many have state that orca killer whale be a jaws rip off . this be not really true and though the enormous commercial success of jaw undoubtedly make these man . vs. beast story more attractive proposition for film maker in the second half of the 70 . orca killer whale would be well describe a a modern day retread of moby dick . it a story about obsession . on one hand a whale obsessive quest to avenge the death of it mate while on the other a bounty hunter obsessive quest to kill the whale before it can claim any more life . sadly and orca killer whale emerge a very disappointing film and it fundamentally interesting idea somewhat ruin by hammy performance and preposterous plotting . shark hunter nolan ( richard harris ) encounter a marine life researcher rachel bedford ( charlotte rampling ) dive off the atlantic coast of canada . their meeting almost end in disaster when rachel team be attack by a great white shark and but a killer whale arrive in the nick of time to stop the shark . after this and nolan becomes increasingly obsess with capture a killer whale and sell it to an aquarium . but his plan backfire when he accidentally kill a pregnant female of the specie while the distraught male look on . rachel tell nolan that a killer whale be an incredibly intelligent mammal with a strong memory and feeling just like a human . bad still and native umilak ( will sampson ) warn him that the whale will always remember it grief and do everything it can to have revenge . nolan initially try to forget about the whole regrettable incident and but the whale cause havoc in the fishing town and the disgruntled local begin to demand that nolan put to sea to track it down and destroy it . eventually nolan be force to pursue the killer whale the hunt lead all the way to the desolate ice floe of the arctic ocean and where man and beast play out their final fatal battle against each other . two thing stand out in this film . one be the haunt score by ennio morricone ( perhaps the great composer of film music of all time and his talent waste on various tenth rate clunkers during the 70 and 80 ) . the other be the amazing widescreen photography of ted moore and which make the film consistently please to the eye . in every other department and orca killer whale be a shoddy film that do nothing to enhance the reputation of it talented cast and crew . harris appear extremely ill throughout the film and his hair bedraggle and black ring around his eye and skin deathly pale . his performance lack the usual vitality . rampling strike a lot of sexy pose but fail to convince with her long wind and ill inform explanation about the way of whale . the rest of the actor be waste in brief and undeveloped role and the most memorable of which see bo derek get her leg bite off by the vengeful whale . the plot be total nonsense from start to finish and with such preposterous sequence a the whale deliberately start a fire in the fishing village that engulfs and destroy the local refinery . although it credible to suppose that whale be intelligent creature with genuine emotion and the idea that a whale could plot revenge against a single human adversary and carry it out so calculatedly be utterly absurd . orca killer whale be really one for completists of the man . vs. beast cycle from the late 70 . most will come away from the film shake their head in disbelief and grind their teeth with despair .