The Savage Bees

When Sheriff McKew (Ben Johnson) finds his dog dead, he sets out to prove that it was poisoned. With the help of the coroner (Michael Parks), the hideous truth is learned.

Enter Bee expert, Jeannie Devereaux (Gretchen Corbett), and the tiny culprits are identified.

Oh no!

This is all taking place in New Orleans! During Mardi Gras! Will the big party have to be cancelled? Of course not! Let the good times ro... Bzzzz! Eeeaaghh!

THE SAVAGE BEES was made during the "killer bee" craze / scare. As made-for-TV-movies go, it's not bad. Having Johnson, Parks, and Corbett in it, helps to lift it above the average fare.

BEST SCENE: The farmer in the lake sting-o-thon!

Co-stars James Best as a slow-moving politician...

The other half of a double-bill in UK cinemas with the other film being the far better The Incredible Melting Man. This was actually made for television in America.

Killer bees have flown into America and are claiming their first casualties disturbingly close to New Orleans when their Mardi Gras is due to kick off. A bee expert (of course) and a guy who isn't quite a coroner yet (so he isn't taken seriously) are on the case but come up against obstacles in the form of sniffy officials who don't want to see Mardi Gras cancelled- at any cost (hints of Murray Hamilton's character in Jaws here).

We learn that the bees don't like noise and the colours black and red. The first human victim is a coloured girl in a red dress blowing a toy horn. Not her lucky day.

The finale involves Ms Bee Expert being nudged into a sports stadium in her red Beetle which the bees have covered as she was earlier using the horn near them (doh!). The temperature of the Super Dome is then lowered as the bees die when temperatures reach below 35 Degrees Fahrenheit. This sequence is very unexpected and works well with tension being ramped up as the temperatures come down (we see this on huge displays which show the actual countdown).

This is an above average TV movie which received a video release in some territories. There aren't enough action sequences and some of the more talky bits are quite pedestrian. But when it gets going its quite exciting. Because I saw it on TV when I was a small child and loved it then it will always hold a special place in my little black heart.

Look out for the scene in which someone in fancy dress tries to take on the bees with a sword. Yes, a sword!

I remember seeing this movie on T.V. as it was starting back in the 70's and being just too lazy to get up and change the channel thinking "not another killer bee movie". I'm glad we didn't have remote controls back then, as this proved to be very good little made-for-TV flick.

First off, the movie does a very good job with the "science" aspect, explaining how the very aggressive African Killer Bees are making their way to the U.S. and are almost unstoppable. Also, the cast does a very good job in building suspense and empathy in the characters they portrayed, with the strongest by Gretchen Corbett as the lead female character, with the weakest character being the sheriff.

In spite of being made in 1976, this movie is surprisingly not all that dated in look and atmosphere. The pacing is good and the effects are fine for this type of movie, although, with all of the computer tricks available now, they could have enhanced some of the final scenes. But, again, the performances are good enough to make up for any short comings in the effects department.

I recently dug this movie up in a box of video tapes I had recorded in the 80's and decided to put it to the real test. I invited my 13 year old son in to watch some of it with me, and after 15 minutes or so he was hooked and wanted to watch the whole movie.

It seems that they never show these good old made-for-TV movies on T.V. any more, so a DVD release would be nice. This one gets 8 out of 10. You will forever associate the Voltz-Wagon Bug with this movie.

From the writer who brought you "Jaws 3-D" comes this very boring "thriller" about killer bees. Writer Guerdon Trueblood seems to have a one-track mind, as all his "thrillers" involve either bugs or airplanes. There must be something Freudian to that. Nevertheless, there are no airplanes here but plenty of bees. Oooga-booga! Scary stuff! Half of this movie involves people talking about bees, the other half is people driving around looking for the bees. Watch as they discuss for 15 minutes how to get bees off a Volkswagen. Then marvel as they drive the whole carload of bees downtown to see a Saints game! The only purpose of this movie is to sit around with some friends and make fun of it MST3K-style.

Oh yeah, and look for James Best aka Rosco P. Coltrane... um... he doesn't do his funny voice though.

This is not just another cheapy television movie from the 1970s, but actually an intelligent, scary horror film worth seeing, something along the lines of "Kingdom of the Spiders" or "Phase IV" - 2 other very good underrated insect attack movies. There is some good location filming of New Orleans and the swamps of Southern Louisiana, and veteran Ben Johnson is solid in the lead role of the local sheriff. Movies like this need to know how to push the right buttons, and this one does, containing one scene with a scientist in a protective suit poking a giant beehive that really impressed me with how skillfully it was set up. This ain't Shakespeare, but it is the finest quality you will find for this genre.