The Day the Fish Came Out (1967) User Reviews

Mods in a Greek island

[jotix100 · 6/10 · 23 August 2005]

Michael Cacoyannis, the Greek director, working on his own material, gives us an intriguing look at a would be catastrophic end for all the people in a remote Greek island where nothing ever happens, but where just by a freak accident, it is suddenly possible.

We meet the Navigator and the Pilot, two Englishmen that have been wrecked after their aircraft, carrying two atom bombs, suffer an accident. This accident, and its dire consequences, bring to the island of Makos, in the Aegean Sea, a team of investigators led by Elias, who pretends they are interested in building a hotel in the arid place. The canny inhabitants of the island are confused as to why do they pick a place in the middle of nowhere instead of right on one of the lovely beaches.

Throughout the film we watch the two crew members running around the island in tattered briefs that, at times, seem not to hide any of the two men's charms. Word gets out that Makos is going to become fashionable and soon the jet set descends in the place, attired in weird futuristic costumes.

The island suddenly changes into a touristy place where the fun goes on forever, bu unaware of the danger from the possibility of the bombs exploding at any moment. There is an ironic twist when a peasant couple discovers one of the devices. Not knowing what it is, they are able to cut with acid into the strange box only to find out strange balls. The woman decides to keep two for her young son to play, but ultimately, the husband, upon discovering them, and thinking they are nothing, throws them into the water system.

The film seems sadly dated. Since there are so many characters, no one seems to dominate the proceedings. Tom Courtney and Colm Blakely are good as the Navigator and the Pilot. Sam Wanamaker is the head of the people trying to find the devices. Candice Bergen is seen as a model type who sets shop in the island.

Not unwatchable

[jgepperson · 5/10 · 25 November 2007]

This isn't a great movie, and not even really a good movie, but it is...well, something. It seems to be the wacky, 1960s, Greek bastard/child of "Dr. Strangelove" and "The Russians Are Coming". It popped up recently on the Fox Movie Channel. Tom Courtenay was playing very serious in "Doctor Zhivago" a couple of years earlier. Here he is trying for laughs and mostly in his underwear. In fact there are lots of pretty people wearing very little, and when they are wearing something it's often designed by the director/writer/producer himself, and it's beyond the valley of mod. In fact, the movie could use more mod and more Grecian scenery. Recommended if you like movies from the late 60s.

Enjoyable and hippie - filmed at Galaxidi, Greece

[dandread · 6/10 · 28 August 2010]

I watched this movie on-line (couldn't find it any other way - search for the Greek title "Όταν τα Ψάρια Βγήκαν στη Στεριά") for the main reason that it was filmed at the village my mother came from, Galaxidi, which is not an island but nevertheless looks and feels like an island. In fact, my grandmother owned the only hotel at the time and it was used to host the leading actors, while she herself had to host the music composer at her home (Theodorakis), the place I am currently sitting to write this review while on vacation.

The film is certainly weird, I guess Kakogiannis tried to do something progressive on his own after the wild success he met with "Zorba the Greek". One has to take into account that 1967 was the beginning of a 7 year dictatorship period for Greece where the military was in control. At that time there was a push to promote tourism and align Greece to the modern times, even if that meant dressing people in funny costumes to follow the hippie trends, show tolerance to homosexuality and the whims of tourists. I think it was around that time that the Greek islands like Myconos, Rhodos & Corfu became tourist attractions.

The film did remind me a bit of Dr. Strangelove and the dancing style looked really familiar making me believe that it was Fotis Metaxopoulos doing the Choreography (he did it for the majority of Greek films of the time).

I mostly liked the 2 stranded pilots and the leading actress that came late in the film but it still looked gorgeous. I somehow expected a happy ending so the abrupt finish was a bit of a surprise.

I think the film is enjoyable and is worth seeing to get the hippie feeling of those times.

