Herbie Rides Again
Encyclopedia
Herbie Rides Again is a 1974 comedy film. It is the sequel to The Love Bug
, released six years earlier, and the second in a series of movies made by Walt Disney Productions starring an anthropomorphic
1963 Volkswagen
racing Beetle
named Herbie
. The movie starred Helen Hayes
as Grandma Steinmetz, Stefanie Powers
as Nicole Harris, Ken Berry
as Willoughby Whitfield, and Keenan Wynn
(reprising his villainous role as Alonzo Hawk
originated in the Disney films, The Absent-Minded Professor
and Son of Flubber
).
Herbie Rides Again was followed by two more theatrical sequels Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
and Herbie Goes Bananas
. A later theatrical sequel, Herbie: Fully Loaded
was released in 2005.
), is a wealthy, ruthless man whose dream is to build his real-estate empire to a world power by replacing old buildings, some of which have historical significance, with skyscrapers and malls. The newest and most ambitious of Hawk's projects is an indoor shopping center, the 130-story Hawk Plaza in San Francisco. The only obstacle is an archaic firehouse
inhabited by Grandma Steinmetz (Helen Hayes
), widow of its former owner, Fire Captain Steinmetz, and aunt of mechanic Tennessee Steinmetz (Buddy Hackett
in The Love Bug
); her displaced neighbor, flight attendant Nicole Harris (Stefanie Powers
); and their sentient machines: Herbie the Love Bug, an orchestrion
that chooses its own songs, and a retired cable car
known as "Old No. 22." It is explained that Tennessee has gone to Tibet to visit his ailing philosophy teacher, while Herbie's former owner Jim Douglas (Dean Jones
in The Love Bug) is said to have gone to Europe to try his luck racing with foreign cars.
Hawk has made numerous attempts at evicting Mrs. Steinmetz, intending to imprison her in Eternity Towers, a retirement home
of his own making. Hawk's lawyers have been unsuccessful in these attempts, and when his lawyer nephew, Willoughby Whitfield (Ken Berry
) appears, Hawk gives him a version of the situation that makes himself out to be the injured party. Willoughby is ready and willing at first, to fulfill his uncle's wishes. Meeting Mrs. Steinmetz and coming to grips with her pretty roommate Nicole soon changes his views - Hawk is only rich because he is unscrupulous. Willoughby decides that he cannot do his Uncle's dirty work and decides to return home. Hawk flies into a rage, but later gets the idea to steal Herbie, "the little car [Mrs. Steinmetz] goes everywhere in," in an effort to get her to abandon the firehouse.
Hawk explains that as "Hotwire Hawk," at "the tender age of 19" he was "the best known repossessor
of cars west of the Mississippi," decides to steal the car himself. While driving Herbie downtown, Hawk insults him by saying he is "a one-cylinder hairdryer", and Herbie stops in retaliation, holding up all the traffic. A police car tries to push Herbie, who pushes back, causing a pile-up, another tries to tow him, but he pulls backwards, causing the rope to break and two police cars to crash into each other. Herbie then takes Hawk back to his office building and dumps him out before driving away, and Hawk orders his servants to "get that car, dead or alive."
While Herbie takes Mrs. Steinmetz to market, they are chased by Hawk's men sent to corner and capture the vehicle. Herbie pulls off several daring escapes by jumping through the sedans, racing up a parking garage and vaulting over two parked Volkswagen Beetle
s, and sneaking through the restaurant in the 1909 landmark Palace Hotel
. Finally, Herbie rides up the suspension cable on the Golden Gate Bridge
, before the oblivious Mrs. Steinmetz tells him that they have to get to the market.
