Review of Namu, the Killer Whale

Introduction

Hank Donner (Robert Lansing) is a marine biologist doing research out on the US rural coast with his local assistant Deke (Richard Erdman). One day they notice a small school of grey whales just out to sea from their research station. Jumping into a small boat and armed with a hand-held cine camera, the duo race out and follow the whales to try and get some film footage. A female whale gently pushes the researchers boat away from her young, and Donner observes that the behaviour is typical of female whales.

With the sea calming, Donner and Clausen hear shots in the near distance. A quick scan through his binoculars reveals some local fishermen shooting at a school of Killer whales. Donner and his companion race over to stop this, but the locals are in no mood to desist. One of the whales is hit and, in a frenzy, damages the fishermens boat and knocks one of their number into the water, who is then rescued by Donner.

Upon his return to his research station, Donner discovers that two of the Killer whales have entered the cove where his station is located. The female whale has died as a result of the wound sustained from the armed fishermen, and the male is keeping in close proximity to his mate. The dead female is removed during the night, but the male remains. Donner decides he will take this opportunity to study the Killer whale, an opportunity that appears to have been denied to the wider marine science community until this point. The locals in the local fishing community don`t take kindly to this and remonstrate with Donner over his plans.

Caught in the middle, to a degree, are local shopkeeper and widow Kate Rand (Lee Meriwether) and her daughter Lisa (Robin Mattson) as hostility and ignorance lead to a confrontation between the locals and the lone biologist.

Video

Some print degradation, the worst appearing on the obvious stock footage incorporated into the film.

Audio

Lots of audio and subtitle options. All soundtracks are in mono but then you weren`t expecting 5.1 or DTS on this film, were you? One oddity is the score by Samuel Matlovsky. There is palpably no tension in this film at all (for a modern audience anyway…), but the score attempts to ratchet up the tension in complete contrast to what you can see happening in front of you. There`s also snatches of the song by Tom Glazer used in the title sequence scattered about during the length of the film, which is a gentle folk song albeit dealing with death and our relationship with nature.

Features

Once more MGM astounds us with their range of extra features…

Conclusion

This film was made in 1966, presumably before any great breakthroughs in marine biology regarding Killer whales. Thus the basis of seeking knowledge against the forces of ignorance is established quite easily in this film, although in a simple and uncomplicated manner. This is presumably because this is a family oriented film, although the leads are not children as is generally the case.

Lansing and Meriweather give warm performances as the aging bachelor and the still young widow, although as this is a film from the 60`s there is no hint of an immoral relationship going on here. Mattson, now better known apparently for scheming blonde roles in daytime soaps, is quite good as the youngster who is the catalyst for enabling understanding to break out amongst the local fishing community. That said, her acting, and that of her child co-stars, is a little wooden but is to be expected.

The morality quotient is pushed high as all the locals bar the four principal figures misunderstand the nature of the captive Killer whale, although Deke also has misgivings initially. The general message given by this film is that Killer whales are gentle creatures unless provoked, a message pushed demonstrably home at the climax to the film in a confrontation between Namu and local fisherman Joe Clausen (John Anderson).

An interesting if slow and simplistic film, although it has clearly been superseded by the likes of Free Willy (and Free Willy 2 and Free Willy 3…).