The Day of the Dolphin

A marine biologist, Jake Terrell (George C. Scott), and his wife, Maggie (Trish Van Devere), are training dolphins to communicate with humans at their remote island research facility. They teach Alpha ("Fa"), a dolphin they have raised in captivity for four years, to speak simple English, and later introduce him to a female dolphin, Beta ("Bea"), who also learns to understand English. Terrell's research is funded by the Franklin Foundation, and shady characters, including undercover government agent Curtis Mahoney (Paul Sorvino), plan to kidnap the trained dolphins for a sinister purpose.