On the Beach -a- Go-Go

[Poseidon-3 · 3 September 2004]

This unusual, way-out, black comedy about the destruction of humanity via nuclear weapons is like a surreal, gay dream. Filmed in 1967, it takes place in the near future of 1972. Courtenay and Blakley are flying a plane containing two nuclear bombs and an additional radioactive weapon that's contained in an impenetrable box. When the plane begins to crash, they offload the weapons, per their orders, and abandon the plane themselves. They wash ashore on a partially uninhabited Greek island in (inexplicably) just their underwear and have trouble coming up with a reasonable excuse they can give the villagers. Meanwhile, Wanamaker already believes them dead and amasses a team of soldiers to descend on the island and retrieve the lost weaponry. In order to keep suspicion down, they arrive in sportswear and present themselves as hotel builders. However, the sportswear is so hilariously fruity and since there are no women in their party, Courtenay and Blakley assume that they're a band of homosexuals! Adding to the confusion are a goatherd and his wife who have taken the boxed weapon to their hut and are trying every means they can think of to open it, believing it to have gold inside. Eventually, with all the interest on the part of the "hoteliers", swarms of tourists swoop down on the island and practically take it over. Then, when relics are discovered, archaeologists head there, too! It is here that Bergen makes her long-awaited appearance. She sets her sights on one of the disguised soldiers (Ogilvy) and complicates matters even more with her excavation equipment. The whole film is a comedy of errors as characters continuously misinterpret one another and nearly miss connecting with each other. The ending is abrupt, to say the least. but at last the title makes sense. Courtenay and Blakley make a truly odd duck pair and their Mutt 'n Jeff routine is only sporadically amusing, if at all. Fans of theirs owe it to themselves to see this, though, as they parade around for most of the film in the flimsiest of white briefs, especially Courtenay's almost thong-like undies! Wanamaker is forceful and displays quite a fit body of his own. His team of men wears the most bizarre and hallucinatory clothing imaginable. Nearly all of them are drop-dead gorgeous and their clothes are built to show off their assets as much as possible (trunks and clamdiggers with pieces cut out, impossibly snug crotches, shirts with mesh fronts, et al...) Bergen has a surprisingly brief role, but she does impress with her stunning looks. Never more tan or blonde, her clothes make the most of her youthful body as well and she gives the film a lift with her energy (even if her acting hadn't fully taken root yet.) Though the film is rather patchy and confusing at times (the cast wasn't even allowed to know the plot!), there is a story at work here and some thought given to the evils of greed, dominance, militarism, materialism, etc... It just isn't as coherent as one might like. The primary appeal is the chance to see Bergen at her loveliest, the frenetic dancing of the tourists, the wacky costumes of virtually everyone and the fleet of healthy men in various stages of undress.

Apocalypse What?

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 6 May 2002]

Fascinating misfire from writer-director Michael Cacoyannis concerns two atom bombs lost in the Aegean Sea, and the unconventional search team (American agents disguised as flashy tourists) who sail to a remote Greek island to retrieve them. Wildly uneven semi-comedy/sort-of drama seems stuck in a weird dichotomy of its own design: the picture is a brazen apocalyptic parody while, at the same time, a buddy picture between a male pilot and a navigator from NATO (they spend a great deal of time together bare-chested in their BVDs, though there are no sexual overtones between the two, at least none that I picked up on). It's the silliest of ventures, decked out in garish mod attire, and yet one can hardly look away. For those who do stick with it, the final sequence manages to pack a surprisingly thought-provoking little jab. We're all doomed, Cacoyannis says, but at least we'll go out dancing. ** from ****

THE DAY THE FISH CAME OUT (Michael Cacoyannis, 1967) **

[Bunuel1976 · 5/10 · 5 August 2011]

This is the first of 3 efforts by this foremost Greek film-maker that I will be watching in tribute to his recent passing; that said, I have 3 other early works of his which I decided to by-pass at the moment. Following the commercial success of ZORBA THE Greek (1964), Cacoyannis was probably given carte blanche and he responded with a Cold War satire that seems to have been inspired both by DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1963) and THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING! (1966)! The results, however, turned out to be rather limp and its failure sent the director back to his favorite subject i.e. Greek tragedy (more on this in my next review!).

