Herbie Goes Bananas

Infobox Film | name =Herbie Goes Bananas


caption =
director = Vincent McEveety
producer = Kevin Corcoran
Ron Miller
Don Tait
writer = Gordon Buford
Don Tait
starring = Cloris Leachman
Harvey Korman
Charles Martin Smith
Stephen W. Burns
John Vernon
Elyssa Davalos
Joaquin Garay, III
Richard Jaeckel
Alex Rocco
music = Frank De Vol
cinematography = Frank V. Phillips
editing = Gordon D. Brenner
distributor = Walt Disney Productions
released = June 25, 1980
runtime = 98 min.
language = English
gross = $18,000,000 (USA)
imdb_id = 0080861
preceded_by = "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo"
followed_by = "The Love Bug (1997 film)"

"Herbie Goes Bananas" was 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 Mel Brooks collaborators, Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman.

This was the third sequel in "The Love Bug" series, and the last theatrical Herbie film for 25 years until the release of "" in 2005.

Tagline: "Olé! It's south of the border disorder when... [HERBIE GOES BANANAS!] "

Plot

Loosely picking up where "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo" left off, Pete Stancheck (Stephen W. Burns) has inherited the one-of-a-kind automobile from his uncle, Jim Douglas. Pete travels to Mexico with his friend Davy "D.J." Johns (Charles Martin Smith) to retrieve the car. There, they meet little Paco (Joaquin Garay, III), a comically mischievous, orphaned pickpocket.

Pete and D.J. board a ship to Rio de Janeiro to enter Herbie in the Brazil Grand Primeo. Unbeknownst to them, Paco has hitched a ride under Herbie's hood to avoid three irate victims of his thievery. On the trip, they meet an anthropology student named Melissa (Elyssa Davalos) and her extragavant, eccentric aunt Louise (Cloris Leachman), who is trying to find a husband for her niece. When Herbie wreaks havoc on board, Pete pretends to court Melissa, with the intended result that her Aunt Louise is soon sponsoring the men for their race.

Meanwhile, Herbie helps Paco, who has dubbed the car 'Ocho' (which means 'eight' in Spanish, Paco having simply added together the individual numerals in Herbie's number 53), escape captivity. When the overenthusiastic ship's captain Blythe (Harvey Korman) has his costume party wrecked by the mischievous boy and car, he puts Herbie on trial and sentences him to be dropped in the sea. Herbie becomes a rustbucket as a result of immersion in the salt water, but is rescued from the sea by Paco and disguised as a taxi.

Thence follows an Inca gold-stealing plot, Herbie's matadorian part in a bullfight, romance between Aunt Louise and Captain Blythe, and some bananas which are initially used to camouflage Herbie in a convoy of farm vehicles travelling to market and later used to comic effect by Herbie and Paco in an attempt to stop the villains escaping in their plane. The bad guys (headed by "Animal House" alum John Vernon and "The Godfather's" Alex Rocco) are in pursuit of Paco, who misplaced some important film when he stole their wallets.

Cast

*Cloris Leachman .... Aunt Louise
*Charles Martin Smith .... D.J.
*John Vernon .... Prindle
*Stephen W. Burns .... Pete
*Elyssa Davalos .... Melissa
*Joaquin Garay, III .... Paco
*Harvey Korman .... Captain Blythe
*Richard Jaeckel .... Shepard
*Alex Rocco .... Quinn
*Fritz Feld .... Chief Steward
*Vito Scotti .... Armando Moccia
*José González González .... Garage owner
*Ruben Moreno .... Store owner
*Tina Menard .... Store owner's wife
*Jorge Moreno .... Bus driver
*Allan Hunt, Tom Scott .... Canal operators
*Hector Morales .... Mexican General
*Iris Adrian .... Loud American wife
*Ceil Cabot .... Mrs. Purkiss

*Patricia Van Patten .... Cigarette guest
*Jack Perkins .... Loud American
*Henry Slate .... Off-watch officer
*Ernie Fuentos .... Native
*Antonio Trevino .... Pigeon owner
*Dante D'Andre .... Dr. De Moraes
*Alma Beltan .... General's wife
*Dolores Aguirre, Aurora Coria .... General's daughters
*Alex Tinne, Don Diamond .... Locals
*Warde Donovan .... Maitre d'
*Ray Victor .... Guard attendant
*Bert Santos .... Policeman #3
*Buddy Joe Hooker .... Chef
*Steve Boyum .... Panama policeman
*Kenny Endoso .... Mexican policeman
*Mario Cisneros .... Puerto Vallarta policeman
*Jeff Ramsey .... The matador
*John C. Meier .... Ship's officer

Trivia

* Herbie is not once referred to by his name by any of the principal characters in this movie; the only person who knows Herbie's true name is the garage owner.
* Although Captain Blythe claims at the costume party that his fancy dress outfit is an exact replica of that worn by Admiral Lord Nelson, this is not the case. Blythe sports an eyepatch, something which Nelson is rumored to have worn after he was blinded in his right eye but never actually did.
* Only a few of the rusted Herbies that were used as props are left, despite being sold for a mere $25.00 each, cheaper than even a junked Honda Civic at the time. The prop Herbie thrown into the sea was never retrieved, and its fate remains unknown; it is most likely rotting on the sea bed.

External links

*imdb title|id=0080861|title=Herbie Goes Bananas
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*mojo title|id=herbiegoesbananas|title=Herbie Goes Bananas
* [http://www.geocities.com/lovebugfans/index1.htm LoveBugFans website and Community Forum]
* [http://www.herbiemania.com Herbie Mania Website]
* [http://www.lovebugcentral.com Love Bug Central]