IMDb RATING
4.5/10
8.6K
YOUR RATING
A huge swarm of deadly African bees spreads terror over American cities by killing thousands of people.A huge swarm of deadly African bees spreads terror over American cities by killing thousands of people.A huge swarm of deadly African bees spreads terror over American cities by killing thousands of people.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total
José Ferrer
- Dr. Andrews
- (as Jose Ferrer)
Patty Duke
- Rita
- (as Patty Duke Astin)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis was Fred MacMurray's final film before his death on November 5, 1991 at the age of 83.
- GoofsIn the background, a paralyzed scientist in a wheelchair kicks a door open.
- Quotes
General Thalius Slater: By tomorrow there will be no more Africans... at least not in the Houston sector.
- Crazy creditsDisclaimer in the closing credits: The African killer bee portrayed in this film bears absolutely no relationship to the industrious, hard-working American honey bee to which we are indebted for pollinating vital crops that feed our nation.
- Alternate versionsThe UK "12" certificate video release is the 156m version of this film (also shown on U.S. TV) which was released in theaters at 116m (with a "PG" certificate). Some of the additional footage is as follows:
- more of the three-way courtship between de Havilland, Johnson and MacMurray
- a hilarious scene in which the military inspect the attacked picnic site and Sir Michael Caine comments on the bees' biting abilities
- several additional scenes of Caine and Katharine Ross driving back and forth between the military bunker and the town and chatting about developments as they do
- the death scene of the little boy whose parents were killed and who subsequently firebombed the swarm - in the short version, he is in the hospital and one assumes he has survived; although he is not seen again. he has a relapse and dies in the long version.
- various extra footage of Caine and Ross going to the HQ in Houston
- when Henry Fonda is killed, there is an additional shot of a huge superimposed bee which he sees at the moment of his death
- an additional subplot near the end of the film in which Ross has a relapse and nearly dies from her earlier bee sting. This is why she is lying in a bed when Caine rescues her from the burning building. This subplot has several short scenes, including one when Bradford Dillman and Richard Widmark see Caine praying by her bed - once he sees that Caine believes in God, Widmark knows he is a good man and instructs Dillman to "Close that dossier" (the dossier had been constantly referred to by Widmark, but was left as an unresolved plot hole in the original theatrical version).
- ConnectionsFeatured in Inside 'the Swarm' (1978)
Featured review
Good B-Movie Bee Movie
The subject line says it all: this is a B-Movie about, well, bees. Sorry about the pun! Despite the big budget and big cast, this essentially is an old 1950's style B-Movie, and in that way it works very well as a guilty pleasure. Mixing together the cliched concepts of both a creature feature with a 70's disaster epic, what The Swarm ends up as is not quite exactly either one, but certainly a good part of both. The effects are good but not great, some of the performances are pretty good (Richard Widmark I thought played Slater very well), and it kept my interest for its entire (extended) running time. This one is worth checking out if you are a fan of Irwin Allen, bug movies, or 70s-style monster movies.
helpful•267
- nogimmicks
- Sep 16, 2003
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Der tödliche Schwarm
- Filming locations
- Houston, Texas, USA(Astrodome / Memorial Park / McKinney Street exit ramp)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $21,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 56 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content