The Swarm (1978) (Stephenverse)

The Swarm is a 1978 American disaster action horror film directed by John Guillermin and produced by Irwin Allen, who was a producer of the previous disaster movies of The Poseidon Adventure, and The Towering Inferno. It was adapted from a novel of the same name by Arthur Herzog. The cast features Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia de Havilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, José Ferrer, Patty Duke, Slim Pickens, Bradford Dillman, Fred MacMurray, and Henry Fonda. In this film, Dr. Bradford Crane and a group of soldiers teams up to stop a huge swarm of killer bees from reaching and destroying their city with venom around the state of Texas. This was MacMurray's final film appearance before his death.

The film was released on October 20, 1978, to generally favorable reviews, and it was a box-office success.

Plot
A group of soldiers led by Major 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 explode, 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 bees. The teenaged son manages to escape in a Mustang, although he is also stung, and crashes into the Maryville 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. 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

 * Michael Caine as Dr. Bradford Crane
 * Katharine Ross as Helena Anderson
 * Richard Widmark as General Thaddeus Slater
 * Richard Chamberlain as Dr. Hubbard
 * Olivia de Havilland as Maureen Schuester
 * Ben Johnson as Felix Austin
 * Lee Grant as Anne MacGregor
 * José Ferrer as Dr. Andrews
 * Patty Duke as Rita Bard
 * Slim Pickens as Jud Hawkins
 * Bradford Dillman as Major Baker
 * Fred MacMurray as Clarence Tuttle
 * Henry Fonda as Dr. Walter Krim
 * Cameron Mitchell as General Thompson
 * Christian Juttner as Paul Durant
 * Morgan Paull as Dr. Newman
 * Alejandro Rey as Dr. Martinez
 * Don "Red" Barry as Pete Harris

Critical Response
The Swarm was debut on October 21, 1978, and it received generally favorable reviews from critics. The film currently holds a 73% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 46 reviews, while Metacritic scores the film a 68/100 "Generally favorable reviews" and an IMDb rating is 6.7/10.

Box Office
The film grossed $10,328,530 in its opening weekend from more than 2,550 theatres and earned Warner Bros. rentals in the United States and Canada of $48,838,000. The film grossed $83 million in the United States and Canada and $176.5 million worldwide. It was considered a commercial success.

Difference compared to the real-life release

 * The film was released on October 20, 1978, instead of July 14, 1978.
 * The movie runs about 153 minutes instead of 116 minutes long, with one scene where the train passes on camera.
 * The film was released on DVD in 1998.
 * The film was released on Blu-Ray in October 2018 to celebrate the 40th anniversary.