Hello Down There is a 1969 adventure-comedy film directed by Jack Arnold, starring Tony Randall and Janet Leigh.
Randall stars as Fred Miller, a marine scientist who has designed an underwater home that he wants to market commercially. His employer is dismissive of the idea, and threatens to scrap the project and fire Fred unless he proves that he and his family can live in it for 30 days. The timing of this is problematic, as his children are in a rock band on the verge of making it big. Consequently, they invite their band mates to take part in the experiment, which draws unwanted scrutiny from a record-company executive who wants to sign them and arrange a tour as soon as possible.
Jim Backus, Ken Berry, Roddy McDowall, Charlotte Rae, Richard Dreyfuss, and Merv Griffin (as himself) also appear in the film.
Tropes:
- Informed Attribute: Early scenes make a big deal about Mrs. Miller being afraid of water, but she is remarkably calm and well-adjusted throughout the film while living in an underwater house with many portholes.
- Leg Focus: One scene shows record company owner Mr. Ashbury lying on the floor listening to a record, while also showing the legs (and nothing else) of his associate Dr. Wells as she dances to the music.
- Living Prop: Tommie Miller has little dialogue and characterization compared to his sister and band mates.
- Master Computer: Dr. Wells has a large computer that can accurately predict the consumer response to any rock-and-roll song that her boss is considering producing.
- Meaningful Name: Mel Cheever has an assistant named Jonah and comments that it feels like a good omen now that they are spending three days underwater in the belly of something bigger (a dredging submarine rather than a whale in this case). He quickly regrets that analogy after learning what an unlucky klutz his Jonah is.
- Threatening Shark: A group of sharks menace the house at one point, although they aren’t portrayed as being deliberately predatory. They are attracted by the trash the family dumps (the film was made before most environmental regulations), and when Fred tries to divert them away by spraying a shark-attracting chemical nearby, the current carries it back to the house and the sharks follow.
- Team Pet: The dolphins Duke and Duchess and seal Gladys frequently visit the house and get along well with the family, with the dolphins having some life-saving moments.
- Totally Radical: Recording magnate Nate Ashburry, Myrtle Ruth the housekeeper, and Merv Griffin use a lot of sixties slang like "gassy" and "establishment", while the teenagers are surprisingly subdued in this regard.Merv Griffin: So now, you music lovers, fasten your seat belts: for the first time anywhere, anyplace, a brand new rock group called "The Green Onion", and their manager, Nate Ashbury, tells me he is stoned on these shouters, that they're mellow yellow, turned on and groovy and the lead chick is so wigged out, she's out of sight. Not only that, I hear they're very good.
