Most of us like and respect Michael Caine. How can you dislike a guy whose real name is Maurice Micklewhite? Caine is now 72 and has a distinguished career that goes back 46 years and contains such favorites as "The Ipcress File", "The Cider House Rules", and "The Quiet American". Ah, but we all have a blemish somewhere and his is this ultra horrible entry from 1978, "The Swarm". Michael is not the only star to crash and burn in this one as Olivia deHavilland, Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, and Fred MacMurray also went the same route. This story of killer bees from Irwin Allen was a miserable mess and only grossed $10 million after a cost of $21 million. Fortunately, Caine recovered and went on to some of his finest work while learning a lesson in choosing roles.
Let’s jump ahead a few years to 1987 and the classic dud, "Ishtar" starring Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty. With the success both of these guys have had, all we can say is, "Fellas, why?" This thing is basically a rip-off of the old Bob Hope-Bing Crosby "road" movies except those were funny. "Ishtar" cost $55 million and brought back $12.7 million, true turkey numbers. You have to hand it to Dustin, he bounced back the next year and won an Oscar for "Rain Man" plus despite the ineptitude, he received $5.5 million for doing "Ishtar", not bad bucks for 1987.