The Swarm (1978) Warner Bros./Action-Adventure RT: 155 minutes Rated PG (language, violence, bee-related mayhem and chaos) Director: Irwin Allen Screenplay: Stirling Silliphant Music: Jerry Goldsmith Cinematography: Fred J. Koenekamp Release date: July 14, 1978 (US) Cast: Michael Caine, Katherine Ross, Richard Widmark, Bradford Dillman, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia de Havilland, Lee Grant, Ben Johnson, Fred MacMurray, Patty Duke Astin, Jose Ferrer, Slim Pickens, Henry Fonda, Cameron Mitchell, Christian Juttner, Morgan Paull, Alejandro Rey. Box Office: $7.7M (US)
Rating: *** ½
I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for disaster movies ever since I caught The Poseidon Adventure on TV when I was 11 years old. There’s something about an all-star cast facing some kind of natural disaster that gets my adrenaline pumping. Irwin Allen, the undisputed “master of disaster” responsible for The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, decided the next world-ending event the world should face is a bee invasion. Thus, The Swarm was born.
The Swarm didn’t fare well at the box office that summer and the reviews weren’t kind either. But you can’t always rely on the opinions of others. Sometimes you simply have to go with a genre you like. I really enjoy The Swarm even if it does have some of the cheesiest effects I’ve ever seen in a major motion picture.
It opens with the discovery of several dead bodies at a military base in Texas. The sole survivor is Brad Crane (Caine, Harry Brown), an entomologist who may have an explanation for what’s happened. It seems that a huge swarm of killer bees from South America have made their way to the United States and are intent on destroying everything in their path. Don’t you hate it when that happens?
The main action is set in a small town where a flower festival is about to get underway. Talk about your bad coincidences and worse timing. There’s enough drama in this small town that one could be excused for mistaking it for Peyton Place. Local elementary school principal Maureen (de Havilland, Gone with the Wind) is torn between two lovers, retiree Felix (Johnson, The Last Picture Show) and town mayor Clarence (MacMurray, Double Indemnity). There’s also a pregnant diner waitress (Duke, Valley of the Dolls), a grieving father (Pickens, Blazing Saddles) and a reporter (Grant, Damien: Omen II) as well as various medical and military types.
While a battle of wills brews between Dr. Crane and General Slater (Widmark, Kiss of Death) over how to handle the bee crisis, doctors Krim (Fonda, 12 Angry Men), Helena (Ross, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and Hubbard (Chamberlain, Dr. Kildare) try to come up with a more humane way to deal with the bees before they reach Houston and create a disaster of gargantuan proportions. Not that they haven’t done that already. The little buggers manage to derail a train and blow up a nuclear power plant before they’re through. Hey, I never said The Swarm was believable. It’s just a silly disaster movie with a cast of stars in panic mode running for dear life. But who really cares how believable these movies are? They’re made in the spirit of fun. There’s plenty to be found here in the right state of mind.
The Swarm was originally released at 116 minutes. I never saw that version. I’m reviewing the extended version and while it’s far from perfect; it’s still a fun movie to watch on a dull weeknight. Like a lot of disaster movies, it has corny dialogue, bad overacting and cheesy special effects. With regard to the bees, the viewer mostly sees black masses in the sky before they attack various characters in slow-motion. It looks like a bee handler throws a handful of bees at the actors while Allen instructs them writhe in pain before they pretend to succumb to the deadly venom. In these moments, The Swarm is absolutely laughable.
On the upside, it’s always cool to see old-school actors like Fonda, Widmark and MacMurray show up in a movie even one as corny as The Swarm. It’s no surprise it isn’t regarded as a film classic, but how many disaster movies are? Not too many, that I’m sure of. The cool thing is that these movies are generally great fun. It’s fun to guess which has-been actor will buy the farm next. Then there are clichés like the obligatory final scene where the survivors ask what if something like this happens again and what can be done to prevent it. This is what makes disaster movies like The Swarm worth watching.
As always, I don’t care what the majority thinks. I think The Swarm is great! At the very least, it’s better than Allen’s swan song, the vile volcano flick When Time Ran Out. I realize it’s faint praise, but isn’t that better than no praise at all?
