Orca (1977)

Director:

Michael Anderson

Writers:

Luciano Vincenzoni (story) and
Sergio Donati (writer)

Release Date:

22 July 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama | Horror

Tagline:

Terror just beneath the surface

Plot:

A hunter squares off against a killer whale seeking vengeance for the death of its mate.

Plot Keywords:

Whale | Killer Whale | Revenge | Death | Ice

Cast

Richard Harris	...	Captain Nolan
Charlotte Rampling	...	Rachel Bedford
Will Sampson	...	Umilak
Bo Derek	...	Annie
Keenan Wynn	...	Novak
Robert Carradine	...	Ken
Scott Walker	...	Swain
Peter Hooten	...	Paul
Wayne Heffley	...	Priest
Vincent Gentile	...	Gas Station Attendant
Don 'Red' Barry	...	Dock Worker

Also Known As:

Orca: Killer Whale
The Killer Whale

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | UK:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia)

Filming Locations:

Malta

Company:

Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica

Trivia:

The killer whale was portrayed by a combination of stock footage taken at Marine World in Redwood City, California, and an animatronic whale which was filmed off the coasts of Malta and Newfoundland.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The film is set in Newfoundland, Canada, but in some scenes the main character's fishing vessel flies the U.S. flag.

Quotes:

[Captain Nolan has just seen the orca kill a member of his crew after the orca knocked the house into the ocean. He then looks out to the water & sees the killer whale leaping out of the water, breaching]
Captain Nolan: You revengeful sonofabitch! You win!
[the orca keeps breaching, as if taunting Captain Nolan]
Captain Nolan: You want revenge? Well, you'll have it! I'll come out and fight you! You revengeful sonofabitch!
[Nolan's boat, the 'Bumpo', steams out of the little harbor the next morning with the fishermen watching as he goes to fight the orca]

Movie Connections:

References Jaws (1975)

Soundtrack:

My Love, We Are One

MUCH MORE REALISTIC THAN "JAWS".

First off, i saw this film over a decade ago, so don't expect a full autopsy on how 70's the film was, or the plot holes. Looking back at these reviews, i must say that my memory of the plot is pretty good. Personally, when i saw this film I thought it to be pretty intense. The plot was not entirely bad. Sure it was inplausible that richard harris picked on the one genius killer whale in the whole atlantic. But am i to believe that non-human animals don't have emotions that include vengeance? No, i don't believe that at all. We hairless primates should learn not to ascribe any moderately complex emotion solely under the category "human".

To me, the real strength of this film was its allegory to the destruction of nature. I don't think it entirely inplausible that the writer wanted to symbolize the strife between man's greed, and the annhilation of this planet's animals and ecosystems. The point could have been, that our own planet at some critical point might strike out at us.

And come on you guys, after watching "JAWS" you want killer animal flicks that conform to modern day science? You're telling me that great whites do, in fact, stalk tourist filled beaches as if they were seal colonies? Now look who's living in the 70's.....

peace.