Day of the Dolphin, The
Entry updated 14 January 2017. Tagged: Film.
Film (1973). Avco-Embassy. Directed by Mike Nichols. Written by Buck Henry, based on Un animal doué de raison (1967; trans as The Day of the Dolphin 1969) by Robert Merle. Cast includes George C Scott, Paul Sorvino, Trish Van Devere and Fritz Weaver. 105 minutes. Colour.
This above-average film, from a director well known for social comedy but new to sf, concerns a marine biologist who succeeds in teaching dolphins to speak English. The first half deals seriously and convincingly with this historic contact between two intelligent species, and conveys the genuine Sense of Wonder found in the best sf, but the rest of the story concentrates less interestingly on an attempt by a right-wing group to betray the innocent human-dolphin relationship and use the dolphins to plant mines to assassinate the US President. [JB]
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