In September 1995's issue of Zeitschrift, I wrote an article on the original Herbie movie, which was 1969's "The Love Bug." Well, the Disney studios waited five years before releasing the sequel, which was, of course, "Herbie Rides Again."
The Blockbuster 1996 Movie and Video Guide has this to say about the second Herbie movie:.
Herbie Rides Again (1974). Colour - 88 min. *** 1/2 Director- Robert Stevenson (same as 1st movie). Starring Helen Hayes, Ken Berry, Stefanie Powers, Keenan Wynn. The first sequel to popular film The Love Bug features unlikely team of Hayes and Berry on the run in Disney's favourite Volkswagen, while bad guy (Wynn) follows in hot pursuit. Filled with wild slapstick the kids will enjoy.
Australia's first inkling that a new Herbie movie was on the way was a new Disney comic strip labelled Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic tales, which appeared in the Sun-Herald on 8th September 1974, and continued weekly until 1st December 1974.
Of course the school holidays were coming up, so Herbie Rides Again duly opened the week they began, starting at the State Theatre in Market Street, Sydney, on Thursday 19th December 1974. In the following Sunday's Sun-Herald, Romola Costantino reviewed the new film in her Films Of The Week column (it was right next to the 2SMusic Top 40 chart - Kung Fu Fighting was the no.1 song that week). Romola said this about Herbie Rides Again:
Alonzo Hawk, a ruthless land developer, is about to build yet another famous office block in San Francisco, but a dear little old lady (Helen Hayes) defies him by refusing to sell her home. Aided only be her magic \/\N, Herbie and her beautiful granddaughter (Stefanie Powers), the old dear defies the might of the horrible Hawk. Lots of buildings are blown up, Herbie drives himself like an inspired maniac, and Ken Berry, as the nice but useless lawyer, provides a little romance. It's great fun to see the little people have a win over the forces of progress. For everyone who liked the Love Bug and all those who can still enjoy a happy ending, this film about Herbie's comeback will be a pleasant holiday treat.
Sydney in those days had a wealth of City cinemas, for starting that week as well was Earthquake (in 70mm Sensurround) at the Forum (739 George St), The Odessa File at the Century (546 George St), That's Entertainment at the Barclay (681 George St), The Man With The Golden Gun at the Regent (487 George St), I Want What I Want at the Capitol (13 Campbell St), Alvin Rides Again at the Mayfair (73 Castlereigh St), Watch Out We're Mad at the Town (303 Pitt St), while Lady and the Tramp and Return of the Evil Dead began at the Chullora Metro Twin Drive In. Whew! We'd be lucky nowadays to have that many new films in two months. Already showing around Sydney that week in December 1974 was The Sting at the Paramount (525 George St), Kung Fu at the Capitol, Barry McKenzie Holds His Own at the Ascot (246 Pitt St), and Juggernaut at the Plaza (600 George St).
Before we move on, you might also be interested in the double feature showing at the Skyline Drive-Ins at North Ryde, Caringbah and Matraville that week - Wheels on Fire, a film about the world's fastest growing motor sport, drag racing, and Le Mans, starring Steve McQueen. What a beauty! Restaurant and gates open at 6:30pm, session at 8:30pm. At Blacktown Drive-In you could have seen On the Buses plus Mutiny On The Buses. Don't tell me the movie scene wasn't better in the old days! The State and the Capitol are the only cinemas surviving today.
Anyway, Herbie
Rides Again was fortunate to open at the State, probably Sydney's finest cinema, although
it hadn't been restored like it is today. The session times were 11, 2 and 5 (feature at
6:15), Mon to Sat. The State was the only screen in Sydney it was shown until 10th January
1975, when it opened at the Roselands Theatre Beautiful (now demolished, of course), as
well as at the Odeon chain of suburban cinemas at Ashfield, Chatswood, Manly and Randwick.
