Bug

Bug (1975)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Jeannot Szwarc (RIP)

Starring: Bradford Dillman, Joanna Miles, Richard Gilliland, Alan Fudge, Jesse Vint

From: Paramount

A belated RIP to Jeannot Szwarc. The director passed away two months ago; as the death was announced right before the passing of David Lynch, the news perhaps did not reach as many people as it would have otherwise. I heard about it-the tipping of my cap was put off by myself for all those weeks.

Here’s a director who wasn’t a legend in the field yet spent decades directing episodes of TV shows and TV movies, up to just several years ago. Everything from Bones and Supernatural to Columbo, Kojak and The Practice. Getting to direct the only Jaws sequel that wasn’t bad deserves acknowledgement and while Supergirl was hysterically bad, the presumption will be made that the fiasco was more the fault of the producers the Salkind brothers rather than the director.

I am not a fan of cockroaches-which I unfortunately do see in Florida-yet this was the last production of William Castle before he died so I didn’t think these bugs would be too much for someone who went NOPE as a kid during a certain scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom… it was fine for me although if you have an extreme phobia, then you probably shouldn’t bother. Those that love cats may want to skip this also… as for the titular bugs, these are wacky bugs, anyhow. They light items on fire!

An earthquake-topical, as one of those just occurred in Malibu-releases those arthropods deep within the Earth. It caused some havoc in a small town then a young adult introduces them to his old professor Bradford Dillman. As he’s someone who tries to communicate with squirrels… he was fascinated. Then, there is much more havoc in this story based on the novel The Hephaestus Plague. Appropriate if you know Greek history; I get why a title hard to spell and say would be changed, but at least one Letterboxd mutual never gave this a chance for years since “Bug” is so generic.

I was reminded by such 70’s fare as The Andromeda Strain and Phase IV. It was nice to see a scientist type as the lead actor and also satisfying to see him examine those unknown bugs and determine the various differences from the known insects, along with determining that they had no eyes. Dillman became increasingly crazed, not to mention sweaty. Oh, and a few minutes are set in a familiar location: the set that The Brady Bunch filmed on! This wasn’t the only time it happened, but they filmed there because the show was just cancelled, a victim of low ratings. It wasn’t until syndication reruns that the show became popular. Heck, even I watched those as a little kid in the 80’s.

Discovering via the opening credits that there was an electronic score-I was excited. Not everyone liked the score from Charles Fox but it was my groove. He’s surprisingly awesome: everything from the theme to The Love Boat and the incredible Green Slime title song to Jim Croce’s I Got a Name and composed the music to Killing Me Softly with His Song… RIP Roberta Flack.

Also, not everyone will enjoy the disciplined pace-I usually don’t feel that 70’s measured pacing is an issue, as long as the plot interests me. I was riveted, from the turn the movie takes in the second half to the most implausible moments in the final act. Those that dig films like The Andromeda Strain, Phase IV & the faux bug documentary The Hellstrom Chronicle may enjoy this oddity. It took longer than expected but I was finally happy to see something new to me from Jeannot Szwarc. This is not Santa Claus: The Movie nor the cult favorite Somewhere Over Time but Bug perhaps deserves a cult following of its own.