The Day the Fish Came Out

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed and Screenplay by Michael Cacoyannis; Produced by Cacoyannis for 20th Century-Fox. Photography by Walter Lassally; Edited by Vasilis Syropoulos; Music by Mikis Theodorakis; Casting by George P. Cosmatos; Titles by Maurice Binder. Starring Tom Courtenay, Sam Wanamaker, Colin Blakely, Candice Bergen, Ian Ogilvy, William Berger.

Fascinating, funny sci-fi film which stresses extrapolative changes in sociology rather than the usual hardware in posing the cultural shock of tourists infesting a little Greek island when A-bombs and doomsday weapons are dropped there. Great combo of beefcake, homosexual jokes, wild costumes, music and photography plus solid offbeat cast.

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.

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.

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 ****

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?