Orca (1977)
The trailer for Orca takes pains to note that orcas are in many ways admirable killer animals: “In some respects, the orca’s intelligence may be even superior to man’s,” says a cool voiceover. “They remain loyal to one mate for life. As parents, they are exemplary — better than many human beings.”
Perhaps the filmmakers grew fond of orcas by working with real ones: Orca used orcas trained at Marineland of the Pacific and Marine World Africa — though it also used some doubles.
Of course, the part about orcas’ loyalty to their families was also some excellent foreshadowing: The movie is about an orca who sets out to kill a human (Richard Harris) after that human kills his pregnant mate.
Orca was one of many killer animal movies quickly released after the huge success of 1975’s Jaws — and so was the next film on our list.
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