The Swarm (film)

Infobox Film | name = The Swarm


caption = "The Swarm" movie poster
director = Irwin Allen
producer = Irwin Allen
writer = Arthur Herzog (novel)
Stirling Silliphant (screenplay)
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
John Furlong
music = Jerry Goldsmith
cinematography = Fred J. Koenkamp
editing = Harold F. Kress
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = July 14, 1978 (USA)
runtime = 116 min. (Theatrical Version)
156 min. (Video Version)
language = English
budget = $21,000,000 (estimated)
gross = $10,000,000 (USA)
preceded_by =
followed_by =
imdb_id = 0078350

"The Swarm" is a 1978 American 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, and Henry Fonda.

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 directed solely by the "master of disaster", Irwin Allen (the other being 1979's Beyond the Poseidon Adventure), who had experience directing several movies 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 himself claims it is the worst film he ever made: "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.

Running times

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.

core

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 movie, but has since gone out of print. An expanded, remastered score was released in a limited edition by Prometheus Records and contained over forty minutes of previously unreleased material. It has also gone out of print.

ee also

*"The Savage Bees" - a 1976 TV movie
*"The Bees" - a 1978 film
*"The Deadly Bees" - a UK-made film from 1966

External links

*
* [http://www.iann.net/movies/swarm/ Irwin Allen News Network] (The Irwin Allen News Network's Swarm page)
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZamBZEDmKU The Swarm - Movie Trailer]