The starring role was originally supposed to go to Gordon Liu.
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
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Michael Caine was so impressed by the number of big names in the cast that he signed on to participate without even reading the script. He has since been very upfront about how bad he thinks this movie turned out to be, dubbing it the worst one he ever did.
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Michael Caine stated in an interview that during filming he thought the little yellow spots left by the bees on his clothing was honey, so he began to eat it, unaware he was eating bee feces.
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When it was theatrically released, it ran one hour and 56 minutes. In the 1980s, when it was released on LaserDisc, a long cut of two hours and 36 minutes was released. This version is the one now available on DVD.
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Managing the bees was a huge challenge. The production went through several beekeepers before finding one who hired people to clip off the bees' stingers. Cold weather incapacitates bees, so it was done in a refrigerated trailer. The operation took all summer, but it made the bees safer for use around the cast and crew. A few stingers were missed, and some lingering venom got into the air on the sound stages, causing allergic reactions. In addition, everyone had little yellow dots on their clothing, bee feces.
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This is one of Michael Caine's notorious "paycheck movies," along with Ashanti (1979), Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), The Island (1980), The Hand (1981), and Blame It on Rio (1984).
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José Ferrer appeared in this movie as a favor to producer/director Irwin Allen. Ferrer did all of his scenes in one morning, by walking across the Warner Brothers lot from the sound stage, where he was filming The Return of Captain Nemo (1978), a CBS mini-series he was also making for Allen.
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Despite having major billing, José Ferrer only has one scene.
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The showing in town is The Towering Inferno (1974), also an Irwin Allen production that starred Richard Chamberlain.
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Sir Michael Caine has claimed in interviews that he used his fee from this movie to buy a house in Los Angeles.
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About 800,000 bees were "de-stung" (had their stingers removed) for the close-ups and medium shots filmed with human actors and actresses.
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Released four years after the novel on which it was based, 1974's "The Swarm" by Arthur Herzog III, was published.
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Producer/director Irwin Allen was so disheartened by the amount of money he lost on this movie that he forbade any of his employees to ever mention it again. He even cut short an interview when a question was asked about it.
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Bradford Dillman has stated in interview that he loathed working on this movie because of the working methods of producer/director Irwin Allen.
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Some scenes were filmed in the Houston, TX, metropolitan area. The 2 Houston Center building lobby was used as a filming location. The checkpoint station with the US Air Force personnel was filmed at the McKinney Street off-ramp from Interstate 45 across from Houston City Hall.
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Listed among The 100 Worst Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book "The Official Razzie Movie Guide".
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Broke the run of box-office hits for producer/director Irwin Allen.
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The score used French horns in order to evoke the sound of bees humming.
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The soundtrack from Warner Brothers was released in 1978, but was incomplete. Later, an expanded re-mastered recording was released by Prometheus Records in a limited edition and included more than 40 minutes of previously unpublished music.
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This is one of several 1970s movies about bees. Others include: Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973), Killer Bees (1974), The Savage Bees (1976), The Bees (1978), and Terror Out of the Sky (1978).
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
The Swarm - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
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