A film, dateline:
1977 Paramount Pictures
Throughout Hollywood history, imitation has been the sincerest form of flattery. If a movie with a new idea or angle becomes successful, other film studios scramble to find something they can produce that will be more or less in the same vein and hopefully hit the same kind of paydirt. Orca (sometimes titled "Orca: The Killer Whale" for video release) was a sad little movie that tried to ride the coattails of the success of Jaws and turned out to be a laughable, nonsensical imitation that bordered on parody. Had they made it as a parody and not taken the story so seriously, we might have had an entertaining movie.
The basic plot of the movie was that a "whale hunter" nets and kills a pregnant killer whale and kills her unborn baby in the process. Her mate escapes and has a vendetta against the whale hunter and will not rest until it takes revenge. Okay, so we know killer whales are intelligent mammals, but do they really have a Charles Bronson "Death Wish" mentality?
Take into account the involvement of over the top director Dino De Laurentiis and the lead role being played by Richard Harris (always available for any film any time) and you can start to smell the burning whale flesh. Why doesn't Richard Harris just go inland? Or write an apology note and promise not to hunt anymore whales? This killer whale seems to have some pretty advanced tracking equipment, so he may also know how to read. Man stalked by killer whale who won't give up. Man seeks advice and is told said killer whale will not give up until either his target is dead or he is killed. So, Richard Harris must save the coast from vicious, angry killer whale attack by using his years of whale hunting experience.
Need anyone be filled in as far as the holes in this plot? The movie tried to use the intelligence of the killer whale as a new twist to make him more fearsome than the lumbering brain dead shark. However, in doing so, it seemed to disprove the intelligence of humans. Let us hope this isn't the first film discovered by a future civilization trying to determine why our civilization died out. Then we will be in trouble.
XWiz notes that killer whales are known to kill for revenge, but certainly not to the extent depicted in this film.