The Love Bug **** (1968, Dean Jones, David Tomlinson, Michele Lee, Buddy Hackett) – Classic Movie Review 2865

Director Robert Stevenson’s delightful 1968 children’s movie is a highly entertaining, totally endearing Walt Disney classic adventure about cute VW Beetle car Herbie motoring along with a heart and a brain. Clever chaps those German auto makers at Volkswagen!

Written by Don DaGradi and producer Bill Walsh, the script is fun though the plot is almost non-existent. But director Stevenson stages the daffy action and zany chases with a sure comic touch and an expert cast to make it work.

Disney regulars Dean Jones, David Tomlinson and Buddy Hackett star. Jones plays Jim Douglas, a struggling race-car driver who lives in a San Francisco run-down fire house with his drunken mechanic buddy Tennessee Steinmetz (Buddy Hackett). Tomlinson plays Peter Thorndyke, the owner of the luxury car dealership where Jim first encounters Herbie.

Also in the cast are Michele Lee, Joe Flynn, Benson Fong, Joe E Ross, Barry Kelley, Ned Glass, Robert Foulk, Gil Lamb and Iris Adrian.

Though it’s made with a young audience in mind, adults will love it as much as children.

Three sequels – Herbie Rides Again (1974), Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977) and Herbie Goes Bananas (1980) – and a 1997 TV movie followed, with a reboot, Herbie Fully Loaded, in 2005.

Dean Jones died of Parkinson’s disease on 1 September 2015 in Los Angeles, aged 84.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2865

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