History Film / TheSwarm1978

Texas finds itself besieged by [[ScaryStingingSwarm swarms of]] [[BeeAfraid mutated African killer bees]], and the U.S. Army -- with the help of entomologist Dr. Brad Crane (Sir Creator/MichaelCaine) -- seek a way to stop them.

The shockingly loaded AllStarCast includes Caine, Creator/KatharineRoss, Creator/RichardChamberlain, Creator/RichardWidmark, Creator/LeeGrant, Creator/FredMacMurray, Creator/PattyDuke, Creator/HenryFonda, [[Creator/JoseFerrer José Ferrer]], and Creator/OliviaDeHavilland in her last theatrical feature (she appeared in a couple more TV movies before retiring).

The shockingly loaded AllStarCast includes Caine, Katharine Ross, Creator/RichardChamberlain, Creator/RichardWidmark, Creator/LeeGrant, Creator/FredMacMurray, Creator/PattyDuke, Creator/HenryFonda, [[Creator/JoseFerrer José Ferrer]], and Creator/OliviaDeHavilland in her last theatrical feature (she appeared in a couple more TV movies before retiring).

* ManOnFire: Several can be seen when the bees make it to Houston, and flamethrowers set everything on fire.

* TheWormGuy: Dr. Crane. He's the world's foremost expert on killer bees, and lives out of his van as he drives across America. Despite this, every (sympathetic) character in the film has heard of him and respects his expertise, and when the President assigns him to dealing with the titular swarm and grants him unlimited in the process, his reaction to all of this is essentially a calm, "I knew this day would come".

* DisproportionateRetribution: Any person who kills even a single bee will be swarmed and killed by ''thousands'' of bees within a matter of seconds.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: General Thalius Slater.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Dr. Crane. He repeatedly endangers countless lives because of his refusal to use pesticides to stop the swarm of all-destroying, non-native, bees. We're clearly supposed to agree with him.

* TheMockbuster: There was enough initial interest in this movie to inspire the Mexican-American co-production ''The Bees'' the same year, featuring B-movie stalwarts John Saxon and John Carradine.

[[caption-width-right:315:Creator/IrwinAllen brings you the ultimate [[JustForPun bee]] [[{{B-Movie}} movie]].

The shockingly loaded AllStarCast includes Caine, Katharine Ross, Creator/RichardChamberlain, Richard Widmark, Creator/LeeGrant, Creator/FredMacMurray, Creator/PattyDuke, Creator/HenryFonda, [[Creator/JoseFerrer José Ferrer]], and Creator/OliviaDeHavilland in her last theatrical feature (she appeared in a couple more TV movies before retiring).

''The Swarm'' is a 1978 DisasterMovie adapted from a novel by Arthur Herzog, produced and directed by Creator/IrwinAllen.

[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/swarmpost_8731.jpg]]

Texas is besieged by [[ScaryStingingSwarm swarms of]] [[BeeAfraid mutated African killer bees]], and the U.S. Army -- with the help of entomologist Dr. Brad Crane (Sir Creator/MichaelCaine) -- seek a way to stop them.

The shockingly loaded AllStarCast included Caine, Katharine Ross, Creator/RichardChamberlain, Richard Widmark, Creator/LeeGrant, Creator/FredMacMurray, Creator/PattyDuke, Creator/HenryFonda, [[Creator/JoseFerrer José Ferrer]], and Creator/OliviaDeHavilland in her last theatrical feature (she appeared in a couple more TV movies before retiring).

Texas is besieged by swarms of [[BeeAfraid mutated African killer bees]], and the U.S. Army -- with the help of entomologist Dr. Brad Crane (Sir Creator/MichaelCaine) -- seek a way to stop them.

* BeeAfraid: The plot is this trope on a massive scale.

Texas is besieged by swarms of [[BeeAfraid mutated African killer bees]], and the U.S. Army -- with the help of entymologist Dr. Brad Crane (Sir Creator/MichaelCaine) -- seek a way to stop them.

The shockingly loaded AllStarCast included Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Creator/FredMacMurray, Creator/HenryFonda, [[Creator/JoseFerrer José Ferrer]], and Creator/OliviaDeHavilland in her last theatrical feature (she appeared in a couple more TV movies before retiring).

The shockingly loaded AllStarCast included Caine, Katharine Ross, Creator/RichardWidmark, Creator/FredMacMurray, Creator/HenryFonda, and Creator/OliviaDeHavilland in her last theatrical feature (she appeared in a couple more TV movies before retiring).

->Irwin Allen “won” a 1984 Worst Career Achievement Razzie naming him “The Master of Disaster". And ''The Swarm'' is the single biggest disaster on his less-than-distinguished résumé. (...) Under Allen's firm hand, and despite the enormous production budget, ''The Swarm'' turned the tale of an invasion of killer bees into the ultimate B movie.
-->--'''''The Official [[Usefulnotes/GoldenRaspberryAward Razzie]] Movie Guide'''''

* ArtisticLicenceBiology: The movie gets a ''lot'' of things wrong with regard to bees, but perhaps the biggest is missing the fact that bees die themselves when they sting people. On top of that, even Africanized bees aren't as ludicrously aggressive as depicted in the movie. The plot would actually have made a lot more sense had it involved wasps rather than bees.
* ArtisticLicenceNuclearPhysics: A horde of killer bees gets into a nuclear power plant. This somehow causes the plant to [[GoingCritical go critical]] and go up in a gigantic explosion within seconds. Without killing the bees.
** Well one assumes it killed all the bees in the blast radius. But insects can survive a high roentgen count; any radiation strong enough to kill the bees would also kill us.

* AndStarring: "and Fred [=MacMurray=] as Clarence... and Henry Fonda as Dr. Krim"

** Creator/PattyDuke is a pregnant café waitress who gives birth to her child and promptly disappears.

* LargeHam: Michael Caine and Richard Widmark's teeth-gnashing arguments make up a good portion of the movie.

** Patty Duke is a pregnant café waitress who gives birth to her child and promptly disappears.

* BowtiesAreCool: Dr. Krim and Clarence both rock the look.

->--'''''The Official [[Usefulnotes/GoldenRaspberryAward Razzie]] Movie Guide'''''