The plot deals with a plane carrying nuclear armaments crashing onto a small and obscure Greek island – when the aircraft is spotted by a fisherman and the locals cheer that they will finally make the news, the U.S. Air Force is quick to dispel the rumors, asserting that no plane (and its dangerous cargo) has gone missing! In the meantime, the two pilots (Tom Courtenay and Colin Blakely, actually Brits!) have swum to land in their underwear, and they spend two-thirds of the running-time trying to figure out how to acquire some form of clothing and food but, more importantly, contact their base to give them their position. What they do not know is that a military operation – led by Sam Wanamaker and numbering among its components Ian Ogilvy – has been commissioned, arriving incognito as land/business assessors for the purposes of erecting a hotel there, to retrieve the box containing the nuclear gizmo (having assumed the pilots drowned)! Soon after, however, tourists inundate the island – having become the newest thing in paradise resorts overnight!

Others who come into the picture are a shepherd and his wife who actually discover the box and spend the entire film attempting to open it, and a nymphomaniac artist (Candice Bergen) who becomes involved with Ogilvy. The leading lady's role is quite pointless, though, especially since she leaves well before the end after having made yet another conquest! Similarly, Courtenay seems to have been recruited merely because his name was hip at the time (anybody could have played his character, and his compulsion for food is especially unconvincing in view of the actor's lanky figure)!

Though not quite as bad as the BOMB rating allotted it by the "Leonard Maltin Film Guide" would suggest, and the proceedings certainly prove amusing in spots, overall this is far from inspired stuff and decidedly forgettable into the bargain! What is more, for such a backwards community, the characters are decked out in the height of Carnaby Street fashion (amazingly, Cacoyannis personally designed the clothes!): we are thus treated to a couple of modern dances – the traditional Greek form being relegated to the opening titles, despite the whole film being scored by ZORBA's Mikis Theodorakis – which would not have been amiss within AIP's "Beach Party" franchise!

The film ends abruptly – via an ostentatious but effective series of ever-distant zooms – with the titular sequence (a multitude of dead fish are seen rising to the surface) indicating that the radiation has taken effect. Actually, the whole population is infected since the water system has also been unwittingly contaminated by the shepherd's wife! Unfortunately, the copy I acquired was plagued throughout with video/audio glitches which made the whole experience of watching the film even less enthusing!

Well-intentioned misfire

[gridoon2024 · 4/10 · 25 November 2018]

Michael Cacoyannis' follow-up to his celebrated "Zorba The Greek" did not exactly meet with the same critical or commercial success, and it's easy to see why. Its one-joke promise grows tiresome quickly, and doesn't come to its point until literally the last 5 minutes. For the first hour, the chief interest of the movie is watching Colin Blakely run around on a Greek island in his underwear; I had no idea he was so buff and muscular. At the 1 hour 5 minute mark, a gorgeous Candice Bergen pops up and provides some spark - only to disappear unceremoniously soon afterwards. I don't know where Leonard Maltin got the "whips, chains and leather" he mentions in his review - he probably dreamt them, and I WISH they were true! *1/2 out of 4.

Those wild and crazy late 60s

[Wuchakk · 7/10 · 20 October 2012]

Released in 1967, "The Day the Fish Came Out" was the next film of director/writer Mihalis Kakogiannis after his acclaimed "Zorba the Greek" (1964). This is a cautionary cold war satire that includes elements of "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming," "Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," "Village of the Giants" and the goofier James Bond flicks of the 60s-70s, e.g. "Thunderball" and "Diamonds Are Forever."

THE PLOT: After NATO plane goes down near a desolate Greek island, the two British pilots wander around in their underwear trying to find the dangerous nuclear cargo they unloaded. Also looking for the weapons is an Air Force team that comes to the island masquerading as hotel entrepreneurs. The pilots mistake them as a group of gay guys due to their gaudy apparel and lack of female companionship. Once word gets out that the island may be the next hotspot, vacationers start flocking to the island in droves. The tourists include a man-crazy blonde (Candice Bergen) who sets her eyes on a member of the Air Force team. Meanwhile, a peasant couple find the most dangerous part of the cargo and threaten to contaminate the environment when they insist on opening it.

