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Man vs. Beast! 26 On-Screen Battles of Wits

RICHARD HARRIS VS. KILLER WHALE
Orca (1977)
Unlike the great white in Jaws, the killer whale wins. Which is fine, because after you watch Captain Nolan (Richard Harris) kill his mate and unborn calf, you're secretly rooting for him. More impressive than Orca's knowledge of arson (he manages to set fire to a fishing village so that the locals will force Nolan to return to the sea for a fair fight) is his ability to communicate with slightly more subtlety: He not only gives Nolan the evil eye, which says I know your ass, and it's mine, but he also uses his fin (like a precursor to Keanu Reeves' come-and-get-it hand wave in The Matrix) to signal that Nolan should follow him into icy waters for their final showdown. Sucker. —Mandi Bierly