In the meantime, Willoughby decides to go home – in disguise – but Nicole convinces him to stay. On their return from a visit to the beach, the two find that every item of furniture from the Steinmetz firehouse, including "No. 22" and even the carpet, has been removed by Hawk. Mrs. Steinmetz, Willoughby, Nicole, and Herbie track the theft to a warehouse, where Herbie smashes the doors open. The security guards are not willing to allow them to retrieve anything without Hawk's approval; Herbie, however, pushes loads of furniture onto the guards, trapping them. Herbie and company immediately gather their furniture and head home, Mrs. Steinmetz riding in "No. 22" while Nicole and Willoughby follow in Herbie. Piled into "No. 22" is Steinmetz's furniture, as well as a drunk named Judson (John McIntire
), who thinks that he is on the public cable car line
. Hawk is in hot pursuit, but Herbie distracts him long enough for Mrs. Steinmetz and Judson to get away. When "No. 22" careens out of control, Willoughby, Nicole and Herbie perform a daring rescue before it plunges into the San Francisco Bay.
Hawk next recruits an independent demolition agent
named Loostgarten (Chuck McCann
), a former Hawk employee who is eager to please. Meanwhile, Mrs Steinmetz, who is quite upset over Hawk harassing her, decides to confront Hawk herself. Willoughby insists that he goes along with her and Herbie in case there is any trouble. She drives Herbie onto the outside window cleaning machine on Hawk’s skyscraper to travel up to his penthouse office suite. When they arrive, Mrs. Steinmetz overhears a telephone conversation with Loostgarten about the deal to demolish the firehouse, and activates the window cleaning machine, dousing Hawk with foam and water. Herbie drives into Hawk’s office, and proceeds to chase him around the perimeter of the building. When Herbie threatens to push Hawk over the edge to his death, Mrs Steinmetz decides that he has gone too far and threatens to sell him to Mr. Honesdale, the used car man. Herbie retreats, and the trio return to the ground.
That evening, disguising his voice to sound like that of Alonzo, Willoughby makes a call to Loostgarten, telling him not to demolish the firehouse that night; instead directing him to a certain house with the address of "343 Oleander Heights." Loostgarten makes a late-night call to Hawk to confirm that the address in question is slated for demolition, waking Hawk up from several nightmares involving himself at the mercy of Herbie. First he starts counting sheep, after a while, the sheep now have the number 53 on them. Next, Herbie jumps over the fence with shark
teeth around his hood, then many more like it start chasing Alonzo. The next thing he knows, Alonzo is tied to a pole and many Herbies are dressed in Native American
clothes and doing a war dance on their hind wheels are throwing arrows at him (one shoots his toupee off). Finally Hawk's dream ends in a style from the 1933 film
, King Kong
, Hawk is a giant figure atop the Empire State Building
with little Herbie-like planes buzzing around him and squirting oil. One squirts him and Hawk falls. Finally, Loostgarten inturrupts Hawk's nightmare, asking about the address. Hawk tells him, "Of course I'm sure, you idiot! I know it as well as I know my own address!" As it is his own address, a huge demolition ball crashes through his bedroom wall. Loostgarten is interrupted in the demolition by the outraged Hawk, who falls from the broken wall and chases him.
In the morning, Hawk calls for a truce with Steinmetz. Pleased at such a resolution, Willoughby and Nicole go out for dinner, while back at the firehouse, Steinmetz invites Judson to sit and talk about their common interests. Hawk violates the truce by sending an army of earthmovers to crush the firehouse and its inhabitants. Herbie immediately drives off to get help. During his absence, the only means of defense for the firehouse is an antique high-pressure fire-extinguishing hose
, which Mr. Judson uses with some accuracy, knocking two earthmovers' drivers out of their seats.
Steinmetz and Judson lose their only means of defending the firehouse when the old hose suddenly bursts. Several other Volkswagen Beetles, from various places in the city (the roadside, a lock-up garage, car dealers, a drive-in movie – even a beat-up Beetle from the scrapyard) come to their rescue. Together, Herbie and the Beetle battalion scatter Hawk's men and ruin his scheme. Hawk runs away; Willoughby stops Herbie from harming Hawk by warning the car that he "won't be invited to the wedding" – a statement which puzzles Nicole. After nearly getting knocked down by a police car, Hawk is arrested after telling his bizarre tale of an army of Beetles chasing him.
