To Listen: Click Here
The Facts:
- Composer: George Bruns
- Year: 1969
- Key: A Major
Heard In:
The Love Bug (and other Herbie movies)
Background:
Let's start with the movie (The Love Bug). It's one of my favorite kids movies of all time. I haven't seen it in a while, but I just loved it when I was younger. Some of the stars include:
Let's start with the movie (The Love Bug). It's one of my favorite kids movies of all time. I haven't seen it in a while, but I just loved it when I was younger. Some of the stars include:
- Dean Jones, who sadly passed away a few months ago, as Jim Douglas. I'm not familiar with his work in other movies, but he is outstanding in The Love Bug as a rough around the edges but somewhat sensitive, down on his luck driver.
- David Tomlinson, aka the father in Mary Poppins, as Peter Thorndyke, the antagonist to Douglas. I can't remember the setup, but I know there's a scene at the end involving Thorndyke and a bear that always made me laugh.
- Buddy Hackett as Tennessee Steinmetz, Douglas's sidekick
- Michelle Lee as Carole Bennett, Douglas's love interest
- And the biggest star of all, Herbie the Love Bug, the iconic Volkswagen white racing bug with the 53 and the red/blue stripe. Herbie not only has a mind of his own but also feelings and flaws, and he and Douglas end up making a great team.
All in all, it's a fun story with some feeling and humor, the acting is great, and the car racing scenes are very well done.
More Herbie movies soon followed, including Herbie Rides Again (with a whole new cast), Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (featuring the return of Dean Jones and bringing in Don Knotts), and Herbie Goes Bananas, which is my favorite of the sequels. I watched it a few years ago for the first time in a while and was surprised to see a young Elyssa Davalos, who MacGyver fans know very well as Nikki Carpenter from Season 3. If you want to read my take on the Nikki Carpenter experience, see my "Fire and Ice" review!
And I guess I have to also mention Herbie: Fully Loaded starring Lindsay Lohan and Justin Long. I saw it once and don't remember it that well -- I don't think it was atrocious but rather mostly forgettable. And one big bummer was that they didn't feature the theme from the original movies until the end credits. The updated theme is all right, though it's somewhat ruined by the middle where there are a bunch of random belches.
Speaking of the original theme, I love it. It's fun, energetic, and it reminds me of happy times. Now only 18 more songs to go on the list!
I haven't seen any of the Herbie movies in nearly 30 years but I remember "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo" being my favorite. I also remember enjoying the music generally when watching as a boy.
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