Splash (1984)

From Ann Blyth, Glynis Johns and Hayley Mills to Halle Bailey, Astrid Berges-Frisbey and Gemma Ward, many actresses have played mermaids on screen but none have made a bigger splash in Mr. Skin’s pants than the swimmingly sexy Daryl Hannah in Splash (1984). When a movie’s main character is half woman and half fish, the viewer has the right to expect a sea-tossed shelf of siren’s bait flashing through a web of long, matted tresses. And that’s just what we get in this family fantasy directed by Ron Howard, who kicked off his show biz career as Opie on the thoroughly wholesome series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968-1970). The film proves that even a kid grounded in rural rectitude must have peeked into Aunt Bee’s dressing room once or twice to realize which female parts are needed to please the members on audience members. Perhaps that’s why Ms. Hannah spends much of the movie in the near nude as she romances Allen Bauer (Tom Hanks) while on land in New York City. Indeed, we get a great look at Daryl’s rock-hard butt cheeks when she makes her first appearance on Liberty Island. In another scene, we see some of her submerged nippage. Breast of all, Daryl flashes her wet rack in a tank. So that’s why she won a Saturn Award for Best Actress! Although the “boy meets gil” rom-com has all of the elements needed for a broad farce, it endures as a touching love story that proves Daryl is a literal catch!