Updated: March 14, 2008

CAST & CREW: (The Swarm - 1978)

Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark

Directed by Irwin Allen

Beefed up scare film about what could happen if 22 million African killer bees crossed the border into the United States. Bee-proof costumes were designed for shots using live bees. Academy Award Nominations: Best Costume Design

Absolutely hilarious glossy black and white photograph of producer-director Irwin Allen, "Mr. Disaster Movie", mugging with a swarm of bees from - what else - his blockbuster stinker of a movie from 1978, THE SWARM. With lines which will bring tears to your eyes, such as:

"We've been fighting a loosing battle against the Insects for 15 years! But I never thought that I'd see the final face-off in all my lifetime! I never dreamed--that it'd turn out to be the bees! They've always been our friends!!"

With friends like these, you don't need enemies. Although there was actually public fear that this hysterical, badly-acted nonsense about killer bees would cause a panic in the population, all fears were put to rest when it came out in theaters. Allen was at the top of his self-created "disaster movie" game, having already produced THE TOWERING INFERNO and THE POSEIDEN ADVENTURE when THE SWARM was released with a cast of stars including Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia DeHavilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, Jose Ferrer, Patty Duke Astin, Slim Pickens, Bradford Dillman, Fred MacMurray and Henry Fonda.