Orca (1977)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

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:

Revealing mistakes: When Orca attacks Ken, it's seen that the orca grabs Ken's arm with its jaws, and then drags him into the water. However in the shot where orca drags Ken into the water, the Orca has nothing in its jaws, and Ken is nowhere to be found. This hints that a video of an orca jumping and splashing was used to complete the effect.

Quotes:

Rachel: I'd insisted on leaving South Harbor with them. I told myself that somehow I was responsible for Nolan's state of mind. That I had filled his head with romantic notions about a whale capable not only of profound grief, which I believed, but also of calculated and vindictive actions, which I found hard to be believe, despite all that had happened.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Shannon Doherty/Cypress Hill (#19.2)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

My Love, We Are One

Best of its genre

Orca is better than your average horror film. It's not a masterpiece , but it offers considerable depth in terms of human values and those values that apply to nature. The Killer whale simply takes revenge against the man(Captain Nolan) Richard Harris, who accidentally killed his mate and aborted fetus. His personal vendetta is taken to great lengths as he prods Nolan into a duel by wreaking havoc on the poor village, thus incensing the townspeople to have the matter absolved. Poor (Nolan) Harris you know that in the look on his dissipated face from the moment he heard the female whale's shriek that he was destined for demise. And we even sympathize with him. Although ignorant and callous he still evokes enough charm and humility to espouse our curiosity. However, our initial sympathy is directed towards the Orca, because of his tragic loss due to man's greed and ignorance. And the funeral scene is probably the most touching and allegoric animal scene ever filmed since 'Old Yeller'. It's sad, beautiful, and eerie. But unfortunately Orca has no forgiveness in his aquatic heart and as Nolan progressively shows more remorse and guilt due to the causation of his action, Orca persists in terrorizing and confronting his enemy. I was hoping for a more peaceful resolution, but this film takes the darker journey. Orca should not be labeled as a Jaws ripoff at all. The reason people say that is because it took place in the same era. But Orca is actually a better movie than "Jaws". "Orca" emotes more sympathy and personifies the strife between beast and man, resulting from our injustice toward beast. It expresses the values we consider for nature and creates a heirarchal balance on how we judge man and beast. Unfortunately, the characters are not very likable. It's an admiral film that attempts to promote human feelings and sadness in a film that could have easily fallen into the "Nature goes amok" genre, e.g. "Jaws", "Grizzly", "The Day of the Animals", "Prophecy", etc. Kudos to Richard Harris for bringing deeper dimensions to his character that could have easily been played on a one- note by a less experienced actor. Harris brings forth his anguish, guilt, personal pain and fears in a role that enhanced the meaning of the film.