The Bees (1978)

Pretty Good

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

"The Bees" is a LOT of fun (but you have to be willing to go along for the ride and NOT take it seriously at all). Kind of a cross between a TV sitcom (like "Three's Company") and Irwin Allen's (also laughable) "The Swarm", remember: it's all just goofy FUN. John Saxon (the hardest working B (or bee) Movie Actor of the 70s), dishy Angel Tompkins, and John Carradine (looking quite frail as Tompkins uncle "Ziggy" with an utterly fraudulent German accent) form a team of bee experts whose research and chutzpah come to the rescue when huge swarms of killer bees make their way to the United States (via corporate greed), wreaking (laughable) havoc. Humor abounds (both intentional and, more significantly, unintentional). The results are cornball, played to the campy hilt by all involved. The bee attacks are particularly amusing, underscored by goofy soundtrack music that goes disco at times when the bees get their close-ups. How can anyone not enjoy seeing the Rose Parade in Pasadena upset by an attack of the buzzing fiends? Face it, you WILL be rooting for the bees in this film, cheering them on as they go after the actors. SPOILER ALERT (AS IF with a movie like THIS!)...That the solution for the bee problem involves using pheromone sprays to confuse the male drone bees, tricking them into mating with each other (essentially turning the bees GAY!), and thereby somehow rendering them sterile (huh???) kicks this one out of the field. But it doesn't stop there...Saxon and Tompkins actually communicate with the bees and reach the United Nations to warn, "You have to listen! You have to listen to what the bees have to say!" "The Bees" must bee seen to bee beelieeved! Sure, the bee effects are hokey, but what would anyone honestly expect from a film like this? CGI??? This was 1978! Worthy of rediscovery, "The Bees" is just good, old, grade-Z, 70s bad-movie fun. Great to heckle (a la MST3K) with a swarm of your best friends. (Liquor (or your vice of choice) is highly recommended. Perhaps toast each bee attack with "the bees knees" (a simple combination of gin plus honey, shaken with ice, strained, and served straight-up) a popular Prohibition-era drink from The Savoy Cocktail Book.) Screen "The Bees" with any of your favorite bee-themed, B-Movies. Suggestions include: "Invasion of the Bee Girls" with honeys Victoria Vetri and Anitra Ford; Bruce Geller's Emmy- winning "The Savage Bees" TV Movie; "The Killer Bees" starring Kate Jackson and Gloria Swanson (a must-see, if you can find it); or the hypnotic episode titled "Zzzzz" from "The Outer Limits" (original series, of course). Or -- and this one you should already have thought of yourself -- precede "The Bees" with Hitchcock's "The Birds" and rely on guests' libidos to take the prurient overtones to the next level...(anyone for royal jelly and prophylactics?) Have a real stinger of an evening!

The idea of a low-budget quickie made to take advantage of publicity surrounding THE SWARM - of all movies! - will undoubtably sound irresistable to many trash fans. However, most of the movie is boring talk, without the campy sight of big-name stars making fools out of themselves or large-scale but silly special effects. And while it's shorter than the full-length cut of THE SWARM (which runs about 2 1/2 hours!), it feels *longer* due to a sluggish pace. Still, the movie has some mirthful moments, the best being the whole segment in the park with the old man and the little boys.

O.K. heres the basic plot: we have been poisoning the air for so many years that nature has fought back by sending us KILLER BEES. Now if that doesn't grab you how about this: This film features a swarm of bees addressing the United Nations, as Angel Thompkin's screams "You have to listen! You have to listen (sic) what the bees are trying to tell you!" I really had fun watching this, but I am truly amazed at how bad it is. There are surprising continuity errors. (In one scene hit men shoot a man as he is sitting in a chair. In the next shot, it's a different older chair.) Many of the shot's of the bee swarms look like they are just clouds of smoke. However, Nightmare On Elm Street's John Saxon is in it, and Claudio Brooks gets hit in the head with a rock. All in all I highly recommend it.

Wow. This must be the funniest bad film of modern times, a real 1970s counterpart of Ed Wood's earlier classics. It features some awful acting and fluffed lines by the unforgettable cast featuring those B-movie veterans John Saxon and John (Star of 97 Mexican cheapies) Carradine, and glamorous starlet Angel Tompkins who apparently failed her "Charlie's Angels" audition and so ended up in this. Fifth billed is super-star Alicia Encinas, who has about four seconds of screen time and speaks one line of dialogue.Watch out for the most obvious stock-footage ever seen (I mean, how many thousands of times have we seen that plane crashing film?---and how about those terrified-crowd scenes that were obviously filmed sometime in the 1960s), obvious dummies that drift in the breeze and are supposedly impersonating characters jumping from tall buildings, some outrageously bad sequences depicting ordinary citizens being attacked by rampaging bees that are so over-acted they actually do seem like a send-up, and watch out for poor arthritic John Carradine attempting to unbutton his jacket but on realising he wont be able to do it, pretends he was merely sweeping a bit of lint from his suit; I'm sure no one in the audience will ever notice that!Love that funky and totally inappropriate theme music too! See it with "Demonoid" for maximum laughs.