The aforementioned wedding takes place at the firehouse, with Steinmetz as matron of honor and Judson as the best man. Nicole Harris has now become Mrs. Whitfield; she and Willoughby leave in Herbie through an arch formed by the other Volkswagen Beetles.
and Son of Flubber
. Fritz Feld
, who appears as the Maitre d', and Vito Scotti
, who plays the Italian cab driver, also appear in the sequel Herbie Goes Bananas
as crewmen of the Sun Princess. Dan Tobin
, Raymond Bailey
, Iggie Wolfington
, Robert S. Carson and John Zaremba played Hawk's attorneys; Disney regular Norman Grabowski
played "Security guard #2;" John Myhers played the San Francisco's Office of the President announcer; and Alan Carney played the Announcer at the Chicken Tournament.
for the film shows a still from a deleted sequence where one of Hawk's nightmares has him being treated by a pair of white VW Beetle doctors in a dimly-lit room. Hawk is chained down to a surgical table, and behind the VW "doctors" is a tool cabinet and a pair of very large, menacing shadows of the "doctors." The VW "doctors" have a large red cross on their hoods and their headlights have pupils. One "doctor" has mechanical arms that hold a blow torch
and a saw
. The second "doctor" has mechanical arms that hold an acetylene torch and a wrecking ball. Detailed in the View-Master book, the "doctors" were to have a conversation on taking out Hawk's brain. The "doctor" with the acetylene torch and wrecking ball was going to say "Looks like he's done for, Doctor. Let's take his carburetor out and have a look at it." As the acetylene torch sputters closer to Hawk, he gets the phone call from Loostgarten and comes out of his nightmare. This nightmare sequence would have followed the "King Kong"-styled airplane Herbie nightmare sequence.
One of the VW Beetles used in the deleted "doctor" 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 features (the red cross, mechanical arms, and eyeball headlights) were removed and restored as it appeared in "The Love Bug".
"Hawk Plaza" is shown as a shining, golden twin-tower 130-story San Francisco skyscraper touted as "The World's Highest Building." Coincidentally, The Towering Inferno
, released six months later the same year, featured "The Glass Tower," a shining, golden single-tower 138-story San Francisco skyscraper touted as "The Tallest Building in the World." (New York's twin 110-story towers of the World Trade Center
, "The Tallest Buildings in the World" had officially opened in 1973, and Chicago's 108-story Sears Tower took that honor in 1974.)
on October 15, 1981 and re-released in 1985
, 1992
, 1995
and September 16, 1997. It was released on DVD
in Region 1
on May 4, 2004 and was re-released as a 2-DVD double feature set along with Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
on April 26, 2009.
The Love Bug
The Love Bug is the first in a series of comedy films made by Walt Disney Productions that starred an anthropomorphic pearl-white, fabric-sunroofed 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie...
, released six years earlier, and the second in a series of movies made by Walt Disney Productions starring an anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
1963 Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
racing Beetle
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...
named Herbie
Herbie
Herbie is an anthropomorphic Volkswagen Beetle, a character that is featured in several Disney motion pictures starting with the 1968 feature film The Love Bug. He has a mind of his own and is capable of driving himself, and is a serious contender in auto racing competitions...
. The movie starred Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
as Grandma Steinmetz, Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers is an American actress best known for her role as Jennifer Hart in the 1980s television series Hart to Hart.-Early life:...
as Nicole Harris, Ken Berry
Ken Berry
Kenneth Ronald "Ken" Berry is an American dancer, comedic actor and singer. He began on stage as a dancer and later starred in television sitcoms.-Life and career:...
as Willoughby Whitfield, and Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
(reprising his villainous role as Alonzo Hawk
Alonzo Hawk
Alonzo Hawk is a recurring villain in three Walt Disney movies: The Absent-Minded Professor , Son of Flubber , and Herbie Rides Again . In the two earlier movies , his name is apparently Alonzo P...
originated in the Disney films, The Absent-Minded Professor
The Absent-Minded Professor
The Absent-Minded Professor is a 1961 black-and-white Walt Disney Productions film based on the short story A Situation of Gravity, by Samuel W. Taylor....
and Son of Flubber
Son of Flubber
Son of Flubber is the 1963 black-and-white sequel to the Walt Disney children's movie comedy The Absent-Minded Professor , also starring Fred MacMurray as a scientist who has perfected a high-bouncing substance, Flubber that can levitate an automobile and cause athletes to bounce into the sky...