10th January was also the date it opened at the Chullora Metro Twin Drive-In, showing on Field 1. 7 Golden Vampires and The Marsielle Contract were playing on Field 2. I can still remember being taken there by my parents (in pyjamas, aged 10), to watch Herbie Rides Again. If you tried to look out the back window at the other (distant) screen to see the adult movies, you’d get a clip over the ear from Dad.
So to the movie, Herbie Rides Again (finally!) What can the VW enthusiast find on closer examination? The movie starts with the traditional theme music that appeared at the end of the earlier Love Bug movie, rather than the classical-type compilation of before. Once again it's set in San Francisco. Hawk Plaza is revealed to be 130 storeys tall- even taller than today's record holder, Chicago's Sears Tower (110 storeys).
Herbie appears almost immediately. This car is the correct 1963 US-spec white sunroof model, with Love Bug stripes and numbers and stock wheels/tyres and hubcaps. Only the racecars had wider wheels! Here he's totally stock. Note Herbie's silver-painted chrome. The multiple shadows on the ground mean that this scene was shot in Disney’s Burbank studios.
Grandma Steinmetz reveals that Herbie used to be a famous racing car, but his driver (Jim Douglas, from the first movie) went to Europe to drive foreign cars. This neatly explains the absence of Dean Jones from this movie! Tennessee Steinmetz is Mrs Steinmetz' nephew -that's the connection. He went to Tibet because his guru got sick - thus explaining the absence of Buddy Hackett!
Willoughby kicks Herbie - that horn is 6volt all right! Note the studio car interior as they drive off - no headlining. It looks as fake as anything. The wheelie car is a beauty. The story originally was that the stunt car was powered by either a Boss 302 (ex-Paul Newman car), or maybe a Chev 427 Rat. However the second unit director of the film, Art Vitarelli, later revealed it was done with counterweights.
Notice the single extra spotlight on the front bumper. It usually stays there but sometimes the cover comes and goes! Herbie suddenly gets post '65 big windows when Willoughby drives - a bad mistake which, unfortunately, crops up a lot in this film. Every VW enthusiast can pick a small window '63 from a US spec '65 at a glance.
In some scenes Herbie seems to have '65 mudguards (the front blinkers are further back), but with the narrower, correct '63 blinkers! Strange. Watch Herbie oversteer beautifully. Watch for the early decklid on the later body -you can see where the lower edge of the decklid doesn't match the body.
So they head north across the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin County, and on to the Jousting Tournament. Watch Herbie switch from small to big windows and back again over several scenes it's really annoying once you notice it. Sir Lancelot drives an old Ford Falcon like the first Aussie models. At the end of the tournament Herbie not only returns to the correct small window body, but he suddenly has pop-out rears as well!
The dream sequence is a rerun of clips from the first movie, except for the great little cartoon at the end which, I've heard' appeared in Car and Driver magazine. When Willoughby hides underneath, notice the completely stock underside and half-bald cross-ply tyres.
The baddie Alonzo Hawk goes to steal Herbie - Hot Wire Hawk! He breaks into Herbie by somehow threading a wire through the top of the closed-door window, then manipulating the inside door handle with it. Impossible! (try it yourself). He opens the unlocked engine lid, fiddles and has the engine going in less than 5 seconds (starter motor and all). I can't verify that, but I'm pretty sure it can't be done either. Would anyone care to comment on that?
Herbie stops dead in the traffic with Hawk on board. Somehow the gearstick locks in position! Disney slapstick comes on when Herbie backs into the cop car, sending it flying into and wrecking three others. The cops try to tow Herbie from the front (using the bumper bar rather than the front suspension as you should), and here follows the best VW burnout I've ever seen. The VW has big windows again, but otherwise it's perfect. Watch that stock VW wheel shed the rubber! Superb stuff.
Grandma heads off to market in Herbie, and again he gets big windows from time to time. Tsk tsk! The handbrake turn, however, is great. Model cars are used in- the jump scene on top of the carpark - if you frame by frame, you can actually see the Herbie car lift its nose before it reaches the other VW models. Another model is used on the Golden Gate Bridge, but at least the suspension seems to work on them.
