The Swarm (film)

The Swarm
Theatrical release poster
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
Edited by	Harold F. Kress
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	July 14, 1978 (1978-07-14)
Running time	116 minutes 156 minutes (extended cut)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$21 million[1] or $11.5 million[2]
Box office	$7.6 million[3]

The Swarm is a 1978 science fiction monster horror 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,^[4] the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. This is the last film to be edited by Harold F. Kress.

Plot

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, Gen. 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), the only survivor of the attack. Slater orders two helicopters to check for a black mass (revealed to be bees), but the two helicopters are swarmed by the bees and crash, killing the pilots inside. Crane insists to Slater that the base was attacked by the same African killer bees that destroyed the helicopters. Helena Anderson (Katharine Ross), one of the base's doctors, supports Crane's story.

Meanwhile, in the countryside, a family is attacked by a swarm of the bees. Paul, their teenaged son manages to escape in a Mustang, although he is also stung, and crashes into the Marysville town square, where the citizens are preparing for the annual flower festival. The boy is brought into the hands of military personnel, where he hallucinates a vision of giant bees attacking him, due to the aftereffects of the bee sting. Wheelchair bound Dr. Walter Krim (Henry Fonda) confirms to Crane that the very war they have feared for a long time has started against the bees. At the gates of the base, Slater must confront angry country bumpkin Jed Hawkins (Slim Pickens) who demands to see the dead body of his son, who was killed by the bees. Hawkins takes the body bag and departs, leaving the entire watching crowd silent over the loss. Slater suggests airdropping poison on the swarm, but Crane considers the ecological possibilities of the situation.

Recovering from his earlier bee attack, the stung son and some friends go in search of the hive to firebomb it, which results only in angering the bees, who head to Marysville. The bees reach Marysville and kill hundreds, including some children at the local school. Crane and Helena take shelter at the local diner, with pregnant café waitress Rita (Patty Duke Astin). Reporter Anne McGregor (Lee Grant) watches from the safety of her news van, hoping to get some exciting footage about the siege. After this most recent attack, Slater suggests evacuating many of the townsfolk in a train. However, the bees manage to besiege the train as well, killing several evacuees, including a love triangle made up of schoolteacher Maureen Scheuster (Olivia de Havilland), retiree Felix Austin (Ben Johnson), and town Mayor Clarence Tuttle (Fred MacMurray), who also runs the town's drug store.

Rita, confined to a hospital bed, gives birth to her child, falling in love with the doctor in the process. The savage swarm heads for Houston, so Crane drops eco-friendly bombs on them, hoping that the swarm senses will harm them and stay away from the city. The plan fails, and the young boy who released the swarm onto Marysville dies after once more visiting the hospital, which sends Helena into a rage about why the children have to die. Dr. Krim self-injects an experimental bee venom antidote to keep track of the results, although the trial proves fatal, and Krim dies from the effects of the venom. Meanwhile, nuclear power plant manager Dr. Andrews (Jose Ferrer) is convinced that his plant can withstand the attacks of the bees, ignoring the warnings of Dr. Hubbard (Richard Chamberlain). However, at that moment, the alarm sounds and the bees invade the plant, killing both Andrews and Hubbard, as well as completely destroying the plant and wiping out an entire town.

Crane and Slater analyze tapes from the original bee invasion and come to the possible conclusion that their alarm system attracted the swarm into the base. The bees invade once more, so Slater uses a flame-thrower to allow Crane and Helena to escape. Sonically altered helicopters successfully manage to lure the bees out to sea, where they douse the water with oil and set the swarm ablaze. Crane wonders if their victory was overall successful or just temporary, then decides that "if we use our time wisely, the world just might survive."

Cast

Reception

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 is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of the The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.^[5] On its release, The Sunday Times described The Swarm as "simply the worst film ever made".^[6] Time Out magazine called The Swarm a "risibly inadequate disaster movie".^[7] Leslie Halliwell called The Swarm a "very obvious disaster movie with risible dialogue", and suggested its commercial failure was partly due to the fact that prior to its release, several American television movies with similar plots had been broadcast.^[4] Richard Velt in the Wilmington Morning Star stated "The Swarm may not be the worst movie ever made. I'd have to see them all to be sure. It's certainly as bad as any I've seen." Velt also stated "All the actors involved in this fiasco should be ashamed".^[8]

The film was a notorious box office bomb upon its release in 1978,^[4] barely making it two weeks in theaters. Michael Caine, despite his other film failures, 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.

Score

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 LP on Warner Bros. Records in 1978 at the same time of the film's release, but has long since gone out of print. An expanded, remastered score was released in 2002 in a limited edition by Prometheus Records and contained over 40 minutes of previously unreleased material. It has also gone out of print.

Alternate versions

The film was released initially at 116 minutes. When released on laserdisc in the 1980s, it was expanded to 156 minutes, and this version is what is used on the DVD release.

Remake

The film is currently in negotiations for a remake. Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment is producing.^[9]

See also

• List of killer bee films

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Swarm (film)

• The Swarm at the Internet Movie Database
• The Swarm at AllMovie
• The Swarm at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Swarm – Movie Trailer on YouTube
• Irwin Allen News Network (The Irwin Allen News Network's Swarm page)