Hello Down There (1969)

Thanks for the memories!

Sadly Over-hyped

People are voting emotionally.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

OK, I like the movies from this time period. I love the funny/goofy/ hippie stuff. This one takes the cake! It's so fun to watch, it's one of my absolute favorite movies ever. This movie is worth watching just for the music. The songs are so catchy! I have sung them in my head all my life since I was a little girl from seeing this movie just once! I'm so glad it's available on DVD now. I watch it over and over. It's another one of those comforting movies. The story is cute, has a little "drama" (lol!) I like that 70's way of dancing that Janet Leigh does! The kids are in a band "Harold and the Hangups" and I love the parts where they "jam". It's so very fun. Oh-the part where Tony Randall sings a song is also very catchy and fun! Very fun to see a young Richard Dreyfuss! A must see for all. Classic.

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.

A 60's film with family values, suspense, corporate greed and comedy. Showcasing the Green Onion underwater home, two mini-subs, and with the exception of Merv Griffin and his cameo appearance, a cast of actresses and actors, many years before many of them became famous in the movies.