Rent Orca: The Killer Whale (1977)

Silly Jaws Rip Off - Orca: The Killer Whale review by GI

A silly film that shamelessly cashes in on the success of Jaws (1975) and forms part of a cycle of increasingly shoddy films that pit some animal or other against man. Here we have Richard Harris as fisherman Nolan (think Quint and you'll be close to what the character is trying to be), who inadvertently kills a female pregnant killer whale and finds he's ruthlessly pursued by her mate out for vengeance. The whole set up is thoroughly daft but even worse it has a series of poorly thought through episodes usually resulting in a death. The film is pitched at family audiences and so there's little scares or gore even though Bo Derek (in an early role) has her plaster cast leg bitten off! Indeed literally whenever anyone dangles over the edge of a boat or a harbour they die. Really it's laughable. Charlotte Rampling costars as whale expert (or in other words the Richard Dreyfuss character) who for no reason I can properly explain joins Nolan as he's forced out to sea pursued by the whale. Keenan Wynn has a cameo as a grizzled first mate to Nolan's skipper. Despite a recent restoration to 4K UHD the film does not hold up well today.