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: Annie's cast-enclad leg is briefly visible after the whale bites it off, extending down through a hole in the floor.

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:

Featured in "I Love the '70s: Volume 2" (2006)

Soundtrack:

My Love, We Are One

Grim? Perhaps not. Entertaining? Absolutely.

I've seen this movie at least a dozen times since it's release. The first time I saw it, I was very young, perhaps 8 or 9, and while I found it upsetting and sad at parts, as an adult I can look back and say it speaks so much more to me than say, "Free Willy." The movie follows the events in a fisherman's life following the capture of a killer whale. On the surface, it can appear grim and gory, but underneath there is a stirring tale about a man who has lost everything he held dear, has given up all feeling because of past events and leads an almost hostile towards life existence and then gradually comes to understand that because he was hurt, does not give him an excuse not to feel. Yes, the premise does dabble in the fantasy world, however the point isn't whether this could happen but the growth of the central character. Not once have I been able to watch this movie and not been moved by it.