Here is what is known about Orca The Killer Whale
It is about a whale, Orca is from the scientific word ORCA which means big sea fish.
It was released in 1977 (not the whale, I am sure he died in captivity)
The killer whale in this movie does not have a name. I like to refer to him as Reginald
No Scientists were involved in the making of this movie, upon contacting a scientist I was informed that "I don't know what you are talking about"
Professor Dumbledore is the lead human role, and gets stuck with second billing to a fucking whale, the poor bastard
Killer Whales are pussies.
No one saw this movie when it first came out, except Argentina where apparently it was so popular that two years after its intial run it was rereleased.
Bo Derek is also in this, she starred in 10 with Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore and Richard Harris (professor Dumbledore) are both dead, so is Reginald, and his wife and his unborn son
Newfoundland is in America
Whales is cleverer than humans
Here are two plot summaries (note: I use plot lightly because so far as I can tell, there is none ! ) that I borrowed from IMDB
killer whale's pregnant mate is maimed & killed by Captain Nolan (Richard Harris) during a capture attempt. The angry male orca, after grieving the loss of its mate & offspring, seeks revenge against Captain Nolan. He causes serious damage to a fishing town where Nolan is hiding out, and lures Nolan, Rachel Bedford (a biologist) and a Native American to an ice field for a final confrontation...on HIS terms.
Summary written by Derek O'Cain
I enjoy the capitalization of HIS, It really hypes up the movie and definitely rags on Richard Harris, making him seem subservient to Reginald the ORCA. I don't understand how ORCA can wreck havoc on a small village, especially when it is ON LAND, I think either the idiot inhabitants built their houses in the water, left lots of tools of destruction near the water's edge, or what is probably the most likely scenario, the Whale had legs that enabled him to walk on land.
After witnessing his mate and child's death from Nolan's hands, Orca, the killer whale, goes on a rampage in the fishermen's arbor. Under the villagers's pressure, Nolan, Rachel and an indian sails after the great beast, who will bring them on his own turf.
Summary written by M Lalonde
This again makes the whale the smarter of the cast. I also like the use of gangsta talk in reference to the word arbor, it makes the harbor sound more hardcore than it probably is.
So after reading various plot summaries here is what I know
Prof. Dumbledore accidently kills a pregnant killer whale. apparently he was trying to capture it (probably so it can be forced into a life of servitude)
Reginald sees this and gets super pissed, and vows revenge
Whale wrecks havoc
Dumbledore goes out onto the ice in a showdown with the whale
Bo Derek has her leg bit off
In the end Dumbledore dies, but Reginald seemingly content with leaving the others alone as they didn't brutally murder his wife and unborn baby ORCA
Cast & Crew
Richard Harris - Nolan - dead
Bo Derek - Annie - Career is dead
Will Sampson - Umilak - dead
Don "Red" Barry - Dock Worker - dead
Michael Anderson - Director - never had a career that could be killed, but for all intense purposes Career is dead
The movie was written by two Italians called Sergio Donati and Luciano Vincenzoni. All their movies seem to be Italian, my only guess is how they ended up on this movie was that they wrote a script about a mobster and his travels across to the United States. However the translator didn't really know Italian, and did a super horrible job at it.
Interpretations
Well a movie this deep obviously has several meanings, here they are
ANTI ABORTION
This movie was made merely a couple years after infamous Roe v Wade ruling by the US Supreme Court which legalised abortions. In the movie after the mother ORCA is killed the unborn baby is seen falling out of the momma. This movie smacks of anti abortionism, reading many of the reviews and plot synopsis's on the web I could not help but think about dead baby jokes.
PRO WHALING
Whales are viscious coniving bastards as shown by Reginald being a complete bastard and getting all Charles Bronson in Deathwish on the poor inhabitants of the village. All whales should be killed and their carcas's thrown in a dump
REVENGE IS SWEET
killing humans is fun espcially if they murdered your family
WHALES ARE NOT TO BE UNDERESTIMATED
I guess this ties in with the 'kill all whales theme', but never take your eyes of a whale !
Reviews
I was going to write my own review, but Theo Robertson From Isle Of Bute, Scotland who has almost 500 reviews under his belt put it best, and he has obviously seen the movie which is a big advantage over my not seeing it.
Date: 21 April 2003
Summary: This Whole Film Is Loony
The problem with ORCA is the premise of a female killer whale being killed and her mate going after the man responsible - Captain Nolan . What an incredibly stupid idea for a film . And it becomes even more ridiculous when we`re told that a killer whale`s overriding instinct is one of revenge . If that`s true then shouldn`t there be a myriad of recorded cases of killer whales fighting one another to the death ? Even more bizarrely we`re told killer whales are more intelligent than humans ! Oh yeah I`m sure the killer whales are winning the space race and have found a cure for cancer . Mind you the killer whale in this movie does know which house Captain Nolan lives at , and Captain Nolan does refer to Newfoundland being in America . I`d have thought that since he`s lived there for 16 years he might have come to the conclusion that it`s in Canada , an entirely seperate nation from America . So maybe the whale is the cleverest character in the film after all ?
But I`ve got to stay with my instinct and say this is a very dumb film that was made to cash in on the success of JAWS
The Onion has a great review of this movie too !
