Splash (1984)

If a movie’s main character is mermaid Daryl Hannah, the viewer has the right to expect a bevy of mermen with muscles perfectly toned and skin perfectly tanned after a lifetime in the sea. But, alas, director Ron Howard, best known for being Opie from the thoroughly wholesome neighborhood of Mayberry, RFD, gives us only one male creature in Splash (1984) to feast our eyes on, land-based Tom Hanks. Splash, though containing all the elements needed for broad, crass farce, endures as a tender, touching love story, replete with goodness prevailing and light laughs. Hannah bares most of the skin in the movie — they don’t wear clothes under the sea, so she’s used to it — but if you’ve got a hankering for some Hanks haunches, you’ll only get a little taste in this flick. Hanks is accused of being a merperson, just like Hannah, and he’s loaded into a tank to see if he sprouts fins. He’s totally naked, but uses his hands to cover up his sea cucumber.