Yes, I’m asking you about the ending of a movie released in 1977. But really, you should be thankful because the other issues I’m dealing with at the moment are: 1) Why did CBS cancel Secret Talents of the Stars before we got to see Young and the Restless star Joshua Morrow’s "edgy rock ‘n’roll juggling" routine? (I was fully prepared to tune in to find out what made it "edgy.") 2) Why do I feel as though I could crush on C. Thomas Howell if I were to let myself tune in to VH1′s Celebracadabra! later this month? 3) Did I like the shoes David Boreanaz was wearing this morning on Regis and Kelly? (They were awfully blue, but they did draw attention to his striped blue socks, which I appreciated.)
Right, so about Orca… Here’s the thing: I just watched it (for work!), and though I’ve seen it before, I don’t think I ever fully grasped the ending. As you recall, the killer whale wants vengeance against Captain Nolan (Richard Harris), the man who murdered his mate and unborn baby-whale, and lures his boat into icy waters. After the whale kills everyone onboard but Charlotte Rampling, the movie ends with shots of Orca swimming underneath thick layers of ice (above). Now Nolan pointed out earlier in the film that the ice would cut both ways: It could sink his boat, but it’d also make it difficult for the whale to get to the surface for air. So, I ask you: Was that just a beautiful parting shot, or are we supposed to believe that the whale dies, too? I’m going with the latter, because the whole film was about the bond between Nolan and the Orca (Nolan’s wife and unborn child were killed by a drunk driver on the way to the hospital). And the whale was driven insane with grief, like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon, only with no Danny Glover to talk him down. Also, the whale had to die for biting off Bo Derek’s leg, right? It seems obvious when I type it out now, but then you also recall the serious smackdown that Orca gave a Great White shark earlier in the film, and that it broke through the ice several times after Nolan abandoned ship. Does he live or die?
If you’re still reading (God bless you), and there’s another movie ending that’s puzzled you, post it in the comments section below. Maybe someone can help you out, too.
I have a sentimental appreciation for ORCA: THE KILLER WHALE. I saw it in the theater when I was 10 years-old. I believe the whale lives and is simply going home. As you pointed out, he breaks throught the ice momentarily during his battle with Nolan to find air. No reason to believe he won’t do it again for his long journey home.
Since it’s release, has ANYONE come up with a logical theory to the puzzling ending of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN???
i knew someone was gonna mention No Country for Old Men.
This was the funniest thing I read all day. I’ve seen Pulp Fiction a million times and still haven’t quite grasped the ending.
gone baby gone
I didn’t find the ending for No Country for Old Men to be that puzzling. Chigurh’s self-imposed mission was done once he completed that last task he promised Moss he would complete (not elaborating so I don’t spoil it), so he just stopped and went away. The very ending with Bell was a commentary on how Bell’s world had changed, and how he was facing the fact that he was old and closer to death. The dream about his father was symbolic of him looking forward, in a way, to his death, because it meant he would get away from all the violence he had begun to see in what was once his peaceful corner of the world, where he didn’t even need to carry a gun as Sheriff. The last line, “And then I woke up,” was him facing the reality that he still lived in the violent world, even though he was retired.
I’m going to get yelled at for this, and it’s not quite on topic, but at the end of SERENITY what are on the four grave markers? Wash, Book, Mr. Universe and what is that last one?
Isn’t the ultimate confused ending BLADE RUNNER?
I always asummed the Orca swan under the ice to die too.
Mulholand Drive – WTF?
I will never understand the ending of Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes. Because of course, it makes no sense. In particular, I will never understand why the studio allowed the last two minutes to ruin an otherwise entertaining film.
Wasn’t C Rampling really hot in Orca? Or maybe I am confusing this with J Bissett in The Deep.
wg – you are right about Planet of the Apes, although Marky Mark certainly polluted the movie well before the ending.
Snarf, I can see your confusion with Mulholland Drive but it’s another David Lynch movie that drove me crazy. After watching Lost Highway, I spent an entire day online trying to find someone to explain the entire movie to me! Still have no clue…
Mandi, I want your job. Actually, I wish I lived in NYC, was your BFF and could meet you daily at the corner coffee shop to talk about this kind of stuff for hours.
A quote from Invasion of the Body Snatchers is, “My husband is not my husband”. I can honestly say that after watching The Mist, “Frank Darabont is not Frank Darabont”. What was with the last 5 min of that movie? Characters fight for survival throughout a terrible adaptation of a Steven King short story and then the “surprise” twist of an ending. It was horrible, depressing, dark, and didn’t make any sense in relation to the characters. I am just puzzled as to how the last 5 min of this film was included and made it past test audiences. I think Darabont was trying to be M. Night and he failed miserably.
I saw ORCA as a 1st run movie in a theatre in Hong Kong in 1978. It was in English with Chinese subtitles. (only time I ever saw a “foreign film” in which I understood the dialogue.) Correction: the writing was so bad that I didn’t understand any of it. I’ve always considered it to be the worst movie I’ve ever seen. (Not the worst ever, just that I’ve spent $$ on.) I just thought the whole story was stupid.
BTW, in Hong Kong all the seats are sold as assigned seating, not general admission. In the dark I mis-read my ticket and sat in the wrong row. Just as the opening titles started rolling I was severely upbraided by an elderly Chinese woman whose seat I was sitting in. Maybe that’s why I didn’t like the movie.
Orca rocks
I’m glad it’s not just me that was confused by the ending for Mulholland Drive. I’ve seen the film twice and I STILL don’t get the ending.