Review: Herbie Rides Again (DMC #53)
Herbie is back! Last night we watched Herbie Rides Again, the sequel to The Love Bug. What a happy coincidence that Herbie and his lucky number 53 mark the 53rd film in our Disnerd Movie Challenge! If you need a refresher, check the synopsis. Otherwise feel free to skip ahead to the review!
Synopsis
Alonso Hawk has been running a successful demolition and building company, and he’s managed to buy up loads of property in San Francisco, tearing down the old buildings to make way for his new H-shaped shopping mall skyscraper. There’s just one thing stopping him—Mrs. Steinmetz (aunt of Tennessee Steinmetz from the previous film). The old woman refuses to sell her beloved firehouse (home to her and Herbie the love bug) to Mr. Hawk. Mr. Hawk, knowing he needs someone friendlier than his usual lawyers to persuade Mrs. Steinmetz to sell to him, hires his nephew, Willoughby Whitfield, who’s fresh out of law school, to appeal to Mrs. Steinmetz on his behalf. However, before Willoughby can finish his first sales pitch to Mrs. Steinmetz, the young flight attendant, Nicole, arrives and, upon learning Willoughby works for Mr. Hawk, punches Willoughby in the face. Willoughby, determined not to fail his first assignment, tries to appeal to Nicole instead, insisting that living alone in the firehouse is making Mrs. Steinmetz senile—she thinks the car (Herbie) is alive. Nicole, knowing the truth about Herbie, convinces Willoughby to go for a ride with her in Herbie. When Willoughby insults Herbie, Herbie takes them on a wild ride, eventually landing at a Chicken Jousting tournament where cars battle each other in a game of chicken. Nicole exits the car just before Herbie locks Willoughby in and enters the tournament. Herbie wins, and Willoughby finally believes the car is alive. Everything seems to be forgiven between them until lunch when Willoughby tells Nicole he’s Mr. Hawk’s nephew and Nicole slaps him with a lobster, sending him flying off the pier into the ocean. Back at the firehouse, Mrs. Steinmetz tries to convince Nicole to apologize to Willoughby, insinuating the two of them would make a cute couple, despite Nicole’s protests.
The next day, Willoughby decides he’s going to tell Mr. Hawk he can’t take the firehouse away from Mrs. Steinmetz, but when he overhears Mr. Hawk’s angry phone conversation he decides to call his uncle on the phone and pretend to leave town rather than face him in person. Mr. Hawk, furious at yet another failure, decides to take matters into his own hands and harass Mrs. Steinmetz by taking away her car, except when he tries to steal Herbie, Herbie takes him on a wild ride and gets him into trouble with the police. Meanwhile, at the airport, Willoughby calls his mother from a pay phone while wearing a disguise. Nicole overhears his conversation, and his intent to go against his uncle, and recruits Willoughby to help Mrs. Steinmetz. Back at the firehouse, Mrs. Steinmetz asks Herbie to take her to the market, but Herbie soon realizes Mr. Hawk’s men are following them and takes evasive maneuvers, leading the men on a wild chase all over San Francisco, with Mrs. Steinmetz largely oblivious. When they return home, Nicole tells Mrs. Steinmetz that Willoughby has agreed to help them stand up to Mr. Hawk. Mrs. Steinmetz, overjoyed that Willoughby is back, invites him to dinner and asks him and Nicole to go for more broccoli while she secretly tells Herbie to take them on a romantic detour to the beach. Mr. Hawk’s men again pursue Herbie, and Herbie evades them. When Mr. Hawk’s men block off the only road to the beach, Herbie takes Nicole and Willoughby on an ocean detour, but they arrive back at the firehouse too late—Mr. Hawk has taken all of Mrs. Steinmetz’s belongings. The heroes break into Mr. Hawk’s storage facility and steal back Mrs. Steinmetz’s trolley full of her belongings, meeting a drunk Mr. Judson on their precarious trolley ride back to the firehouse. The next day, Mrs. Steinmetz confronts Mr. Hawk, riding in Herbie atop a window washing apparatus to get to his office, with Willoughby trailing behind. When she overhears Mr. Hawk’s plan to demolish the firehouse, she sprays soap into Mr. Hawk’s office and has Herbie chase him around the building. Back at home, Mrs. Steinmetz has Willoughby call the wrecking company and pretend to be Mr. Hawk, giving the wrecking company Mr. Hawk’s address instead of the firehouse address. That night, Mr. Hawk’s home is partially demolished.
