Free Willy

For other uses, see Free Willy (disambiguation).
Free Willy

Theatrical release poster for Free Willy
Directed by Simon Wincer
Produced by
Screenplay by
Story by Keith A. Walker
Starring
Music by Basil Poledouris
Cinematography Robbie Greenberg
Edited by O. Nicholas Brown
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment
Release dates
  • July 16, 1993 (1993-07-16)
Running time
 112 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $20 million
Box office $153.6 million

Free Willy is a 1993 American family drama film directed by Simon Wincer, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Jennie Lew Tugend, and written by Keith A. Walker and Corey Blechman from a story by Walker. The film stars Jason James Richter as a foster boy who befriends a captive orca.

The film received positive attention from critics and was a financial success, grossing $153.6 million over $20 million, and has a small cult following. It eventually grew into a small franchise, spawning three sequels and a video game companion.

Michael Jackson produced and performed "Will You Be There", the theme for the film, which can be heard during the film's credits. The song won the MTV Movie Award for "Best Song in a Movie" in 1994. It was also included on the film's album, Dangerous and All Time Greatest Movie Songs, released by Sony in 1999. Jackson also performed songs for the film's first sequel.

Plot

The film begins with a pod of orcas swimming near the coastline of the Pacific Northwest. The pod is tracked down by a group of whalers, and one of them, Willy, is trapped and sent to an amusement park.

Sometime later in Astoria, Oregon, Jesse, a 12-year-old boy abandoned by his mother six years before, is caught by the police for stealing food and vandalizing the theme park. Jesse's social worker Dwight earns him a reprieve by finding him a foster home and having him clean up the graffiti at the theme park. His foster parents are the supportive and kind Annie and Glen Greenwood, but Jesse is initially unruly and hostile to them.

While working at the park, Jesse encounters Willy. Willy is regarded as surly and uncooperative by the park staff, including his trainer Rae Lindley, but he saves Jesse from drowning, starting a bond, and becomes friendly with his keeper, Haida native Randolph Johnson. Jesse teaches tricks to Willy, and is offered a permanent job at the marine after probation. Jesse also warms into his new home.

The owner of the amusement park, Dial, sees the talent Jesse and Willy have together and makes plans to host "The Willy Show" in hopes of finally making money from Willy, who has thus far been a costly venture for him. On the day of the first performance, Willy is antagonized by the children banging constantly on his underwater observation area and refuses to perform. Willy smashes against the tank, damaging it. Jesse storms off in tears and plans to run away. Later, while at the tank, Jesse notices Willy's family calling to him and Dial's assistant Wade and other men sneaking into the underwater observation area. They damage the tank enough that the water will gradually leak out in an effort to kill Willy and claim his $1,000,000 insurance policy.

Jesse, Randolph, and Rae hatch a plan to release Willy. They use equipment at the park to load Willy onto a trailer, and Jesse and Randolph use Glen's truck to tow Willy to a marina. They try to stay on the back roads to avoid being spotted, but eventually get stuck in the mud. Wade meanwhile informs Dial that Willy is missing, and begins a search to find Willy.

Unable to move the trailer himself, Jesse calls Glen and Annie using a CB radio in Glen's truck. Annie and Glen show up and help free the truck, and continue on to the marina to release Willy. Dial knows where they are headed, and when they show up, he, Wade, and his henchmen are blocking the gate into the marina. Glen charges at them full speed in the truck, forcing the henchmen to scatter as the truck crashes through the gate. Glen turns the truck around and backs Willy into the water, flooding the truck in the process.

Willy is finally released into the water, but Dial and his goons attempt to stop them. During the struggle, Jesse gets Willy to swim away while the whaling ships close in with their nets. Jesse runs towards the seawall, calling for Willy to follow him, steering him away from the boats. Jesse goes to the edge where Willy is and tells him that if he makes the jump, it'll be his highest and he'll be free. Jesse says a tearful goodbye, but pulls himself together and goes back to the top. He prays a Haida prayer Randolph had taught him, giving Willy a signal and makes the jump and is finally free to return to his family. Everyone cheers, Willy leaps out of the water in celebration, and Jesse happily celebrates, but stops when he realizes that he'll probably never see Willy again. He goes back to Glen and Annie who hug him as they look out into the sea. Willy calls out to Jesse in the distance and both say their final farewell. The movie ends with Willy finding his family, and the entire pod swimming and jumping through the ocean.

Cast

Production

Most close-up shots involving limited movement by Willy, such as when Willy is in the trailer and the sequences involving Willy swimming in the open water, make use of an animatronic stand-in. Walt Conti, who supervised the effects for the orcas, estimated that half of the shots of the orca used animatronic stand-ins. Conti stated that the smaller movements of a real Orca actually made things difficult in some ways for him and his crew; they had to concentrate on smaller nuances in order to make the character seem alive.[1] The most extensive use of CGI in the film is the climax, filmed in Astoria, Oregon, where Willy jumps over Jesse and into the wild. All stunts with the orca were performed by the young orca trainer Justin Sherbert (known additionally by his stage name, Justin Sherman).

Release

Box office performance

The film was released by Warner Bros. on July 16, 1993 and grossed $7,868,829 domestically in its opening weekend.[2] It went on to make $76 million in its foreign release for a total of $153,698,625 worldwide.[2] Upon its initial release, Free Willy ranked number 5 at the box office before moving to number 4 by the following weekend. Afterward, its rank in the box office began to gradually decline, with the exception of a three-day weekend (September 3 to September 6), in which gross revenue increased by 33.6%.[3]

Critical response

The film has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Free Willy currently holds a 57% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website, based on 22 reviews, indicating mixed reviews.[4] The film on Metacritic has a 79 out of 100 rating.

Accolades

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

References in other media

References

  1. ↑ Rickitt, Richard (2006). Designing Movie Creatures and Characters: Behind the Scenes With the Movie Masters. Focal Press. pp. 161–65. ISBN 0-240-80846-0.
  2. 1 2 "Free Willy". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Free Willy". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Free Willy (1993)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 13, 2009.
  5. ↑ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-14.
  6. ↑ Winerip, Michael (September 16, 2013). "Retro Report: The Whale Who Would Not Be Freed" (video (11:43)). New York Times. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  7. ↑ Mirkin, David (2004). The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.

External links

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