| The Swarm | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Irwin Allen |
| Produced by | Irwin Allen |
| Screenplay by | Stirling Silliphant |
| Based on | The Swarm by Arthur Herzog |
| Starring | Michael Caine Katharine Ross Richard Widmark Richard Chamberlain Olivia de Havilland Ben Johnson Lee Grant Jose Ferrer Patty Duke Slim Pickens Bradford Dillman Fred MacMurray Henry Fonda Cameron Mitchell |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Fred J. Koenkamp |
| Editing by | Harold F. Kress |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | July 14, 1978 |
| Running time | 116 minutes 156 minutes (extended cut) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $21 million |
| Box office | $10 million |
The Swarm is a 1978 disaster film about a killer bee invasion of Texas. It was adapted from a novel of the same name by Arthur Herzog.
The director was Irwin Allen, and the cast included Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia de Havilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, Patty Duke, Slim Pickens, Bradford Dillman, Fred MacMurray (in his final film appearance), and Henry Fonda. Despite negative reviews and being a box office failure, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design.
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A group of soldiers led by Maj. Baker (Bradford Dillman) is ordered to investigate a basement level station which they believed was attacked. After Baker contacts his commander, General Slater (Richard Widmark), they begin to investigate who drove a civilian van into the base. It is revealed to be owned by a scientist named Dr. Bradford Crane (Michael Caine). Slater orders two choppers to check for a black mass (revealed to bees), and they are sent out of the sky.
The film was released initially at 116 minutes. When released on laserdisc in the 1980s, it was expanded to 156 minutes. This 156-minute version is the one available on DVD.
Many filmgoers and critics consider this film one of the worst "disaster films" ever made, along with Allen's subsequent films Beyond the Poseidon Adventure and When Time Ran Out (1980). It was one of two disaster films (the other being 1979's Beyond the Poseidon Adventure), directed solely by the "master of disaster" Allen, who had experience directing several films and many episodes of his TV shows.
The film was a notorious box office bomb upon its release in 1978, barely making it two weeks in theaters. Michael Caine, despite other failed films, claims it is the worst film he ever made (along with his decade-earlier film The Magus and his later film Ashanti): "It wasn't just me, Hank Fonda was in it too, but I got the blame for it" he claimed in an interview with Michael Parkinson.
The film is also famous for Olivia de Havilland's "Scream Moan", in which when she sees the dead children outside the window she moans a scream.
The musical score was composed by Academy Award winner Jerry Goldsmith and used French horns and such to sound like the humming of bees.
The score was originally released on Warner Bros. Records in 1978 at the same time of the film's release, but has since gone out of print. An expanded, remastered score was released in a limited edition by Prometheus Records and contained over 40 minutes of previously unreleased material. It has also gone out of print.
The film is currently in negotiations for a remake. Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment is producing.[1]
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