Mr. Hawk tells Mrs. Steinmetz she’s won. Nicole and Willoughby go out to dinner to celebrate, expecting Mrs. Steinmetz to join them, but Mrs. Steinmetz begs off—she’s on a date at the firehouse with Mr. Judson. Mr. Hawk, however, had no intention of giving up. He arrives at the firehouse with a crew of demolition trucks. Mrs. Steinmetz and Mr. Judson put up a fight from the firehouse while Herbie goes to get help. He finds Nicole and Willoughby and the trio head back to the firehouse, with Herbie recruiting every Volkswagen beetle in San Francisco along the way. They arrive at the firehouse with an army of love bugs and scare off Mr. Hawk and his men. The firehouse is saved, Mr. Hawk is apprehended by the cops, and the story ends with Nicole and Willoughby’s wedding.
Thoughts Before Watching
Megan: Hooray for more Herbie! I do love that love bug. I still can’t figure out which of the many Herbie movies is the one I was first introduced to as a kid. Maybe this will spark a memory?
Kevin: This should be a good one! The first movie was fun, and how can we not love adorable Herbie? Also, I didn’t realize this was movie #53 in our challenge until Megan pointed it out. Happy coincidence indeed!
Thoughts After Watching
Thank goodness Dean Jones isn’t back!
Megan: Normally I miss the characters from the first film when they’re not included in the sequel, but in this case, I did not miss Dean Jones’s character, Jim Douglas, one bit. Clearly Jim did not learn his lesson in the last film, because as Mrs. Steinmetz informs Willoughby, Jim went off to race foreign cars, leaving Herbie behind. And here I thought Jim had changed his mind after the events of the previous film. In any case, I was also relieved not to see Dean Jones in yet another Disney live-action film. I’m sure when the films first came out audiences were probably happy to see him again, but since we’re watching a new film every week rather than every year or so, it was starting to feel like the Dean Jones challenge. Ken Berry in the role of Willoughby makes for a nice change.
I am glad for the nods to the previous film, though. I liked seeing the same firehouse building, and learning that Mrs. Steinmetz was Tennessee’s aunt. Granted, the recycled clips from the first film were a bit much. Herbie’s dream sequence where he remembers his racing days went on just a bit too long, and I feel like we saw almost the exact same ocean scene in both films. I get that the filmmakers probably had to recycle those clips for budget reasons, but they distract from the rest of the story.
Helen Hays is a welcome change in lead
Kevin: When I read the movie description on Disney Plus, I had incorrectly believed that Helen Hayes was the actress portraying the young woman we would later learn was Nicole Harris (actually portrayed by Stefanie Powers). It really was not until the credits rolled that I learned Helen Hayes played Mrs. Steinmetz, and it made more sense, since the movie was really focused on her. What was incredibly and pleasantly surprising to me was reading about her after finishing the movie. I did not realize just how incredible she was. According to her Wikipedia article, she earned the nickname “First Lady of American Theatre” and was one of only sixteen people to win an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award), and she was the first woman to do so. Additionally, she was the first woman and first person ever to win the Triple Crown of Acting (or a competitive Academy Award, Emmy Award, and Tony Award). Hayes received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Arts, and there also exists the Helen Hayes Awards, a program based in Washington, D.C. which recognizes excellence in professional theatre. She has several other notable places named after her. The end of the introduction section of her Wikipedia article says she is “regarded as one of the greatest leading ladies of the 20th-century theatre.”
