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 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.