).
Herbie Rides Again was followed by two more theatrical sequels Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo is a 1977 film, the third of a series of films by Walt Disney Productions starring Herbie – the white Volkswagen racing Beetle with a mind of its own.-Plot:...
and Herbie Goes Bananas
Herbie Goes Bananas
Herbie Goes Bananas is the fourth of a series of films made by Walt Disney Productions starring Herbie – the white Volkswagen racing Beetle with a mind of its own. The film stars former Mel Brooks collaborators Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman....
. A later theatrical sequel, Herbie: Fully Loaded
Herbie: Fully Loaded
Herbie: Fully Loaded is a 2005 American comedy film directed by Angela Robinson and produced by Robert Simonds for Walt Disney Pictures. It stars Lindsay Lohan as the youngest member of an automobile-racing family, Michael Keaton as her father, Matt Dillon as a competing racer, Breckin Meyer as...
was released in 2005.
Plot
Alonzo Hawk (Keenan WynnKeenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
), is a wealthy, ruthless man whose dream is to build his real-estate empire to a world power by replacing old buildings, some of which have historical significance, with skyscrapers and malls. The newest and most ambitious of Hawk's projects is an indoor shopping center, the 130-story Hawk Plaza in San Francisco. The only obstacle is an archaic firehouse
Fire station
A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...
inhabited by Grandma Steinmetz (Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
), widow of its former owner, Fire Captain Steinmetz, and aunt of mechanic Tennessee Steinmetz (Buddy Hackett
Buddy Hackett
Buddy Hackett was an American comedian and actor.-Early life:Hackett was born in Brooklyn, New York, New York, the son of a Jewish upholsterer. He grew up on 54th and 14th Ave in Borough Park, Brooklyn, across from Public School 103...
in The Love Bug
The Love Bug
The Love Bug is the first in a series of comedy films made by Walt Disney Productions that starred an anthropomorphic pearl-white, fabric-sunroofed 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie...
); her displaced neighbor, flight attendant Nicole Harris (Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers is an American actress best known for her role as Jennifer Hart in the 1980s television series Hart to Hart.-Early life:...
); and their sentient machines: Herbie the Love Bug, an orchestrion
Orchestrion
An orchestrion is a generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an orchestra or band. Orchestrions may be operated by means of a large pinned cylinder or by a music roll and less commonly book music. The sound is usually produced by pipes, though they will be voiced...
that chooses its own songs, and a retired cable car
Cable car
A cable car is any of a variety of transportation systems relying on cables to pull vehicles along or lower them at a steady rate, or a vehicle on these systems.-Aerial lift:Aerial lifts where the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable:...
known as "Old No. 22." It is explained that Tennessee has gone to Tibet to visit his ailing philosophy teacher, while Herbie's former owner Jim Douglas (Dean Jones
Dean Jones (actor)
Dean Carroll Jones is an American actor. Jones is best known for his light-hearted leading roles in several Walt Disney movies between 1965 and 1977, most notably The Love Bug.-Early years:...
in The Love Bug) is said to have gone to Europe to try his luck racing with foreign cars.
Hawk has made numerous attempts at evicting Mrs. Steinmetz, intending to imprison her in Eternity Towers, a retirement home
Retirement home
A retirement home is a multi-residence housing facility intended for senior citizens. Typically each person or couple in the home has an apartment-style room or suite of rooms. Additional facilities are provided within the building, including facilities for meals, gathering, recreation, and some...
of his own making. Hawk's lawyers have been unsuccessful in these attempts, and when his lawyer nephew, Willoughby Whitfield (Ken Berry
Ken Berry
Kenneth Ronald "Ken" Berry is an American dancer, comedic actor and singer. He began on stage as a dancer and later starred in television sitcoms.-Life and career:...