I’ve said before that I’m not a fan of many older films, with some notable exceptions. I do realize that this means I end up missing out on some truly great performers from generations past. Helen Hayes’ portrayal in Herbie Rides Again was so fun to watch, and I enjoyed reading up on her. I will certainly need to look into some of her films.
Herbie truly is a loveable love bug
Megan: I gotta hand it to the filmmakers of The Love Bug and Herbie Rides Again—they really managed to bring a car to life! What’s even more impressive is that unlike the animated movie Cars, Herbie isn’t able to “emote” in the same way. That’s because his movements are limited to what is physically possible for a car (the Golden Gate Bridge and ocean stunts aside). It makes it that much more amazing to me that the filmmakers manage to make us feel for the little car as he creates mischief and interacts with the other characters in the film.
Kevin: Completely agreed! Disney Studios may have been limited in what they could do with technology, but they did a fantastic job with Herbie both in this movie and the previous one. And they went even further by giving Herbie his own little army of beetles at the end of the film, so the filmmakers had to replicate the effects with Herbie for multiple vehicles! Hats off to this crew for turning an inanimate object into a cute and endearing little love bug.
Passes the Bechdel test by the slimmest of margins
Megan: As much as I enjoy the Herbie films, so far we don’t have any great Bechdel test wins. True, Herbie Rides Again is a tad better than The Love Bug since it gives us two named female characters who play a significant role throughout the film and talk to each other multiple times, but 99% of the conversations between Nicole and Mrs. Steinmetz are about Herbie, Willoughby, Mr. Hawk, or Mr. Judson—all men. The one snippet of dialogue I could find between them that is just barely not about a man is this:
MRS. STEINMETZ: Darling, you’ve hurt your hand.
NICOLE: Oh, on the contrary. It feels marvelous!
The thing is, Mrs. Steinmetz only asks Nicole about her hand because Nicole just punched Willoughby in the face. The rest of that conversation centers around Willoughby and Mr. Hawk. In the only scene in the entire film where Nicole and Mrs. Steinmetz are alone together, their entire conversation centers around Willoughby as Mrs. Steinmetz tries to convince Nicole to pursue him romantically. The only other barely eligible snippet of dialogue is when Mrs. Steinmetz asks Nicole to get more broccoli—which she only asks because Willoughby will be staying for dinner, and Mrs. Steinmetz is using the errand as an excuse to push the two young people together. So if we look at the Bechdel test requirements (two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man), we can technically give this film a slim pass, but it is very, very slim.
Strong women, but…
Megan: Much like The Love Bug, Herbie Rides Again gives us some strong female characters to root for in Mrs. Steinmetz and Nicole. Though neither of them is a professional in a STEM field, they still hold their own. Mrs. Steinmetz, for instance, has stood up to Mr. Hawk long before the opening of the film, literally leaving her firehouse the last one standing. She continues to put up a strong fight against the developer over the course of the film with the help of her allies whom she rallies to her cause. She makes some pretty brilliant moves, like stealing the key to the window washing apparatus to confront Mr. Hawk in his own office, or tricking the demolition company into tearing down Mr. Hawk’s home instead of the firehouse (while Willoughby makes the call impersonating Mr. Hawk, it’s clear this was Mrs. Steinmetz’s plan). It’s clear Mr. Hawk underestimated just how strong an adversary Mrs. Steinmetz would be, and at the end of the day, Mrs. Steinmetz gets everything she wanted—her home, a new love interest for herself, and a wedding for Nicole.
