A Whale of a Tale
(aka JOEY AND THE WHALE)
With: William Shatner (Dr. Jack Fredericks), Scott C. Kolden (Joey Fields), Nancy O'Conner (Aunt Meg), Marty Allen (Louie), Richard Arlen, Abby Dalton, Andy Devine
Plot Outline: A marine biologist helps a young boy save a whale.
***
Between THE DEVIL'S RAIN and KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS, William Shatner managed to squeeze in this preposterous Grade-Z kidflick about a small boy and a big whale.
Shatner as marine biologist (with wide red lapels and bushy sideburns)
is as about credible as Shatner as psycho/madman (with red bellbottoms and bitten fingernails: IMPULSE).
A WHALE OF A TALE has that certain 70s badfilm look: first-take acting, bad fashion, overexposed fotog, stupid zooms, muddy sound, ugly locations, a leisurely non-plot, crappy stock music, hoary songs. It
shares a lot with next year's wacky SUPERSEAL, though not as perversely lunatic as that great flick.
Too much Marineland footage (we are "treated" to entire performances). Actual scene at an actual McDonalds. The family scenes with the kid's mother and aunt are pathetic.
As in all bad kidfilm, the faked altruism here is scary and transparent. Poor Marty Allen. He's supposed to be comic relief but he's just maudlin nostalgia. Poor Andy Devine. He ended his
film days as a bloated, befuddled sea captain.
The 2-second plot has our kid pal Joey lost in a raft, rescued by the kindly creatures of the sea. An unwanted subplot has title whale getting ill from missing the kid, extending this clinker twenty minutes longer than anybody wants.
Even with these fatal flaws, this bad flick has "class" stamped all over it: the editor was Ronnie "ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER" Ashcroft and the assistant director was Wyatt
"MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR" Ordung, two gods of badfilm heaven!
Video/DVD availability: VHS (Solar Home Video, oop)
(1976, U.S.) color 97/90 minutes
Luckris / R.C. Riddell and Associates
Screenplay: Ewing Miles Brown
Music: Jonathan Cain
Cinematography: William G. Troiano
Editing: Ronald V. Ashcroft
Produced by Ewing Miles Brown, Chris Christensen, Jeanne De Vivier Brown, John Walker
Assistant Director: Wyott Ordung
Directed by Ewing Miles Brown