) appears, Hawk gives him a version of the situation that makes himself out to be the injured party. Willoughby is ready and willing at first, to fulfill his uncle's wishes. Meeting Mrs. Steinmetz and coming to grips with her pretty roommate Nicole soon changes his views - Hawk is only rich because he is unscrupulous. Willoughby decides that he cannot do his Uncle's dirty work and decides to return home. Hawk flies into a rage, but later gets the idea to steal Herbie, "the little car [Mrs. Steinmetz] goes everywhere in," in an effort to get her to abandon the firehouse.
Hawk explains that as "Hotwire Hawk," at "the tender age of 19" he was "the best known repossessor
Repossession
Repossession is generally used to refer to a financial institution taking back an object that was either used as collateral or rented or leased in a transaction. Repossession is a "self-help" type of action in which the party having right of ownership of the property in question takes the property...
of cars west of the Mississippi," decides to steal the car himself. While driving Herbie downtown, Hawk insults him by saying he is "a one-cylinder hairdryer", and Herbie stops in retaliation, holding up all the traffic. A police car tries to push Herbie, who pushes back, causing a pile-up, another tries to tow him, but he pulls backwards, causing the rope to break and two police cars to crash into each other. Herbie then takes Hawk back to his office building and dumps him out before driving away, and Hawk orders his servants to "get that car, dead or alive."
While Herbie takes Mrs. Steinmetz to market, they are chased by Hawk's men sent to corner and capture the vehicle. Herbie pulls off several daring escapes by jumping through the sedans, racing up a parking garage and vaulting over two parked Volkswagen Beetle
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...
s, and sneaking through the restaurant in the 1909 landmark Palace Hotel
Palace Hotel, San Francisco
The Palace Hotel is a landmark historic hotel in San Francisco, California, located at the SW corner of Market and New Montgomery streets. Also referred to as the "New" Palace Hotel to distinguish it from the original 1875 Palace Hotel that it was built to replace, the present...
. Finally, Herbie rides up the suspension cable on the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
, before the oblivious Mrs. Steinmetz tells him that they have to get to the market.
In the meantime, Willoughby decides to go home – in disguise – but Nicole convinces him to stay. On their return from a visit to the beach, the two find that every item of furniture from the Steinmetz firehouse, including "No. 22" and even the carpet, has been removed by Hawk. Mrs. Steinmetz, Willoughby, Nicole, and Herbie track the theft to a warehouse, where Herbie smashes the doors open. The security guards are not willing to allow them to retrieve anything without Hawk's approval; Herbie, however, pushes loads of furniture onto the guards, trapping them. Herbie and company immediately gather their furniture and head home, Mrs. Steinmetz riding in "No. 22" while Nicole and Willoughby follow in Herbie. Piled into "No. 22" is Steinmetz's furniture, as well as a drunk named Judson (John McIntire
John McIntire
John McIntire was an American character actor.-Career:The craggy-faced film actor was born in Spokane in eastern Washington State but reared in Montana, growing up around ranchers and cowboys, an experience that would later inspire his performances in dozens of westerns.A graduate of USC, McIntire...
), who thinks that he is on the public cable car line
San Francisco cable car system
The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually operated cable car system, in the US sense of a tramway whose cars are pulled along by cables embedded in the street. It is an icon of San Francisco, California...
. Hawk is in hot pursuit, but Herbie distracts him long enough for Mrs. Steinmetz and Judson to get away. When "No. 22" careens out of control, Willoughby, Nicole and Herbie perform a daring rescue before it plunges into the San Francisco Bay.
Hawk next recruits an independent demolition agent
Demolition
Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....
named Loostgarten (Chuck McCann
Chuck McCann
Chuck McCann is a film actor, television actor, stage actor, and a voice actor from Brooklyn, New York.-Early career:...
