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Actually, all I ever do with CDs these days is rip them once and put them on a shelf (or in a box.. out of shelf space currently). I practically never actually play them anymore and see no point in doing so. I like the booklets though. :-)
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This was on television just the other night.
Yes it was, on TCM. And I had the fortune of laughing my ass off during most of the movie. I saw it as a kid on it's initial run and enjoyed it. Now, I enjoyed it on a on a MST3K level.
Yes, I love the movie, it's a hoot! I always say it's the funniest Abrahams/Zucker/Abrahams movie that was not actually done by them. From beginning to end pure joy.
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Haha! I literately thought it was a disaster spoof. The dead pan acting, OH MY!
Though the helicopter crashes were really cool.
Hahaha! There are just SOOO many scenes in it that are ROFL.. Irwin Allen, who was at the top of his career back then, must have felt invincible to think he could get away with this stuff.
The opening alone... there is a US Missile Base, EVERYBODY is dead, even though no physical harm on the bodies can be seen.. and the investigating MGs see piles of dead bodies, and what is the first thing they do? Take of all their gas masks! Yeah, that sounds reasonable. 
There are NO dead bees anywhere either, even though bees normally die after stinging... Also, should bees attack a missile base, even if they killed every single solider, I'd expect at least a few bees to go down in that battle as well, but nope, not a single one. Or the bees retrieve and bury their dead, who knows.
Suddenly, they find Michael Caine, the ONLY person alive in the control center of a military base where he has no business being, as he is obviously both a civilian and a foreigner, and when asked what the hell he's doing there he tells them "it's a long story, lets skip that". Yep, that should shut those pesky questions up. And it does. :-D
And that's just the opening minutes, the whole movie is like that. Really, I think it is one of the funniest movies ever made.
The dialog between the two "doctors" about nuclear power plants being fail safe against everything except killer bee attacks (BANG!), the exploding passenger train wagons that must have been filled with nitroglycerin... I get a belly-ache just thinking about the movie.
What is so fascinating that this was done with so much money and so much talent in front and behind the camera... what were they thinking?
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Posted: |
Mar 3, 2020 - 8:45 AM
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By: |
andy b
(Member)
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Hahaha! There are just SOOO many scenes in it that are ROFL.. Irwin Allen, who was at the top of his career back then, must have felt invincible to think he could get away with this stuff.
The opening alone... there is a US Missile Base, EVERYBODY is dead, even though no physical harm on the bodies can be seen.. and the investigating MGs see piles of dead bodies, and what is the first thing they do? Take of all their gas masks! Yeah, that sounds reasonable.
There are NO dead bees anywhere either, even though bees normally die after stinging... Also, should bees attack a missile base, even if they killed every single solider, I'd expect at least a few bees to go down in that battle as well, but nope, not a single one. Or the bees retrieve and bury their dead, who knows.
Suddenly, they find Michael Caine, the ONLY person alive in the control center of a military base where he has no business being, as he is obviously both a civilian and a foreigner, and when asked what the hell he's doing there he tells them "it's a long story, lets skip that". Yep, that should shut those pesky questions up. And it does. :-D
And that's just the opening minutes, the whole movie is like that. Really, I think it is one of the funniest movies ever made.
The dialog between the two "doctors" about nuclear power plants being fail safe against everything except killer bee attacks (BANG!), the exploding passenger train wagons that must have been filled nitroglycerin... I get a belly-ache just thinking about the movie.
What is so fascinating that this was done with so much money and so much talent in front and behind the camera... what were they thinking?
Ok you are officially my FSM HERO for this fantastic Swarm summary.
back in 1978 I had to try & sell this turkey through the whole of Europe! we all sat there in the Warner screening room, thinking "what the hell"!! it was just one scene after another & none of us could stop laughing & this was supposed to be "serious"!! Towering Inferno it was not!.
There are SO many bad parts to this film & to think we cut it even more than the original US version, just to try to get anyone to book it!
Thank you for the post, brought back so many memories & brought tears to my eyes reading it.
But the Goldsmith score is good.
regards
Andy b
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Ok you are officially my FSM HERO for this fantastic Swarm summary.
Hahaha... thanks, this was probably condensed from stuff I wrote about THE SWARM already a few years ago when the discussion came up. I really like the movie, I think it is enormously funny. "Attention! Attention! Please listen very carefully: a swarm of killer bees is coming this way". Yep, that sure gets the attention.
And why should a nuclear power plant explode seconds after a few killer bees enter, even IF they kill the people there. What happened? One of them tried to swat a bee and pushed the prominently placed and easily going self-destruct-now button?
back in 1978 I had to try & sell this turkey through the whole of Europe! we all sat there in the Warner screening room, thinking "what the hell"!! it was just one scene after another & none of us could stop laughing & this was supposed to be "serious"!! Towering Inferno it was not!.
There are SO many bad parts to this film & to think we cut it even more than the original US version, just to try to get anyone to book it!
Thank you for the post, brought back so many memories & brought tears to my eyes reading it.
But the Goldsmith score is good.
regards
Andy b
Yes, the Goldsmith score is truly good. Thanks for sharing your memories... I really wonder how this expensive movie got made... I mean, even back then on page spoken lines like "by tomorrow there will be no more Africans... at least not in the Houston sector" must have just felt... just odd... but when delivered with stone serious face by Richard Widmark, it is sublime. And they dismiss a lot of possibly good ideas to fight the bees right out of hand without giving them some thought, but then proceed to go after the bees with FLAME THROWERS!
But Goldsmith's music is the one thing that sounds just right... terrific horror music about a swarm of killer bees. Goldsmith music gives an idea of what the movie might have been like if it had been good.
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It's a pity they couldn't have included the John Williams/Irwin Allen phone conversation in the bonus section.
"Hi Irwin. No, I'm REALLY sorry pal, I'm backed up with finishing Close Encounters for Steven, then working with Dick Donner and Brian DePalma and I've promised to do the JAWS sequel as a favour to Sid. But I hear Jerry's not busy..."
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Haha! I literately thought it was a disaster spoof. The dead pan acting, OH MY!
Though the helicopter crashes were really cool.
Hahaha! There are just SOOO many scenes in it that are ROFL.. Irwin Allen, who was at the top of his career back then, must have felt invincible to think he could get away with this stuff.
What is so fascinating that this was done with so much money and so much talent in front and behind the camera... what were they thinking?
This film, especially the extended version, is flat out hysterical. I am one of Irwin Allen's biggest fans, and even I know this film is just ridiculous. The screaming scene between Michael Caine and Richard Widmark has to be seen to be believed. There are more tasteless deaths in this film than Towering Inferno and Irwin lovingly dwells on them all. For some reason, Jerry Goldsmith decided to bring is A-Game to this thing. I mean, it's f'n insanely good work and he could have farted in a tape recorderd and still would have been just fine.
Oh Irwin. I miss you.
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