Customer Reviews
Afro-Brazilian Bees. Not Hardworking Honeybees 
2008-12-27
Makes "When Time Ran Out" look like Schindler's list. My favorite scene: Katherine Ross is lying in a hospital bed. There is knocking at the door. She gets up, opens the door and is met by a bee the size of an elephant. I kid you not. If you don't think that makes this a must see then I don't know what else to say. Except this: Michael Caine seems to be testing the theory that the worse the dialogue the louder it should be screeched. Bring nachos "The Swarm" delivers all the cheese you can handle.
The Swarm 
2008-10-15
This was really a picture of what if and I enjoyed ever bit of it.
I thought it was very well written and Richard Widmark and Micheal Caine gave such creditability to their parts. If you like sci-fi this was one that was somewhat imaginable. I gave it 3 stars.
wonderfully bad film clocks in at a generous 155 minutes 2008-09-05
there are few things i cherish as mightily as fine actors chewing the scenery and or emoting false indignation the way MICHAEL CAINE does at the begining of this magnificent disaster opera . it gets better from there . all the key elements and players are fully vested for the avalanche of hilarity that greets us and throws a GRIZZLY ADAMS sized hug on us . the collective . there's IRWIN ALLEN . shepherding another great idea to an even greater canvas . if so inclined , there's a who's who of stars of past and present . and there's those darn africanized bees . (you know , the ones SIXTY MINUTES promised us twenty years ago or so) . my god . what has happened to current film . where's the humor and ambition and audacity . own this to fully appreciate the wonderful decade we all miss so greatly . bold and brilliant . thank you IRWIN . see annually for optimal veiwing pleasure .
BAD SCRIPT, HORRIBLE ACTING!! 
2008-08-25
For a man of Irwin Allen's talent with great disaster films (Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno) to his credit, it is sad to see the result of this swarming mess!! Literally. We have a distinguished cast..many of them Oscar winners including: Henry Fonda, Olivia deHavilland, Jose Ferrer, Patty Duke, Lee Grant and Michael Caine. Add to them Richard Widmark, Richard Chamberlain and Fred MacMurray and you would think we would have a film worthy of Irwin Allen and his ever present script writer Stirling Silliphant.
The acting is horrible, not helped any by the static direction. Only Henry Fonda rises above the horrible script. Caine and Widmark also but to a lesser degree. The rest of the cast founders...especially Katherine Ross, Patty Duke (in a thankless role as a pregnant widowed mother)and especially Olivia deHavilland who is a fine actress. She was horrible in this film, just horrible. (Pay close attention to her reaction in the scene where she peeks out of her school window and sees many children lying dead on the ground after having been stung by the bees. Any nominations for worst supporting actress that year????)
This is by far Irwin Allen's turkey. Nothing is believable here and one doesn't care if the bees are caught and eliminated or not. One doesn't care period. Always the hallmark of a bad movie. This is a total stink bomb far beneath the talents of those who appeared in it.
Silly swarm. 2008-07-18
The Swarm (Irwin Allen, 1978)
The Swarm was the nadir of Irwin Allen's career, a film so bad, that lost so much money, he forbade those around him to ever speak of it again. It's pretty easy to see why. Long considered one of the worst disaster movies ever made, and rightly so.
Plot? There's a plot? Okay, here you go: a swarm of killer bees is attacking America, and the army, along with the somewhat-coerced help of Dr. Bradford Crane (Michael Caine), has to figure out how to stop it. As time goes on, things get outrageous, pulling in every subconscious fear the scriptwriters could throw in (the bees attacking a nuclear plant is a piece of moronic genius).
Despite the movie having a rather large number of stars, the acting is godawful from front to back. Caine might as well have been dead. No one else in here manages to even come close to that. Katherine Ross is wooden. Fred MacMurray and Bradford Dillman, as rival suitors for the hand of the town schoolteacher (Olivia DeHavilland, who might as well be made of clay) inject some much-needed humor into the movie, but it isn't nearly enough. The love-story subplot between Caine and Katharine Ross is preposterous both as a plot point and for the utter lack of chemistry between the two. And those are the high points.
Disaster movie? It's a disaster of a movie. Probably worthwhile for playing drinking games with, otherwise can be safely avoided. *
Over-the-Top Entertainment 
2008-05-10
Irwin Allen's doomsday epic pits an all-star cast against a North American invasion of killer bees!
