The Day of the Dolphin (1973)
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44% of critics liked it
(18 reviews) -
43% of users liked it
(1,099 ratings)
Director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Buck Henry team up again (after collaborating on The Graduate and Catch-22) for this adaptation of Robert Merle's best-selling adventure novel concerning dolphins who become pawns in a plot to kill the president. George C. Scott plays Dr. Jake Terrell, a… More Director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Buck Henry team up again (after collaborating on The Graduate and Catch-22) for this adaptation of Robert Merle's best-selling adventure novel concerning dolphins who become pawns in a plot to kill the president. George C. Scott plays Dr. Jake Terrell, a researcher who, along with his wife Maggie (Trish Van Devere), is investigating dolphin intelligence, believing they have the capability of speech. Harold DeMilo (Fritz Weaver), in charge of a major corporation, sponsors their work. But undercover work by government agent Curtis Mahoney (Paul Sorvino) reveals that DeMilo is working with a right-wing group planning to kidnap the dolphins and use them to blow up the presidential yacht. Jake and Maggie have to race against time to save both their dolphins and the president. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Directed By
- Mike Nichols
- Written By
- Buck Henry
- Genres
- Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense, Classics, Science Fiction & Fantasy
- In Theaters
- Dec 19, 1973 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Variety Staff, Variety
A rare and regrettably uneven combination of ideas and action.
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Geoff Andrew, Time Out
A bizarre and often ridiculous attempt to merge documentary, suspense and comedy.
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Vincent Canby, New York Times
Some of the cloak-and-dagger stuff that follows is so awkwardly staged that it's difficult to know whether the simplicity was designed for youngsters or as parody.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Tries so hard not to be a conventional science-fiction thriller that it fails, alas, to be anything.
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
A disappointing adaptation of the best-selling novel, neither satisfying as thriller or as adventure.
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Cast
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George C. Scott
as Dr. Jake Terrell
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Trish VanDevere
as Maggie Terrell
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Paul Sorvino
as Mahoney
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Fritz Weaver
as Harold DeMilo
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Jon Korkes
as David
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Edward Herrmann
as Mike
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John David Carson
as Larry
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Leslie Charleson
as Maryanne
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Severn Darden
as Schwinn
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Phyllis Davis
as Receptionist
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John Dehner
as Wallingford
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Julie Follansbee
as First Woman
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Brooke Hayward
as Third Woman
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Victoria Racimo
as Lana
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William Roerick
as Dunhill
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Florence Stanley
as Women at Club
- Buck Henry
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Elizabeth Wilson
as Mrs. Rome
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Pat Englund
as Fourth Woman
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Willie Myers
as Stone
- Trish Van Devere