Seems every comment is obsessed with comparing this film to another film of the era, well I'm not going to say it's name as it's been said too much already.Certainly you'd have to say that if not for the success of that other film, studios wouldn't have been motivated to green light this film, but that's where the relationship ends.Orca is definitely not a rip-off of that film, the story line, tone, music...all completely different. I like that other film as well, but there is simply no comparing them, and the people who brush by this film cuz they think it's just a silly B-Movie are really missing out.Sure, this film, like any, has some flaws, I think at times the actions of the humans can range from contradictory, to confusing, to downright "OK, why on Earth are you doing what you're doing right now?" but these things don't ruin the overall feel of the film.This film is very emotional, it goes to some tough places and has some very thought provoking questions, Richard Harris does a great job playing a man tortured by guilt and struggling to know what is the right thing to do. The score in this is amazing and even after all these years most of the visuals are still beautiful to look at, I definitely recommend people give this a chance.

The wake of "Jaws" (1975), Producer Dino De Lautentiis bought in option off from an Italian writers duo and had it in rumors polished by Robert Towne to realize a movie on a mammal going rough against its aggressors. "Orca" the killer whale, who takes the hopelessly isolated character of Captain Nolan, performed by a distressed Richard Harris in his prime, who had been unable to receive love by a classy performing Charlotte Rampling as the character of Rachel Bedford.The film, released in Summer 1977, when "Star Wars" had already been part of movie history, was neglected due to its shear brutal force of nature against its leading character. Killing the offspring with carrying mother in a fish hunting venture plunged in debt by Cpt. Nolan, the name-given whale is out for vengeance, making no stops against its nemesis.The uncompromising dark subject matter of "Orca" lets the film become for a majority of spectators be uncomfortably. The spoiled audience of season 1976/1977 with a dream-state "Rocky" (1976) picture and society-exposing "Annie Hall" (1977) directed by Woody Allen at the peak of box office as well as critic's billboards, puts the picture directed by Michael Anderson still in a niche for cineasts."Orca" has not much splendor nor glow about it. Nevertheless the carefully created fate of its leading character Cpt. Nolan encountering the love of his life impersonated in the character of Rachel on a stony beach with cloudy skies on Newfoundland, Canada brings the 90-minute-movie to a heart-breaking state.Where Director Steven Spielberg lifted all his youth-striking skill, borrowed from Masters as Alfred Hitchcock to create a story-driven thrill-ride for "Jaws" (1975), "Orca" stays on calmer coves with an exceptional sound design by John Bramall and a haunting score by Ennio Morricone.The picture may not be the most polished one in its writings or directions, but "Orca" creates its horrors rather on-screen than the hours after the curtains comes down, when a specter realizes that the human existence can only be fulfilled through shared love to another human being or the full contact battle with nature itself.© Felix Alexander Dausend (for Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

I'm not going to go off the deep end like some other reviewers and say that Orca is a better film than Jaws. It's not. Jaws is a timeless classic and I think one of the best films of all time (whenever a film changes the way you think or live that means an impression has really been made and how many people avoid swimming in shark waters after this? Many!). The 2 films are quite different in many ways, the main one being that the shark in Jaws is a mindless eating machine on a rampage whereas the killer whale in Orca actually has emotions & intelligence, just like a human. Of all the Jaws "ripoffs", Orca is without a doubt the best, even though I hate calling it a ripoff but it is.The score is fantastic and very sad. The special effects were excellent in a time when CG didn't exist. Richard Harris was brilliant as Nolan and very credible at that. I thought the plot was unique, revenge seeking mammal vs man. When the Jaws franchise tried something similar in Jaws 4 the revenge, it failed miserably.This movie is entertaining and a little different than the rest. Although the plot may not be deemed credible by some, the rest of the movie is and if you "lose yourself" to the movie and just let yourself be entertained for a couple hours, you might just like it.

Surprisingly good "killer mammal over the open sea" flick which happened to follow only two years after a certain film directed by Steven Spielberg about a predatory killer Great White. That bit of misfortune plagues what is otherwise a rather nifty "nature goes a killin'" horror flick. Good casting is especially in this film's favor. Richard Harris is really a very valuable anchor for the film (pun intended) while Charlotte Rampling was another bit of solid casting that helps to bring some real acting chops to what can viewed as "just another one of those Jaws rip-offs". Ultimately this is about revenge on the mind of a male killer whale after Harris's captain accidentally kills its pregnant female mate trying to capture it with a harpoon. Knicking the fin of the male, this "mark of identification" lets the viewer know (when the whale doesn't leap from the water to recognize its presence to those he wants to see his handiwork (like causing boats to sink after attacking them or causing a nearby fishing village factory to go kaboom) when the whale is hanging around. The fetus spilling from the rope-caught female with large cuts on its torso onto Harris' deck is horrifying (as it should be), reminding of him of his loss of wife and child to a drunk driver.Rampling is a marine scientist with extensive knowledge of whales. She tries to reason with Harris over confronting the killer whale, soon realizing that fisherman and whale are fated to meet in a violent conclusion. This near a polar region with ice bergs. Will Sampson arrives in the film a little later to try and convince Harris that if he doesn't "do battle" with the whale that the fishing village would turn on him due to its detriment to their livelihood. The whale's antics include snatching Rampling's assistant (Robert Carradine; Revenge of the Nerds), and two of Harris' fishermen (Keenan Wynn, basically wasted but proving how active he was even as he was aging, and Peter Hooten) while on the water. A rather startling but effective attack on a rental home overlooking the sea has the whale biting off Bo Derek's casted leg in perhaps its most memorable scene. Speaking of Bo, she isn't used much (I just assumed the filmmakers would try to get her beautiful looks in as much as possible), although her fate is quite a shocker. Harris really lifts this film with a performance that Orca needs in order to be even in the conversation with Jaws. His teetering on the edge, influenced greatly by Rampling's appeals for the whale, as the two attempt futilely to avoid a fight on the open sea, shows that he isn't just some thoughtless, honorless, heartless sociopath. And a good scene has Harris contemplating to Rampling about why he wanted to capture the male whale and how doing so has cost him so much. Morricone's score also adds dramatic weight and power to the film. The opening with the male and female whales (soon to be parted and destroyed by Harris' carelessness) rising from the water as the sun peeks from clouds is a jaw-dropper. Along with Pirhana, I think Orca is one of the best of the emerging killer fish/mammal water flicks to show up after Jaws. There have been so many rotten apples that came out of the aftermath of Jaws, but I think Orca is one of the few decent efforts of the swarm. The killer whale dismantling the shark at the beginning, saving Carradine (only later to kill him; irony at its darkest) in the process, an amusing message that speaks loud and clear regarding the attempt to pound the chest towards Jaws. The animatronic whales are incredible in their lifelike-ness.