Overview
Orca (also known as Orca: The Killer Whale) is a 1977 American thriller film directed by Michael Anderson and produced by Dino De Laurentiis, starring Richard Harris, Charlotte Rampling and Will Sampson. The film follows a male orca tracking down and getting revenge on a boat captain for killing the whale's pregnant mate and their unborn calf.
Upon release, the film was a minor box office success, but received mostly unfavorable reception from critics and audiences alike due to its similarities to the film Jaws, released two years prior.
In 2004, Paramount Home Entertainment released Orca on Region A DVD. In 2017, Umbrella Entertainment released Orca on Region B Blu-ray with a new 4-minute interview with Martha De Laurentiis. On June 30, 2020, Scream Factory released Orca on Region A Blu-ray with an improved video transfer.
Plot
Captain Nolan is an Irish Canadian living in South Harbour, Nova Scotia who catches marine animals in order to pay off the mortgage on his boat and eventually return to Ireland. Nolan's crew is currently looking for a great white shark for a local aquarium, but a marine biologist named Ken is targeted by the shark. An orca intervenes and kills the shark, saving Ken's life. This switches Nolan's target to the orca. Later while hunting with his crew, Nolan tries to capture what he believes to be a male 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 her mate looks on, screaming in anguish.
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