I saw this film a couple times on TV as a kid (at least the last hour or so) and it left a lasting impression. Seeing it again recently, it holds up pretty well. The build-up is a bit too long because the story doesn't really get compelling until the final 40 minutes, but the final act is worth the wait. Besides, the film is still fairly entertaining even during the slow build-up. I had a few giggles.

Some people have complained about the dancing & clothing of the vacationers and the Air Force Team, but the film depicts events in the near future. The year 1972 would've seemed futuristic in 1966 when the film was made. The strange dancing and apparel must be viewed with this in mind. Besides, these elements and the wild music are part of the film's charm in the same way that the dancing, apparel and music of "Village of the Giants" (1965) makes it so worthwhile (despite its badness).

The theme of the flick is that humanity is progressing too fast for our own good because we are yet too primitive & flawed to handle our great developments in technology, such as atomic power. The idea of trying too hard to progress can be observed in the futuristic apparel of the characters, including the amusingly uber-mod fashions of the military personnel. Meanwhile the Neanderthal-ness can be seen in the two expert Air Force pilots running around the island in their underwear, as well as the destitute rural family living in primitive shack.

The supposed gay subtext is not actually there, except as a minor joke. After all, the males longingly ogle Electra (Candice Bergen), not other dudes; and there are more than a few scenes of hetero love-making and zero otherwise. Furthermore, the dancing in the last act is between males and females, not males and males. Not to mention a gay slur is spoken when an officer misinterprets something. Needless to say, the idea that the movie's gay-friendly is a myth.

If you have a taste for wacky late 60s or early 70's cinema, "The Day the Fish Came Out" is a must. There's really nothing else quite like it. And those final 40 minutes are great. Too bad it takes an hour and 8 minutes to get there.

The film was shot on location in Greece.

GRADE: B+

Well, the lighting was good....

[spkemp-1 · 2/10 · 28 September 2004]

This movie ranks among the worst ever, which is its only saving grace. You just have to laugh at the direction. The IMDb narrative says the actors where not allowed to know the plot in advance and we must conclude that is because it was being written on the fly.

As my title suggests, the lighting looks altogether professional, apparently because of the cinematographer, Walter Lassaly.

The director, Michael Cacoyannis, had a hit the year before with Zorba the Greek, which was based on a respected novel. But Cacoyannis wrote this movie himself, and he should have stayed home -- maybe he DID stay home from the looks of it!

It is exquisitely, if unconsciously, dated -- the costumes look as if they were stolen directly from the original Star Trek, which was one year old at the time. One of the songs is an unabashed ripoff of "These Boots Were Made For Walking"!

The scenes look altogether contrived, and they scream out how chintzy the production was. All the actors except the top four appear to be amateurs, though judging from the dozens of superfluous dance scenes, they must've been a dance troupe (from some psychedelic Greek dancing school?!) All this dancing is filler for the deficiencies of plot and character development.

Candice Bergen was 21 for this movie and, unbelievably, had made her second movie Sand Pebbles only a year before. Her costumes for this movie seemed actually to REDUCE the size of her bust -- though her young face is undeniably beautiful in this film.

Well, the lighting was good....

Embarrassing

[buddybickford · 1/10 · 25 September 2009]

Here we are again, I just took a look at some reviews, each person who gave this rubbish very high scores got positive feedbacks, one guy actually gave ten out of ten and got 30 out of 34 positive comments on his review, another guy gave this what it deserves 2 stars he got 4 votes out of 30.

Sorry to use air quotes but whenever supposedly 'cult' or 'alternative' films are being reviewed, it seems people are continually too scared to vote naturally according to their actual judgment, but concede to some self imposed dread that they will be judged negatively by the self proclaimed illuminati.

This film is diabolical, it's completely amateur, and NO being amateur does not add a unique charm, and the amateurishness was not intentional by the director and should not be interpreted in any other way than amateurish. The script is diabolical, again the script is not 'so bad it's good' it's just bad, a bad script is bad, the plot is poor not 'so poor it's wonderful' it's just poor.

The script is so bad in fact that different characters use the same terminologies and phrasing as each other, showing that the script writer when writing the script, did not have the intelligence to realize that as people have different personalities to one another, and that this difference is evident in each persons different phrasing and therefore this needs to be considered when writing for each character, but all characters have adopted the same character as the script writer as he did not write for each individual.

