Following the critical success of The QuillerMemorandum, Michael Anderson continued to attract star power and prestige with two bold Catholic chronicles, the underrated ecclesiastical/philosophical/geo-political thriller The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), and the medieval drama Pope Joan (1972), Anderson's most troubled feature which was later shortened and re-released as The Devil's Imposter. Both were physically and artistically challenging productions as were his next two films, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975), a campy pulp fantasy, and Conduct Unbecoming (1975), a claustrophobic courtroom drama, both hampered by their respective penny-pinching producers. Logan's Run (1976), a hit adaptation of the well-regarded dystopian novel followed. It became Anderson's second highest grossing movie, finally breaking his string of box office disappointments. Riding this fresh wave of popularity, he was approached by Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis to direct Orca, the follow-up film to Dino's mega-production of King Kong (1976). With a script by Sergio Leone alumni Luciano Vincenzoni (The Good The Bad & The Ugly) and Sergo Donati (Once Upon A Time in the West), De Laurentiis sought to combine the unrelenting suspense of Jaws with the pathos of Kong. Remembering the notorious logistical problems experienced by Spielberg and his crew, De Laurentiis wisely chose Anderson, an expert in open water shooting with two previous ocean epics under his belt The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959), and Flight From Ashyia (1964). This mindfulness paid off, with the film's 6 millon dollar budget being well spent on a story that has stood the test of time as the only serious rival to Jaws. Anderson knew that two elements needed to be totally believable in order to sell the film's slightly preposterous premise, the orca and his nemesis. Relying on past loyalties, Anderson cast Richard Harris in the lead, an actor he had discovered and prominently featured in two of his previous films, the Dublin shot IRA drama Shake Hands with the Devil (1959) and the aforementioned Mary Deare. Harris, with his baleful blarney charm, is both sympathetic and morally dubious as a fishing boat captain who, while trying to capture a male killer whale, accidentally kills its female mate and her unborn offspring. Played by a convincing combination of animatronic and live aquarium whales, the cunning creature then relentlessly stalks Harris for bloodthirsty revenge. Not surprisingly, what may have seemed a mawkish yarn to audiences of the Seventies, now plays to our more environmentally conscious culture as an allegorical tragedy, assisted in no small part by the scenic Newfoundland-shot cinematography of Ted (Thunderball) Moore, and Ennio Morricone's emotive, heart-wrenching score. Marketed unsuccessfully as an exploitation picture by Dino De Laurentiis, Orca was envisioned by Anderson as something much more unsettling, a dark fable of mutual destruction, that at its core, is a sincere plea for respect and understanding amongst the many lifeforms of our fragile planet. DVD REGION 1 & 2 Blu-ray
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