Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

The Day of the Dolphin

Play trailer Poster for The Day of the Dolphin PG Released Dec 19, 1973 1h 44m Mystery & Thriller Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
44% Tomatometer 27 Reviews 42% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Marine biologists Jake (George C. Scott) and Maggie Terrell (Trish Van Devere) have for many years been doing dolphin research in the Florida Keys, and have even coached some dolphins to speak primitive English. But when two of the dolphins are kidnapped, an investigation proves that the Terrells' financial backers, the Franklin Foundation, have had sinister intentions all along. The dolphins are to be used to deliver and detonate explosives beneath the president's yacht.

Critics Reviews

View All (27) Critics Reviews
Pauline Kael The New Yorker If Mike Nichols and Buck Henry don’t have anything better to make movies about than involving English-speaking dolphins in assassination attempts, why don’t they stop making movies? Feb 10, 2022 Full Review Richard Combs Sight & Sound A glibly sour and sentimental thriller. Mar 27, 2020 Full Review Jay Cocks TIME Magazine What is left, besides a lot of pretty dolphin footage, is some bad intercollegiate-revue satire, a shadow of Sea Hunt, and a calculated sentimentality that evokes memories of Lassie Come Home. Mar 24, 2015 Full Review Rob Aldam Backseat Mafia An atypical mix of scientific drama and political thriller. Jul 23, 2021 Full Review John Simon Esquire Magazine Worst of all is the suspense plot, simplistic enough to be rather more laughable than the high-pitched, anile voice in which the bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) shrills his truncated banalities. Jul 25, 2020 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy A strange hybrid of family film and adult drama, this ends up playing like Flipper Meets The Parallax View. Rated: 2.5/4 Feb 22, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (55) audience reviews
DanTheMan 2 The Thinking Man's Flipper, The Day of the Dolphin is a real oddity. It's a cinematic time capsule of a goofier time that might be accused of lacking any real sense of porpoise. An atypical mix of ecological drama and political thriller, the film is truly ridiculous but works because of the values it celebrates: communication and love. Despite their material, Director Mike Nichols and George C Scott have given us a film that reminds us what love and care can do not so much for the object of affection, but for the person who tenders it. Scott, usually the most intense of actors, is rather subdued in his part here. To observe him betray moments of stricken regret is truly touching to see, all the more so for his typical appearance of such unshakable gravitas. He carries this film on his shoulders. Having trouble comprehending why anyone would want to put such creatures in harm's way, to that extent, the dolphins are the real show, the true innocents in a corrupt world. They are positively impossible to hate. The other major point of contention is the hauntingly beautiful musical score by Georges Delerue, lilting and graceful, moving through the air the way the dolphins move through the water. You may laugh at The Day of the Dolphin, but you'll feel just as guilty simultaneously, one that has you suffer utterly irreparable heartbreak. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/19/24 Full Review Alec B Alternates between hilariously baffling and extremely boring. Given the talent involved it is no wonder everyone would prefer this fiasco forgotten. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/10/24 Full Review Audience Member Alternates between hilariously baffling and extremely boring. Given the talent involved it is no wonder everyone would prefer this fiasco forgotten. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member An toothless adaptation of Robert Merle's powerful anti-war novel, which I only remembered having seen because I was discussing bad movie adaptations of novels. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review steve d An unintended comedy that needs to be seen to be believed. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Shameless dolphin exploitation. There were really no good guys in this movie, and I still don't understand the point of teaching the dolphins to talk. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Day of the Dolphin

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

View All Cast and Crew

Mike Nichols

Director

George C. Scott

Dr. Jake Terrell

Trish Van Devere

Maggie Terrell

Paul Sorvino

Curtis Mahoney

Fritz Weaver

Harold DeMilo

Jon Korkes

David

More Like This

View All Best Movies to Stream at Home
The Deep 40% 39% The Deep Watchlist The Poseidon Adventure 81% 76% The Poseidon Adventure Watchlist TRAILER for The Poseidon Adventure Live and Let Die 67% 64% Live and Let Die Watchlist The Man With the Golden Gun 40% 55% The Man With the Golden Gun Watchlist Jaws 2 56% 40% Jaws 2 Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All The Day of the Dolphin photos

The Day of the Dolphin

The Day of the Dolphin (1973) The Day of the Dolphin (1973) The Day of the Dolphin (1973) The Day of the Dolphin (1973) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Marine biologists Jake (George C. Scott) and Maggie Terrell (Trish Van Devere) have for many years been doing dolphin research in the Florida Keys, and have even coached some dolphins to speak primitive English. But when two of the dolphins are kidnapped, an investigation proves that the Terrells' financial backers, the Franklin Foundation, have had sinister intentions all along. The dolphins are to be used to deliver and detonate explosives beneath the president's yacht.
Director
Mike Nichols
Producer
Robert E. Relyea
Distributor
AVCO Embassy Pictures
Production Co
Arco Embassy
Rating
PG
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Adventure
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 19, 1973, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Feb 7, 2006
Runtime
1h 44m