I wanted to see this movie just to see some beautiful Greek Islands in the sixties, instead even this was ruined as the director dressed the male cast up in screaming sixties gay attire, they looked absurd in belly tops and netted vests standing around in a small Greek fishing port, at least he didn't have them do the conga, but why were they dressed like that? I had the feeling that this was done for the personal benefit of someone maybe the producer or director as it had nothing to do with the film, really sad and gross.

But really my problem is with the voting, if people all voted this way then theoretically 'The day the Fish came out' could actually win IMDb award as the best film ever made award, I wish I could swear on this site, because I find this type of reviewing really really plucking draining as It makes a nonsense of the whole idea.

Strange yet intriguing little film.

[macemace · 9/10 · 22 August 2005]

I disagree with many of the other comments here. This film is truly worth seeing, although it is hard to find. I caught it on the Fox Movie Channel. True, the editing is crude and the film has an uneven feel. But the amateurish feel only adds to the charm, and the viewer has many messages he can choose to take with him or not. The costuming seems to parody the then current London mod craze with hilarious results. Many of the costumes for both men and women have strategically placed "cut-outs" that make the attire seem both naughty and funny at the same time. See this film for the costumes if no other reason. I think you will find this little comedy of errors charming.

Ouch! Really Bad, big disappointment

[jbar19 · 4/10 · 19 April 2008]

I looked long and hard for this one. When I finally saw it I was very disappointed.

One the positive side, Candice Bergen is smoking hot, even though she couldn't be flatter if they wrapped duct tape around her chest. There are a lot of garish, colorful and over-the-top costumes and a few goofy 1960s type dancing scenes.

But the movie goes nowhere. It is 45 minutes padded to 1:43 minutes. There's just not enough there to keep you interested. Candice Bergen, hot as she is, has a nothing part and couldn't save this movie. Plus, the ending of the movie couldn't be more abrupt or unfulfilling. The movie tries to be a mix of 'The Secret of Santa Vittoria' and 'Dr. Strangelove'. Plus, there seems to be a lot more beefcake than a standard, hetero movie would call for.... I kept expecting Steve Reeves to show up. I really was looking forward to this, but it's too boring, even from a historical perspective. Sometimes, there is a reason certain movies are hard to find.

See me get me that movie!

[services5 · 15 October 2009]

Where can I get a copy of this film? It was shown in late '67 in London and after very bad reviews was closed after 2 weeks and never seen again. The British Film Institute, when I asked over 10 years ago, only had some storyboards but no copy.

Having read the comments about the confused nature and baffling plot of the film, I can only support these from the point of view of someone who was an extra in the film. Yes we had to wear cheaply made primary coloured cotton clothes (and in my case some wrap-round 'shades' that made sweat run into your eyes.) I was travelling in an old VW van with fellow students, and we were recruited in Athens, and paid 10 shillings a day each with a cold chicken meal thrown in. Filming seemed chaotic and often appeared to made up on the spot (a bunch of bikers were filmed at one point), and at night most takes were stopped when the arc lamps burnt out. The dead fish in the harbour mostly sank. The third assistant director had great fun trying to get us to act as a crowd. The local cops prowled about looking for some longhairs to beat up (not us though as we had wheels).

The wonderful Sam Wanamaker looked stately on set, Candice Bergen looked very nice from where I stood in the background on a night shoot, Tom Courtney looked lonely off set. Colin Blakeley became a favourite actor of mine when I spotted him as I walked down the harbour towards the house used as the wardrobe, lurking in costume rags. The Wardrobe Mistress - a formidable women - passed by and told him in forthright terms to clear off as we were on the set (the whole harbour). With a grunt he shambled off in the character of a tramp. Minutes later he was on camera scoffing food at a table! Priceless! Where can I get a copy of this film?

