Ein toller Käfer

Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) is a struggling race car driver. He and his mechanic friend Tennessee Steinmetz (Buddy Hackett) work out of a former fire house in San Francisco. Carole (Michele Lee) works for car dealer Thorndyke. The strange little Volkswagon Beetle takes a liking to Jim and follows him home. He's forced to buy it when Thorndyke threatens to have him arrested. The car has a mind of its own and Jim starts winning with it. Thorndyke wants the car back.

Jim could be nicer especially to Carole and Tennessee in the first half. Once he finally recognizes Herbie, the team is pulled together. It becomes more fun like the big car race. It's a classic Disney live-action joyride.

Many a film has put out the notion that animal pets, dogs and cats etc, have to find the people they are suited for. But until Disney Studios put out The Love Bug, cars definitely did not seek out their owners.

Yet that's what happens when one day racing driver Dean Jones comes into the auto show room of David Tomlinson who usually deals in the most pricey of cars. This little Volkswagen offends his dignity somewhat and Tomlinson abuses it. Jones defends it however.

But what neither of them know, but Jones soon finds out is that this unprepossessing beetle has a mind all its own. And when it wants to the beetle has speed like nothing else.

When Tomlinson finds out what he's lost, he'll stop at nothing to get Herbie back. He's been given a name now, by Buddy Hackett who plays Jones's mechanic. He's the first to really realize how special Herbie is.

I'm willing to bet that those who succeeded Uncle Walt at the Magic Kingdom never realized just what a franchise The Love Bug would prove to be. This and all the succeeding films made lots of money for the studio and Herbie still has plenty of life left in him as his most recent outing a year or so ago with Lindsay Lohan ought to prove.

Herbie's quite the romantic too. He even helps win the heart of Michele Lee for Jones. But this is a Disney film so that's kind of a given.

This first Love Bug movie had a good cast of supporting players who were finding the Disney Studio their employer of last resort. Where else can you see someone like Iris Adrian in a brief, but very funny role as a carhop or Joe E. Ross as a policeman? It's one of the reasons I like the Disney films in general.

The Love Bug set a good standard for the future films. It's got laughs and also plenty of heart and soul.

The phrase "they don't make 'em like this any more" has become a bit of a cliche, but in this case it certainly applies.

This minor classic proves that there really was a time in which family entertainment movies were made for the whole family. The performances are excellent, especially David Tomlinson makes a gorgeous comedy villain. However, Dean Jones' play is equally recommendable, as the heroic lead is a much less rewarding role in pictures like this - while Tomlinson can just go for full throttle lovable nastiness, Jones needs to provide just the right dosages of heroism, arrogant charm, etc. to keep his character believable and flawed and likeable.

What if things really do have an inner life? What if the machines we take for granted as being under our control have an essence, a life force, a soul that needs only to be cultivated to be brought out into the open?

Mystic-minded hippie-type Tennessee Steinmetz (Buddy Hackett) argues that this is the case when his roommate, down-on-his-luck race driver Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) acquires a Volkswagen Beetle that frequently refuses to comply with its driver's demands. Tennessee claims that the car is alive, and names it Herbie. Jim doesn't believe this for a second, but that doesn't stop him from using the car's unusual speed to bring success to his previously undistinguished racing career. Meanwhile, Peter Thorndyke (David Tomlinson), the snobbish and hot-tempered owner of the dealership where Douglas bought the car, is having fits over Douglas' inexplicable winning streak. A race driver himself, Thorndyke becomes Jim's (and Herbie's) primary rival, resorting to increasingly sneaky tactics to prevail on the racetrack. Jim believes his own driving skill deserves the credit for his newfound success, but finally comes to believe the truth about Herbie in time for the final climactic race.

By far the funniest and best of Disney's Herbie series, The Love Bug is silly fun that's still smartly written enough to be fun for all ages. The special effects are somewhat dated and primitive, but they suffice. It's not easy to make a car show emotion, but here it's done with surprising effectiveness. It also doesn't hurt that as a car, the VW Bug has a lot of personality to start with. The human actors do well too; Dean Jones makes for a likeable hero, and Michele Lee the love interest. However, the real comic gold comes from Buddy Hackett as the offbeat Tennessee, who in Jim's words is `just in off a flying saucer,' and David Tomlinson as British rival Thorndyke, whose angry outbursts are deliciously over-the-top without crossing the fine line into obnoxious overacting.

The Love Bug is one of my favorite Disney movies. A movie about a car with a mind of it's own, a vw beetle with a heart, how could you not love a movie like that. Among all the great characters are the evil Peter Thorndyke, the beautiful Carole, the down on his luck driver Jim Douglas and the best one of the bunch Buddy Hackett as the wonderfully eccentric Tennessee Steinmetz, Tennessee has a Buddhist soul and does not discount the car as being alive. Love Bug is funny, sad and has scenes that will leave you to tears, you will laugh and shake your head. RIP Buddy wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh