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The Day of the Dolphin

Play trailer Poster for The Day of the Dolphin PG,  1973,  1h 44m,  Mystery & Thriller/ Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 42% 26 Reviews Tomatometer 41% 1,000+ Ratings Popcornmeter
42% Tomatometer 26 Reviews 41% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Marine biologists Jake and Maggie Terrell 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

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Pauline Kael The New Yorker Feb 10, 2022
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? Go to Full Review
Richard Combs Sight & Sound Mar 27, 2020
A glibly sour and sentimental thriller. Go to Full Review
Jay Cocks TIME Magazine Mar 24, 2015
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. Go to Full Review
Mike McGranaghan Aisle Seat Jun 28, 2026
I wouldn’t exactly call it a good movie, although it’s such a bizarre piece of cinema that taking your eyes off it is impossible. Go to Full Review
Rob Aldam Backseat Mafia Jul 23, 2021
An atypical mix of scientific drama and political thriller. Go to Full Review
John Simon Esquire Magazine Jul 25, 2020
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. Go to Full Review
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The Day of the Dolphin

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Cast & Crew

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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

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The Day of the Dolphin

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

Movie Info

Synopsis Marine biologists Jake and Maggie Terrell 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
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