They are looking for a bomb. They should look in the tin cans the film is in.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 14 March 2022]

There are three things memorable about the film that prevent this from being a bomb. The location footage, some outrageous costumes and the total audaciousness to make such a hideous piece of cinema. For a film directed by Michael Cacoyannis, it's a wretched credit to his list of credits, a stinky next film to follow his 1964 masterpiece, "Zorba the Greek", and a confusing, offensive homophobic mess. Nearly naked men roam around the abandined Greek island searching for warheads aftrr a plane is spotted going into the sea, with Tom Courtenay and Colin Blakely in filthy briefs hiding from what seems to be a circuit party get-away. However, the situations and language indicates isnt even though the two men in dosing utilize a word indicating they suspect otherwise.

In support, Sam Wanamaker and Ian Ogilvy are definitely looking like that are boys in the band, but a cameo by Candice Bergen seems to indicate otherwise as the ensemble of pretty boys ogles her. This fiim thinks it's being funny, however it is anyting but. Word of mouth must have gotten around of the extreme partial male nudity that brought in a certain type of crowd who were obviously aghast over the slurs used towards them. Another aspect is that the film doesn't really seem to know what it wants to be, whether a farce or some sort of spy drama, or a campy parody of international cinema featuring actors from around the world. This is definitely going to be added to my list of films ranked as the stank of the 60's.

A subtle and intelligent black comedy

[Mihnea_aka_Pitbull · 10/10 · 11 February 2009]

I was 15 when I saw this movie, and it really got to me. I remember well the paranoid fears it set into my teenager mind, as making me aware of the annihilation danger we were all living in, if only... Definitely, it became one of THOSE "warning-movies" that prevented the disaster to happen (same as Stanley Kramer's "On the Beach", for instance) - what we could call: "An anti-fulfilling prophecy" (by contrast with the "self-fulfilling" ones).

By all means, it's a very subtle and intelligent piece of work. The harsh humor, with black and erotic overtones, the pointed satire, the sharp accents of social criticism, all contribute to build up that kind of deliberately deceit that eventually becomes all the more efficient. The perverse fun builds up with a well mastered precision, until the final frenzy that precedes the radioactive poisoning - a well deserved bow for Cacoyannis, in this sense, as he proved to coordinate such an exact vision, different of the wider and deeper poetry or grandeur of his other movies. Now, decades later, I can still feel how the demented laugher froze in my throat, the moment when that haunting final shot suggested total extermination. "Attention, please! Attention, please! Attention, please!..." - for years, I've repeated it in my mind, never having enough of that unique, and so strong, warning; again, it's kindred with Kramer's "There is still time, brother!"

Aaaaah, the curazy sixties....

[Xanadu-2 · 10/10 · 6 September 1998]

I saw this film as a kid and was fascinated by it. I´ve always wanted to see it again but it seems hard to find. I hope to see it again someday. Young suntanned Candice Bergen on a Greek island, asked to play "arrogant" since Julie Christie was busy. There are also supposed to be a lot of men around... + some trippy 60´s fashions, music and dances.

Entertaining, at times black comedy, at others parody on conspiracy-theory films

[nice-magic-mail · 8/10 · 4 April 2011]

I remember seeing this in 1980's on TV (cable or something). Even then (15-20 years after the film was shot) it looked still futuristic and almost nightmarish prophetic. The film definitely has its virtues and is very much worth seeing and though not perfect (hence 8 out of 10), it is excellent both as entertainment and as reflection on the human nature. Two points:

1) Don't be misled by the apparent ease and simplicity with which the characters are depicted sometimes and with which the movie starts -- upon a reflection, you may find that not all, that takes place in the movie, is graphically explained to the viewer, and that sometimes the viewer is expected to do their own thinking (and perhaps imagining) in order to connect the dots of the plot (e.g. take the character of Electra Brown and what causes her to say "Peter! Well, that's that!"). There is more to this film than a quick browsing through the scenes might reveal.

