Se Meu Fusca Falasse

Since, I was three years old I have loved Herbie, the Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of his own. The Love Bug is a wonderful film for the family. Filled with adventure, comedy, and sweetness it is perfect for kids of all ages. When Jim Douglas, played by Dean Jones, starts to have a fluke in his racing career he almost gives up hope. He is stunned by a car dealership that is owned by Thorndyke, played by David Tomlinson, where he first runs into the famous Herbie. After standing up for the little car, Jim has found that the little car is his for keeps.

After winning numerous races, Jim believes it is his luck and not the little car. Tennessee, played by Buddy Hackett, knows that it is the little car and not Jim. Tennessee also influences Carole, played by Michele Lee, who took a little more convincing. Thorndyke tries many evil and cruel stunts to win Herbie back. After a mere loss, Jim has to prove himself to the little car and to the rest of his friends.

A big race is where Jim believes he will do it. The race is two days long and in those two days the little car will be tested to the limits. Herbie rides on water, rides with only two wheels, and even comes apart. Thorndyke is a true bad loser and is actually intimidated by the little car. This will determine who the better person in the end is.

The actors in this movie are truly acting and the content of the movie is

good as well. Robert Stevenson did a wonderful job directing this movie. Having the actors know how to act and having the little car doing all of the stunts played a really made a difference in this movie. As for the little car, I would like to know how they made him come to life so well that kept my interest for fifteen years. This is a wonderful movie and families every where will fall in love with Herbie and the rest of the cast.

Dean Jones plays a race car driver who meets a pretty young woman (Michelle Lee) he sees working in the window at a fancy car dealership. He pretends to be interested in a car, but the dealer has nothing he can afford. Well, actually, that's not true. There is one little Volkswagen Beetle that was purchased by a woman who also bought a Bentley. She bought it for her maid but brought it back because the car misbehaved. Jones isn't interested in the car, but it follows him home. Cops show up at his place accusing him of stealing the car, which of course he didn't. Jones blames the sleazy car dealer for this, and for the strange behavior the car exhibits when he tries to drive it. The car has a mind of its own, and its special qualities make it good for racing. A romance develops between Jones and Lee when Lee tries to convince Jones the car is normal but soon finds out the truth. Lee can't stand Jones at first, of course.

Eventually Jones decides to keep the car and race it, but the car dealer wants in on the action, offering to buy this special car. Jones won't sell to him, but he eventually sells to a Mr. Wu (some people may be offended by stereotypical portrayals of Chinese people, and Wu starts out as a stereotype but later seems quite sophisticated). The car dealer tries his best to keep Herbie from being a success.

Jones and Lee did well in their parts but they seemed like they were acting. Buddy Hackett was quite good as an artist who creates works out of car parts and later served as Jones' crew. Hackett named the car Herbie because it reminded him of his uncle. And the actor playing the car dealer was delightfully evil. The special effects were amazing for the era in which the movie was made. It really looked like the car could do some amazing things. And of course the car seemed to have a personality, one that made us like it. The racing scenes were quite well done, and it's hard to believe there were not more wrecks. Maybe the cars were filmed at slower speeds than what we saw. While quite funny, the movie also had its tender moments and could even be sad: Herbie tried to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, for example. I didn't really see anything to concern parents, though maybe it was a little violent for the littlest ones.

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

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.

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.