The Love Bug facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Love Bug |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Robert Stevenson |
| Produced by | Bill Walsh |
| Screenplay by | Bill Walsh Don DaGradi |
| Story by | Gordon Buford |
| Starring | Dean Jones Michele Lee David Tomlinson Buddy Hackett |
| Music by | George Bruns |
| Cinematography | Edward Colman |
| Editing by | Cotton Warburton |
| Studio | Walt Disney Productions |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
| Release date(s) | December 24, 1968 (limited) March 13, 1969 (wide) |
| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5 million |
| Money made | $51,264,000 |
The Love Bug (sometimes referred to as Herbie the Love Bug) is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and the first in a series of films made by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution that starred an anthropomorphic pearl-white, fabric-sunroofed 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie. It was based on the 1961 book Car, Boy, Girl by Gordon Buford.
The movie follows the adventures of Herbie, Herbie's driver, Jim Douglas (Dean Jones), and Jim's love interest, Carole Bennett (Michele Lee). It also features Buddy Hackett as Jim's enlightened, kind-hearted friend, Tennessee Steinmetz, a character who creates "art" from used car parts. English actor David Tomlinson portrays the villainous Peter Thorndyke, the owner of an auto showroom and an SCCA national champion who sells Herbie to Jim and eventually becomes his racing rival.
Contents
Cast
- Dean Jones as Jim Douglas, a racing driver
- Michele Lee as Carole Bennet, Jim's love interest
- David Tomlinson as Peter Thorndyke, the owner of the car shop
- Buddy Hackett as Tennessee Steinmetz, Jim's friend and roommate and partner in racing
- Joe Flynn as Havershaw, Thorndyke's right-hand man
- Benson Fong as Tang Wu, Jim's friend and team supporter
- Joe E. Ross as Detective
- Barry Kelley as Police sergeant
- Iris Adrian as Carhop
- Gary Owens as Announcer
- Chick Hearn as Announcer
- Andy Granatelli as Association President
- Ned Glass as Toll Booth Attendant
- Robert Foulk as Bice
- Gil Lamb as Policeman at Park
- Nicole Jaffe as Girl in Dune-Buggy
- Wally Boag as Flabbergasted Driver
- Russ Caldwell as Boy Driving Dune-Buggy
- Peter Renaday as Policeman on Bridge
- Brian Fong as Chinese carrying Herbie
- Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez as Mexican Driver
- Dale Van Sickel as Driver
Comic book adaptation
- Gold Key: The Love Bug (June 1969)
Legacy
Four theatrical sequels followed: Herbie Rides Again, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Herbie Goes Bananas, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. Some parts of the racing sequences from the film were later reused for Herbie's dream sequence in Herbie Rides Again, responding to Grandma Steinmetz's telling Willoughby Whitfield that Herbie used to be a famous racecar.
A five-episode television series, titled Herbie, the Love Bug, aired on CBS in the United States in 1982. Directed by Vincent McEveety, the series acted as a continuation of the films, with Dean Jones reprising his role as Jim Douglas. In 1997, there was a made-for-television sequel which included a Dean Jones cameo, tying it to the previous films. A final sequel titled Herbie: Fully Loaded, was released on June 22, 2005, by Walt Disney Pictures.
At Disney's All-Star Movies Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, Herbie has been immortalized in the "Love Bug" buildings 6 and 7.
See also
In Spanish: The Love Bug (película de 1968) para niños
