Review of The Swarm (1978) by Frank M — 10 Nov 2007

This movie is hilarious, funnier than most comedies these days, made by none other than IRWIN ALLEN himself! Yay! Michael Caine heads up an operation where he wields power over the US military(so George W Bush learnt something from watching this movie then) to stop an invasion of aggressive killer bees which in the course of 48 hours destroy a large part of Texas - they down US Air Force helicpoters, show the Air Force who REALLY rules the skies by invading a missile silo where the movie starts(but where were the bodies?!), attack a picnic, a small town, derail a train(!) and cause the explosion of a nuclear power plant, toasting Richard Chamberlain in the process who tries to stop the swarm from heading for(gulp!) Houston by dropping poison pellets .

. . loved the giant bee LSD trips as well - and how do you rid a city of bees? Instead of detonating a large bomb, send in tropps with FLAMETHROWERS??WTF??!! But watch the directors cut, the DVD version at 2 hrs 40 mins for maximum entertainment.

The one part that had me spliiting my sides was the General(Richard Widmark, who always seems to play officers) wanted to set up roadblocks to stop the bees. Yes that'd work if bees drove cars!!! He forgets the fact they have wings .

. . funny lines everywhere like 'Are you sayin' these bees eat PLASTIC?!' and 'I always credit my enemy no matter what he may be with equal intelligence.' To what? Anyway, with the upcoming Disney/Pixar animated feature BEE MOVIE coming up, this might seem the perfect companion.