Orca [Orca: Killer Whale] ** (1977, Richard Harris, Charlotte Rampling, Will Sampson, Bo Derek, Keenan Wynn, Robert Carradine) – Classic Movie Review 8741

Director Michael Anderson’s 1977 creature feature horror thriller Orca: Killer Whale stars Richard Harris as bounty hunter Captain Nolan, who is vengefully pursued by an aggrieved killer whale, in this slack action adventure drive-in movie that is part Jaws spin-off and part Moby Dick in reverse.

To be fair, the whale deserves to be feeling pretty vengeful as it has seen his mate and child’s deaths at the hunter’s hands. Nolan, Rachel (Charlotte Rampling) and the Native American Umilak set sail to tackle the monster, just like Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw did in Jaws.

The story pushes audience belief to the limits and neither the film nor Harris’s performance catches fire, even though the premise is OK and Harris is reasonably well cast. It is amusing, however, to see Charlotte Rampling co-starring as a marine biologist (called Rachel Bedford) and to catch an early glimpse of Bo Derek (as Annie). And it is short (at just 92 minutes) and amusingly cheesy.

Bird impersonator Percy Edwards provides the voice of the whale. Though the violence is only PG, this film is not suitable for children under 13.

Also in the cast are Will Sampson as Umilak, Keenan Wynn as Novak, Robert Carradine, Peter Hooten, Scott Walker (1922–1988), Wayne Heffley, Vincent Gentile, and Don ‘Red’ Barry.

Orca [Orca: Killer Whale] is directed by Michael Anderson, runs 92 minutes, is made by Famous Films and Dino De Laurentiis Company, is distributed by Paramount Pictures (1977) (US) and EMI (1977) (UK), is written by Luciano Vincenzoni and Sergio Donati (story and screenplay) and Robert Towne (uncredited), is shot by Ted Moore and J Barry Herron, is produced by Luciano Vincenzoni and Dino De Laurentiis (executive producer), is scored by Ennio Morricone and is designed by Mario Gargublia.

It was shot between 14 June 1976 and October 1976 in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada; Malta; and Marine World, Redwood City, California.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8741

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