This page is about the movie. For sudden disturbances on the surface of water see splash (fluid mechanics) and for other uses see splash (disambiguation).

Splash is a 1984 fantasy film directed by Ron Howard, starring Daryl Hannah, Tom Hanks, John Candy and Eugene Levy.

Plot synopsis

New Yorker Allen Bauer (Hanks) meets and falls in love with the beautiful Madison (Hannah). While Madison requites his love, Bauer, finds it hard to understand her unusual behavior (for example, eating a lobster, shell and all). To compound her problems, she is persued by an ernest scientist (Levy) intent on proving she is a mermaid.

Spinoffs

A sequel, Splash Too (directed by Greg Antonacci ), appeared in 1988, but starred none of the original cast.

A novelisation of the film, written by Ian Marter (under the pen name Ian Don) was published by Target Books in the United Kingdom.

Impact on popular culture

The film is credited 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. 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. In 2005, the name finally cracked the top 50 most popular girls' names in the United Kingdom, and articles in British newspapers credited the film for the popularization.

External links

• "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