Herbie Rides Again
Herbie Rides Again | |
---|---|
Buena Vista Distribution | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 88 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $38.2 million (US/Canada gross) rentals ) |
Herbie Rides Again is a 1974 American
Herbie Rides Again was followed by Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977).
Plot
Notorious real estate magnate and
Mrs. Steinmetz takes a liking to Willoughby due to his youthful looks and good manners, in contrast to Hawk's henchmen. She introduces him to
Later at a restaurant on
Meanwhile, Hawk decides to take it upon himself to drive Mrs. Steinmetz out, starting with stealing Herbie. Hawk is initially successful with his hotwiring skill, but also insults Herbie, who retaliates by causing a series of traffic collisions, and discards Hawk at his own office door. Later, while Herbie takes Mrs. Steinmetz to market, they are chased by Hawk's men; whereupon Herbie makes several daring escapes culminating in traveling through the 1909 landmark Sheraton Palace Hotel and along a suspension cable on the Golden Gate Bridge, with Mrs. Steinmetz oblivious throughout.
Mrs. Steinmetz asks Nicole and Willoughby to pick up some more groceries for her, and then suggests to Herbie to drive them to the beach. Willoughby and Nicole enjoy a romantic moment at the beach and begin to fall for each other, but Hawk's chauffeur, spying on Herbie and the duo, bribes a man to park his trailer on the only road out, prompting Herbie to surf through the coastal bay to find an alternate route.
When they return to the firehouse after dark, every item of furniture has been removed by Hawk. Mrs. Steinmetz, Willoughby, Nicole, and Herbie track the theft to Hawk's warehouse, where they break in and recover Mrs. Steinmetz's belongings, loaded into Old No. 22. Hawk's security guards catch them in the act, but Herbie traps them by pushing other items off the warehouse shelves. On the way home, Herbie and Old No. 22 are pursued by Hawk, and Mrs. Steinmetz meets and becomes enamoured with an inebriated old-timer named Judson, who resembles her late husband, Captain Steinmetz.
The next morning, Mrs. Steinmetz decides to confront Hawk herself. Accompanied by Willoughby, in spite of Nicole telling him not to let her, Mrs. Steinmetz drives Herbie onto the window-cleaning machine of Hawk’s skyscraper to reach his office, where they overhear Hawk on the phone with Loostgarten (Chuck McCann), an independent demolition agent, about a deal to demolish the firehouse. In response, she activates the window cleaning machine to fill the office with soap and water. Herbie then drives into and chases Hawk around the office, then outside onto a ledge of the building, until Mrs Steinmetz calms him down.
Disguising his voice to resemble his uncle's, Willoughby mis-directs Loostgarten to demolish Hawk's own house. Late that evening, Loostgarten telephones Hawk to confirm the demolition, waking Hawk from a nightmare showing himself at the mercy of Herbie; Hawk then gives confirmation, but realizes too late that he has condemned his own residence, and angrily berates Loostgarten after a portion of his house is demolished.
Hawk fakes a truce with Mrs. Steinmetz, and thinking him to be sincere, Willoughby and Nicole go for dinner, while Mrs. Steinmetz invites Judson to the firehouse for a date of their own. Hawk shows up with
Finding Nicole and Willoughby, Herbie rounds up an army of other sentient Volkswagen Beetles from around the city (including a wrecked one from a junkyard), and chase after Hawk and his men, taking advantage of Hawk's irrational fear of Herbie and causing his men to flee. Hawk, after nearly getting knocked down by a police car, is arrested after telling his bizarre tale of an army of Volkswagen Beetles chasing him. Nicole and Willoughby are married, and ride Herbie through an arch formed by his Volkswagen Beetle friends.
