Orca: The Killer Whale (1977) Movie Info
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Movie Name | Orca: The Killer Whale (1977) |
| Director | Michael Anderson |
| Screenplay Writer | Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Donati |
| Based on Novel by | Novel by Arthur Herzog |
| Lead Actors | Richard Harris |
| Cast | Richard Harris, Charlotte Rampling, Will Sampson, Bo Derek |
| Genre | Horror, Thriller, Adventure |
| Release Date | July 22, 1977 (United States) |
| Duration | 1h 32m (92 minutes) |
| Budget | ~$6 million |
| Language | English |
| Country | United States / Netherlands / Italy |
| Box Office (Worldwide) | Moderate box office success |
| IMDb Rating | ~5.8/10 |
| Notable For | Revenge-driven killer whale story, emotional animal horror theme |
| Music Composer | Ennio Morricone |
| Cult Status | Cult “Jaws-inspired” animal attack film |
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On the heels of Jaws we get this Moby Dickish flick, but it’s actually a pretty good movie with some intense and disturbing scenes. Although it was released to capitalize on the shark-flick’s success, it’s easily strong enough to make it on it’s own and it’s not disappointing if you’re a Jaws fan.
A fisherman decides to capture a live killer whale just to prove he can, instead he wounds her and causes her to miscarry her baby, both die. Her mate then follows and terrorizes until he’s given his vengeance.
Maybe I’m biased about this movie because it’s really a morality play about how we thoughtlessly torture and kill any animal that has the bad luck of encountering us. And unlike in the real world, in this movie the animal gets treated like the good guy, even when he’s nipping at f Bo Dereks legs.
In comparison, Jaws caused thousands of shark-killings because everyone saw how much they deserved to die in the movie. Orca, however, makes you look at things from the other side and see that maybe humans deserve to get eaten from time to time.
Either way, Orca is a little slow at times and can’t be fairly compared to Jaws except that it has a better ending. Not that Jaws ended badly, but Orca ended better. Orca is far better than any of the Jaws sequels, but then I can’t really think of many movies that aren’t. I’ve made bigger budget home movies than Jaws 4, with better acting.
Orca makes a great triple feature with Jaws and Jaws II next time you’re in the mood for seaside slaughter. And I do really like this movie, the idea of a killer whale stalking you is a good one.
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