Back at the firehouse, Herbie again has pop-out rear side windows, but at the shop for broccoli he gets cal-look rear side windows.
Chasing seagulls at the beach, Herbie again has pop-out side windows, and also slightly wider wheels and tyres that were stock the scene before. Look for the underbody extension on the driver's side as the VW turns about; you'll see some extra sheetmetal and cable, which was used by the hidden driver system.
Herbie has big windows as he jumps off the wharf, and the stunt car sinks like a stone. The floating car (with small, cal-look side windows), is propelled by towing it off camera with a cable. It didn't have a propeller, in case you were wondering!
Nicole actually says "Volkswagen" at thin point - interesting because that word wasn't said at all in the first movie. Herbie was always just "the little car". I wonder if copyright, etc. had anything to do with that? Anyway, the surfing scene is very well done and looks great.
Herbie breaks into Hawk's storage building as a newer 1966 model (big windows again). These VWs actually had steel sunroofs, so He Disney mechanics must have cut them out and replaced them with earlier cloth roofs. What a waste! It would have been easier for them to just look harder for earlier model VWs in the first place, and paint them white if necessary. If you look closely you'll also spot the US '66 decklid, but fitted with a narrow '63 numberplate light. It's too high up! See what I mean about making late models look like '63s - it's too difficult.
The '66 model (with earlier domed hubcaps) does all the stunt work for the cable car rescue, except for the models used in the warehouse. Listen to the third-gear burnout al Herbie chases the runaway cablecar - we wish!
Listen carefully when Mr Hawk's new lawyers arrive. One of them is the fellow that did the voice for Mr Slate on the Flintstones (listen!)
Herbie's radio is an AM-only model with VW-style knobs, so it could be a dealerjob. Note that the dashboard has no fuel gauge, so the means that the interior is earlier than 1962!
The car that swings into Hawk's office has big windows, followed by the famous suds seen' Good stuff! Enjoy the sound effect when the pot falls on Hawk's head - I laugh every time. The ledge scene was done with Hollywood tricks, course.
I always enjoy Hawk's dream sequence (dream sequences must have been 'in' in the early '70s). The sheep have '53' painted on them, then they turn into VWs with big teeth! The others were done with models, or people with cardboard VW costumes!
Herbie has the correct small windows as he leaves the firehouse when Hawk arrives, but when he picks up Nicole and Willoughby he suddenly has big ones.
The next scene is the best in the movie -where Herbie runs through the streets blowing his horn, and picking up other VWs! The first is a replica of himself - a white '63 sunroof, then a cream '65 sunroof (with the incorrect cloth sunroof), a 40hp white car from a used car dealership ("runs good"), a light green '64 from there as well ("clean, cheap"), then a '68 blue model with US spec parking lights in the blinkers. Three others join the chase also, in shades of red, white and yellow. This scene to me marks a change in the entire 'Herbie' philosophy. We assumed before that Herbie was the special case of a VW with a mind of its own - in fact Tennessee said so in the first movie.
Now, however, were shown that every VW has that special quality deep down, and it only has to be activated! This means that your VW, and mine, is the same Didn't you always suspect that were so?
After picking up the black, and then the red 1500, a little yellow oval window Beetle (with black mudguard) starts up from the junk pile. Oh, how cute! Watch it wobble its way down the street after the rest, its wheels hopelessly out of true. The essence of the unkillable VW!
The movie wraps up very quickly from here, with the final scene showing Herbie's VW friends forming a parade of honour. They somehow lift themselves into the air on cue, without the aid of cables, it seems!
That concludes our look at the second Love Bug movie, Herbie Rides again. No less than 18 VWs were used in the making of this film, and unfortunately, unlike animals, some VWs were hurt (killed, actually) in the process. It would be another three years before the appearance of the third movie in the series, Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo. We'll look at that one in the next exciting instalment.
In the meantime, get Herbie Rides Again out on video, and enjoy!