Having had a stop in San Francisco with cute old lady Helen Hayes, Herbie is back in the hands of his original driver Dean Jones and heads over the Monte Carlo where his presence gets automatic laughs because nobody sees a Volkswagen Bug as a proper race car. Those laughs come, to quote Monty Python, with outrageous accents, overdone here and totally over-the-top. The last come from the bystanders, not the audience, because while there are a few amusing moments, the film really isn't all that funny.
This time, Jones' partner is Don Knotts, having been appearing in a few Disney films over the years and a good sidekick. The leading lady is Julie Sommars, a familiar red-headed actress from the 70s known mainly for TV appearances, and just as fiery as Michele Lee from the first film and Stefanie Powers from the second. Also a race car driver, she goes on a tirade against Jones when the subject of what women can do is broached, slinging plates and glasses at him, and it's basically a repeat of stuff that the two previous heroines in the other films had already done. Predictably, she comes back to apologize afterwards more feminine and ladylike.
The comical villains here are Dr. Bombay, er Bernard Fox, and Roy Kinnear, both bumbling and insipid, trying to prevent both cars from winning at Monte Carlo. Yes, Herbie does has some very funny moments as he reacts to the efforts to stop him, and is aided by some fun race sequences and of course the location photography. Just a few years shy of becoming "the mustache" Victor Newman on "The Young and the Restless", Eric Braeden is another race car driving rival, but he doesn't come on until an hour into the movie. This feels very generic and silly, and when in the 1970's you could stay home and watch Disney on Sunday nights for free, why would you go to the movies and pay to see it?
This time, Jones' partner is Don Knotts, having been appearing in a few Disney films over the years and a good sidekick. The leading lady is Julie Sommars, a familiar red-headed actress from the 70s known mainly for TV appearances, and just as fiery as Michele Lee from the first film and Stefanie Powers from the second. Also a race car driver, she goes on a tirade against Jones when the subject of what women can do is broached, slinging plates and glasses at him, and it's basically a repeat of stuff that the two previous heroines in the other films had already done. Predictably, she comes back to apologize afterwards more feminine and ladylike.
The comical villains here are Dr. Bombay, er Bernard Fox, and Roy Kinnear, both bumbling and insipid, trying to prevent both cars from winning at Monte Carlo. Yes, Herbie does has some very funny moments as he reacts to the efforts to stop him, and is aided by some fun race sequences and of course the location photography. Just a few years shy of becoming "the mustache" Victor Newman on "The Young and the Restless", Eric Braeden is another race car driving rival, but he doesn't come on until an hour into the movie. This feels very generic and silly, and when in the 1970's you could stay home and watch Disney on Sunday nights for free, why would you go to the movies and pay to see it?