People have been defending OTKW for almost 40 years now. It's great! A classic! Better than Jaws!
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Orca
dedeurs — 10 years ago(November 22, 2015 06:35 PM)
People have been defending OTKW for almost 40 years now. It's great! A classic! Better than Jaws!
It tried to be, but it isn't. Richard Harris performed reasonably, but Charlotte Rampling's wardrobe in the final scene is so ridiculously
Vogue
that her interpretation of a strong willed marine expert died just there and then.
What's left are a lot of beautiful orca scenes, and the main orca star certainly has more soul than the killing machine in Spielberg's Jaws. So Orca The Killer Whale also has a better story than Jaws.
And there's the score. Oh, that score.
The sound quality in the copy I recently saw was awful - I don't remember if it was any better in the 1977 cinema copy - but the theme, sometimes solely instrumental, sometimes enriched with Edda Dell'Orso's angelic vocalism, is absolutely breathtaking. Legend goes that Ennio Morricone never cared much for it, it was a 'routine job' at the time. Well, for many film music lovers it's one of the most majestic film themes ever composed (Morricone has always excelled in themes related to nature; the sea, the desert, the jungle).
Unfortunately in the film and at the end of the original soundtrack record the heavenly music is thorn apart when a Ms Carol Conners pipes in, and she may have been a good singer at the time, but she horribly clashed with her material.
Brilliant music was wasted in a silly movie, and the maestro subsequently kicked the score out of his concert agendas. Such a pity. -
FirstBlood1982 — 9 years ago(August 08, 2016 08:15 PM)
Completely disagree with all of that, despite the visuals not really holding up, this is a great film with a great emotional core, and that was one of the most truly beautiful songs ever featured in a film.
I love Jaws, and I love this more.
+++by His wounds we are healed. - Isaiah 53:5+++ -
dedeurs — 9 years ago(August 08, 2016 08:55 PM)
Morricone didn't even know that the studio mixed the American Carol Conners in. He usually made good vocal choices, with the exception of Amii Stewart. I hate her too. Anyway, the intentions for the movie may have been good, but the man's death lacked drama. It was also not Richard Harris's best role. I suppose he only did it for the money.