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I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Made just two years after "Jaws", this isn't the crowd-pleasing blockbuster its predecessor is; it's a more adult film, turning a whale-seeking quest into a mystical journey to the end of time. There are all sorts of ways to read this film metaphorically (maybe the whale represents Harris' desire to die because of his grief, or maybe it represents everything he would like to have done to his own wife and baby's killer), but it's also effective at a simpler level; it can't be easy (much less in 1977) to create the illusion of a whale systematically preying on humans, but they do it here. Harris is superb, and Morricone's music is magnificent. It's not a pleasant film to watch, but it has made a strong impression on me (and left me with conflicting emotions) ever since I first saw it, many years ago. It's probably one of the top 5 "when animals attack" thrillers ever made. *** out of 4.

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)

We managed to find this on the Movies! channel. In a nutshell I'd say the concept is excellent, probably rates an 8 or so, but the execution leaves much to be desired, probably a 4 or 5. So a rating of 5 or 6 is about right.The concept examines the idea of humans killing intelligent animals and where do we draw the line? Set in a NE Canadian fishing village, Richard Harris is Captain Nolan. He is on his fishing boat and apparently hunting a great white shark. But as the shark is getting near their boat it is mysteriously attacked, hurtled into the air, and killed. It was the Killer Whale, the Orca.Then they get the idea that they could capture an Orca and sell it to an aquarium, but somehow when they encounter an large pod of them, they shoot, barely wounding a dominant male, but killing a female. They hoist her aboard but as she is calling out and dying, a developing Orca fetus slips out. The Captain is distraught over what he did, but was trying to put it out of his mind when incidents started happening back at the port. The male Orca had the intelligence to know what had happened, who was responsible, and was systematically finding ways to destroy boats and buildings. He did not relent until he got his man, the Captain, who utters this line, "A revengeful Orca."Still young and pretty was Charlotte Rampling as Rachel Bedford, the Captain's girlfriend of sorts. And the 20-ish Bo Derek in her first movie, right before she made "10", as Annie. Mostly she added eye candy to the filming. SPOILERS: When the Captain fully accepted that the Orca would not relent until they faced off, he piloted his boat to the spot where he had killed the female. They played a cat-n-mouse game as the Orca led them north, into iceberg infested waters. In a show of extreme skill of planning, the Orca got the Captain stranded on an ice float, and after tilting the ice float to get the Captain to slide towards him, the Orca propelled him onto the ice to his death.

This is one of the those movies I've only watched once, and I was a little kid when I saw it on TV with my parents. In this movie, a killer whale seeks revenge against Captain Nolan (Richard Harris) after witnessing his mate and child's death, going on a rampage in the fishermen's harbor.I don't remember much from this movie, except for the fact that there were a lot of havoc caused by the whale and the human characters attempting to catch the beast from his rampage. This made the movie suspenseful and, while I was not a horror movie fan back then, I was pretty engaged by what I was watching.I was able to sense the whale's fierceness, yet tragic life throughout the story. Unlike many viewers, I didn't see this as a Jaws rip-off movie, but a dramatic and somewhat emotional movie involving a killer whale's heartfelt clash with humans. ***spoiler ahead*** At the end, as I watched the whale descend in the ocean, I remembered feeling a little melancholic by the entire movie. ***spoiler ends***Not better than most of the Jaws movies, but it's OK to watch at least once.Grade C+