), a former Hawk employee who is eager to please. Meanwhile, Mrs Steinmetz, who is quite upset over Hawk harassing her, decides to confront Hawk herself. Willoughby insists that he goes along with her and Herbie in case there is any trouble. She drives Herbie onto the outside window cleaning machine on Hawk’s skyscraper to travel up to his penthouse office suite. When they arrive, Mrs. Steinmetz overhears a telephone conversation with Loostgarten about the deal to demolish the firehouse, and activates the window cleaning machine, dousing Hawk with foam and water. Herbie drives into Hawk’s office, and proceeds to chase him around the perimeter of the building. When Herbie threatens to push Hawk over the edge to his death, Mrs Steinmetz decides that he has gone too far and threatens to sell him to Mr. Honesdale, the used car man. Herbie retreats, and the trio return to the ground.
That evening, disguising his voice to sound like that of Alonzo, Willoughby makes a call to Loostgarten, telling him not to demolish the firehouse that night; instead directing him to a certain house with the address of "343 Oleander Heights." Loostgarten makes a late-night call to Hawk to confirm that the address in question is slated for demolition, waking Hawk up from several nightmares involving himself at the mercy of Herbie. First he starts counting sheep, after a while, the sheep now have the number 53 on them. Next, Herbie jumps over the fence with shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
teeth around his hood, then many more like it start chasing Alonzo. The next thing he knows, Alonzo is tied to a pole and many Herbies are dressed in Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
clothes and doing a war dance on their hind wheels are throwing arrows at him (one shoots his toupee off). Finally Hawk's dream ends in a style from the 1933 film
1933 in film
-Events:* March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.* British Film Institute founded....
, King Kong
King Kong (1933 film)
King Kong is a Pre-Code 1933 fantasy monster adventure film co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, and written by Ruth Rose and James Ashmore Creelman after a story by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film tells of a gigantic island-dwelling apeman creature called Kong who dies in...
, Hawk is a giant figure atop the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
with little Herbie-like planes buzzing around him and squirting oil. One squirts him and Hawk falls. Finally, Loostgarten inturrupts Hawk's nightmare, asking about the address. Hawk tells him, "Of course I'm sure, you idiot! I know it as well as I know my own address!" As it is his own address, a huge demolition ball crashes through his bedroom wall. Loostgarten is interrupted in the demolition by the outraged Hawk, who falls from the broken wall and chases him.
In the morning, Hawk calls for a truce with Steinmetz. Pleased at such a resolution, Willoughby and Nicole go out for dinner, while back at the firehouse, Steinmetz invites Judson to sit and talk about their common interests. Hawk violates the truce by sending an army of earthmovers to crush the firehouse and its inhabitants. Herbie immediately drives off to get help. During his absence, the only means of defense for the firehouse is an antique high-pressure fire-extinguishing hose
Fire hose
A fire hose is a high-pressure hose used to carry water or other fire retardant to a fire to extinguish it. Outdoors, it is attached either to a fire engine or a fire hydrant. Indoors, it can be permanently attached to a building's standpipe or plumbing system...
, which Mr. Judson uses with some accuracy, knocking two earthmovers' drivers out of their seats.
Steinmetz and Judson lose their only means of defending the firehouse when the old hose suddenly bursts. Several other Volkswagen Beetles, from various places in the city (the roadside, a lock-up garage, car dealers, a drive-in movie – even a beat-up Beetle from the scrapyard) come to their rescue. Together, Herbie and the Beetle battalion scatter Hawk's men and ruin his scheme. Hawk runs away; Willoughby stops Herbie from harming Hawk by warning the car that he "won't be invited to the wedding" – a statement which puzzles Nicole. After nearly getting knocked down by a police car, Hawk is arrested after telling his bizarre tale of an army of Beetles chasing him.
The aforementioned wedding takes place at the firehouse, with Steinmetz as matron of honor and Judson as the best man. Nicole Harris has now become Mrs. Whitfield; she and Willoughby leave in Herbie through an arch formed by the other Volkswagen Beetles.
