Review of Orca (1977) by Ola G — 24 Jul 2016

Captain Nolan (Richard Harris), an Irish Canadian who catches marine animals to pay off the mortgage of his boat, and return to Ireland. Nolan's crew is looking for a great white shark for a local aquarium, but a scientist named Ken (Robert Carradine) is targeted by the shark. An orca comes and kills the shark, saving Ken. This switches Nolan's target to the orca. While Nolan is on the journey with his crew, he tries to capture what he believes to be a bull orca, but mistakenly harpoons a pregnant female. Nolan and his crew get the orca on board, where she subsequently miscarries. The captain hoses the dead fetus overboard as the male orca looks on screaming. Seeking release of his near-dead mate, the male orca tries to sink the ship. One of Nolan's crew members, Novak (Keenan Wynn), cuts the female off the ship, but the male leaps up and drags him into the sea, too. The following day, the orca pushes his now dead mate onto shore. Alan Swain (Scott Walker) berates Nolan on his actions after finding the dead whale. Nolan denies responsibility, but Swain and the villagers eventually find out his involvement. The villagers insist that he kill the orca, as its presence is causing the fish vital to the village's economy to migrate. The orca then terrorises the village by sinking fishing boats in broad daylight and then breaking fuel lines, thus destroying the village's fuel reserves. Dr. Rachel Bedford (Charlotte Rampling), a colleague of Ken and a whale expert, shows him how similar whales are to humans and tells Nolan that, "If he [the orca] is like a human, what he wants isn't necessarily what he should have." Nolan confesses to Bedford that he empathises with the whale, as his own wife and unborn child had previously been killed in a car crash caused by a drunk driver. Nolan promises Bedford not to fight the whale, but the orca attacks his sea-front house, containing an injured crew member of Nolan's, Annie (Bo Derek) within it. The house starts slipping into the sea and the whale bites Annie's leg off. Nolan decides to fight the orca, although with Novak dead and Annie maimed for life, Nolan and Paul (Peter Hooten) are now the only crew members left. Bedford and Ken join the pursuit, along with a Native American man, Jacob Umilak (Will Sampson), enlisted for his orca knowledge...

The film was poorly received by critics and audiences alike due in part to its similarities to the film "Jaws" released two years prior. Upon release the film received only minor theatrical success, but in recent years the film has achieved a cult following among fans of the natural horror subgenre. Today the film's reception is mixed. Many love the haunting, beautiful soundtrack by renowned composer Ennio Morricone, while others dismiss the film as a Jaws ripoff. With that said it´s hard to toally dismiss the similarities between the films, but more on the general pillars of the storyline, not the full set up of the script. Compared to the shark, the Orca has has a reason for its actions and being an intelligent entity creates a sympathetic feeling for it. It wants revenge for the loss of his mate and child. Richard Harris and Charlotte Rampling gives weight to the film as they both go full on into their roles. While the red cheeked Bo Derek looks a bit lost in one of her first roles. There´s plenty of rich photography of the Orca and Ennio Morricone's score creates a haunting vibe. However, there´s as well plenty long sequences of the Orca in play that feels like a long homage to the animal, but yet don´t quite fit the film. And there´s strange and weirdly amusing (most likely unintentionally) scenes that feels out of place as well. "Orca" is different and intriguing in a strange way, but doesn´t fully satisfy in the end.