I have only seen this film once, when it originally aired on television. As I recall, it was not a great effort, the plot needed a lot more work to be believable. Ron Howard plays a young Naval Ensign during World War II, who has just washed out of flight school and is returning to his mid-western home in disgrace. His refusal to fly after seeing a comrade die during a training flight has caused his discharge from the Navy. His father, Ben Johnson, has little sympathy for him as do most of the others in his small farming community. The war has demanded many sacrifices of the young men in the area and Howard is looked on as one who was found lacking in courage. Eventually, a locust infestation provides the vehicle for his redemption. With the help of an old biplane pilot and his girlfriend, Howard regains his confidence and gets behind the controls of a crop-dusting plane and uses his piloting skills to stem the locust infestation.
8 Reviews
Best when it focuses on the father-son relationship
planktonrules12 January 2017
Despite the title, the film is much more about the concept of what it is to be a man as well as the importance of this father-son relationship. In essence, the locusts are just a plot device in order to facilitate growth and change between these two.
Donny Fletcher (Ron Howard) is coming home from WWII in disgrace. Something happened to him and he was discharged from the Navy...though exactly what that was is something you'll need to learn through the course of the film. What is obvious is that his father, Amos (Ben Johnson) is a hard and unforgiving man...and Donny is a disgrace in his eyes. Amos' idea of manliness is just sucking it up and doing what a man has to do and the WHY Donny was discharged is unimportant to him...the boy is simply a coward and a failure. But, by the end of the film and with the coming menace of the locusts, the two get a chance to work out their issues together.
Whenever the film brings in the locusts, the story sags and is clearly at its best with the men. Johnson, in particular, is marvelous as the hard-as-nails father. Howard is also nice and it's a decent made for TV film. My only real gripe is that the finale seemed very obvious and predictable...though not enough to make the film one to skip.
Donny Fletcher (Ron Howard) is coming home from WWII in disgrace. Something happened to him and he was discharged from the Navy...though exactly what that was is something you'll need to learn through the course of the film. What is obvious is that his father, Amos (Ben Johnson) is a hard and unforgiving man...and Donny is a disgrace in his eyes. Amos' idea of manliness is just sucking it up and doing what a man has to do and the WHY Donny was discharged is unimportant to him...the boy is simply a coward and a failure. But, by the end of the film and with the coming menace of the locusts, the two get a chance to work out their issues together.
Whenever the film brings in the locusts, the story sags and is clearly at its best with the men. Johnson, in particular, is marvelous as the hard-as-nails father. Howard is also nice and it's a decent made for TV film. My only real gripe is that the finale seemed very obvious and predictable...though not enough to make the film one to skip.
Not particularly successful but it has TV movie charm
Red-Barracuda31 March 2014
Set during World War II, a young soldier returns to his mid-western home after being discharged from the Navy for cowardice. For this disgrace, he is deeply frowned upon by his father and most of the others in the small community. Meanwhile a huge locust swarm approaches
This TV movie stars future Happy Days star and Hollywood director Ron Howard in the role of the young protagonist. His father is played by veteran actor Ben Johnson. Despite what the title might suggest, it's mainly a family drama. The locusts themselves do offer up an 'animals attack' horror film aspect that sadly isn't emphasised quite enough. They never seem to pose that much of a threat really and are ultimately defeated quite easily. It's a pity as the mid-western setting is good and its isolation would have been ripe for a nature-strikes-back type of horror movie. The main focus is instead on the relationship between the father and son, while the ongoing war provides additional drama for the farming community to deal with, such as news of a son who is killed in the conflict. It's not a particularly successful film in all honesty and doesn't really mix the locust part in with the drama all that well. Having said all that, I have something of a general fondness for cosy American TV movies from the 70's so consequently I did quite like this despite its shortcomings.
This TV movie stars future Happy Days star and Hollywood director Ron Howard in the role of the young protagonist. His father is played by veteran actor Ben Johnson. Despite what the title might suggest, it's mainly a family drama. The locusts themselves do offer up an 'animals attack' horror film aspect that sadly isn't emphasised quite enough. They never seem to pose that much of a threat really and are ultimately defeated quite easily. It's a pity as the mid-western setting is good and its isolation would have been ripe for a nature-strikes-back type of horror movie. The main focus is instead on the relationship between the father and son, while the ongoing war provides additional drama for the farming community to deal with, such as news of a son who is killed in the conflict. It's not a particularly successful film in all honesty and doesn't really mix the locust part in with the drama all that well. Having said all that, I have something of a general fondness for cosy American TV movies from the 70's so consequently I did quite like this despite its shortcomings.
Locusts? There were locusts?
Coventry23 July 2018
Was I wrong to expect something entirely difficult than this lame, sappy and dreadfully boring drama? Is it my fault to assume that this was another "creature-feature/nature revolts" story from the 70s in which the titular locusts had developed a taste for human flesh and go after the inhabitants of a little Montana farming community? I guess so, because "Locusts" simply unfolds like an utmost ordinary episode in any random melodramatic soap-opera TV series! A boy (future director prodigy Ron Howard) returns home to his family after he got kicked out of the Navy before even completing his training, and now he has the face to wrath of his old-fashioned and tyrannical father (Ben Johnson). As to be expected, the father is embarrassed and treats his son worse than a lazy dog. How can poor Donny ever capture the love of his dad again? Hmm, perhaps by protecting the farm's crops against the devastating plague of locusts that is heading towards Montana could work? What a pitiable and tedious excuse for a TV-effort! The first couple of minutes are still somewhat promising, as Donny's bus ends up in the middle of a locusts' swarm, but immediately after that it's purely dull and uninteresting talking. If I wanted to waste my time on lousy father/son relationship issues, I'd visit my own dad a bit more often!
