Day of the Dolphin

Arguably the last great film directed by Mike Nichols, DAY OF THE DOLPHIN is a classy, beautifully produced science fiction/political conspiracy thriller with a heart. Despite its potentially maudlin storyline, Buck Henry's serious, unironic screenplay and Nichols' graceful direction carefully avoid sentimentality at every possible turn. Initially the story concentrates on Terrell and his relationship with his coworkers as their long work with the two dolphins is revealed to have achieved truly astounding results. Fa and Bee are lovely and enchanting creatures with very sweet, babyish voices. Things become deadly serious in the film's relentless second half, but because the conspiracy theme has been introduced so gradually the change in tone and the orchestrated melodramatics are perfectly acceptable.

George C. Scott plays the bad tempered Terrell with the actor's trademark intensity. Its a passionate and powerful performance, and its perfectly easy to see why the dolphins look at him like some kind of god who towers above the other humans. Scott is the main show here, but the superb supporting cast, led by Paul Sorvino, Edward Herrmann, Fritz Weaver, Severn Darden and Scott's wife Trish Van Devere ably bring a strong sense of realism to all of the fantasy on view.

Georges Delerue's stirringly emotional music adds immeasurably to the effectiveness of the film; his sad, lovely score turns the deeply moving climactic sequence into a heartbreaking apocalypse of despair. This utterly bleak finale is one of the most potent and uncompromising endings in the fantasy genre.

William A. Fraker's gorgeous cinematography makes the sparkling, shifting waters and deep blue skies breathtakingly luminous. Fraker's stunning imagery alone makes the movie a total pleasure to watch. The underwater scenes, shot by Jordan Klein, contain absolutely some of the finest such work ever seen.

The Home Vision Entertainment DVD is highly recommended for fans of this wonderful film. Presented in the film's original theatrical release aspect ratio (2.35:1), its a spectacularly perfect transfer, with vivid, lush colors and no noticeable speckles or flaws of any kind. A skimpy assortment of extras include an interview with writer Buck Henry, who is clearly and bizarrely embarrassed by his association with this great film, additional interviews with cast members Leslie Charleson and Edward Herrmann, and a trivia gallery. The liner notes are incredibly silly and juvenile. Despite its disappointing array of mostly worthless extras, this DVD is a spectacularly worthy investment for any serious movie fan, the definitive presentation of one of the most exciting and thought provoking of all conspiracy thrillers.

George C. Scott gives a passionate performance. In fact, one thing that you'll note about Scott is whether or not he appeared in trash (The List of Adrian Messenger) or treasure (Patton), his performance is alwasys powerful and committed. Trish Van DeVere also gives a strong performance. She was always underrated as an actress because 1) She was married to Scott and 2)she was always in his shadow. Her performance helps ground what was at the time a farfetched scenerio in reality.

Buck Henry's intelligent screenplay does have some narrative problems but, on the whole, he cleans up the novel's unbelievable plot and jumpy narrative. His screenplay is crisp, clean and his characters strong. An interview with Henry is provided as an extra and his comments demonstrate that he doesn't hold his work on the film in very high regard. It's a pity as he does wonders with the material.

Nichols always straddled the fence between being an actor's director and a film director. As in his past efforts, this pays off handsomely. His work with Scott and the strong supporting cast (including the marvelous Fritz Weaver, Paul Sorvino in one of his early film roles, Edward Herrmann among many other fine character actors)shines.

The plot is fairly straight forward; Scott plays a scientist that has been able to teach Dolphins English and train them to do a number of compliated tasks. He's unaware, though, that the organization funding his efforts has plans to use his research in an assassination attempt on a highly placed political figure.Given what we've learned about the CIA and other organizations over the past decade, it's plot isn't so far fetched. After all, it's certainly more believable than using a powder to make Castro's beard fall out so as to undermine his political power.

The superior DVD transfer surprised me given the age of the film. Virtually free of all analog artifacts, this enhanced transfers looks marvelous. It's a pity that Nichols couldn't provide a director's commentary (or Buck Henry for that matter). Since Scott is gone, it would have been fascinating to get Nichols' take on the film and the performances. While is isn't a 5 star film, it's an engrossing and enjoyable bit of entertainment with a cautionary tale at its core.