Irwin Allen outdid himself in shameless exploitation of 'over the hill' has-been actors & actresses. There are not many audiences in the late 70's that really would've cared to see a cast of mostly veterans of western cinema battling and/or escaping from homicidial bees. Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, and Fred MacMurray all looked like they were looking to jump on a horse and giddy-up into the sunset.
The overacting of Micheal Caine only adds to the campiness of 'The Swarm'. Jose Ferrer was thrown in only because he was simutaneously appearing in ANOTHER unintentionally campy Irwin Allen production, "The Return of Captain Nemo" (aka 'Amazing Captain Nemo'), a CBS mini-series, just a few sound stages away on the Warner's lot. Patty Duke Astin was a contract hold-over from a previous (and decent) Irwin Allen TV movie, "Fire!" (1977). Poor Richard Chamberlain gets toasted (again in an IA produciton), but this time in a nuclear power plant explosion (one of the BEST effects in the movie, IMHO).
"The Swarm" is the closet thing that Irwin Allen made that mimicked his original unintentional comedy classic, "The Story of Mankind" (1957). Both included a sizable list of Hollywood 'old timers' (probably acquired at a discount), with dialogue so lame that you would hope SOMEONE would ad lib just to make it funnier.
The overacting of Micheal Caine only adds to the campiness of 'The Swarm'. Jose Ferrer was thrown in only because he was simutaneously appearing in ANOTHER unintentionally campy Irwin Allen production, "The Return of Captain Nemo" (aka 'Amazing Captain Nemo'), a CBS mini-series, just a few sound stages away on the Warner's lot. Patty Duke Astin was a contract hold-over from a previous (and decent) Irwin Allen TV movie, "Fire!" (1977). Poor Richard Chamberlain gets toasted (again in an IA produciton), but this time in a nuclear power plant explosion (one of the BEST effects in the movie, IMHO).
"The Swarm" is the closet thing that Irwin Allen made that mimicked his original unintentional comedy classic, "The Story of Mankind" (1957). Both included a sizable list of Hollywood 'old timers' (probably acquired at a discount), with dialogue so lame that you would hope SOMEONE would ad lib just to make it funnier.