The Love Bug

Dir: Robert Stevenson

1968

****

The first film of a beloved franchise, 1968's The Love Bug is a simple, odd but wonderful exercise in anthropomorphic silliness. It combines two of society's great loves; Cars and Dogs. Based on Gordon Buford's novel Car, Boy, Girl, released seven years previous (bought by Disney and never reprinted) it's hard to say how close the story is as hardly anyone has read it. I do wonder whether it featured the reason as to why Herbie the Volkswagen Beetle was a living entity, or if he was at all, I would guess instead that it was a Disney thing. Quite why Herbie was alive was only hinted at by Buddy Hackett's character, who suggested that all inanimate objects have hearts and souls, coming to this conclusion after spending time in Tibet with Buddhist monks. You have to wonder why Herbie becomes close friends with the character, considering he transforms wrecked car parts into sculpture, like some kind of automobile psychopath, that's the wonder of Buddhism I guess, although Herbie does essentially murder a Lamborghini 400GT in a fit of jealousy. So Disney would have us believe that Herbie is a murderous Buddhist and no one ever questioned it. I digress. Herbie adopts racing driver Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) after he defends him in a car showroom. Showroom owner and part-time racer Peter Thorndyke (played by the brilliant David Tomlinson - because all bad guys are British) eventually sells Jim the Beetle after it follows him home, helping him escape charges of grand theft auto. Maybe Herbie, being Buddhist and everything, is actually the reincarnation of a Labrador? Anyway, Jim overlooks Herbie's affections, he then warms to him, especially when he helps him get a lady, 101 Dalmatian style (maybe Herbie is the reincarnation of a Dalmatian?) and then he eventually races him, setting the structure for the whole series pretty much. It's wonderfully ridiculous and 1960s Disney at its best. It made the world want to own a Volkswagen Beetle, live in an old Fire station in San Francisco and have Buddy Hackett for a best friend. You can't help but love Herbie, it's got everything you could want from a movie; Cars, Romance, Racing, Adventure, Buddhist reincarnation of a Dalmatian...everything!