Good concept, poorly executed.

A Masterpiece!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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.

This was fun back when it was released. Watching it now I find it even more delicious. It's a potent dose of 60s nostalgia. The Ivan Tors team did one comedy previous to this (Birds Do It with Soupy Sales), but here everything clicks into place. The excellent cast really helps keep this afloat- with sure-footed timing and affable charm. The production values are top-notch- with excellent effects and the sort of superb underwater action you would expect from the Tors team (Lamar Boren and Ricou Browning). The underwater house is great- it's everything I wanted from a house as a kid. Really quite ridiculous and all the better for it.

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??

I too, saw this movie as a kid, and will never forget Tony Randall warding off sharks with those balloons. I do, from time to time, still have the "Little Goldfish" song running through my head. All I remember is the refrain, but would love to hear it again. So, any word of a DVD of this movie? I really can't believe that there isn't one of this movie. I have seen so many rotten movies in the discount bargain bin at Wal-Mart, that "Hello Down There" should be released. Just the name recognition of the stars in this movie should be enough for some company to release it. As my peer said in the other comment, Richard Dreyfuss is a draw, so is Tony Randall. Lets get with it people, there should be a release of this classic film showing how culture in the late 60's looked those off us NOT on acid! We need this movie!

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.