The “fatal mistake” behind Michael Caine’s worst movie: “Doomed but we didn’t notice”
As much as Michael Caine is heralded as one of Britain’s finest stars – which he certainly is – we can’t deny that he has featured in some genuinely terrible films over the years. The good thing about him, however, is that he’s not afraid to admit when he’s appeared in a massive flop, which is an admirable quality that many actors don’t seem to have the humility to possess.
The now-retired actor was in the business a long time, getting his first uncredited roles back in the 1950s. It wasn’t until he began earning more prominent roles in certain British productions that he became a star, landing his first Academy Award nomination for his role in 1966’s Alfie. The movie blended British social realist drama and comedy, playing into the decade’s increased sexual liberation with Caine playing a womaniser who soon comes face to face with his reckless actions.
With roles in The Ipcress File, The Italian Job, Get Carter, and Sleuth, Caine asserted himself as a necessary figure in the industry, becoming instantly recognisable for his horn-rimmed glasses, Cockney accent, and his penchant for playing gangsters. However, as Caine became more famous, he began to branch out more, which led him to some questionable choices, like The Swarm.
Released in 1978, the film seemed to be a backwards step for Caine, even though the movie initially seemed like something that could succeed. It also starred the likes of Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Richard Widmark, and Fred MacMurray, but it became an overwhelmingly bad box-office bomb that stands as the worst film in most of its cast’s careers.
The Swarm was directed by Irwin Allen, who had a history of making blockbuster disaster movies, but sadly for everyone involved, this wasn’t his finest effort. The movie featured killer bees that threatened to terrorise Texas, and why Caine decided to sign on is anyone’s guess, but the promise of a hefty fee kept him going.
Reflecting on the film, Caine wrote in his book What’s It All About?, “I had not been involved in this kind of movie before so I left it all in the hands of the special-effects people, who were after all the stars of the picture. However, I made the fatal mistake of not taking into account the quality of the element of danger in the film.”
He soon realised that bees weren’t exactly the scariest thing in the world. “While Towering Inferno had a skyscraper on fire and Poseidon Adventure was about a giant liner turned upside down in the middle of the ocean, The Swarm merely offered a thrill-hungry public bees, which do not give the same kind of ‘buzz’ no matter how hard the special-effects guys worked.”
Caine admitted that he had eyes on dollar signs during the production of the film, adding, “The movie was doomed but we didn’t notice, especially not me as I was trying to buy a house that I had seen for 350,000 dollars a year before and which was now back on the market for 1,200,000 dollars. Poor Irwin went straight from being the master of ‘disaster’ movies to making movies that were a disaster.”
Luckily for Caine, his reputation was far from destroyed. Over the next few years, he appeared in successful movies like Dressed to Kill, Educating Rita, and Hannah and Her Sisters, with the latter earning him an Oscar. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to accept his accolade in person – he was too busy filming another terrible movie, Jaws: The Revenge.
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