MovieChat Forums > The Swarm (1978) Discussion > Funniest scene or line

Funniest scene or line


What do you think is the funniest scene or line in this hysterical trainwreck?

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Although i do religiously defend this film, the bit i can't help but laugh at is when Olivia DeHaviland sees the dead children on the playground and she does this reall melodramatic NOOOOOOOOOO, completel with the slow turn from the window and her hand coming bak in slow motion....it just makes me laugh...

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Although i do religiously defend this film, the bit i can't help but laugh at is when Olivia DeHaviland sees the dead children on the playground and she does this reall melodramatic NOOOOOOOOOO, completel with the slow turn from the window and her hand coming bak in slow motion....it just makes me laugh...


I... honestly didn't know what to make of that scene. I think I was too much in shock from seeing Olivia be so uncharacteristically... What you just described.

Considering that ODH is a revered veteran known for her dramatic restraints, that made the scene seem all the more surreal and hilarious as a result.

Most likely, Ms. De Havilland probably just didn't care enough to turn a good performance. Either, she found out what an abrupt, lackluster death scene she was going to have (Seriously what was the point of her character when there were enough gratuitous death scenes already?) or maybe she just realized how silly the film really was.

So in the end, she probably just said, "Forget it. I'm close to retiring anyway. Just give me my goddamn paycheck, kill me off quick, and I'll do whatever you want."

PS: Loved your post, btw. It made me laugh so hard.

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Haha, ditto - certainly my "favorite" scene of all... and I say that even as a genuine fan of de Havilland!

However, in truth, there's a wealth of unintentionally hilarious moment to pick from within THE SWARM. Not much makes a whole lot of sense, narratively, aesthetically, scientifically, militarily, in terms of character motivations and actions, etc..

Another part that springs to mind: the final scene between Caine and Ross, talking nonchalantly to one another, against a terrible blue-screen that shows what might appear to be armageddon. Hysterical.

What's with all the children dying in this film, too? Rather atypical of big Hollywood productions, let alone Irwin Allen ones.

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I think it was hilarious when people were "throwing" themselves out of the wagon

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"Oh my God! Bees...bees...millions of BEES!"

And although it isn't a line per se, when the train conductor spits out his mouthful of half-chewed apple... I think that is the funniest moment in the movie.

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hahaha yeah that's the one that made me laugh. He says something like ... Maybe they want this apple, BLEH!

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when the helicopter pilots are screaming BEES ! EVERYWHERE ! BEES !

Action is the enemy of thought

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Michael Caine's rant about the $6 billion dollar CROPS gets my vote.

^^---- Amazing post, as always.

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And lets not forget the giant bee hallucinations.

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LOL, yeah, that made me howl.

Another gooder was when they were listneing to tapes of the soldiers getting attacked by bees. The way they just screamed one after the other was hysterical ...

"AAARGHH!!!,..YAAAEEEERRRRGGH!!!,.. NOOOOOOO!!!!,... AAAARRRRR!!!!,..."



This may be the greatest movie in the history of film, and I'm not even joking.

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Oh yes! I'm watching the movie now and we've just got that bit. It's great the way Caine and Widmark are literally screaming at each other.

"We drop no chemicals until we know exactly what we are dropping.... and where..... and how! Excuse me!"

How did so many great actors get tricked into doing this garbage?
_____________

"Maybe I should go alone"
- Quint, Jaws.

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No tricks required. Pure bribery.

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money...

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Caine (slightly paraphrased from memory) - "I never thought I would live to see the insects conquer us. And who would have thought it would be the bees. They've always been our friends."

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I loved the way Richard Chamberlain's character was stung a few times before seeming to explode & cause the lab/factory, whatever it was, to explode too.

An abysmal film - I can't believe some people actually think it's good - though there were a few unintentional laughs, like the above.

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Caine (slightly paraphrased from memory) - "I never thought I would live to see the insects conquer us. And who would have thought it would be the bees. They've always been our friends."


I just finished crying.
That is quite possibly the funniest thing i've ever read.

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"If only we had Cardio-Pep"
"I have Cardio-Pep in my van ..."
(gasping) "Cardio-Pep!?!"

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Slater: I don't need you to pat me on the ass or anyone else.

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Ha ha! Good memory, but he actually says:

"We've been fighting a losing battle against the insects for FIFTEEN years. But I never thought I'd see the final face-off in my lifetime. And I never DREAMED that it'd turn out to be the bees. They've always been our friends!"

What the hell does that mean? Fighting against ALL insects? And for just 15 years? What does it mean? It's just silly. And a face-off of all things.

Also, what other insects are we facing off against?

Since when do entymologists see their jobs as BATTLING the insects?

PLUS, of COURSE he dreamed it would be the bees, he wrote papers about it and was monitoring them!

SILLLLLLY!

But, I admit this film terrified me as a kid when we saw it at the matinee.


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Aagh; you're a HEDGE!

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This movie SCARED YOU when you first saw it as a kid? I guess you're easily scared....

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I was a KID.

Nothing scares me now, and hasn't for years.

Back then, killer bees were a big deal.

Feck you.
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Aagh; you're a HEDGE!

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"Until this species evolved"
Henry Fonda's response to Michael Caine's exclamation.

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hahhaa yeah - until a few days ago when this species evolved right on top of us.

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Wasn't Katharine Ross's character supposed to be an Army doctor? When did she run out of the room when the kid died (who seemed to be fine in the previous scene) and get another doctor???

The best was when Henry Fonda's character died. AGAIN she runs out of the room after his vitals flatline but this time come back in with.... AN OXYGEN MASK!!! Was this a new resuscitation method? She still puts it on him anyway like it will do any good :|

A completely insane movie that seemed to get more and more bizaare as it went on!



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tonypeters - I happened to catch this film on the TV (in the UK) the other day, and the Henry Fonda character death scene was indeed hilarious.

Not just for the oxygen mask resuscitation method, though - when the other doctor came in after Ross with his stethoscope (still within a perfectly reasonable time after arrest to start CPR), all he did was check Henry Fonda's heart rate. Why bother - Henry Fonda was already hooked up to a scope through which he was measuring his own heart rate!

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Michael Caine was hysterical in this movie. The part where I completely lost it was when Michael Caine makes the most outrageous and random speculations at the picnic and he does so while screaming for no reason and in awkward, syllabic pauses--

[Crane has found something at the ravaged picnic site]
Brad Crane: [holding it up] Plastic. It's a piece of a plastic cup. There are pieces all around here.
[he starts pointing out the other fragments]
Brad Crane: Look. Look, there. There. There.
General Slater: What's so significant about that?
Brad Crane: I'm afraid to speculate. But, I think, the bees, did this.
Major Baker: Are you saying these bees eat plastic?
Brad Crane: No, no. But I'm wondering. Your American Honeybee has a weak mouth, that couldn't even break the skin, of a grape. But it looks like this species, is tearing up, plastic cups, possibly to line their hives. Now, if this is true, they didn't, just get here. I mean, the invasion, didn't, just now begin. They have been here some time. Breeding. Increasing.
General Slater: So?
Brad Crane: Well, suppose these bees, are using plastic, to insulate their hives.
General Slater: No bee is that smart.
Brad Crane: Suppose these African bees are.

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