The Day of the Dolphin (1973)

The Day of the Dolphin

This is a great thriller & one of my husband's favorites. June 7, 2007

But The Dolphin Seemed So Playful.....Until It Tried To Kill Me!

Ever seen a political thriller that employs dolphins as potential assassins? Why the heck not? As a curiosity, it's hard to beat "The Day of the Dolphin." Bringing together a bizarre amalgamation of talent-- this 1973 film stars George C. Scott (a few years after his Oscar for "Patton"), was written by Buck Henry (known mostly for comedy), and was directed by Mike Nichols (yes, that Mike Nichols)! Nichols has done everything from "The Graduate" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" through to the more current "Closer" and "Angels in America"--and this bit of sci-fi seems at odds with most of his resume. Curiously, though, he took "Dolphin" over from Roman Polanski (Polanski dropped out when his wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered by the Manson family). Heck, the backstory alone is cause enough to check out this picture!

Telling the story of a dolphin research facility, Scott plays its leader. Financed by a large corporation, their work is largely unknown even by their sponsors. They have been working on communication techniques and their unorthodox secrecy starts to raise various suspicions. Paul Sorvino, as a mysterious intruder, starts to poke around menacingly and all that is of value to Scott and his team is threatened. Publicly revealing the truth behind their experiments to their bosses, they now find themselves pawns in a larger scheme. It's hard to determine who to trust as potential allies are shown to be villains and vice versa. And caught in the middle are the dolphins who are to be exploited as bomb carrying assassins.

While, in truth, "The Day of the Dolphin" advertises itself as a political thriller with a sci-fi component--I think you'd be better off going into the film knowing nothing about it. But it seems unlikely that anyone could do that. The film's plot is used to sell the picture, so any potential surprises are given away in its marketing. The assassination scheme doesn't manifest itself until the second half of the film and might have made a great twist, but, as is, it's actually something that the audience is anticipating. While the political element is prominently advertised, it is quite vaguely defined and relatively superfluous. "The Day of the Dolphin" works best as sci-fi. Not sci-fi as in aliens and different worlds--but in its truest sense, Science employed as Fiction. The research done with the dolphins incorporates reality and fantasy in a nice combination, and works because it is understated. "Dolphin" also shows man's influence over nature (both good and bad) and how our need for technological superiority can lead to unforeseen and harmful consequences. The dolphins trust that man is their friend, but that friendship is something that can ultimately be used for evil. This ends up being largely a relationship piece, and as odd as it might sound--the central relationship is between Scott and a dolphin.

Sorvino and Scott are both quite good and carry the weight of the film. And if the idea of seeing George C. Scott running around in very short shorts drives you insane with lust, then that's an added bonus. Overall an interesting film, if not a great one. Recommended because it works--but it's also something of an oddity! Just don't expect the rousing adventure the DVD cover might promise you, this is more quietly intriguing. KGHarris, 04/07. April 14, 2007

They have now changed the cover to the one I have

When I wrote this review they had a different photo of the DVD depicting a female with her midriff showing but mine was just George and the dolphins on the right and a very slim picture of a private airplane in flight, and guys shooting into the water and a boat explosion below that on the left (hard to really tell what they were unless you saw the movie). Now it is the same one. I had checked by putting in the UPC code and this came up. Mine has a copyright date of 2005 instead of 2006, though, and mine has the extra features: Interviews with screenwriter Buck Henry and co-stars Leslie Charleson and Edward Herrman, The World's Most Amazing Dolphin Trivia Gallery and Dolphin Bios. I think the features are probably in the DVD on this page too - just not listed here. I thought I had to purchase the one with the "sexier" front cover but received the more modest one -- I didn't buy it from Amazon.

I have loved this movie for years. They used to advertise this movie in the 80's on KBHK-TV Ch 44 San Francisco, CA, with the music from Saint-Saens Aquarium but that music is not in the movie / soundtrack. January 7, 2007

Wonderful Film

I guess you could say I am a person who likes films that says what if..This one is that a person can teach a dolphin to talk in human language. It is a touching, wonderful, interesting story, about mankind in all its goodness and other full of greed and explotation of anything to make a the almighty buck. April 22, 2006

One Of The All Time Best

This movie is one of my all time favorites. George C. Scott plays an obsessed director of an aquatic facility which trains dolphins to communicate with humans. It has a good story line and action scenes(for the 70's) right up until the heartwrenching end. This is one of those movies you can't stop thinking about long after you've viewed it. February 18, 2006

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