Cast
Keenan Wynn's character Alonzo Hawk had previously appeared in The Absent-Minded ProfessorThe Absent-Minded Professor
The Absent-Minded Professor is a 1961 black-and-white Walt Disney Productions film based on the short story A Situation of Gravity, by Samuel W. Taylor....
and Son of Flubber
Son of Flubber
Son of Flubber is the 1963 black-and-white sequel to the Walt Disney children's movie comedy The Absent-Minded Professor , also starring Fred MacMurray as a scientist who has perfected a high-bouncing substance, Flubber that can levitate an automobile and cause athletes to bounce into the sky...
. Fritz Feld
Fritz Feld
Fritz Feld was a film character actor actor who appeared in over 140 films, both silent and sound. His trademark was to slap his mouth with the palm of his hand to create a pop sound.-Biography:...
, who appears as the Maitre d', and Vito Scotti
Vito Scotti
Vito Scotti was a veteran character actor who played many roles, primarily from the late-1940s to the mid-1990s. He was known as a man of a thousand faces, for his ability to assume so many divergent roles in more than 200 screen roles, in a nearly 50 year career. He was known for his resourceful...
, who plays the Italian cab driver, also appear in the sequel Herbie Goes Bananas
Herbie Goes Bananas
Herbie Goes Bananas is the fourth of a series of films made by Walt Disney Productions starring Herbie – the white Volkswagen racing Beetle with a mind of its own. The film stars former Mel Brooks collaborators Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman....
as crewmen of the Sun Princess. Dan Tobin
Dan Tobin
Dan Tobin was an American supporting actor who generally played gentle, urbane characters, sometimes with a concealed edge of malice....
, Raymond Bailey
Raymond Bailey
Raymond Thomas Bailey was an American actor on the Broadway stage, movies, and television. He is best known for his role as wealthy banker, Milburn Drysdale, in the television series The Beverly Hillbillies....
, Iggie Wolfington
Ignatius Wolfington
Ignatius 'Iggie' Wolfington was an American stage actor. Iggie is the youngest of the Wolfington family of Philadelphia, operators of a carriage business and brother of the founder of Wolfington Body Company in Exton, Pa. He married Lynn Wood, an actress, about 1972...
, Robert S. Carson and John Zaremba played Hawk's attorneys; Disney regular Norman Grabowski
Norm Grabowski
Norm Grabowski is an American hot rod builder and actor. The heavy set crew cut wearing Grabowski appeared in minor roles in many films produced by Albert Zugsmith and Walt Disney....
played "Security guard #2;" John Myhers played the San Francisco's Office of the President announcer; and Alan Carney played the Announcer at the Chicken Tournament.
Deleted scenes
The GAF View-Master reel setView-Master
View-Master is a device for viewing seven 3-D images on a paper disk. Although the View-Master is now considered a children's toy, it was originally marketed as a way for viewers to enjoy stereograms of colorful and picturesque tourist attractions.-1939–66: stereoscopic sightseeing:In 1911,...
for the film shows a still from a deleted sequence where one of Hawk's nightmares has him being treated by a pair of white VW Beetle doctors in a dimly-lit room. Hawk is chained down to a surgical table, and behind the VW "doctors" is a tool cabinet and a pair of very large, menacing shadows of the "doctors." The VW "doctors" have a large red cross on their hoods and their headlights have pupils. One "doctor" has mechanical arms that hold a blow torch
Blow torch
A blowtorch , blow torch , or blowlamp is a tool for applying lower-intensity and more diffuse flame and heat for various applications, than the oxyacetylene torch. Before aerosol cans and pressurized gas cylinders, fuel was pressurized by a syringe or pump...
and a saw
Saw
A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive...
. The second "doctor" has mechanical arms that hold an acetylene torch and a wrecking ball. Detailed in the View-Master book, the "doctors" were to have a conversation on taking out Hawk's brain. The "doctor" with the acetylene torch and wrecking ball was going to say "Looks like he's done for, Doctor. Let's take his carburetor out and have a look at it." As the acetylene torch sputters closer to Hawk, he gets the phone call from Loostgarten and comes out of his nightmare. This nightmare sequence would have followed the "King Kong"-styled airplane Herbie nightmare sequence.