"Bees! Bees! Millions Of Beeeeees!"... 2008-01-28
I grew up watching Irwin Allens TV shows, like LOST IN SPACE, TIME TUNNEL, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, and LAND OF THE GIANTS. His disaster epics: POSEIDON ADVENTURE and TOWERING INFERNO kept me well adhesed to the back of my theatre seat! With all of this to his credit, Allen made THE SWARM. Well, it's a hilariously inept bomb of a movie, with a two and a half hour running time! I kept praying for it's end credits to roll, while simultaneously being unable to tear my eyes from the horror before me! Dear God above, what a mess! Still, it is fun to watch in places; and the cavalcade of washed-up stars is wonderful! Examples: Former superstar, Henry Fonda in a wheelchair, either looking constipated or grimacing hysterically. Fred MacMurray (Double Indemnity) acting like he's still on the set of MY THREE SONS. Olivia De Havilland (Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte), bouncing around in a doomed traincar. Michael Caine (Dressed To Kill, The Hand) and Richard Widmark (COMA) screaming and yelling at each other for most of the film. Richard Chamberlain (Mr. Shogun himself) and José Ferrer (The Sentinel, Blood Tide) doing their bee-covered disco-dance-of-death in the nuclear power plant holocaust scene. Katharine Ross (The Stepford Wives, The Legacy, Donnie Darko) managing to look both stunning and stunned throughout. Lee Grant (Visiting Hours) as a nosy TV reporter who leaves her cameramen outside in the killer swarm, while taking refuge in the newsvan. Patty Duke Astin (Valley Of The Dolls) as a pregnant woman in mourning for her dead husband, oblivious to her doctor's ham-fisted advances. Bradford Dillman (Bug, Piranha, Chosen Survivors) as major what's-his-name. Cameron Mitchell (The Demon, Toolbox Murders) as the general who yells at Gen. Widmark and Dr. Caine. Yes, THE SWARM is a classic of disastrous proportions! This thing cost a fortune to make too! It was the end of Irwin Allen's reign as king of the blockbusters! It stands as a testament to what happens when producer / directors are given millions of dollars to run wild. Watch in amazement and awe...
"Houston on fire,will history blame me or the bees" richard widmark to anyone still listening 2006-12-05
that is just one of a stream of howling bad lines in this thanksgiving film(a real turkey get it). the novel it was based on was very good but in the hands of irwin allen it becomes of of the funniest comedies of all time. that wasn't what they ment to do,but the script is so silly that the stars, who try hard just can't keep this one from sinking under the bad lines and not so special effects. the cast is just picking up a paycheck on this one. you are now asking ,how i could give this four stars ,well it is very funny and just when you think it can't get any worse,bam,it goes even deeper down the tubes. but if you are the right frame of mind this is one funny movie.
A Genuine Disaster Movie 2006-11-08
From the producer who gave you "The Towering Inferno" comes this hilarious killer-bee invasion with a "Hollywood Squares" cast (including Fred MacMurray in his final screen role). "The Swarm" is another Irwin Allen schlockfest mired in ludicrous dialogue and unspecial effects. This cinematic turkey inexplicably cost a whopping $21 million, which makes you wonder about creative bookkeeping. A definite must for bad-film aficionados.
Cinematic torture, Irwin Allen style 2006-10-28
I remember when I was a mere young one that I really wanted to see this film. It didn't play very long in the theater, and I never rented it on VHS. I knew it was going to be bad, but I decided to try it, figuring what the hell else is there to do in 2 1/2 hours? It was one of the worst decisions of my life. This is godawful. There's no way you can recommend this to anyone. Even Gen Xers, who seemed attracted to watching really bad movies and TV shows, would have a hard time enjoying this, in their terms, "ironically". This is the extra long, "roadshow director's cut" that runs an interminable 156 minutes. The film ran 114 minutes in the theaters, but they put this longer version on laserdisc. Warner put the 156 version on the DVD, and we're stuck with it. The performances are so badly over the top (especially Michael Caine and Slim Pickens) that you grimace and wished that you never rented this film. Sure, there are many unintentional laughs, but it's not worth renting the film for. There's even a silly romance between Fred MacMurray, Ben Johnson, and Olivia de Haviland that gets thrown in just to bore you even more. The many guest stars should be ashamed of themselves, but these disaster epics were very hip in the 1970's. It was one of those things where the celebrities of the day HAD to be in it (even then, celebrities had to be at the "hip" thing, no matter how awful it was). The featurette is actually interesting. It's kind of fun to listen to the actors talk about the horrible bees and how they were going to destroy the country (just like the Russian were going to invade and California was going to have a massive earthquake and fall into the ocean, two 1970's whoppers that never happened either). It's great to watch Irwin Allen acting like Mr. Auteur, capturing his "vision". Allen can make a decent film, like The Towering Inferno. But this is just inexcusable. There are boundless continuity flubs here. My favorite has to be the next to last scene. Richard Widmark, Michael Caine, and Katherine Ross are stuck in a high rise being attacked by bees. The army is armed only with flame throwers, but that don't stop the bees. The bees get Widmark (it's a spoiler, but I really hope you don't watch this, much less buy it), but somehow, Caine and Ross escape the building (we never find out how), and make it to an ocean shoreline where they destroy the bees. Did they pinch a cab in the middle of the bee storm? Or were the bees sleeping? Anyway, in conclusion, don't buy this. Please, don't buy this.
