I had seen the modern Lindsay Lohan/Michael Keaton remake of the classic collection of films about the living car, Herbie: Fully Loaded, and it was right I should see the first of the old ones, from director Robert Stevenson (Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks). Basically down on his luck racing car driver Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) and his friend, occasionally drunk mechanic Tennessee Steinmetz (The Little Mermaid's Buddy Hackett), live together in an old run down fire house. One day Jim goes to a luxury car dealership and wants something in a rather low price range, but mean dealer Peter Thorndyke (Mary Poppins' David Tomlinson) has no interest in helping him. Then Jim spots a strange car, an old Vauxwagen Beetle, and after managing to take it away with him, it proves to be an unusual car, it has a mind of its own driving where it wants to. He believes Thorndyke planted the car on purpose, but dealer assistant Carole Bennett (Michele Lee) proves the car is a good purchase, only to discover the car is living as well, and Jim has found a love interest. After being fixed up Jim, and given the name "Herbie" by Tennessee, the car is more controlled by its driver, and with a high speed they start racing to be champions, against Thorndyke, who wants the car back. After Thorndyke sabotages one race to win, the big race called the "El Dorado" is on the way, and there is a point when you wonder if Herbie will go to it, but after the apologies, he does. So the two lap gets started, with Thorndyke seeming to cheat his way to the lead, but Jim, Carole and Tennessee in Herbie manage to catch up and eventually win the race. Also starring Joe Flynn as Havershaw, Benson Fong as Mr. Wu, Andy Granatelli as Association President and Joe E. Ross as Detective. The car doesn't have as much personality as perhaps the remake version does, Tomlinson makes a reasonably mean villain, like a live version Dick Dastardly, and the jokes are alright, it is something the family will enjoy, an alright comedy. It was number 94 on The 100 Greatest Family Films. Good!
Review of The Love Bug