Props
The Herbies used for the film consisted of 1963 Beetles and 1965 Beetles as evidenced by the side glass (1965 Beetles - except for the Brazilian and Australian models - had enlarged quarter and door glasses).One of the VW Beetles used in the deleted "doctor" 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 features (the red cross, mechanical arms, and eyeball headlights) were removed and restored as it appeared in "The Love Bug".
"Hawk Plaza" is shown as a shining, golden twin-tower 130-story San Francisco skyscraper touted as "The World's Highest Building." Coincidentally, The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros...
, released six months later the same year, featured "The Glass Tower," a shining, golden single-tower 138-story San Francisco skyscraper touted as "The Tallest Building in the World." (New York's twin 110-story towers of the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
, "The Tallest Buildings in the World" had officially opened in 1973, and Chicago's 108-story Sears Tower took that honor in 1974.)
Cast
- Helen HayesHelen HayesHelen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
.... Mrs. Steinmetz - Ken BerryKen BerryKenneth Ronald "Ken" Berry is an American dancer, comedic actor and singer. He began on stage as a dancer and later starred in television sitcoms.-Life and career:...
.... Willoughby Whitfield - Stefanie PowersStefanie PowersStefanie Powers is an American actress best known for her role as Jennifer Hart in the 1980s television series Hart to Hart.-Early life:...
.... Nicole Harris Whitfield - John McIntireJohn McIntireJohn McIntire was an American character actor.-Career:The craggy-faced film actor was born in Spokane in eastern Washington State but reared in Montana, growing up around ranchers and cowboys, an experience that would later inspire his performances in dozens of westerns.A graduate of USC, McIntire...
.... Mr. Judson - Keenan WynnKeenan WynnKeenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
.... Alonzo Hawk - Huntz HallHuntz HallHenry Richard "Huntz" Hall was an American radio, theatrical, and motion picture performer noted primarily for his roles in the "Dead End Kids" movies, such as Angels with Dirty Faces , which gave way to the "The Bowery Boys" movie franchise, a prolific and highly successful series of comedies in...
.... Judge - Ivor BarryIvor BarryIvor Barry was a British film and television actor.Born in South Wales, Barry served with the British Royal Artillery during World War II and completed his university studies prior to beginning his acting career...
.... Chauffeur - Vito ScottiVito ScottiVito Scotti was a veteran character actor who played many roles, primarily from the late-1940s to the mid-1990s. He was known as a man of a thousand faces, for his ability to assume so many divergent roles in more than 200 screen roles, in a nearly 50 year career. He was known for his resourceful...
.... Taxi driver - Liam DunnLiam DunnLiam Dunn was an American character actor.The New Jersey native's early career was spent toiling in television in series such as Bonanza, Room 222, Alias Smith and Jones, Mannix, and Gunsmoke....
.... Doctor - Elaine DevryElaine DevryElaine Devry is an American actress. She appeared in a number of films including A Guide for the Married Man and was formerly married to actor Mickey Rooney.-Filmography:* The Atomic Kid * China Doll...
.... Secretary - Chuck McCannChuck McCannChuck McCann is a film actor, television actor, stage actor, and a voice actor from Brooklyn, New York.-Early career:...
.... Loostgarten
Video releases
Herbie Rides Again was released on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
on October 15, 1981 and re-released in 1985
1985 in home video
-September:* September 1 - The Video Recordings Act 1984 in the UK comes into effect.-Movie releases:The following movies were released on video on the following dates:*2010 - June 1985...
, 1992
1992 in home video
-Movie releases:The following movies were released on video on the following dates:*The Addams Family*An American Tail: Fievel Goes West - March 19, 1992*Another You - January 8, 1992; although still uses 1991 Columbia TriStar copyright...
, 1995
1995 in home video
-Movie releases:The following movies were released on video on the following dates:-TV show releases:The following television shows were released on video on the following dates:...
and September 16, 1997. It was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in Region 1
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
on May 4, 2004 and was re-released as a 2-DVD double feature set along with Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo is a 1977 film, the third of a series of films by Walt Disney Productions starring Herbie – the white Volkswagen racing Beetle with a mind of its own.-Plot:...
on April 26, 2009.