The Movie that Launched a Revolution
The Big Business of DolphinsPart 2 of “Dolphins & Us“ The Business of Dolphins The Movie that Launched a Revolution The Real Story: Freeing Keiko Ric O’Barry: From Flipper to The Cove Tilikum: The Slave Who Fought Back Life and Death at SeaWorld The Drive Hunts Interviews & Reports “Don’t Buy a Ticket!” More about Ric O’Barry The “Spartacus” of Whales My Visit to SeaWorld A Whale of a Business The Cove NEXT: Part Three: Saving the Dolphins. See also Part One: The Smartest of Us All? |
At SeaWorld, Free Willy has never been among anyone’s Top Ten favorite movies! But as soon as it was released in 1993, Free Willy became a surprise hit around the world, especially with children.
The story begins with a family of orcas (these so-called killer whales are actually the largest species of dolphin) being hunted down in the Pacific Ocean. One of the orcas is caught in a net and sold to an amusement park.
A young orphan boy, Jesse, befriends Willy, as the dolphin is now known, and gets a job at the amusement park. Soon, Jesse learns of the management’s secret plan to kill Willy and collect the insurance money. So he hatches a plan to load his friend onto a truck one night, take him to the ocean, and set him free.
The amusement park owners make a last-ditch attempt to catch Willy in a net, but Jesse persuades the orca to make a final, amazing leap over the barrier, and the movie ends with Willy swimming away to be reunited with his family.
The part of Willy was played by Keiko, who was soon to become famous in his own right.