Appearing in the late 70’s Orca: The Killer Whale was one of the early examples of a Jaw’s rip-off, as it finds a lairy-play-by-his-own-rules Irish Fishman( Richard Harris) getting taunted and stalked by a vengeful killer whale. And while it certainly plays up to the rip-off tropes, it does add its own twists ‘n’ turns- with our water-bound killer coming off way more sympathetic/ justified than the money-grabbing/ arrogant human that starts it all off.  Here from StudioCanal’s Cult Classics series is a new release of the film- available as either a UHD steel book, UHD, Blu-Ray, DVD or digital release.

Orca: The Killer Whale is from 1977- it was a joint Dutch, Italian, and Canadian production.  It was filmed between Newfoundland, Malta, and California’s Marine World- which closed in the mid 80’s. It was directed by London Born Michael Anderson- who between the late 40’s and late 90’s had thirty-five feature credits to his name. These went from psychological drama/ thriller Night Was Our Friend (1951), Globetrotting adventure/ comedy Around the World in 80 Days (1956), blackmailing thriller The Naked Edge (1961), haunting horror Dominique (1979), and time-travelling Sci-fi Millennium (1989).

The film opens with the sound of whales & some form of sonar- this is touched by a lightly swelling string score, and as we open up we get close shots of two killer whales as the more grandly harmonic-if-slightly forlorn wind & sting score plays. The film is scored by the soundtracking legend Ennio Morricone, and it’s certainly a great/ varied score- switching between pared-back/ ambient, grand and harmonically bold, to the more brooding and moodily noisy fare.

Fairly soon we met our two leads- Captain Noland(Harris) a devil-may-care fishman, who is capturing sharks to resell to zoos/marines. And Rachel Bedford(Charlott Rampling) a scientist/ lecturer studying & recording the sounds of Killer Whales. The pair get chatting about killer whales, and this gets the money-grabbing Noland thinking he can make a lot more money capturing a Killer Whale than just a run-of-the-mill shark. 

After this, we get a plot dump/ lecture, regarding how intelligent & clever killer whales are compared to mankind. And Rachel trying to talk him out of it…but he of course ignores it. Going out on a boat to track the whales- he harpoons one, and it starts terrible baying/ wailing- they pull aboard with its unborn pup dying on the boat's deck. Watching all of this is the male whale partner- with us getting close-up on his eye as he’s making note of our not-so-good captain.

As the film unfolds the whale rams Noland’s boat, knocks off & eats one of his crew, and starts causing general issues back in the small Newfoundland coast town where the film is set. We get some great/ clear shots of whales, as well as one or two attacks including the odd touches of fleeting most notably a leg being bitten off.

Cast wise Harris is good as the initially cocky/money-greedy Fishman. Rampling is fine as the trying-to-talk sense scientist. Otherwise, Harris's crew is rather a tad bland- there’s a guy with a bearded  (hello Richard Dreyfuss), and a talk-little-female-crew member played by Bo Derek. The only other notable/ worthy member of the cast is Will Sampson- who plays a local native American, who is full of warnings & legends.

For the most part Orca: The Killer Whale is an engaging, at points quite thrilling ride with undercurrents of emotional loss. Yes, early on in the one hour & a half film we do get a little overloaded with footage of whales- but these balance up/ become more firmly in context as we progress.

I’m reviewing the Blu-Ray version of the film. The 4k scan looks very clean & crisp- with good depth/ clarity in both the night and daytime shots. The extra on the disc is an interview with French critic/ genre journalist Philippe Guedj- this runs at just under the thirty-minute mark and is in French with English subtitles. This is a good in-depth look at the film- moving from discussing how the film came about, its director, and touching on the cast. He talks about the facts & fiction regarding Orcas,  discusses how it compares to Jaws, and much more- well worth a play.

The finished release comes with four art card/ black & white stills of the film, as well as a slip sleeve.

In finishing there are certainly similarities between Jaws and Orca: The Killer Whale, but it does manage to stand in its own right- with its tone and focus.  It’s great that StudioCanal has reissued the film, so it can be appreciated for what it is- one of the more thoughtful, at points emotionally felt films of the ‘when creatures attack’ genre of the 1970s.