Cast
- Helen Hayes as Mrs. Steinmetz
- Ken Berry as Willoughby Whitfield
- Stefanie Powers as Nicole Harris Whitfield
- John McIntire as Mr. Judson
- Keenan Wynn as Alonzo A. Hawk
- Huntz Hall as Judge
- Ivor Barry as Maxwell - Chauffeur
- Vito Scotti as Taxi Driver
- Liam Dunn as Doctor
- Elaine Devry as Millicent - Secretary
- Chuck McCann as Fred Loostgarten
- Richard X. Slattery as Traffic Commissioner
- Don Pedro Colley as Barnsdorf
- Larry J. Blake as Police Officer
- Iggie Wolfington as Lawyer - Second Team
- Jack Manning as Lawyer - First Team
- Hal Baylor as Demolition Truck Driver
- Herb Vigran as Window Washer
- Edward Ashley as Announcer at Chicken Race
- Beverly Carter as Chicken Run Queen
- Norm Grabowski as Security Guard #2
- Irwin Charone as Lawyer - Second Team
- Gail Bonney as Rich Woman in Mansion
- Burt Mustin as Rich Man in Mansion
- John Myhers as Announcer at San Francisco's Office of the President
- John Stephenson as Lawyer - Second Team
- Robert Carsonas Lawyer - First Team
- Raymond Bailey as Lawyer - Second Team
- Arthur Space as Beach Caretaker
- John Hubbard as Angry Chauffeur
- Fritz Feld as Maitre d'
- Alvy Moore as Angry Taxi Driver
- Karl Lukas as Angry Construction Worker
- Paul Micale as Fisherman's Wharf Waiter
- John Zaremba as Lawyer - First Team
- Alan Carney as Judge with Cigar at Chicken Run
- Ken Sansom as Lawyer - First Team
- Maurice Marsac as French Waiter
- Hal Williams as Policeman writing Ticket
Production notes
Casting
While Keenan Wynn appears to be reprising his role of Alonzo Hawk from the Flubber movies, this may not technically be the case. He is called Alonzo P. Hawk in both Flubbers and Alonzo A. Hawk in Herbie, making it unclear whether the two series share a universe, or if the two Alonzo Hawks are related to each other.
Deleted scenes
The GAF View-Master reel set for the film shows a still from a deleted sequence where one of Hawk's nightmares has him about to be treated by a pair of white VW Beetle doctors, who decide to "take his carburetor out and have a look at it". As they approach Hawk, he is awakened by Loostgarten.
Vehicles
The Herbies used for the film consisted both of 1963 and 1965 Beetles.
The included 1965 models make for some
One of the VW Beetles used in the deleted nightmare sequence (see above) was first used in The Love Bug as a stunt car during the El Dorado race (also used for interior filming). Many years after Herbie Rides Again, the car's red cross, mechanical arms, and eyeball headlights were removed and restored to their former appearance.
"World's Highest Building"
"Hawk Plaza" is shown as a shining, twin-tower 130-story San Francisco skyscraper touted as "The World's Highest Building". Coincidentally, The Towering Inferno, released six months later, featured "The Glass Tower," a shining, single-tower 138-story San Francisco skyscraper touted as "The Tallest Building in the World." In actuality, New York's twin towers of the World Trade Center, "The Tallest Buildings in the World" had officially opened in 1973, and Chicago's 108-story Sears Tower claimed that title in May 1974, just one month before Herbie Rides Again was released.
Release
Herbie Rides Again had its world premiere at the
Box office
The film grossed $38,229,000 at the United States and Canada box office, generating Disney $17,500,000 in
giving worldwide rentals of almost $31 million.Home media
Herbie Rides Again was first released on VHS on March 27, 1982.[5] It was also later re-released on November 6, 1985; 1986; January 5, 1992; October 28, 1994; and September 16, 1997.
Herbie Rides Again was first released on
Reception
Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "There's nothing harmful about 'Herbie Rides Again'; it's simply not very good."[6] Variety reported, "It should prove gleeful enough for the kiddies, and at the short and sweet unspooling time of 88 minutes, painless pleasantry for adult chaperones as well."[7] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "suffers from the slackening of freshness and invention which so often bedevils sequels ... Still, 'Herbie Rides Again' preserves the bright, unreal feeling of that special Disney world which more and more is a world to itself."[8] Gene Siskel gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "a surprisingly tolerable sequel."[9]
Herbie Rides Again presently holds a score of 80% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 6 reviews.[10] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out to 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[11]
See also
References
- ^ "Box Office Information for Herbie Rides Again". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
- ^ "Entertainments Guide: London Cinemas". The Guardian. February 11, 1974. p. 24.
- ^ "All-time Film Rental Champs". Variety. 7 January 1976. p. 20.
- ^ "50c of Every Film Rental $ Adds To Disney Film Div. Profits". Variety. January 14, 1976. p. 4.
- ^ "New Titles, Promo Campaigns Boost Video Software". Billboard. Vol. 94, no. 12. March 27, 1982. p. 21.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (June 7, 1974). "The Screen: ' Herbie' Rides Again to Defend Landmarks". The New York Times. 23.
- ^ "Film Reviews: Herbie Rides Again". Variety. March 27, 1974. 14.
- ^ Champlin, Charles (July 9, 1974). "'Herbie'---The Bug Takes Another Lap". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 1.
- ^ Siskel, Gene (July 17, 1974). "Disney's 'Herbie' Rides Again'". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 5.
- ^ "Herbie Rides Again at Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
- ^ "Herbie Rides Again". Metacritic. Retrieved November 28, 2023.