tell him where she is being held. Inmates at Bedlam Asylum, as portrayed by William Hogarth Insanity, or madness, is a semi-permanent, severe mental disorder typically stemming from a form of mental illness. ... Dissected rat showing major organs. ... A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium Fish are aquatic vertebrates that are typically cold-blooded; covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. ...

Desperate, Allen confronts the guilt-ridden Kornbluth, who still has clearance to the lab where Madison is imprisoned. Impersonating two Swedish scientists, the brothers enter the lab with Kornbluth, then Allen and Kornbluth emerge with a figure concealed in blankets, claiming it to be the scientist impersonated by Freddie, who was attacked by "the creature," who is now too dangerous to approach; the panicking security guard closes off the lab until the head scientist arrives to receive a cheerful greeting from Freddie, who remained in the lab while Allen and Kornbluth smuggled Madison outside in the blankets. After a pursuit through the streets of the city, she jumps back into the ocean. When she reveals that Allen can survive under water as long as he is with her, Allen realizes she was the young mermaid he met so long before, and although Madison warns him that if he comes to live in the sea, he will be unable to return to the surface world (she does not specify why), they both continue their lives in what appears to be an underwater kingdom. Exile (band) may refer to: Exile - The American country music band Exile - The Japanese pop music band Category: ... An underwater scene just beneath the surface. ... In politics, a country (or in some cases, a group of countries) over which a king or queen reigns, is a kingdom, see: monarchy. ...

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 "BOCCE BALLS!!!" at the sight of 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. Ron Howard's brother, Howard's father, actor Rance Howard, can be seen early in the film, screaming at Hank's character about "his cherries". Clint Howard can be seen as a pianist, at the dinner where Alan and Madison are eating lobsters. Modern amateur ice hockey skates Touring skate on ice Modern recreational skates Ice skates are boots with blades attached to the bottom, used in ice skating to propel oneself across ice surfaces. ... Rance Howard, born November 17, 1928 in Oklahoma, is an American actor who has starred in film and on television, appearing in over 100 films. ... Clinton E. Howard (born April 20, 1959) is an American film and television actor. ...

Spinoffs

• A sequel, Splash, Too (directed by Greg Antonacci), appeared in 1988 as a TV movie (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 Goodman (the Bauers' slightly deranged assistant Mrs. Stimler), 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.

Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... A television movie (also TV movie, TV-movie, made-for-TV movie, etc. ... Dody Goodman (born October 28, 1915 in Columbus, Ohio) is a television actress. ... Ian Marter (born October 28, 1944 in Coventry; died October 28, 1986 in London) was an English actor and writer, best known for his role as Harry Sullivan in the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who from 1974 to 1975. ... Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. ...

Impact on popular culture

Daryl Hannah & Tom Hanks in a promotional photo for the film

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's 2006 book Freakonomics (as well as possibly other sources) credits the film 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. Image File history File links Splashpic. ... Image File history File links Splashpic. ... Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American film actress. ... Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor, Emmy-winning director, voice-over artist and movie producer. ... The cover of this version of Freakonomics has a picture of what looks like an apple on the outside but is really an orange. ... Traditionally, Madison was a surname, meaning son of Maud. ... Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City which carries northbound one-way traffic. ... Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed Top view of VHS cassette with front casing removed The Video Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS is a recording and playing standard for analog video cassette recorders (VCRs), developed by Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC) and launched... DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...

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. The United States Social Security Administration (or SSA[1]) is an independent agency of the United States government established by a law currently codified at 42 U.S.C. Â§ 901. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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. Butch Hartman Butch Hartman (b. ... Eugene Levy (born 17 December 1946) is a Canadian Emmy and Grammy Award-winning actor, television director, producer and writer. ... Denzel Q. Crocker is one of Timmy Turners school teachers on the animated series The Fairly OddParents. ... The Fairly OddParents is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman. ...

Box Office Success

The movie was a huge success, made with a U$8 million budget, the movie grossed $6,174,059 on it's opening weekend and end up grossing $69,821,334 in the U.S. alone.

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

Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945, in Lafayette, Tennessee) is an American singer. ... Stay With Me Tonight is a 1982 single by funk musician Jeffrey Osborne. ... Jeffrey Osborne is a funk musician from the band LTD. He started his career in 1969. ... Sam the Sham is the stage name of rock n roll singer Domingo “Sam” Samudio from Dallas, Texas. ... Sam the Sham is the stage name of rock n roll singer Domingo “Sam” Samudio from Dallas, Texas. ... Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines, on December 31, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and artist, best known for a string of dance hits in the 1970s that earned her the title Queen of Disco and as one of the few disco-based artists to have longevity on the...

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 Travolta was offered the lead role at first but he turned it down because he thought the story seemed "corny".
• The mermaid tail which Daryl Hannah wore was manufactured by Tail Man. It is fully functional: Hannah swam with the mermaid tail so fast that her safety team could not keep pace with her.

Castaway Cay is a private island or out island in the Bahamas which serves as an exclusive port of call for the Disney Wonder and her sister ship the Disney Magic. ... Disney Cruise Line is owned by The Walt Disney Company and headquartered in Celebration, Florida. ... John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe Award-winning American actor and singer. ... Tail Man is a company which provides realistic mermaid tails for television, movies, magazines, commercials and promotional events. ...

See also

• Tail Man

Tail Man is a company which provides realistic mermaid tails for television, movies, magazines, commercials and promotional events. ...

External links

• Splash at the Internet Movie Database
• Splash at Rotten Tomatoes
• "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