Watch Hello Down There For Free

the audience applauded

Simply A Masterpiece

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

In this movie from the late 1960's you will see several young people who went on to be stars. I never saw this till today, don't know how I missed it. There are some likable songs, some funny moments and even some a bit scary. Overall it had some good laughs and was entertaining.SPOILER FOLLOWS!I was amazed at the scenes with the diver swimming so close to sharks, (at least they looked real) and the way the dolphins interacted. That alone made the movie special and I didn't even know it was in there. I can't imagine how they managed to film this in 1969 without getting somebody chewed up. I think most families could watch this together but little ones might need to be forewarned about the shark scenes. I know it is just a movie but the thought of being surrounded by sharks gives me the creeps.Overall it was good fun.ENJOY!!

The cast of this 1969 movie alone is enough to recommend it. A pre Odd Couple Tony Randall. A post Psycho Janet Leigh as his wife . Jim Backus being Jim Backus. Roddy McDowell somewhere between Flicka and Planet of the Apes. Richard Dreyfus facing his FIRST shark encounter (sharks were old hat to him by the time Jaws came around) Ken Barry actually playing a bad guy! And Charlotte Rae who apparently had other charges in her care prior to Willis, Arnold, Blair, Jo, Natalie and Tootie.If that doesn't give you an idea of the delightful absurdity of this movie add in a couple of dolphins that have seen 1 too many Lassie movies. Sprinkle it with sonar jamming rock music and Harvey Lemboeck. I defy anyone with an ounce of humor in their soul not to laugh at the silliness of this movie.So what's the movie about? Okay if you MUST know, Tony Randall has invented an underwater home and to prove to his boss (Jim Backus) that living under water isn't a crazy idea Tony talks his family into moving into his invention for a month. Tony and Janet have 2 teenagers that are part of a rock band that's about to go big time thanks to record company owner and boy-genius Roddy McDowell, so naturally the entire band goes along for the ride including a lead guitarist played by Richard Dreyfus. You'll find Janet's "futuristic" kitchen quite amusing...as well as the idea that when the kids practice their rock music it jams Navy sonar! Oh, did I mention that Ken Barry is a conniving coworker of Tony's and who's trying to sabotage Tony's work and take his job??

We watched Hello Down There one evening (surely it was a Friday, so there was no school the next day), all huddled on the bunk beds in the back bedroom, a water cooler set on the dresser beside the TV.This was an incredible fantasy of a family living underwater.As others have pointed out, it was virtually an all star cast.Among them, Lou Wagner as Richard Dreyfuss' brother. Wagner would go on to be the little scientist on CHiPs in the white overcoat.And Hennie Backus, Jim Backus' widow, as their mother. She appeared on Gilligan's Island as a native woman, mother to the obese native girl who loved Gilligan.Here, she marches in and terrorizes poor Charlotte Rae.The Green Onion was designed like it would be ideal for a TV series. Had this movie came out in the early sixties instead of '69, you can bet there would have been episodes and seasons available on DVD as well.Plotwise, everything just flowed. From the visit of she who would be Gladys, the de-pressurizing of the leg, the sensational shark attack, the harmless songs (and yes, we too sang the Goldfish song for years and still do).Just too much fun.Rare moment to see Ken Berry as a villain as well! For some reason, the movie bogged in the sneaking out to get the song to Roddy McDowell. It just loses its feel of underwater existence. Perhaps had it gone in reverse and McDowell and Backus and Charlotte been trying to get to the Green Onion and Randall, Leigh and Dreyfuss had to rescue them instead, thereby keeping the Onion at centerstage where it belonged and had been for all of the previous movie, this thing would have been even more of a classic.As it is, it is a big fave.We watched it years ago, well into our twenties, my sibs and I, and found it puzzling.Now, I got a copy of my own and just watched it. Terribly loved it.My sister still sings the goldfish song to her teen aged children.

This is one of those films that you get more for the nostalgia than any great quality. It is representative of the those 60's pop culture films that were made just to pass an afternoon. The real joy of it now is watching Tony Randall, Jim Backus, Janet Leigh, a (very young) Richard Drefuss, Roddy McDowell and the rest in a "family friendly" vehicle, peppered by harmless "Boyce and Hart"-like Rock and Roll. Made by Jack Arnold, The Creature director, backed up by the producer of Flipper, it's a nice romp. I saw it when I was younger and could not help but get the DVD, which has a nice crisp transfer. I was amused upon re-watching it as an adult to see that Leigh and Randall seem to be acting in different movies; he's applying just the right light, frothy touch while she is dead-on serious as if this were some deep drama instead of just a piece of light entertainment. It makes her character almost too intense at times.