History Film / OrcaTheKillerWhale

*** Carol Connors herself has stated that adding lyrics to Morricone's end titles track ruined a perfectly good piece.

''Orca: The Killer Whale'' is a 1977 horror film produced by Dino De Laurentiis and released by Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures during the "When Animals Attack" phase set in motion due to the release of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''.

* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:After killing Nolan, the Orca spares Bedford and let's her leave in peace.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The reason the Orca is going on the warpath: Nolan accidentally killed his mate and unborn child.

** On the other hand, killer whales are known to avoid areas with large concentrations of great whites.

For tropes on it's {{Novelization}}, see ''Literature/OrcaTheKillerWhale''.

* AnimalNemesis The orca relentlessly pursues Nolan because the latter is responsible for the death of its family; Nolan himself eventually goes Captain Ahab on the orca due to pressure from the townspeople and the fact that it has begun maiming/killing his crew members.

* DeathByAdaptation: In the novelization, Annie's boyfriend, Paul, [[spoiler:skips town]] and main character Jack [[spoiler:is spared]] by the whale. In the film version, [[spoiler:they both get horribly killed off]].

* {{Novelization}}: A novelization based on an early version of the script seems to hint that the movie at one point was meant to be much larger than what ended up on screen, including a similar, yet different ending, an expanded cast, as well as a scene in which the townspeople held a hunting party not unlike the one in ''Jaws'' that ends in chaos. The novel also gives the impression that the whale is so, so maddened with revenge that it has gone INSANE....
** Not that targeting a specific group of people and setting an entire waterfront ablaze for the purpose of revenge is necessarily normal orca behavior mind you, so the film hints at the insanity motive as well...

''Orca: The Killer Whale'' is a 1977 horror film produced by Creator/DinoDeLaurentiis and released by Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures during the "When Animals Attack" phase set in motion due to the release of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''.

''Orca: The Killer Whale'' is a 1977 horror film produced by Creator/DinoDeLaurentiis and released by Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures during the "When Animals Attack" phase set in motion due to the release of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. In the film, a hunter squares off against a killer whale seeking vengeance for the death of its mate.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: It's an whale hunter and a killer whale. What did you expect?

''Orca: The Killer Whale'' is a 1977 horror film produced by Creator/DinoDeLaurentiis and released by Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures during the "When Animals Attack" phase set in motion due to the release of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. In the film, A hunter squares off against a killer whale seeking vengeance for the death of its mate.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Nolan suffers this and a not so HeroicBSOD when [[spoiler:the female orca miscarries her calf]].

* ItCanThink: The orca systematically demolishes the town (first by eating all the fish it can so the fishermen get a bad business, then destroying buildings situated on the waterfront, then ''blowing up a nearby refinery'') to force Nolan out.
* ItsPersonal:
** Subverted- The whale's first victim is Gus, Nolan's best friend and first mate. Nolan's response to this is to stay away from the water and try to leave town (albeit at the advice of Rachel and Umilak). It's not until after [[spoiler:Annie's disfigurement]] that he swears vengeance and decides to hunt the orca.
** Played straight with the whale however, since Nolan's ship is responsible for the deaths of his mate and child.

** As oversung as it was, it ''was'' by Ennio Morricone, and it still qualifies as a guilty pleasure to some.

** While orcas and other whales are famous for nudging objects they find curious, outright ramming them (especially at the frequency seen in the film) would still give them lethal concussions.

* AnimalNemesis The orca relentlessly pursues Nolan because the latter is responsible for the death of its family; Nolan himself eventually goes Captain Ahab on the orca due to pressure from the townspeople and the fact that it has killed one of his crew members and maimed another.

* JawsAttackParody: Achieved by demolishing a building and then attacking the poor woman within.

%%* JawsAttackParody
%%* MobySchtick

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: While the script keeps referring to the titular orca as a male, close-ups reveal that it's clearly female.

* DeathByAdaptation: In the novelization, Annie's boyfriend, Paul, [[spoiler: skips town]] and main character Jack [[spoiler:is spared]] by the whale. In the film version, [[spoiler: they both get horribly killed off]].
* DownerEnding: By the film's conclusion [[spoiler: a town is crippled from devastation, five people are dead, a woman is left maimed for life, another woman loses the man she was beginning to fall in love with]], and the whale [[spoiler:apparently [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] by swimming beneath the ice and drowning itself]].

* AnArmAndALeg: The whale bites off Annie's (Bo Derek's) [[ForTheEvulz already injured leg and is shown sadistically swimming off with it]] like a dog with a fresh rawhide bone.

''Orca: The Killer Whale'' is a 1977 horror film produced by Creator/DinoDeLaurentiis and released by Creator/ParamountPictures during the "When Animals Attack" phase set in motion due to the release of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. In the film, A hunter squares off against a killer whale seeking vengeance for the death of its mate.

* FollowTheLeader: Several elements seem directly lifted from ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', most clearly [[spoiler: Nolan's death scene and Bo Derek's attack scene, both of which draw heavily on Quint's death scene]]. Ironically, ''Film/JawsTheRevenge'' would go on to lift major elements of Orca, most notably in giving the animal human-like motivations for revenge.