Not everyone hates this movie though, some people actually liked it, This dumb ass from Canada cannot stop speaking the praises of it. Then again it is the only movie he has reviewed which leads me to believe that it is the only movie he has seen. medic249a2
Coquitlam, Canada
Date: 11 May 2003
Summary: Underrated movie, well worth seeing
I saw part of this once when I was about 12, and finally got to see the whole thing when I was 20. I was impressed, especially with the photography & Ennio Morricone's amazing score!
I must disagree with those who called this a JAWS rip-off. It was anything but that. In JAWS, Police Chief Brody, Quint, and Matt Hooper were the heroes - the human element. In ORCA, the reverse is true - the whale is the hero of sorts, and Richard Harris' character is something of an enemy - much like the 'war' between Moby Dick & Captain Ahab. While real Orcas are unlikely to engage in destructive acts toward man, this movie depicts them as highly intelligent, on a par with man, and as such, just as capable of the most basic instincts as man - a desire for vengeance.
***WARNING! POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD***
The movie starts with an amazing scene showing two orcas mating, setting the stage for what's about to happen later. Rachel (Charlotte Rampling) is menaced by a shark, but the orca intervenes and kills the shark. After the giant whale's pregnant mate is maimed & killed by Captain Nolan (Harris), during a capture attempt, the angry male orca seeks revenge on Captain Nolan. It attacks & sinks boats in a fishing port harbor - save for that of Nolan, after pushing its dead mate to shore in a whale's apparent show of grieving for its lost mate & child. After the whale destroys a flammable liquid canister, causing massive destruction by fire (a highly improbable event, admittedly), Nolan is forced by angry fishermen to leave the town and confront the whale on ITS terms - in an ice field. In a rare reversal of 'hero' roles, the whale triumphs - by throwing Nolan against an iceberg with its huge tail. Nolan is killed outright, but the whale leaves Rachel alone - as if he knows she never tried to harm his mate. Afterwards the orca quietly swims away into the Atlantic, his mission fulfilled.
The amazing scenes of the two orcas at the start of the film were very touching, especially when mixed with Ennio Morricone's terrific score - it adds so much to the movie. The theme played during this scene appears several times throughout the movie, accenting the male orca's grief over the death of his mate and offspring.
I DID NOT think that ORCA portrayed whales in a bad light - in order for that to make sense, you would have to apply the same logic to Moby Dick, which this story bears a resemblance to. Admittedly, some of the orca's destructive acts are unlikely, but if anything, they showed the whale's high intelligence, which no one has denied actually exists.
An underrated movie that does well on its own, and didn't have to imitate anything else.
Memorable Quotes
There are apparently not many, I found two on IMDB, The rest I took from Jaws and Harry Potter as in all honesty they are basically the same movie, and I made a bunch up
Nolan: Ha I killed that sumbitch
Reginald: *whale noises* (angry and sad)
Rachel: The killer whale. He is a mammal with warm blood, found in every sea.
Dumbledore: Dear Mr. Potter, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Soon, you and your schoolmates will join us here, and your education in the magical arts will begin.
Hooper: I'm not going to waste my time arguing with a man who's lining up to be a hot lunch.
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.
Brody: I can do anything, I'm the chief of police.
Ellen Brody: [upon meeting Matt Hooper] My husband tells me you're in sharks.
Brody: Smile you son of a BITCH!
Nolan: Damn Whales
Rachel: Whales is cleverer than humans
Nolan: you shittin me bitch ?
Brody: Take this stuff back to the office and get to work on those signs. "Beaches Closed - No Swimming. By the Order of the Amity PD". And let Polly do the printing.
Ellen Brody: Wanna get drunk and fool around?
Brody: Oh Yeah!
Nolan: There aint no laws bout drinking and boating
Dumbledore: It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live.
USELESS FACTS
Even though they filmed this movie in Newfoundland, they still could not figure out that Newfoundland was part of Canada.
Apparently this movie is referenced in The Usual Suspects
This movie looks like shit
I remember seeing this movie back on the shelves of Blockbuster and thinking to myself back then what a shitty movie.
the video box shows the whale, Richard Harris is second string to a freaking whale ! hahahahaa
Richard Harris sang McArthur Park
Reginald was filmed at sea world, and the footage was apparently recycled ad nausea
Percy Edwards was responsible for the Whale vocalizations, apparently this guy is big into that, or was, for he too is dead
death surrounds this film
Richard Nixon was a fan, Richard Nixon is dead as well (notice a pattern?)
Final Thoughts
This movie is terrible, I have no desire to ever see it. Killer Whales do not attack humans even endangered Rhino's know this. If Whales were so clever why are they the ones living in 6ft by 6ft tanks performing tricks for lousy ungrateful kids? The fact that people actually like this movie leads me to believe that evolution has slowed down a bit. This movie furthers my belief that the seventies were a waste of time. I also think there is a curse on this movie, alot of people have died who were on this!! I have not investigated them all, in fact I have not investigated any of them. But I suspect that Sharks were involved in many of these deaths. Steven Spielberg who was in charge of Jaws, was probably infuriated so arranged multiple accidents involving sharks to befall those who were involved in this movie. Congratulations Steven, no only if you could arrange for a shark to eat every single known copy of this movie we will be all set.