Herbie Goes Bananas

Synopsis of Movie

Herbie, the VW bug with a mind of his own, returned for a fourth and final installment in 1980. Herbie Goes Bananas brought new friends, new enemies and a new continent, but the gas-powered star was as spunky as ever.

Davie Johns (DJ to his friends) and co-driver Pete Stanchek take Herbie down to Rio de Janeiro to compete in the Grand Premio rally. But that wacky Bug is just a little trouble magnet. The gang gets mixed up in a plot to smuggle gold from the ruins of an Incan city, and Herbie makes friends with a young pickpocket named Paco, who nicknames the car “Ocho” (the final scene explains why). Eccentrics Aunt Louise and Captain Blythe join in the misadventures, the most memorable of which is a madcap bullfight with Herbie as matador.

The Herbie franchise shut down after this outing failed to reap the large rewards of its predecessors. The loveable Bug had ruled the 70’s for Disney, but there just wasn’t room in the buttoned-down conservative Reagan Era for a free-spirited scamp like Herbie. Herbie rode again, briefly, on a 1982 primetime series titled Herbie, the Love Bug, but the glory days were past for poor number 53.

Movie Release History

1969 - The Love Bug
1974 - Herbie Rides Again
1977 - Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
1980 - Herbie Goes Bananas

Movie Sub Categories

live-action
comedy
disney

Movie Studio

Disney

Cast

Aunt Louise Cloris Leachman
Davie Johns Charles Martin Smith
Prindle John Vernon
Pete Stanchek Stephen W. Burns
Melissa Drake Elyssa Davalos
Unknown Joaquin Garay
Captain Blythe Harvey Korman
Shepard Richard Jaeckel
Quinn Alex Rocco
Unknown Iris Adrian
Unknown Fritz Feld
Unknown Allan Hunt
Armando Vito Scotti

Other Movie Links