2) Several of the previous reviews have pointed out a lack of realism in the dressing of the characters and, perhaps, in their dancing (and in other aspects of their appearances), they point that people did not dress like that in the 60's neither did they dance like that. Well, I have a feeling (with no disrespect meant) that these reviews have missed a major point: the film is representing the future. The fact that today 1972 is in the past is irrelevant -- then, in 1967 this was in the future. The script was written in 1966, the film was made in 1967, but it depicts the 'future' -- 1972, which was still whole five years ahead. Given that in the 60's for five years the fashion, the way of life and the experience of the world for many people had changed quite radically, the common expectation and perception in 1966 were that the world in 1972 would be vastly different, the fashion would be different, the people would dance differently, perhaps even talk, walk and act differently than they were doing it in 1967. Year 1972 seemed so distant, given the rate of changes in the lives of many people in the 60's, that it would be in today's terms almost equivalent to perhaps 2072. For this reason, not only the director wanted to make the costumes very different from those worn in the 60's, but he had to -- because in the minds of the viewers he was depicting almost a distant future. For example note the talk about the landing on the moon -- in 1967 this was only a future possibility). As to my personal impression: I quite enjoyed it all -- the attempt to guess what people might be wearing in the future, what kind of a dance would become fashionable and even how people might one one day be booking their own holidays using computers (remember: in 1967 most people would only have seen a computer in another film, and even then that computer would have been shown to have a 'front panel' with switches toggled by a maniacal operator, cf. with what this movie shows for the 'distant' 1972: a QWERTY keyboard on which the character has to type the name of the destination. This was 'magic' in 1967.

Bottom line: thoroughly recommend this movie -- entertaining and thought-provoking, and simply fun to watch. What it says about the methods of the governments and certain organisations to deal with dangerous incidents seems to be so true to life, that since then it has been repeated in reality at least several times. In the beginning of the movie the 'Commander' tells the staff: "Keep your heads and pretend that nothing has happened". Weren't the staff at Tchernobyl and Fukushima power plants, or the Kursk submarine, asked to do the same, until it was no longer possible to hide the true extend of the events? And did not this approach cost human lives, prolong and worsen the disaster?

Costume designer is the film's director - Michael Cocoyannis!!

[alliereadsbooks · 10/10 · 12 April 2008]

(from the back cover of "The Day The Fish Came Out" OST album) "Michael Cacoyannis was the writer, producer and director of "Zorba the Greek." He has combined these same artistic forces and added his own costume designs for his newest production, "The Day The Fish Came Out."

Since many of the previous comments make mention of the costumes, I humbly submit that IMDb should add this credit to both the movie's and director's pages.

When this film was recently aired, my roommate and I were discussing the costume design and wondering if the designer was someone like André Courrèges or another mod sixties designer, because many of the elements seemed familiar. (Ambra Danon used some similar elements in the costumes for the undercover policemen in "La Cage Aux Folles II", such as mesh, hot pants, patent leather, and cut outs.) My roommate happens to own the soundtrack, and much to our surprise we found the above quote on the album cover. Mystery solved!

Hilarious farce, excellent movie

[rich-106 · 9/10 · 21 September 2013]

You can get plot summaries from other reviews. The movie was made during the "mod" era of fashion and when fear of nuclear bombs was very high. IMHO The idea of the film is that humankind is trying too hard to progress and we going too fast for our own good. We are still too primitive and error-prone to handle big advances in technology like nuclear power. This idea of pushing too hard is reflected in the extreme costumes of the cast. The idea of human primitiveness is reflected in the near nakedness of the highly trained air force pilots and the poor shepherd family in the hut. IMHO, some reviewers harp on a supposed gay theme that is not really there. The young men in the movie lust after Candice Bergen. There are several scenes of heterosexual sex in the movie and none otherwise. The word "f*gg*t" is used once when a pilot mistakes a conversation. The military men's costumes are an extreme and hilarious version of mod fashion during that period.

Those that have heard her before can tell that Candice Bergen character's voice is definitely Bergen's in some scenes but in others it may have been dubbed. In any case she is 21 and gorgeous in this film.

For me anyway, this was a comedy of human errors, of miscommunication, and of mistaken identities that was very well done. Well worth a watch.

Fab Musical Score

[rbcare-care · 2 December 2012]

I was probably one of the few people to see this film on its original release, in New York, in some smart cinema on the east side as I recall.

I rather liked it (for a variety of reasons all of which I won't go into here), then it virtually disappeared for years.

