- The Day of the Dolphin
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The Day of the Dolphin 
Theatrical release film poster by Tom JungDirected by Mike Nichols Produced by Robert E. Relyea
Joseph E. LevineWritten by Buck Henry Based on A Sentient Animal by Robert Merle Starring George C. Scott
Trish Van Devere
Paul SorvinoMusic by Georges Delerue Cinematography William A. Fraker Editing by Sam O'Steen Distributed by Avco Embassy Pictures Release date(s) December 19, 1973 Running time 104 minutes Country United States Language English The Day of the Dolphin is a 1973 American science-fiction thriller film directed by Mike Nichols and starring George C. Scott. Loosely based on the 1967 novel, Un animal doué de raison (A Sentient Animal), by French writer Robert Merle, the screenplay was written by Buck Henry.
Contents
Plot
A brilliant and driven scientist, Jake Terrell, and his young and beautiful wife, Maggie, train dolphins to communicate with humans. This is done by teaching the dolphins to speak English in dolphin-like voices. Two of his dolphins, Alpha ("Fa") and Beta ("Bea") are stolen by officials of the shadowy Franklin Foundation headed by Harold DeMilo (Fritz Weaver) the supportive backer of the Terrells' research. After the dolphins are kidnapped, an investigation by an undercover government agent for hire, Curtis Mahoney (Paul Sorvino) reveals that the Institute is planning to further train the dolphins to carry out a political assassination by having them place a limpet mine on the hull of the yacht of the President of the United States.
Cast
- George C. Scott as Dr Jake Terrell
- Trish Van Devere as Maggie Terrell
- Paul Sorvino as Curtis Mahoney
- Fritz Weaver as Harold DeMilo
- Jon Korkes as David
- Edward Herrmann as Mike
- Leslie Charleson as Maryanne
- John David Carson as Larry
- Victoria Racimo as Lana
- John Dehner as Wallingford
- Severn Darden as Schwinn
- William Roerick as Dunhill
- Elizabeth Wilson as Mrs Rome
Production and reception
The film received mixed reviews when released in 1973. Pauline Kael, the film critic for The New Yorker suggested that if the best subject that Nichols and Henry could think of was talking dolphins, then they should quit making movies altogether. The film was not successful commercially, though it was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Original Score (Georges Delerue) and Best Sound (Richard Portman and Larry Jost).[1]
The film was originally going to be directed by Roman Polanski; however, while Polanski was in London, England, looking for filming locations in August 1969, his pregnant wife, the actress Sharon Tate, was murdered in their Beverly Hills home. Polanski returned to the United States and abandoned the project.
Differences from the novel and other sources of inspiration
DVD cover for the film
Merle's novel, a satire of the Cold War, is supposedly the basis for this film, but the film's plot was substantially different from that of the novel. The movie is instead inspired in part from the scientist John C. Lilly's life. A physician, biophysicist, neuroscientist, and inventor, Lilly specialized in the study of consciousness. In 1959, he founded the Communications Research Institute at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands and served as its director until 1968. There he worked with dolphins exploring dolphin intelligence and human-dolphin communication.
Cultural references
- On June 25, 2007, Stephen Colbert recommended his The Colbert Report viewers rent this film after making an allusion to it that received little reaction from the studio audience. [1]
- In the 1999 James Toback film Black and White the characters played by Robert Downey Jr. and Brooke Shields share a rambling, improvised discussion about the movie and the meanings of the dolphin's relationships to the film's humans specifically as a touchstone for their own relationship.
- A reference to the film appears in the episode "Six Feet Under the Sea" on the television series Psych.
- The Simpson's "Treehouse of Horror XI" has a story that is titled, "Night of the Dolphins", that involves Lisa freeing a dolphin who then takes over earth because dolphins lived on the land until the human race drove them into the ocean.
References
- ^ "The 46th Academy Awards (1974) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/46th-winners.html. Retrieved 2011-08-28.
External links
- The Day of the Dolphin at the Internet Movie Database
- The Day of the Dolphin at AllRovi
- The Day of the Dolphin at Rotten Tomatoes
Films directed by Mike Nichols 1960s Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) • The Graduate (1967)1970s 1980s 1990s Postcards from the Edge (1990) • Regarding Henry (1991) • Wolf (1994) • The Birdcage (1996) • Primary Colors (1998)2000s What Planet Are You From? (2000) • Wit (2001) • Angels in America (2003) • Closer (2004) • Charlie Wilson's War (2007)The films of Buck Henry Directed Heaven Can Wait (1978) (with Warren Beatty) • First Family (1980)Screenplays The Troublemaker (1964) (with Theodore J. Flicker) • The Graduate (1967) (with Calder Willingham) • Candy (1968) • Catch-22 (1970) • The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) • What's Up, Doc? (1972) (with David Newman and Robert Benton) • The Day of the Dolphin (1973) • Protocol (1984) • To Die For (1995) • Town & Country (2001) (with Michael Laughlin)Categories:- 1973 films
- American films
- English-language films
- Films about dolphins
- 1970s thriller films
- American political thriller films
- Films based on science fiction novels
- Films directed by Mike Nichols
- Films shot in the Bahamas
- Mad scientist films
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