The Swarm (film)
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The Swarm is a 1978 American monster horror film about a killer bee invasion of Texas.
- Directed and produced by Irwin Allen. Screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, based on the novel by Arthur Herzog.
It's more than a speculation - it's a prediction! Taglines
Brad Crane[edit]
- [About the killer bees] We have been invaded, by an enemy far more lethal than any human force.
- We've been fighting a losing battle against the insects for fifteen years, but I never thought I'd see the final face-off in my lifetime. And I never dreamed, that it would turn out to be the bees. They've always been our friend.
- Bees, bees, what a lot of bees.
General Slater[edit]
- Houston on fire. Will history blame me, or the bees?
- By tomorrow there will be no more Africans... at least not in the Houston sector.
Maureen Schuster[edit]
- Attention! Attention! This is Miss Schuster. Please listen very carefully. A swarm of killer bees is coming this way.
Dialogue[edit]
- [Crane has found something at the ravaged picnic site]
- Brad Crane: [Holding it up] Plastic. It's a piece of a plastic cup. There are pieces all around here. [He starts pointing out the other fragments] Look. Look, there. There. There.
- General Slater: What's so significant about that?
- Brad Crane: I'm afraid to speculate. But, I think, the bees, did this.
- General Slater: Are you saying these bees eat plastic?
- Brad Crane: No, no.But I'm wondering. Your American Honeybee has a weak mouth, that couldn't even break the skin, of a grape. But it looks like this species, is tearing up, plastic cups, possibly to line their hives. Now, if this is true, they didn't, just get here. I mean, the invasion, didn't, just now begin. They have been here some time. Breeding. Increasing.
- General Slater: So?
- Brad Crane: Well, suppose these bees, are using plastic, to insulate their hives.
- General Slater: No bee is that smart.
- Brad Crane: Suppose these African bees are.
- Brad Crane: These bees, General, are of joint concern, and they are killing Americans, without reference as to whether or not they have a serial number and are expected to salute you! So there will be no air drops of any kind until I give the OK.
- General Slater: Your OK, huh? Then it is just possible I can persuade you to attack this particular swarm, now that we know where it is. Attack and eliminate it!
- Brad Crane: Possibly, if you can explain to me, how you air drop chemicals, without killing the native insect life. If your chemical will kill the African bee, it will also kill the American bee, right?
- General Slater: Right. And better a few American bees than a lot of American people!
- Brad Crane: That is the point, general. The honey bee is vital to the environment. Every year in America, they pollinate six billion dollars worth of crops. If you kill the bee, you're gonna kill the crop. If you kill the plants, you'll kill the people. No. No, general. There will be no air drop, until we know exactly, what we are dropping, and where, and how. Excuse me. [Crane storms off]
- [Slater is about to attack the swarm with a highly toxic pesticide]
- Brad Crane: General, if you use that, nothing will grow out there for the next ten years.
- General Slater: Why worry about shaving when somebody's going to cut your head off?
- Brad Crane: Are you endowing these bees with human motives? Like saving their fellow bees from captivity, or seeking revenge on Mankind?
- General Slater: I always credit my enemy, no matter what he may be, with equal intelligence.
- [As helicopters drop special sound-emitting floats to attract the swarm to its doom]
- Helena: Won't the noise of the helicopters drown out your sound?
- Brad Crane: No. It's an entirely different sonic level.
- Dr. Andrews: Billions of dollars have been made to make these nuclear plants safe, fail safe! The odds of anything going wrong are astronomical, doctor.
- Dr. Hubbard: I appreciate that, Doctor. But let me ask you. In all your fail-safe techniques, is there a provision for an attack by killer bees?
Taglines[edit]
- It's more than a speculation - it's a prediction!
- ... is here!
- Monsters by the millions - and they're all for real!
- This is more than a movie. It's a prediction!
- The most terrifying thing about THE SWARM is that it is based on Fact: It exists. Fact: It has awesome destructive power. Fact: We don't know how to stop it.
Cast[edit]
- Michael Caine — Brad Crane
- Katharine Ross — Helena
- Richard Widmark — General Slater
- Richard Chamberlain — Dr. Hubbard
- Olivia de Havilland — Maureen Schuster
- Ben Johnson — Felix
- Lee Grant — Anne MacGregor
- Jose Ferrer — Dr. Andrews
- Patty Duke Astin — Rita
- Slim Pickens — Jud Hawkins
- Bradford Dillman — Major Baxter
- Fred MacMurray — Clarence
- Henry Fonda — Dr. Walter Krim
External links[edit]
- The Swarm (1978) quotes at the Internet Movie Database
- The Swarm (1978) at Rotten Tomatoes