It's about much more than grasshoppers.
mark.waltz5 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Apparently a grasshopper by itself is fine, but when there are more than a hundred of them, they become locusts, a plague, and where there's a hundred, there's probably another thousand on the way. System startup rather ordinary, dealing with the with the issue of Father and Son Ben Johnson and Ron Howard. Howard is coming back from training during WWII, discharged because he wasn't able to handle the duties assigned to him, and is now considered an outcast in his community. In fact, no sooner has he returned, the local store owner publicly annihilates him, and how would you stands there and take it rather than telling the old coot to mind his own business or remind him about not to judge let us be judged.
At least Howard has his mother, Katherine Helmond on his side, and she assures him that everything will be okay. It will be because with the Locust on his way, Howard has to turn immediately into a man to aide his family and dealing with the locusts when they finally do arrive. His younger sister is deathly afraid of them and has a breakdown while they are destroying the field. "A man don't tolerate the consequences of fear", Johnson lectures his son, hard on him but confessing to his wife that the way he sounds reminds him of the sergeant he dealt with during the first world war that he couldn't stand. Johnson may be tough, but at least he doesn't strike out at his son when Howard stands up to him.
While this has some good true-to-life elements, it is a very depressing story that has been told on screen many times, about how nature can destroy the human spirit when but dangerous parts of nature take over. These locusts certainly in abundance are very scary, but this is not a horror film, just a psychological story I'm learning to accept what is beyond one's control, that sometimes a good crop is not possible. There seems to be no way out of the issue here, and there seems to be no fixing the relationship between father and son. Good performances are the true strength of this film that really doesn't show any hope of getting through the crisis that these farmers face.
At least Howard has his mother, Katherine Helmond on his side, and she assures him that everything will be okay. It will be because with the Locust on his way, Howard has to turn immediately into a man to aide his family and dealing with the locusts when they finally do arrive. His younger sister is deathly afraid of them and has a breakdown while they are destroying the field. "A man don't tolerate the consequences of fear", Johnson lectures his son, hard on him but confessing to his wife that the way he sounds reminds him of the sergeant he dealt with during the first world war that he couldn't stand. Johnson may be tough, but at least he doesn't strike out at his son when Howard stands up to him.
While this has some good true-to-life elements, it is a very depressing story that has been told on screen many times, about how nature can destroy the human spirit when but dangerous parts of nature take over. These locusts certainly in abundance are very scary, but this is not a horror film, just a psychological story I'm learning to accept what is beyond one's control, that sometimes a good crop is not possible. There seems to be no way out of the issue here, and there seems to be no fixing the relationship between father and son. Good performances are the true strength of this film that really doesn't show any hope of getting through the crisis that these farmers face.
Is it most a drama or a swarm movie?
searchanddestroy-110 March 2018
Well that's the main question here. It hesitates all the way between the two. But it's not so a problem for me, just a question. But I guess it is more a drama after all than a swarm film, if you consider the other swarm features involving bees for instance. Here it is mainly a sort of analysis of a Midwest farm family. For TV audiences, home audiences. Not bad.
"Don't Panic Folks! Just Close The Windows!"...
azathothpwiggins13 September 2022
Upon returning home from the Navy during WWII, Donny Fletcher (Ron Howard) faces the cold stares and whispers of his friends and neighbors. Donny was discharged, putting him at odds with not only the townsfolk, but his own father (Ben Johnson) as well. Now, working on the family farm is much tougher than it was before he volunteered for the service.
Meanwhile, a mega-swarm of crop-devouring grasshoppers are heading toward the farm. This could test Donny and everyone else beyond what they could imagine.
In spite of the title, LOCUSTS is more about family, community, redemption, and heroism overcoming impossible odds, than it is about anything else. It's a wonderful slice of rural Americana. Johnson, Howard, Katherine Helmond, and Lisa Gerritsen really capture the Fletcher clan well.
Yes, the grasshoppers are a major threat. However, there's a lot more than "bug horror" going on in this made-for-TV movie...
Meanwhile, a mega-swarm of crop-devouring grasshoppers are heading toward the farm. This could test Donny and everyone else beyond what they could imagine.
In spite of the title, LOCUSTS is more about family, community, redemption, and heroism overcoming impossible odds, than it is about anything else. It's a wonderful slice of rural Americana. Johnson, Howard, Katherine Helmond, and Lisa Gerritsen really capture the Fletcher clan well.
Yes, the grasshoppers are a major threat. However, there's a lot more than "bug horror" going on in this made-for-TV movie...
Ron Howard Is Outstanding But The Movie...
StuOz1 July 2020
Soldier boy Ron Howard seems like a coward and locusts are coming as well.
Always enjoyed some of Howard's early work (Village Of The Giants, one episode of Land Of The Giants) and found him just fine here as well. But for atleast 30 minutes we must listen to Howard and his painful dad carry on like fugitives from a mushy episode of The Waltons.
Anybody with half a brain could figure out how this flick was going to end. I think I watched the whole film when I was a kid of the 70s but my middle aged mind of today needed to fast forward to the film's predictable ending.
Lovers of Ron Howard might like this but if you are expecting anything that even comes close to Irwin Allen's The Swarm (1978) - stay clear of this film!
Always enjoyed some of Howard's early work (Village Of The Giants, one episode of Land Of The Giants) and found him just fine here as well. But for atleast 30 minutes we must listen to Howard and his painful dad carry on like fugitives from a mushy episode of The Waltons.
Anybody with half a brain could figure out how this flick was going to end. I think I watched the whole film when I was a kid of the 70s but my middle aged mind of today needed to fast forward to the film's predictable ending.
Lovers of Ron Howard might like this but if you are expecting anything that even comes close to Irwin Allen's The Swarm (1978) - stay clear of this film!
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