Once I did manage to catch it on a late night movie channel out of Baltimore, 45 if I remember correctly. The reception and (disappointingly) the color were atrocious. But I still liked it and for all of the same reasons.

One of the main ones is the unique musical score by Mikis Theodorakis. It's a kind of eclectic, almost post-modern fusion of Greek ethnic and avant garde sounds, jaunty, lyrical melodies, and a dynamic end-of-the-world dance track called "The Jet". All very appealing.

It's still one of my favorite vinyl STs. Play it once and the tunes are in your head for days.

Would love to have a good restored and annotated copy of this film on DVD and BluRay.

The Fish Came Out

[EdgarST · 8/10 · 13 January 2018]

I was inspecting today two copies I acquired of «The Day the Fish Came Out»: a Greek copy with the 20th Century-Fox logo at the beginning, and a download with the International Classics logo instead. I remembered that when I watched it for the first time in 1967, as a 16-year old teenager I liked the film a lot, but I could not figure out what was going on. I guess I was a chaste Catholic boy, who had never heard of fish poisoning, the destruction of villages and nature by tourism and nuclear weapons, let alone the role of sex in world politics. And today when I was checking both copies, I was somehow surprised at how clever director Mihalis Kakogiannis had been by 1967, and I wondered if he was consciously making a film about menaces to ecology, both chemical and human, and the opening of sexual orientations. If he was doing so, Mr. Kakogiannis was a true visionary. I would have to watch the film again (for the nth time) to answer my own question, but it is interesting how accurate his vision of future society was. Check today: fashion-obsessed persons, waters poisoned, nature destroyed, the lost paradisaical spots in islands and remote places, and the opening of many homosexuals (although the acceptance of different life styles is still a closed subject for the majorities). Director Kakogiannis was a homosexual, and his dramatic strategy resembles those of many other gay filmmakers who conceived artistic canvases where their sexual orientation ruled, from Cukor to Almodóvar. By the way, the Greek copy looks much better, and the colors are brighter. Still the movie deserves a better DVD release.

I've even tried to contact Candice Bergen to get this movie.

[kpadreco · 22 December 2001]

It was the dancing scene that did me in. Everybody was dancing in sandals, Leather Roman type with one strap around the big toe types. The dance, the beat to the music, it seemed so futuristic. Who can I contact to set the wheels in motion to get this motion picture? I'll even take 8 mm.

It's no Sci-Fi at all!

[RodrigAndrisan · 8/10 · 13 November 2017]

This is a very special one, made after a real fact. It is a unique melange of Comedy and Drama. Actually, it's a big Drama treated, like only Cacoyannis knew, with an original Comedy tone. The film which Michael Cacoyannis made after the absolute masterpiece which is "Zorba the Greek". And it's not bad! Tom Courtenay, Sam Wanamaker and Colin Blakely are very good in their roles. And Candice Bergen is very hot & sexy. All four, they are great great actors. Unfortunately, Blakely died so young and Wanamaker too is not among us anymore.

WELL DONE 1966 Movie-Based on Real Incident!

[dacuda · 9/10 · 25 December 2018]

Wow! a really good movie presenting as said in the beginning the real incident on January-17-1966 at Palomares Spain! when a collision in the air released 4 Nuclear Bombs on land and sea and released Deadly- Plutonium Radiation etc! and to this day there is still Contaminated land and when the accident happened and the radiation was released in the water the fish did all die along with other Sea & Land Creatures & Birds etc. and also the tourist economy of the area etc! Also the movie was actually filmed starting in July/August of 1966! & Scouting and Casting well before etc. So Think 1966! Also some of the sun visors ideas are actually used now and it was a hot Island of Greece so the clothing makes sense aside from the Appropriate Greek Classic Toga outfits etc. An Amusingly Presented movie based on a Real Incident That Is Still Serious and actually happened numerous times after this and also before this incident etc! I think ouch seeing the actors have to walk barefoot on those rocks & bet they said Ouch more then once and have some stories to tell about cut feet etc! Like the already done then auto light sensors & Computers for info to pick and make reservations for trips & Detecting Equipment used to locate the lost Bombs etc!