Produced and directed by Irwin Allen (Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure). 150 minutes run time with the bonus of the movie trailer plus a documentary on how some of the movie was made, including interviews with some of the stars.
The Stars
The sleeve says there are enough major stars for five movies and it’s just about right. Michael Caine heads the list with plenty of known names - Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, Katherine Ross, Olivia de Havilland, Fred McMurray, Jose Ferrer, Patty Duke Austin, Lee Grant and Bradford Dillman. But the major unsung stars are the estimated 22 million bees who play the bad guys.
Synopsis
The movie opens as we follow Dillman and his crew into an apparently deserted Inter Continental Ballistic Missile site in the US as they try to find out why it is no longer functioning. The music is suitably dramatic as we venture further into the underground with low lighting adding to the suspense. As the story unfolds we learn that rogue African Killer Bees have swarmed through stinging people to death leaving only a doctor (Katherine Ross) and four other survivors. Entomologist Dr Crane (Michael Caine) is coincidently on hand to EXPLAIN it all to the hapless US Air Force General (Richard Widmark) and gets to take over the whole project of dealing with the crisis, all with the blessing of the US President. This leads to ongoing tension between the military and their civilian boss Caine and allows for plot twists as the civvies rule for a while, then the military and finally the civilians again. The other stars are sprinkled throughout the film in various support roles.
In the documentary that accompanies the film the stars talk sincerely about plausibility of the scenario and seem to have convinced themselves that this was not science fiction but a real life possibility. They are almost over the top about being in the movie that predicts bees will some day try to take over the world and quote “known cases” of the bees attacking people in South America as their proof.
I suppose the only serious question that should be put to this GROUP of real acting talent is “Why would you involve yourself in this movie at all?” The screenplay has some of the most awful lines ever handed to high quality actors, pathetic attempts at showing emotion, enough over-acting to fill fifty movies and some continuity problems that even little old me was able to pick up - the experts at that would probably have a field day.
Allen did a good job on The Poseidon Adventure, again using a little poetic licence with the likelihood of a tsunami in the Mediterranean to help set up the tension. The Towering Inferno also took us through the idea of being burned alive in a super high-rise building as it’s tension builder. But seriously, Bees that come through the air conditioning ducts to kill us all? I don’t think so. I have to admit they did look pretty freaky as the clambered all over the Mustang car at one stage but once the windscreen wipers were on they looked pretty silly. Give `em the old Pea Beau I say.
Overall
This is an overly long movie that wastes the acting talent on hand. The special effects are pretty ordinary, especially one scene where Caine and Dillman are so obviously sitting in a car in front of the blue screen that I wonder how it made it through the cutting room. Look for the a cute part when there is a crowd scene outside the small town’s picture theatre - the SHOW on at the time was the Towering Inferno.
I watched this with my daughter and both of us agreed that this was one where the bees winning would have been a better result. It is the ultimate Bee-grade movie!
Extras: The trailer that went into cinemas and the documentary on how it was all made which gives an insight into the way some of the scenes were devised. It’s a pity it shows the actors up as almost complete fools.
Overall When you get to this one on the shelf, keep going unless you want to cringe watching good actors with a very ordinary script