HERBIE The Love Bug, 1968 to forever

Paint job

TV movie Β· 1997 Β· Small Screen Years

The Love Bug

A down-and-out mechanic rescues Herbie from the junkyard and must face the Beetle's evil twin, Horace the Hate Bug.

🎬 Peyton Reed ⏱ 1h 28m πŸ“… November 30, 1997 πŸ“Ί ABC 🏁 A junk-car race, then a one-on-one showdown against Horace the Hate Bug

Narrated by Jim Douglas, this part-remake, part-sequel finds Herbie in the hands of Simon Moore III, an egotistical racer and car dealer who treats him like junk. After Herbie rebels mid-race, Simon dumps him in a junkyard. Hank Cooper, a former racer turned small-town mechanic, gets stuck with last pick in a junk-car race, and the only wreck left is Herbie. With help from his artist friend Roddy, Hank coaxes the car to life and wins, rekindling both his confidence and his old romance with automotive journalist Alex Davis.

Simon, baffled by the turnaround, digs into Herbie's past and discovers his origin: a German engineer, Dr. Gustav Stumpfel, built him after World War II, and a photograph of the doctor's wife fell into the molten metal, bringing the car to life. Simon pressures Stumpfel into repeating the process with Simon's own photo, and the result is Horace, the Hate Bug, a black Beetle with a vicious streak.

Horace hunts down Herbie and crushes him. At Herbie's funeral, Jim Douglas arrives with Dr. Stumpfel, who explains that Herbie can live again if he is rebuilt from all his original parts. The friends restore him, Jim turns the key, and Herbie roars back. In a final showdown against Horace, Herbie survives grenades and even being sliced in half by a laser, and Horace ends up destroying himself in a ravine.

What Herbie gets up to

This is the darkest chapter of Herbie's story, and also the one that explains where he came from. He begins as a mistreated castoff, rediscovers his joy with Hank, and plays matchmaker once again, locking his doors on a couple who need a push, just as he did for Jim and Carole. Herbie's death and resurrection give the film real emotional weight, and the reunion with Jim Douglas, who gets the honor of starting the rebuilt car, is a gift to longtime fans.

Guestbook

Honk board

  1. A fan in a firehouse

    Herbie is always welcome to park in my firehouse.

  2. P. Thorndyke

    That car cheated. Again.

  3. Tennessee

    Herbie and I go way back. I could tell you stories about his feelings.

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