Megan: Nicole’s character is a bit more complicated. True, she definitely holds her own in this film. She’s a working woman who, need I remind you, prevented a hijacking while working as a flight attendant! (And this tiny character detail appears in a film long before 9/11.) However, Nicole’s strength is problematically paired with a weak male character—Willoughby. Too often stories try to present a “strong” female character by making the men around her weak by comparison. In this film, Nicole’s strength unfortunately relies partly on Willoughby’s meekness, and partly on her tendency to punch first and ask questions later. It makes for some great comedic moments (especially when Nicole first meets Willoughby), but I wish Nicole’s character could have been shown as strong beyond physicality. Whereas Mrs. Steinmetz shows a calm and collected strength of will and character, Nicole’s is most often an impulsive “strength” of brute force. Also problematic? The only person Nicole ever seems to punch is Willoughby—the ally and love interest, not the villain. Sure, each time she does so it’s because of his association with Mr. Hawk, but by the end of the film, with all the many confrontations against Mr. Hawk and his men, it still stands that Nicole has physically assaulted Willoughby—the man she ends up marrying—more than any of the actual villains. Women, and really characters of all genders, shouldn’t have to punch people in order to be deemed “strong.” Similarly, male characters appearing alongside strong female characters shouldn’t have to appear weak or, worse, be belittled by female characters (one of the worst lines Nicole has is telling Willoughby she can’t stand men who apologize—apologizing is what mends relationships! Why label apologizing as an unmanly trait?! This is only second to the awful “Wasn’t very ladylike to hit you with a boiled lobster. You can hit me back if you like.” And then they kiss?!!! Um, what?! I’m sorry, but no. Just…no.)
Kevin: I agree with the point about making men seem physically weak in order to make women appear stronger. Sometimes this weakness is also portrayed mentally or emotionally, where men in these instances are depicted as unintelligent or foolish. In the cases where men are portrayed as weak or foolish, they are often the butt of jokes. While it’s true that these types of scenes can be funny, I’m concerned for the message it gives off: that women can only be considered strong if the men around them are not. Certainly one of the ways to have a more equal society is to not allow a structure that gives certain groups more power over others to begin with, but we can also even the playing field by elevating each other up instead of tearing each other down (and stop spreading nonsense that recognizing the rights of marginalized folks somehow reduces the rights of more privileged people). I think The Love Bug handled this situation better by giving us Carole Bennet, a strong female character similar to Nicole and Mrs. Steinmetz, but whose strength in her film wasn’t contingent on making Jim Douglas look weak by comparison. In the first movie, Carole is a skilled mechanic and holds her own as a true equal alongside Jim. In the sequel, just like Megan pointed out, Nicole’s romance with Willoughby is problematic. Also, to touch on Megan’s point about Nicole thinking apologizing is unmanly, Nicole’s later comment about hitting Willoughby not being ladylike is also a stereotypical trope. Apologies are not just a womanly trait just as hitting someone is not strictly a manly trait. Obviously, apologizing and hitting someone are not equal actions, and no matter how funny it’s intended to be, Nicole is not justified in hitting Willoughby, period. Additionally, I would argue that anyone, regardless of their gender, is allowed to defend themselves from assault. However, the point is that we’re far past the time where certain behaviors should ever remotely be considered universal to a specific gender, especially now with our broader understanding of the gender spectrum. Seeing this displayed in older movies (and played for laughs, no less) is a bit weird to watch.
Megan: The only other female character in the entire film is Mr. Hawk’s secretary, Millicent (she’s named in the dialogue, though not in the credits). She seems to get the short end of the stick compared to the other women in the film. Sure, she’s very good at her job, and she definitely knows Mr. Hawk well enough to know when it is or isn’t a good time to disturb him, but I have to wonder, does she enjoy working for him? The scenes that bothered me most are when Millicent physically cares for Mr. Hawk in some way, either by holding a wet towel to his forehead or massaging his shoulders. If she were Mr. Hawk’s wife I could understand that, but I’m pretty sure she’s not married to him. We really aren’t given much context about their relationship beyond employer and employee. If they truly are employer and employee, Millicent would have grounds for some level of sexual misconduct lawsuit in today’s world. However, if given the choice, I don’t think she would pursue one—she seems unbothered by caring for Mr. Hawk in these moments. Is this because it was in fact a norm of that time? Is it because she’s actually attracted to him (or perhaps his money) and trying to pursue him romantically? I wonder how the actress, Elaine Devry, thought of this character and her motivations…
Verdict
Kevin: 6
Megan: 6
Final Score: 6
Did you enjoy Herbie Rides Again? How do you like it as a sequel? Whether you enjoyed it or not, please share your thoughts with us below!